GREEN GODDESS

The unlikely head of an energy company struggles to survive ruthless competition and environmentalists’ protests in Pepper’s in this third novel in a series.

Lindsey Harper Crowe becomes the chair of New York City–based Crowe Power Company, a “global energy goliath,” after she ousts her incompetent husband, Robbie, from the role. However, her newfound power comes with an equal share of burdens; although Robbie left the company in dire financial trouble, the “deposed king”will stop at nothing to return to the throne. Lindsey also sees her daughter, Missy, as a traitor who makes common cause with “Planetistas” protesting the very company whose cash fills her trust fund. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jessica Holtgren is putting the squeeze on the entire industry; she’s portrayed as an empty talking head fronting equally empty policies. The true existential threat to Lindsey’s company, though, comes from Harold “Hacksaw Harry” Crenshaw, a hedge fund manager who aims to slice the company into pieces under the disingenuous guise of ecological responsibility. Lindsey hires a world-weary public relations expert, Marty McGarry, to help spin a palatable narrative for the public, while also exploring a new form of fusion technology that could move the world past dependence on fossil fuels. Over the course of the novel, Pepper irreverently and intelligently exposes ways in which some calls to environmental integrity are often corporate or political expressions of a will to power. The satirical focus is not on a commitment to ecological obligation, but rather how it can be twisted by selfish hypocrisy. For example, Missy is as discomfited by her “deeply embarrassing wealth,” even as she is dependent upon it. The author has a tendency to aim low with his comedy, which can be crude; Lindsey’s tenure is described as proof “you don’t need some remnants of founder jizz coursing through your veins to run Crowe Power.” Despite this, the novel’s farcical depiction of American politics is often as humorous as it is astute.

A rollicking ride that combines political realism with flights of satire.