January 27, 2010
Fire Horses by Mark Piggott
Released: 31 May 2008. Publisher: Legend Press
Category: General Fiction

‘It turns out that it wasn’t a star after all, but a galaxy. I couldn’t decide if this means my love had been magnified or diluted, to the power of a hundred billion. What it really meant was, it was all over. Time to find a new star.’

Joe Noone is a seemingly successful and comfortable ex-pat living the good life overseas. However, it swiftly becomes clear that there is more on Joe’s mind than sangria and sunshine. We are led back and forth through time, from his childhood in Yorkshire through to a squalid existence in London and beyond. Fire Horses is an absorbing dialogue on life, love and friendship as experienced by Joe, set beside a backdrop of changing economical, social and political climates.

Our protagonist has fallen through the cracks, a complex and unhappy character spending much of his existence living hand to mouth. At times it is a truly guttural experience, dragging the reader, sighing and head-shaking, through the sticky grime and perennial poverty along with its pitiful occupants.

There is more than a fair share of pain to be felt here, but also an acutely human glimmer of hope that remains throughout. It holds a pleasantly dark humour, nestled quietly between moments of anger or misery. However, this drudgery and depression is frequently relieved by delightful visualisations, beautifully melancholy poetics and socially-observant allegory.

The reader’s relationship with the narrator may be as troubled as any character in the book. He ceaselessly craves self-indulgence, sexual gratification and his own ideas of affection. Many of his desperations are ultimately self-inflicted. He gradually seals himself into a life of love impasse. In discovering himself, Joe – unwittingly or not – gives those around him a firm nudge towards their own ruin. He ponders his relationships often, but in the same voice offers little concern for others who remain constant features in his life over the years, inexplicably, indefinitely. Even as his world is sundered, times over. It’s difficult to find true happiness here, only fleeting moments of content shocked through with sorrow and a yearning for something more. Any allusion towards redemption remains intangible. This is Joe Broke’s story – a series of mottled and painful preludes to the end.

Fire Horses charges headlong down the tracks, unperturbed by the approaching train. This is where respect to Mark Piggott must extend. This book is an exercise in bold authorship. It is socially-aware yet emotionally complex and fallible, not afraid or ashamed,eager to express itself.  The characters could be called 'unfortunates' and many of the events that take place are unsettling but they are also component elements brought together to make the whole appealing. It is honest, with an identifiable soul. The words themselves, from start to finish, are written with a flair and lyrical fluency that make this book difficult to put down and overall a deservedly worthwhile read.

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