Hocus Pocus

From the New York Times bestselling author of Slaughterhouse-Five comes a wickedly sharp novel that solidifies Kurt Vonnegut’s reputation as one of America’s most brilliant satirists. Hocus Pocus is vintage Vonnegut—darkly funny, deeply humane, and unsettlingly prophetic.

Meet Eugene Debs Hartke: Vietnam veteran, jazz pianist, college professor, and reluctant prophet of doom. Teaching at the peculiar Tarkington College, Eugene finds himself caught in a perfect storm of American dysfunction—where academia meets incarceration, where idealism collides with reality, and where the chickens, as they say, come home to roost. When chaos erupts, Eugene becomes the unlikely center of a crisis that’s equal parts absurd and terrifying.

Vonnegut’s razor-sharp wit slices through American myths about education, war, and social justice with surgical precision. Written in his signature style—part confession, part warning, all brilliance—this novel tackles the collapse of institutions and the human capacity for both cruelty and compassion. The Atlanta Journal & Constitution praised it for re-establishing “Mr. Vonnegut’s place as the Mark Twain of our times,” and that comparison has never felt more apt.

Perfect for readers who appreciate:

• Biting social commentary wrapped in dark humor
• Literary fiction that challenges and entertains
• Classic American satire with contemporary relevance
• Vonnegut’s inimitable voice and vision

Whether you’re a longtime Vonnegut devotee or discovering his work for the first time, Hocus Pocus is a thought-provoking journey you won’t soon forget.

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