The Dead Fathers Club

 

By Matt Haig

Philip was eleven when his father died in an vehicle crash. His parents owned a small pub and lived in an flat over the pub. His father's brother, Alan, helps out at the pub but also works at a garage.

After the funeral, Alan starts to make some moves on the widow, who seems willing. Philip is not cool with this new development and allows his hostility to show. 

Then the ghost of Philip's dad appears to him and declares that his brother caused his accident. And he demands Philip kill Alan, otherwise, the dad will exist in eternal torment. 

As Alan becomes more involved in the pub and in his pursuit of Philip's mom, Carol, Philip tries to think of ways to kill his uncle and please his dead father. Meanwhile, due to Alan's increased presence in the pub, Philip becomes acquainted while Alan's partner's children, Dane and Leah, especially Leah. It's a friendship that is very much a boon for Philip, as the school bullies are fearful of Dane, Leah's older brother.

Leah and Philip become a lot closer and eventually become boyfriend and girlfriend. Meanwhile, Philip is still trying to satisfy the demands of his dead father. Although its hard to see how the ghost expects a scrawny eleven-year-old wimpy boy to kill a large, adult man. 

Eventually Philip starts to perceive holes in his ghost dad's claims. The ghost makes some mistakes which Philip spots. It becomes clear to the reader that the ghost is all in Philip's mind and can only know what Philip knows.

So this story is the author's retelling of Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. In Hamlet,  the ghost is seen by several people. In this story, only Philip sees the ghost. I take this as meaning the ghost is just in Philip's imagination. Philip is a boy with mental problems and no one to confide in, apparently, choosing to keep his troubles to himself. 

The story was OK. Unfortunately, the blurbs about it described it as "humorous" (Daily Mail UK) and "such sad fun" (The Guardian UK) and "dark comedy" (Eve Magazine UK). I did not find it funny which was disappointing.

Here is a review by Veronique de Turenne for NPR.