At 7:30pm on July 29, 1973 Richard Cole, Led Zeppelin’s manager, discovered that more than $200,000 in cash had been taken from the band’s safe deposit box. Who would attempt to steal from one of the most popular rock bands in history? In Black Dogs, Jason Buhrmester attempts to uncover the characters who might try a theft like this.
Buhrmester developed this story from real events as follows: in 1973, Led Zeppelin finished up their tour with three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden. However, $203,000 they made from the tour was stolen right before their last show—from a safe deposit box they rented at the Drake Hotel. Although the robbers and the money never turned up, Buhrmester uses this story as a backdrop for his explanation of how the money actually disappeared.
Therefore, Black Dogs is set in 1973, and is narrated by Patrick, a young guy who comes home from working in New York City to his high school (drop out) friends in Maryland. Although Patrick returns to greet his friend Alex who just got out of prison (a result from one of Patrick’s last schemes), he also decides to present the group with a plan to rob Led Zeppelin. It is easy to disapprove of the main characters when starting this book, considering that they are all criminals and seem to get themselves into the pretty dumb situations. However, the comic circumstances throughout the story quickly allow the reader to relate to the kids, and the book becomes a fun, fast read as the ridiculous scenes keep piling up.
Patrick’s friends, all thieves like him, are an unlikely group for the job. Frenchy, a spazzy guitar player; Keith, the dumb one whose only skill is stealing car radios; Alex, a recent ex-con; and Danny, an idiot scumbag; all jump on board for the job. The imperfect plan soon starts to falter as the kids get caught up with criminals worse than themselves. The reader starts to forget that the main characters are even thieves and starts to pity them. In this way it is easy to be drawn into the story further allowing the tension to build. The kids are certainly no high profile criminals, and the story is engaging because of the knowledge that the band actually is robbed. During much of the journey the reader wonders how this can possibly be pulled off. The comic situations and twists from their original plan makes for quite an entertaining read.
The premise behind this book is so epic that the explanation has to be a good read. Overall, this book was a fast read and a good combination of comedy, crime and drama. Wrapped up in a nice rock ‘n roll package with music history, lots of swearing and a great soundtrack, it is sure to be a popular read with rock fans and anyone else who wants to experience the life of a rock ‘n roll burnout in the 70s.
There were some interesting things said in this article, but I felt that you spent too much time describing the plot of the novel. I understand that the plot is essential to the novel, but it would've been nice to hear more about how the book was written. Also, there were a couple sentences that ran a little long, but that is just me nitpicking.
ReplyDeleteGood job of briefly describing certain aspects of the book and then following it up with insight.
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out that this book is for rock fans. I'm not sure it's worth passing a judgment by any higher standard than that.
ReplyDeleteVery well written review. I liked your conclusion a lot because you describe the book and what the reader will experience from it.
ReplyDeleteOkay first thing is first. The money was never stolen from a safe deposit box! The back of the book says that and if I recall correctly, it is all in a guitar case! BLAH! Okay back to reviewing your review. This was great. A few gammerical errors here and there and a few words that weren't necessary at points but other than those, I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
ReplyDeleteI thought your review was well written. Nice, grabbing intro. But your ending could have been a bit stronger.
ReplyDelete@ Lisa: I was explaining the story which was released in the news/the "true" background story. In the book, yes, he changes it to a guitar case.
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