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The evidence is clear: David Hiltbrand’s years as a journalist reporting on pop culture has given him inside perspective on celebrity culture. The pages of his newest novel, DEADER THAN DISCO (Avon Books/An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers; On Sale March 29, 2005; ISBN: 0060554118; $6.99 U.S. / $9.99 Can.), the follow up to KILLER SOLO, are crammed with witty parodies on today’s top performers. The book provides a tongue-in-cheek look at the music industry, as seen through the eyes of a cynical former record industry talent scout-turned-private eye. In his latest adventure, Jim McNamara, the very unlikely hero, must protect Angel, a super-successful diva singer whose headline-grabbing antics just peaked with the accusation that she murdered a flamboyant NBA star.Just when things don’t look like they can get any stranger, Angel vanishes...and McNamara is the only one who can find her. But what seems like an easy assignment—track down one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world—proves harder than expected. McNamara discovers that Angel is a woman who has stayed on top for decades by learning to transform and redefine herself, an ability she deploys with great skill when her life, and secrets from her past, are at stake.
DEADER THAN DISCO roadtours from Los Angeles to New York to Detroit in a desperate search to find one of the world’s most controversial celebrities. But why is Angel on the run if, as her entourage professes, she’s innocent? It’s up to McNamara to find out and bring Angel home, or her next hit will be her last.
PRESS
Philadelphia Enquirer
Posted on Sun, May. 01, 2005
Mystery is a funny satire of music bizYour browser may not support display of this image.
Reviewed by David J. Montgomery
Deader Than Disco
By David Hiltbrand
Avon. 304 pp. $6.99
Although there have been numerous excellent satires of Hollywood and the film industry written in recent years (Michael Tolkin's The Player and Terrill Lee Lankford's Earthquake Weather are two that come immediately to mind), the music industry has not suffered similarly at the hands of writers.
This is likely not due to a lack of material - from the outside, at least, the denizens of the music biz appear every bit as wacky as their movie counterparts. But even the great Elmore Leonard, who scored with the brilliant Get Shorty, stumbled with its music-oriented sequel, Be Cool.
Inquirer writer David Hiltbrand has set out to fill that gap, and in the process he has written one of the funniest books of the year. Deader Than Disco is a dishy mystery that only a wise and witty observer of the music scene could write, and we can be thankful he did, as it's a riot to read.
One of the country's most popular rock stars, a character transparently based on Madonna who goes by the name of Angel, has been accused of murdering a controversial and colorful NBA player. Private investigator Jim McNamara, who specializes in cases involving rock stars, is called in to help with the defense.
What McNamara finds is a world of comic excess fueled by egos gone wild, celebrity worship, and way too much money. The P.I. finds it hard to do his job, considering that he can't even talk to his client the first half-dozen times they meet. As McNamara learns, Angel is constantly surrounded by such a persistent coterie of aides, cronies, and sycophants of varying stripe that it's hard to imagine she was ever by herself long enough to commit murder.
Eventually he begins to uncover a smattering of clues, most of which lead in the direction of Angel's sociopathic actor ex-husband, Cam, a man who bears more than a passing resemblance to noted bad-boy thespian Sean Penn. Hiltbrand isn't above thumbing his nose at Hollywood when he has the chance, and who better to lampoon than a pretentious, insecure actor?
Part of the fun of Deader Than Disco is the inside observations of the music world, most of which are uncomplimentary, to say the least. Madonna isn't the only victim of Hiltbrand's acid pen, although she gets the worst of it. "The most successful strumpet in history" is one of his kinder descriptions of Angel.
McNamara shares his observations about other stars as well, writing that Sheryl Crow is "vain and self-absorbed" and that he'd have "nightmares about Gwyneth Paltrow for the rest of [his] life." (His thoughts on Paltrow's husband, musician Chris Martin of Coldplay, can't be shared in a family newspaper.)
Even absent the juicy gossip and satire, Deader Than Disco works quite well as a mystery. McNamara is a fine character, a humane and intelligent investigator cut from the same cloth as Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder. (McNamara, too, is a friend of Bill W.'s.)
What's more surprising is how sympathetic Angel turns out to be as we get to know her. Initially a relentless caricature of a pop diva, she's actually a warm and decent person at heart, and the more McNamara (and the reader) get to know her, the more we're able to see that Hiltbrand isn't just trying to skewer egos. He's also creating real characters worth reading about.
Whether attracted by the insider's view of the music industry, or looking for a good mystery story well told, readers will find much in the very lively Deader Than Disco to enjoy.