Creative, witty, and thrilling are just a few words that come to mind after you finish the book Black Dogs by Jason Buhrmester. It tells the story about "classic rock's greatest robbery" and exactly how it got to that point. Set in 1973, it explains the story behind Led Zeppelin's safety deposit box at the Drake and the robbery scandal that went down. Buhrmester's comical additions and attention to detail make this story so realistic you can almost imagine it as if it really happened.
The chapter titles are cunning and at times amusing such as "Jimi The Bear" which is a play on a detail mentioned in the chapter. Most of the other chapter titles follow this as well, being named after a funny or important detail told within that chapter. The easy read makes you forget what time it is and how many pages you've turned. The characters are all entertaining and the author gives them each a chance to show their personalities throughout the story line. The author has you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole book with different plot twists and surprises. Thrilling scenes with snakes, money, jail, cops, rare guitars and stealing are only a few of the reasons why you will love this book.
Patrick, the Black Sabbath fanatic, fled town after his last experience with breaking the law and ends up living in New York. He's working with a caterer and gets to be backstage at many concerts. After a while he comes across a band manager one night at work who got paid a whole lot of cash for the band playing that night's show. Turns out it was Led Zeppelin's manager who had just gotten paid for the band. He tells Patrick that the band always gets paid in cash. Ideas start turning in his head and soon it's too good for him not to give in. Patrick comes back to town as Alex gets out of jail to offer him an idea for the biggest scam ever. Alex hesitates since he's the one that did the time for Pat's last scam. Keith and Frenchy, the other two of the group, are clued into the plan once Alex agrees. Keith is all about the tech and the mastermind to breaking in. He installs and uninstalls stereos as a way to make his money. Frenchy, also known as Pete, is the music lover to another level.
Once they figure out how to make their plan work and go to take the first step of action it automatically turns into a mess. One wrong turn after the next in their oh so perfect plan keep the boys on their toes as they try and fix the issues while they pile on. One of the major fights of the book happens at a carnival and leaves one of the characters, Patrick, in the hospital. He gets visited by a crooked cop and it only causes more interest in the item they stole from one of the town's biggest threat, the crazy motorcycle gang member Backwoods Billy. Backwoods Billy is the leader to the Holy Ghosts. The boys had to break in and steal from Billy's pawn shop in order to make their plan try and continue to work. It was going well until Danny, the knucklehead who always seems to screw up plans, once again screwed up the plan and decided to try and steal Backwoods Billy's safe too. Danny gets even more people involved by taking the safe to get cracked open by a group of guys who really never get a name but are led by Boogie. The crooked cop that visited Patrick is involved with Billy as well. The tangle of problems just keep growing.
Near death experience after the next, it just makes the boys even more determined to accomplish their goal of robbing Led Zeppelin. They end up in Led Zeppelin's hotel in New York with their last chance to make the plan work. Things seem to go smoothly, only do they end up that way? An ending you'd never suspect adds to the charm of this story. Take a few hours and let this book take you on a wild trip.
Gives a good sense of what the book is about, however it may be too much of a summary.
ReplyDeleteI suggest that you do not give up the story line that much and talk about the book itself and how it was writen
ReplyDeleteThe review is pretty straight forward and gives you an idea of the story. I would suggest adding some more action verbs to bring it to life a little bit more, make the review a little bit more exciting like you say the book it. The more imagery you can put in your review, the more the reader will see what your talking about rather than feel like they're hearing it.
ReplyDeletei liked a lot of the beginning and ending comments, but i think it would be even more effective to add some criticism to the summary section. i really like the last line.
ReplyDeleteThere is too much summary. You do not want to give too much away to the reader. I think it is good to give them a taste so they want more.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of summarizing. Perhaps it'd be better to say how you feel about things as you describe them. That could split up the summarizing a bit so it wouldn't feel so heavy.
ReplyDeleteGood review. You have a nice flow and I got a clear idea of what the book was about.
ReplyDelete