Roadie Hardcover – February 1, 2016

I've read Mr. Massey's (non-fiction) books about the music and recording industries and didn't know what to expect from his first novel on the subject. It was easy to pick up one of his previous books and read a few chapters at a time but found myself totally engrossed in Roadie. I only put it down to recharge my reader. I came away with a new understanding of the life of touring rock musicians and the people they must deal with to make a living. The plot has all the features of a Wagnarian Opera including Sex, Mystery, Deceit, Intrigue, Theft, Adultry, Murder, Sex, Drugs, and of course Rock and Roll. Highly recommended.

How many of us (mostly guys) were in garage bands in our early teens? A lot I'd guess. And every now and then one of those bands actually sticks with it and rises into the music biz, with all it's temptations, megalomaniacs, groupies, heartaches, double crossings and the rest of pandora's evils. ROADIE is about such a band, and a group of friends and how they survive (or don't) in the insanity of the life of a professional musician. With well written characters and too many plot twists to write here, ROADIE takes us on a journey that on some level we know (think Axl Rose, the Band, Jimi Hendrix and countless others) but we're still shocked to see all the machinations that fray friendships and yet great music can still somehow rise to the top. A great page-turner. You'll swear you know this music of this band, and maybe swear you saw them too, decades ago. This speaks well of the skills if the author. Massey gives us a peek inside a world most of us know only slightly. It's a wild ride but one more than worth taking.

First saw this on a tiered display at the Sam Ash store in Midtown, decided to check it out (anything getting valuable counter space must have some hook) - and I'm glad I did. It's a fun read inspired by the life of Ian Stewart (original Rolling Stones member) with a bit of "local bar band" scene, big time arena rock, back stage pass and thriller/mystery threads woven through it. The dichotomy in story-telling (transcribed interviews with a secondary character who provides all of the exposition and first-person narrative of the present storyline) keeps the book moving without diversions while also adding humorous color commentary on the proceedings. A nice pairing with Bill Graham's autobiography, making the right-of-center characters seem all the more real.

Loved this book and couldn't put it down. The music industry references and revelations were very entertaining but more than that, this very well writen tome has some real insights into the human condition regardless of the thematic focus. So even if you've never been in a band, and have never been directly involved in the music business, I'll bet you've been to a concert or two and that's all the point-of-entry you'll need to thoughly enjoy this book.

Music, history and a great mystery all wrapped up in this inside look of the story of a good band gone bad. I completely enjoyed this tangled yet so clearly described look at the intrigue and dealings in an industry totally unknown to me. Massey weaves a tale of love and betrayal and hate and betrayal so vivid it kept me reading and reading. Then the ending is amazing. I'm not giving it away. You'll have to read it yourself and follow the music. The writing is excellent. The plot even more so.

So much fun. Great characters that HM brings to life. Interesting in about 100 different ways. Just a great read. I really could not put it down. Funny, sad,, shocking and full of real time life wisdom.

An ok story but not a life changer. Also a bit tedious in places and full of poorly developed characters. Read the Tom Petty bio for a well written and much more realistic take on the Rock and Roll machinery.

What a terrific book Roadie is! This richly told story of a rock band has everything going for it –characters both flawed and fascinating, scenes of hilarity, pathos, and drama, and fast-paced plot and sparkling dialogue. I was thoroughly immersed in the world Massey creates. The book has a complex structure. It opens with a cliffhanger – Cody, the roadie of the title, original band member, and the most talented musician among them, is near death. The question of whether or not he will survive hovers at the back of the reader’s mind all the way through the book. Next we follow the trials and tribulations of Bernie, who is under contract and late with a book he is writing about Hitch (lead singer heart throb) and trying to unlock the mystery about where the star has disappeared to, and why. Interspersed is the history of the band told in first-person interviews of Donny (bass player and business manager). Roadie has all the things one expects in a novel of rock stardom – sex and drugs, love and lust, rivalries and betrayals, the all-too-familiar disheartening downward spiral. As Donny says, the hunt for “the Holy Grail of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a recording contract, is really “the start of a whole series of problems, promises, commitments, and entanglements that only rarely lead to fame and fortune.” Roadie, though, is so much more – it joins the ranks of the great classic novels of ambition and greed. Massey writes with verve and wit, and often great beauty. “Hinch shook his long locks and gazed skyward as if appealing to the very ghost of Jimi Hendrix. Cody responded with a lightning-fast blues run from the bottom of the neck all the way up to the highest note, sustained and screaming through the gloom of stale air. For an instant it seemed as if the earth and the moon and the sun and the stars all hung motionless, frozen in time.” Masterfully told and thoroughly enjoyable, Roadie is the real deal -- a must read that will join the pantheon of great novels with a music theme.

I have great respect for this author's works of non-fiction, most of which I have read. I wonder whether, in being let off the leash of factual restraint, he has run a little too wild with Roadie, for the book frequently lurches from insider authenticity to cliche caricature. Unsure whether it is supposed to be an expose of the rock business or a pulp detective novel, Roadie crams in plot by the plenty, delivered in a breathless, slightly hysterical style. There is no doubt that it's a rollocking read, packed as it is with sex and drugs and rock & roll, but overall one is left wishing that had a little less ass and a little more class.