Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by tobin_elliott
Rock and Roll Death Trip by Sean McDonough
dark
tense
fast-paced
4.25
This book is bonkers.
This one was the penultimate read from the haul I grabbed at the Horror Readers Weekend back during the first three days of November 2024 in NY. By the time I'd grabbed this one, I'd done several walks around the tables of the authors hawking their wares, and I stopped at Sean's table. This book caught my eye, and I couldn't tell you what Sean told me about it, I can only tell you that it was enough for me to overcome my misgivings about the cover enough to purchase it.
I love the title of the book, but I truly do not like the cover. And yes, I'm that asshole that often judges books by their covers.
Anyway, I started reading this and, I gotta say, I was pretty much sucked right in at the beginning...despite realizing the entire opening scene? Aside from the break up, the rest of it could have been removed from the book (including the car swap) with no change to the story whatsoever.
And, yeah, there's a few more spelling and grammatical errors than I like in my indie books.
And finally, I felt the ending was dragged out a bit too much.
But...
But...for all of that...
This book is bonkers.
Seriously. It's SO over the top crazy, and it's written with such a gleeful zeal, and the relationship between Jack and Luke is so well done, and the dialogue is so spot on, and the musical references are perfectly placed...and the action...the violence...the monsters...the chases...
It's just so. Much. Fun.
I can honestly say that, with all the things I wasn't crazy about with this book, at best, it should have been a two-star rating, and at worst, a DNF.
But McDonough, with this completely bonkers, balls-to-the-wall, orgasmic love letter to both Rock and Roll and Creature Features...? Yeah, he won me over. He faced an uphill battle, and he changed my mind anyway. He made me enjoy this trip.
I guess you could say...he shook me all night long.
This one was the penultimate read from the haul I grabbed at the Horror Readers Weekend back during the first three days of November 2024 in NY. By the time I'd grabbed this one, I'd done several walks around the tables of the authors hawking their wares, and I stopped at Sean's table. This book caught my eye, and I couldn't tell you what Sean told me about it, I can only tell you that it was enough for me to overcome my misgivings about the cover enough to purchase it.
I love the title of the book, but I truly do not like the cover. And yes, I'm that asshole that often judges books by their covers.
Anyway, I started reading this and, I gotta say, I was pretty much sucked right in at the beginning...despite realizing the entire opening scene? Aside from the break up, the rest of it could have been removed from the book (including the car swap) with no change to the story whatsoever.
And, yeah, there's a few more spelling and grammatical errors than I like in my indie books.
And finally, I felt the ending was dragged out a bit too much.
But...
But...for all of that...
This book is bonkers.
Seriously. It's SO over the top crazy, and it's written with such a gleeful zeal, and the relationship between Jack and Luke is so well done, and the dialogue is so spot on, and the musical references are perfectly placed...and the action...the violence...the monsters...the chases...
It's just so. Much. Fun.
I can honestly say that, with all the things I wasn't crazy about with this book, at best, it should have been a two-star rating, and at worst, a DNF.
But McDonough, with this completely bonkers, balls-to-the-wall, orgasmic love letter to both Rock and Roll and Creature Features...? Yeah, he won me over. He faced an uphill battle, and he changed my mind anyway. He made me enjoy this trip.
I guess you could say...he shook me all night long.