Review by chapter-one -- Band in the Wind

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Latest Review: Band in the Wind by William John Rostron

Review by chapter-one -- Band in the Wind

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[Following is a volunteer review of "Band in the Wind" by William John Rostron.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Gang warfare and classic rock collide in Band in the Wind by William John Rostron, set in 1960s New York, in which a group of music-loving teens inadvertently get into deep trouble with a powerful local mafioso. The story is told via the memoirs of Johnny Cipp, whose life and musical future begin to unravel when he falls in love with his bandmate's girlfriend Maria.

Each chapter is introduced by a song title, and these set the scene for an era when garage rock and psychedelia dominated popular culture. Sometimes the musical selections seem a little too closely wedded to the narrative (for example: ‘Just like the words in the Bryan Adams song “The Summer of ‘69”, I did buy my first six-string at a five-and-dime, and I did play it until my fingers bled. And we did have a band, and we did try real hard. And summer really did seem to last forever.’) But the musical references also provide a highly effective way of evoking a specific time and certain (predominantly teenage) emotions.

The novel sags a little in the middle, weighed down by an accumulation of details: we learn a lot about how the bandmates find each other one by one, rehearse, select songs to play, dip their toes into live performance, and so on. In part Band in the Wind resembles the biography of a fictional group, Those Born Free, the details of which seem overly idealized, as though the author were concocting a rock fantasy rather than reflecting the messy reality of teenage band practice.

Towards the end the book accelerates to a thrilling pace as this coming-of-age tale turns into a bloodbath of grudge killings. There are chapters detailing racial turf war that feel a little one-sided, and I would have liked to hear more from the point of view of the black kids. A fascinating epilogue reveals the real-life experiences the author drew on to create Band in the Wind.

Band in the Wind is an engaging hybrid of teen drama, musical memoir and crime drama. I would recommend it for lovers of thrillers, as well as fans of 1960s music and culture. The book is well edited and I only found a handful of typos. I have decided to give it 3 out of 4 stars, as despite the uneven pace, it is a real page-turner written with originality and flair.

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Band in the Wind
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