Helpful Score: 1
From Publishers Weekly "Familiarity with Ferrigno's three previous novels (Dead Man's Dance, etc.) won't breed contempt for his fourth, which is as fast and nasty as a cobra strike. It does raise the question, however, of why this talented author doesn't vary his formula. Again, Ferrigno presents an ominous California noir-scape teeming with quirky sadistic villains, dangerous slinky babes and a hip but good-hearted hero caught in their violent wake. Former rock star Nick Carbonne becomes the cops' chief suspect in the shooting death of his wife and his old band buddy, Perry. Ferrigno lavishes his liveliest prose, however, on Alison, Perry's sexy Texas girlfriend, who keeps Nick in a state of erotic expectation as the two of them attempt to solve the murders. Alison and Perry's specialty was making and selling audiotapes of dirty phone calls that Alison placed to strangers?a relatively harmless and quite lucrative pursuit, until the couple inadvertently taped the murder of one of their regular "clients." As they track the killer, Nick and Alison win the shaky support of a local cop. They also acquire more insidious help: the protection of the "Blue Angel," an ice-blooded killer who's after the same quarry, if for different reasons. Ferrigno spices this fruity slice of West Coast life with acerbic takes on aging rockers and motorcycle gangsters, post-punk bar and party people, lowlife agents, videophiles and perverts. He tells a nimble mystery, nostalgically propelled by sex, drugs, rock-and-roll?and more than one echo of his earlier work." Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Amazon.com
Nick Carbonne is solid, good-looking, and disarmingly hip. The former front man for the thrash band Plague Dogs, he has found his space as a producer of such cutting-edge groups as O. J.'s Knife. He's also found his wife and his best buddy snuggled naked together in a hot tub. Dead. To determine what happened, he scours the sleaze off the denizens of southern California's music industry in this acerbic look at Orange County, the rock industry, and the unhealthy business of murder.
Nick Carbonne is solid, good-looking, and disarmingly hip. The former front man for the thrash band Plague Dogs, he has found his space as a producer of such cutting-edge groups as O. J.'s Knife. He's also found his wife and his best buddy snuggled naked together in a hot tub. Dead. To determine what happened, he scours the sleaze off the denizens of southern California's music industry in this acerbic look at Orange County, the rock industry, and the unhealthy business of murder.
If you have never read Ferrigno you are in for a treat; if you are a fan of his you know you are in for a treat.
