4.5★s
Purple People is the first novel by British author, Kate Bulpitt. It sounds like a story that would be right up Eve Baxter’s alley. She is always on the trail for unusual pieces for boss at Say Fantastique, a New York agency supplying weird stories to news media. The early-morning call from her friend in England is about Purple People. Eve is sceptical: surely too bizarre to be true?

So the family emergency, her dad Vince in the ICU after an attack in a pub, gives her the perfect opportunity come home from New York to check it out. There’s plenty of speculation: “Terrorist contamination of water supplies, terrorist contamination of meat supplies, terrorist contamination of beer supplies… and my favourite: alien invasion.”

The announcement from Prime Minister Theo Fletcher just adds to the fascination: a scheme to solve the epidemic of anti-social behaviour, where offenders are Purpled, branding “you as visibly bruised as our communities have been by your actions, and illustrates for all to see that you show no respect, that you seek to damage our society.”

“So what was this, then, the Purpleness? A diabolical scheme built on a handy foundation of fear, or a necessarily extreme measure to protect the good folk, the decent and deserving? And would Eve despise herself for believing the latter?” The fact that it is done with any sort of trial or appeal is troubling. A cab driver comments: “I’m not going to say judging a man by his colour could be a good thing. Seems backwards. Can’t see how that’ll help anybody, right?”

Finding out just how it is done, though, is proving more challenging that Eve would have believed possible: everyone in authority is very tight-lipped and the Purpled themselves have no idea of what happens. Bunsen Burner Bob, Eve’s scientist friend has a theory, but overt investigation soon becomes punishable by law, so her curiosity needs to be veiled.

The scheme certainly polarises the country, and there is spirited community debates and a protest rally. At the Anti-Purpling rally, one Purpled man pleads with the crowd: “… you can’t… you shouldn’t define someone by their worst action, the most stupid thing they’ve done. Because then how do they get past that? How do they have the will to be better, to improve themselves, if everyone’s expecting the worst from them?”

But when a bunch of Purpled thugs attack the police at the rally, it doesn’t do a lot for their cause. And how effective will this scheme be if those already Purpled have nothing else to lose? Then things come closer to home, Eve has a severely depressed friend on her hands, and still no clue how to improve the situation. Will Eve, too, be Purpled, or will she save the day?

The alternate world that Bulpitt has created has a very Jasper Ffordian feel (and that’s high praise) and the novel touches on several important themes, including the deterrence of crime and the mental health effects of stigma. This outstanding debut novel is clever, funny and thought-provoking.
This unbiased review is from an ecopy provided by Unbound and NetGalley

Under a new government initiative the perpetrators of crime and antisocial behaviour are turned purple to mark them out from other more law abiding citizens.  No longer referred to as 'Chavs' the law breakers are now being called 'Lavs', due to the lavender shade their skin becomes following naughty behaviour.  Nobody doubts that crime is a serious issue that needs dealing with but is this really the answer, and how on earth are the government able to carry out such drastic transformations anyway?  Eve is a journalist who usually deals with fluffy, humorous and wacky stories but this new turn of events seems incredibly outlandish even to her.  How are people getting purpled? Is it even legal?  Eve intends to find out.

An amusing satire, perhaps a little heavy on the alliteration, that is also disturbingly current in these crazy times when anything seems possible.  An extremely entertaining but also thought provoking story.