If you spent Saturday night, and perhaps even the next morning, in a frat house, you may have discovered empty beer cans, pong tables and loud music. If you read Jock Young’s novel, ‘Epsilon Zeta,’ you won’t find much more. The first-time author attempts to expose the seedy underbelly of fraternity life on college campuses-and fails miserably.

Putting aside the fact that absolutely nothing of any interest is revealed in this novel, you probably wouldn’t want to read it anyway. The book is littered with prime examples of bad writing (‘The chapter was already fractured beyond repair and these sorts of exchanges only served to remind those who had temporarily forgot.’), and even worse, poor editing. The plot drones on and on without any clear direction or purpose. The story is entirely character-driven, and unfortunately for the reader, not a single character in the novel is likeable; some are barely tolerable.

‘Epsilon Zeta’ revolves around the disintegration of a chapter of the fictional fraternity on a fictional campus in Florida. The story is loosely based on Young’s own experience as a Sigma Chi at Florida State University in the late 1980s. Inter-fraternity politics and power struggles plague the fictional chapter, but what the novel boils down to is basic guy-drama.

In an attempt to drive home the ‘realism’ of ‘Epsilon Zeta,’ Young inserts racism, homophobia and sexism frequently into the dialogue of the protagonists (‘You see, all women are insecure, regardless of what they look like. It’s just a fact. Use that to your advantage. The more insecure you can make them feel, the better off you’ll be. And once you get one under your thumb, she’ll stay there until you’re done with her.’). This dialogue serves no purpose except to further the idea that every character in the story is a dick and in real life would get a well-deserved punch in the face.

The only aspects of ‘Epsilon Zeta’ that keeps the reader even somewhat interested are the sporadic teases: Young hints he’ll let the reader in on the ‘wonderful mysteries’ of fraternity life, including ‘closely guarded secrets’ and ‘clandestine writings.’ However, only a single paragraph in the 24th chapter talks about secret rituals, and they’re completely glossed over. This is, needless to say, a huge letdown.

The unlikable protagonist Zack Lawrence says it best two pages from the end of the novel: ‘When did this fraternity become the most important thing in our lives? It was stupid.’ Thanks Zack, that information would have been useful about 280 pages ago.