When I started drafting this review, this book has a single ⭐️ rating. Several months later, the average is up to 3 stars but there is only one additional rating and I just can’t let that stand. I just know it’s better than that. I am unfamiliar with Mark Zirbel, but Planet Bizarro published this one and I have loved everything that I’ve read bearing their name so far so I just know this one will be great as well. I received an eARC from the publisher but eventually purchased the audiobook because I like to read and listen at the same time.

I don’t put content warnings on every review because I read a lot of extreme horror and sometimes those warnings would take more time than the actual review. But I will say this: if you are squeamish about poo, you know what to do. Close this book and go read something about cannibal killers or whatever floats your boat. There’s a lot of poo. So many poo jokes. There is also a lot of crass language, words and phrases that we don’t use anymore. It works in context, so I won’t hold it against the author. But seriously, there is a lot of poo. And coprophagia. You have been warned.

Shithole USA takes place in America’s shithole, Florida. A plague that turns people into sex-crazed zombies has broken out and the entire state is a nightmare. Well, except for a retirement community called World Village, not that the village is immune from the insanity that seems to have taken the state by storm. People in the World Village have gone coo-coo for poo-poo. While the residents of the village are not literally fucking each other to death, they have become something of a poo worship cult. The story unfolds from the perspectives of two men who couldn’t be more different. Ryan is a mild mannered fellow who is just trying to preserve his peace in an increasingly strange workplace. Hank is a retired detective with poo ptsd who has to face his demons to help an old colleague figure out wtf is going on in World Village. The descriptions of the sculptures and Hank’s inner dialog had me rolling. Every new character has a hilarious poo punny name. Belphegor, shit demon. Every new development is more bizarre than the last.

I really enjoyed this. It’s funny as hell and packed with social commentary that I won’t go into, but come on. Old people congregating in a retirement community in Florida who worship shit and don’t know that the person running the place is a shit demon? Corporations paying tribute to the shit demon? The subtext is pretty obvious. This was great. Go read it.

Big thanks to Mark Zirbel and Planet Bizarro for providing an eARC. The views expressed here are my honest thoughts about the book. You can buy Shithole USA, by Mark Zirbel on Amazon or Audible.