That Guy What Kill Topsy by Peter Wood Cotterill

Don McCluskey, a manager at Zimbabwe Grain & Feed warehouse, was thinking of giving himself, what he thought, was a well-earned, late-morning tea break when his reverie was interrupted by the sudden news of his parents' state of ill health in Nyamandhlovu. It was an emergency that needed some time off work. However, he had exhausted his leave days and had to resolve this unforeseen scenario with his boss- Mr. Wilson Moyo Esq., Chief Senior Manager.

The country’s economic meltdown, service delivery disruption, ethnic strife, a ruthless police force, power outages, and fuel shortages, complicate Don McCluskey’s arduous journey to Nyamandhlovu and changes his circumstances in a fateful way. Don McCluskey is a man of many trials and tribulations right from childhood. When the War of Liberation in the former Southern Rhodesia came to an end, Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party effected the rapid Africanisation program. Don’s Dad, a former railway worker and war veteran with a disability, found himself with no job and pension, as a result, Don’s upbringing was affected somewhat. With two failed marriages and no children to boot, he made a decision that would bring true meaning to his troubled life or so he thought.

Don McCluskey’s story is one of the seventeen amazing and riveting fictional short story collections by Peter Wood Cotterill in his book That Guy What Kill Topsy. The book is both first and third-person narration with twenty-five main characters. The writer is a reliable source of information and his known previous work, comparable to this book, includes, Devil’s Grip (2019). The period is 1951 through 2019. Stories span locations from England to Zimbabwe. The characters influence the setting and plot immensely. The themes range from rising from the pit of despair to multilevel marketing, to entrepreneurship, to redemption and acceptance.

The writer’s subversive brilliance shines in new and unexpected ways with this masterpiece. He skillfully propels the plot through a cast of well-developed characters. The plot thickens and suspense builds up with every new story. For instance in –That guy what kill Topsy, Perkiss Lester John has just completed serving three and a half years at the local penitentiary for killing his girlfriend-Topsy and is out on probation looking for redemption and acceptance from the society when misfortune befell him in a strange twist. The writer’s brilliance and exceptional writing skills are perhaps depicted in- I was a Teenage Colonial Lackey, a first-person narration about life in Government service in colonial Southern Rhodesia. The writer’s use of suitable characters, the flow of the text and extensive knowledge of colonial Africa make the story an excellent read.

Whereas the book is a suspenseful page-turner and lives up to its structure and design, some stories end abruptly with no substantive conclusion, leaving readers bewildered and yearning for more content, others lack gist in the storyline. For instance- Another Kind of Widow, You Never Know What Might Have Been, Help Yourself, The Trouble with Uncle George and Canned. The logical flow of every new story is also interrupted by the introduction of new characters, forcing the reader to invest in new characters.

The book is professionally edited with borderline profanity and minor errors. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I highly recommend the book to short story enthusiasts.