Born in the small town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming, The Haircutter—or H. C.— murders an enigmatic “Jenny" and flees to the glittering anonymity of New York City. Eight years later, after a series of odd jobs and lonely meals, H. C. is charged with driving a wolf from New York back to Wyoming, where it was captured for use in a conceptual art show. While back out West, he has a chance encounter with the girl he could never forget—slightly cross-eyed Carol. Now shacked up with H. C. in the city, Carol discovers H. C.’s eponymous secret—his compulsion to cut off locks of strangers’ hair in public, archive them on a hidden door in their apartment. Carol declares the bizarre habit to be high art, and sends the work to the eccentric gallerist Leslie Christmas, thrusting The Haircutter into the spotlight of NYC’s art scene. Christmas creates a sensation out of the rube from Wyoming, who is only along for the ride to keep Carol in his bed, but when he is accused of another murder, he must scramble to set the record straight. The Haircutter tells the story of what is gained and lost in H. C.’s pursuit of love and meaning in a fascinatingly absurdist world. By turns hysterical, disgusting, subversive, and heartbreaking, The Haircutter is a madcap romp alive with cultural provocation and twisted stereotypes. It is an uproarious send-up to fame and the pursuit of artistic expression that fearlessly combines sincerity and debauchery. | The Haircutter by Dana Thompson, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters