Review of Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song

[Ebele Ekelobi]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song" by Tom Cunningham.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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In Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song, Tom Cunningham penned a mysterious story about a certain rock star named Teddy McGillicuddy. Teddy McGillicuddy had been into rock n' roll music, but after he got into Claremont College to study psychology, he put away his guitar to study. However, after meeting the beautiful Laura Fielding, he got back into music. This time he got too occupied with it; he ignored his studies and everything else. He created a rock band called Laundromats, and soon after, his song (Gambled on Your Love, Babe) became quite popular amongst the students at Claremont College. However, the big break he was waiting for in the music industry was not forthcoming, so he decided to go for it himself.

Teddy McGillicuddy dropped out of college against his parents' wish and went fully into rock music. After a couple of months, he moved to LA to try his luck with the big record companies there. He ran into CBC Records' Jawbone Joffrey, who agreed to sign him only on two conditions. Firstly, he would change his name to Tobias Stern and sign over all the music rights to CBC Records. Secondly, he was to play dead immediately after the release of the album. Will Teddy agree to these conditions? Find out from Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song.

I love the storyline in this book. Not only is it original and different from other cliché storylines, but it is also so intriguing and will glue your eyes to the pages of the book till the very end. The characterisation in this book was superb. All the characters were interwoven and were essential to the build-up of the plot. The story seemed so real that I was starting to question if it was really fiction. The author gave a perfect explanation of the music industry of the 90s. I believe the explanation to be factual because he is very much involved in the rock n' roll music scene. The ending of the story, though not a happy one, was satisfactory and nerve-wracking. I loved the plot twists in the story. There was also a perfect description of the year the story took place and the fashion and language at the time. It was also good to see that the book was professionally edited.

Some chapters were too concise, like Chapters 8 and 12, and they could have been merged with other chapters. The division of the story into three books, though not such a bad idea, made it seem voluminous. There were also a lot of profane words used in this book; some were unnecessarily used.

I give this book a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. I consider my negative points insubstantial and wouldn't deduct a star from the book owing to them.

Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song by Tom Cunningham is a perfect mix of mystery and adventure, so I recommend it to lovers of both genres. I also recommend it to fiction lovers at large.

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Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song
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[Paul Link]

Thank you for your amazing review of Love, Death, and the Rock Star's Song by Tom Cunningham! Your review is so well put together and informative. I appreciate that you provided insight into the music industry's workings, indicating that it must have been factual, giving the story a more authentic feel. Your positive points outweighed the negative points, showing that you truly enjoyed the book, and I'm glad you didn't deduct a star for the issues you found. The story seemed riveting, and your review has made me look forward to reading it. Keep writing such detailed reviews.

[Amy Luman]

Teddy’s story sounds like one I would like to read. I like stories about taking chances and especially those that don’t end as expected. I can understand his parents concerns, but after all, it is his life.

[James Williams Uzo]

I'd love to know if Teddy agreed to the conditions and if the plan with the label worked to his favour. Great review.

[NetMassimo]

My knowledge of the music industry is limited but a mystery set in that world based on a rock star pretending he's dead seems intriguing. Thank you for your great review!