A review by rj42
Someone Should Pay for Your Pain by Franz Nicolay

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

It would be hard to overstate just how impressed I was with this book. I came to it as a huge Hold Steady fan, buying it more out of a sense of loyalty than anything, but I was captivated both by the genuine, authentic nature of the story and the sheer quality of Nicolay's descriptive powers. I don't think I've known someone accomplished in another field (in this case, music) to be able to write fiction in such an accomplished manner; it reads like someone who has spent decades honing their novel-writing craft. But most of all, you are absolutely transported to the grimy backroads of the US music scene as his luckless but ultimately romantic hero, Rudy, does the only thing he knows how to do: get on stage and pour his heart out. Is he running from his past and his inability to commit to a more structured life, or is he following his dreams? Nicolay explores the idea in heartbreaking detail. Yes, the ending feels inconclusive and a little too neat, but that doesn't detract from a stunning debut.