Format: Paperback
Published by: Melville House
Published: 25 May 2023
Synopsis:
A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his dented VW Jetta. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app— over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver and Annie listens to his music, encouraging Adam even as he finds himself driving more often than songwriting.
Then, Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final, cryptic text— ‘come to my arms’— a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up an old guitar teacher, sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that spills into the dark world of a shocking underground Men’s Rights movement. As he drives the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, Adam comes to question how well he, or anyone else, knew Annie— if at all.
My Thoughts: (spoiler free)
Firstly many thanks to the publisher for kindly sending me a proof copy to review.
The first in a new Pacific Coast Highway Mystery, and what a way to start, a book that more than hits the ground running.
A wonderfully American Noir styled novel but very much set in the present
it has all the qualities of the classic hardboiled American crime novels of the 40s and 50s but with the authors own modern twist, a story very much of today with some of its roots in the past, similarly the language and style used whilst they have a familiarity, not necessarily in the classic one liners and wise cracks, but instead it uses todays vernacular
It is a story that in someways you fall into, but it captured my attention from the opening pages and kept me engaged throughout with its thought out and sublimely constructed plotline, it has a fluidity to the pacing which keeps the story flowing and moving along, as it do so its gathers pace, a story which had me hooked desparate to know the truth.
Adam Zantz in someways comes across as an unlikely investigator, certainly a man with his own flaws, more used to driving around the street of LA at night composing his own songs, but then this is part of the quality of the book, there are no pre conceptions, after all he was only the deceaseds driver, you build a mental image of him thanks to the descriptive nature of the writing, in fact it would be fair to say that all the characters within the book come fully formed, they give of an image and style which befits the setting, equally the author shows us two sides of LA the glitz and glamour and the more down to earth side somewhat sleazier side, but with each you get a real sense of place and identity, the author brings each location to life with the descriptive prose
There are plenty of twists along the way, that shifts the narrative,and takes the story of in differing directions
It is a book which tackles a number of themes, fame, motherhood, family, it is a book stays with you
It is a whip smart poetic punchy read, a read where the characters standout
5* one to watch out for, the perfect start to a new series
About the author:
Daniel Weizmann is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Billboard, the Guardian, AP Newswire, and more. Under the nom de plume, Shredder, Weizmann also wrote for the long running Flipside fanzine, as well as LA Weekly, which once called him “an incomparable punk stylist.” Most recently, Weizmann co-authored Game Changer by Michael Solomon and Rishon Blumberg (Harper Leadership, 2020). He lives in Los Angeles, California.
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