Marilyn's Mystery Reads

There once was a rock band called Sunshine Apocalypse.   Four teenage boys made up the group–Mo on drums; Johnny on vocals and guitar; Ricky on lead guitar; Ed on bass.  They never made it to the top, but they had a few hits and always held out hope for the big record, the one that would take them to number one on the chart.  It didn’t happen, and after a few years they broke up and went their separate ways.

Now, after twelve years, Johnny is back, telling the band they need to get together for a final gig.  Being Johnny, he has everything all worked out for their reunion at Fun City, the local amusement park that is going to be razed at the end of the summer.  All he needs is for the other three band members to agree so they can start rehearsing.

Ed and Ricky agree to the plan immediately, but Mo wants no part of it.  However, Ed and Ricky know something that Mo doesn’t.  They tell Mo that Johnny has ALS and needs a big score to pay his medical bills, so Mo reluctantly agrees to join the others.  Then Mo learns that the band’s performance is only part of the story.  Johnny has worked out a scheme to rob the safe at Fun City, certain that the combination is the same as it was when they played there years earlier.  That will be their real payday, he informs the others.

The first glitch is the fact that Ricky, in a moment of unbridled enthusiasm while thinking of the band’s reunion, starts his pickup truck too fast and goes straight into a telephone pole.  He can’t play guitar with a broken hand so it looks as if the concert is off, much to Mo’s relief.

That is until Janice, Mo’s seventeen-year-old daughter, arrives from out-of-state, picks up Ricky’s guitar and starts playing the Sunshine Apocalypse’s songs, note perfect.  Now Mo doesn’t have an excuse not to rejoin the band, so with three original members and Janice he agrees to perform at Fun City.

But there’s one more problem, or at least one that isn’t lending itself to an easy solution.  Someone from their childhood has heard about their plan to rob the safe, and he’s cut himself in for a huge chunk of the money they plan to steal.  Derek was always someone to watch out for, even as a teenager, and it’s obvious  that he’s only gotten more dangerous with the years.

Michael Kardos’ novel is a delight, a mixture of tension and comedy that will keep you reading straight through to the end.  His characters, particularly Mo  and his daughter Janice, will have you rooting for them against the odds of Johnny’s weird plan and Derek’s frightening intrusion into it.

You can read more about the author at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.