Pigiron
David James Keaton
Blastgun, an imprint of Burnt Bridge Press
June 19, 2015
Reviewed by Tim Potter
A town in the desert is said to exist as long as there are still horses living there. So what happens if the last horse in town has been shot dead with a hole through its head but still walks?
Pigiron, the second novel from David James Keaton, author of The Last Projector, is the kind of novel that reviewers both love and fear. Love, because it’s a fantastic novel and a joy to read, and fear, because it’s a unique, bizarre novel that is difficult to describe. In the most simple terms, Pigiron is a good versus evil western, set in the town of Agua Fria, a place on the very edge of oblivion as the wells have run dry and water is nowhere to be found. The story builds through the town’s decline to an ultimate showdown in a nearly deserted place, delirious with thirst and three days without water and three weeks to the nearest well.
The main characters are archetypical with hero, The Ranger, and the villain, Red. Red is a horse killing gang leader and The Ranger is a lawman who has dedicated himself to bring Red down. They share a complicated history that snakes back through the decades into family lore and the city of Bisbee. Red rides a stolen horse that he shot through the head, a dead horse with a hole in its head that kids can throw a rock clean through, a horse that still walks as though it was still alive. The Ranger is a lawman who can’t pull the trigger on a gun without having it explode in his hand. He was raised by a father with an anachronistic collection of misassembled guns that function better as a calender than they do as firearms.
The novel is peppered with bible recitations and punctuated with song lyrics. The songs create a soundtrack in the reader’s head to the point that it’s easy to hear Johnny Cash’s signature baritone reverberate through the pages. The bible passages are mainly delivered by The Preacher, whose sanity slips further and further into question as the town runs dry. No matter how hard he tries to get rid of it, the New Testament keeps popping up and The Preacher keeps quoting it.
Agua Fria’s population dwindles to Red and his gang and The Ranger and his family as the water runs dry and is replaced by blood and whiskey. The story builds to a violent showdown between Red and The Ranger, a clear outcome by ambiguous means, as the town is engulfed in cleansing flames. Pigiron is an incredibly smart, literate and entertaining novel that is written with a clear precision of words and a specific intent behind every syllable. It’s far from the average western and, at times, a challenging read, but the ultimate payoff makes the effort more than worth it.
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