The First Bad Man is an exploration of violent sexual fantasy and the complications and chaos of human relationships as mediated by socially awkward, middle-aged office worker Cheryl. Cheryl is the kind of woman who skips dinnerware and eats straight from the same pan every night — no need to wash it afterwards. She sleeps in her car to avoid interacting with the kindly homeless man who cares for her garden. She has remained in her bosses’ good books by turning their non-profit into a profit-maker, marketing their women’s self-defence videos as fitness regimes. Her life is disrupted when their twenty year old daughter moves into her house while purportedly searching for modelling jobs. Cleo is a gorgeous, self-proclaimed misogynist who never bathes and treats Cheryl with a level of cruelty that bemuses her. Their relationship builds with strange intensity as they manifest their frustrations in role-playing the company’s old self-defence tapes. Meanwhile, Cheryl searches for Kubelko Bondy, an old soul she meets in the bodies of various babies. Kubelko rightfully belongs to her, yet helplessly continues being born to the wrong people instead of Cheryl.

July’s debut illustrates that sex is about more than sex, and love, as a separate entity, emerges in various forms. Its cynical approach to modern society lends poignancy to occasional moments of tender sincerity. Cheryl is a spectacularly unique narrator and July dives into her voice without reserve. Her oddness disturbs most where it begins to feel uncomfortably familiar. Readers might want to brace themselves, but The First Bad Man makes for a tremendously weird and wonderful read.