Rock n Roll..in Novel Form?

DARK SIDE OF THE MORGUE: A Spike Berenger Rock n Roll Hit
RAYMOND BENSON
A Leisure Book/Dorchester Publishing
305 pages
March 2009



Someone is killing Progressive Rock musicians in Chicago-one by one. Only thing is, the sole suspect is a ghost. Enter the intrepid ROCKIN’ SECURITY team, summoned from NYC at the behest of a potential victim. Considering the fact that Chicago never had a Progressive Rock movement, this story is a bit of a stretch from Jump Street. Given that the dead musicians-and Spike Berenger, head of said ROCKIN’ SECURITY- are all past the prime of life...the novel creaks along with a certain charm..and an equally certain annoyance factor.

i found the plot intriguing- the psychological deterioration of rock musicians is always so...However, the amount of information imparted-most of it fictitious-was done so, i thought, in a didactic fashion that hampered the characters’ portrayal...i thought
Spike Berenger lacked a certain “charm” because he was too busy spouting “old history”....and he tried awfully hard to play a Tough Guy...

other than that, i thought it was an enjoyable book. i don’t usually read Rock n Roll novels, which tend to be either overly sentimental or painfully HIP..this one skirted the pitfalls, but barely.. i read the entire book in order to find out how Mr Benson handled the ending..not bad. i have recommended this title to people who already like the Genre..no one has complained yet

i still can’t figure, though, if this story is “....just another brick in the wall”...or not?