Review: Puts the music back in your soul
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2014
Thrillers are not generally my genre, they normally leave me cold, but `Scrapyard Blues' is most definitely an exception. From the claustrophobic noirish opening to the jaw-droppingly brilliant twist at the end, this is a book I will return to time and again. I particularly liked JD as a character - cynical, bitter, and a shadow of the man he once was (after being falsely accused of murder and banged up for 25 years, following the lost weekend to end all lost weekends) but at the same time grimly and admirably determined to claw his life back and find out who the real murderer is. Mr Flynn's talent is that we really care for such a character, there's something about him that we really come to root for.For me, the most poignant passage comes when JD, freshly released from prison, unpacks his battered old Fender guitar from its case and explains to his nephew:`Good music has the power to make you leap about with joy or weep your heart out with sorrow. For me, rhythm and blues didn't just tug at the heartstrings it smashed into my chest, ripped the thing out and beat me over the head with it. Music was my life, Ben; it meant everything to me. When I was sent down I had to let it go, I couldn't let it be part of the equation, couldn't allow it inside those four walls - do you understand what I'm saying?'Well yes, I understand what JD is saying, he has locked the most precious part of himself - his music, and his love of playing it - away for the best years of his life. How he comes to rediscover it, and in the process rediscover himself, is a story of redemption that will touch your heart and yes, bring tears to your eyes.