myself?) and Googled. Not only did several helpful reviewers "spoil" the ending for me, I found that the majority of readers found the book either "meh" or "haaaaaated it". Many panned it for having a REALLY unlikeable protagonist (the ghost writer), having an unlikeable secondary character (Anke) and for being both too derivative* AND not enough like Daisy Jones and the Six. Glad I didn't waste any more time than I already did.
* one thoughtful reviewer did a breakdown of how almost *exactly* like the Rolling Stones the fictitious Midnight Ramblers are. I mentioned both having band members mysteriously drown (Mal in the book, Brian Jones IRL) but...the MR's guitarist is "heavily into drugs and likes to dress like a pirate" (aka Keith Richards). Anke's name is similar to Anita Pallenberg (sp?), the RL groupie who dallied with Brian Jones before settling with Keith...in the book, Anke dallies with Mal (the band's singer) before settling with Dante (the Keith-like guitarist). The lead singer of the MR--Jack--has 8 kids by 6 women...Mick Jagger has 8 kids by 5 women.
Incidentally, the author is a music journalist so it's pretty obvious the Midnight Ramblers--"Midnight Rambler" being the name of a Rolling Stones song--is just her vanity project, a fictionalized retelling of the Stones' story.
