Nikki Bountiful

Giants Nikki Bountiful

Russ Hatler's tenth novel, Giants, is set in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. It tells the story of a brave, resilient people reeling from the wrath of Mother Nature while struggling to survive the machinations of political chicanery. It's also the tale of a young man's treacherous journey from adolescent angst to responsible adulthood. The novel follows the progress of Brandon Stevenson, eponymous protagonist of The Hedonist, from North Carolina to Utuado, a small town in the mountainous interior of the Enchanted Island. Interwoven with the fictional narrative are several historical chapters describing the rape of Puerto Rico by Christopher Columbus and his merry band of Spanish Invaders in 1493 and proceeding all the way up to the rape of Puerto Rico by Vulture Capitalists in the present day. Philosophy, politics, recreational pharmaceuticals and ecological mischief also take their lumps. The humor in the book is dark and merciless. The language is a little salty, the characters a bit earthy and some of the bawdy encounters a trifle graphic, so if you're not a card-carrying adult, you might want to give this one a pass.