Customer Reviews

The Day the Music Died

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author has another winning book, but don't expect much stimulation from it; it is an easy read, but that is not a bad thing. The characters and story are interesting, but there isn't much challenge to it, so you can just flow along until the end, and you will have a nice, entertaining time. Unhappily, the author is guilty of having some of his characters be more "politically correct" than would have been the case in '50s Iowa; it seems he is inserting his own sensibilities more often than is reasonable. At that time, people were both good and bad, as in most times, but they weren't as conscious of some of the distinctions then as now. In those days, newspapers and politicians weren't always beating everyone over the head about how they should think, and yelling at us to be so "inclusive." Even the most open-minded people then developed their own ideas and morals, with help from family and close friends, but the media didn't press us with many ideas and names. So the author's characters are nicely done, but their "politically correct" pronouncements are jarring and seem out of place for time and place of the story. But if a nice, easy read is what you need, and all of us do at times, then this should be satisifying.

Initially, I was really excited and ready to read this "historically accurate" mystery, because I have always loved Buddy Holly's music and the period it came from. All the pre-publication reviews talked about how wonderfully Gorman evoked the period and had researched his subject.

Well, it's difficult to buy into the research the author did, considering he got the date that Buddy Holly died, ie. "the day the music died" WRONG!!! Big time oops.

Tried to get into the book but found it pretty lame for a mystery and worse as historical fiction.

"Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm." Now that's a direct quote from The Fifties Website and it conforms to the date of the first scene in the novel. Frankly, I don't remember the exact date of Buddy's death myself, but that WAS my senior year in high school in a small midwestern town, and I do remember much of the setting and the evocative details of "The Day the Music Died". The accuracy is there, as is the emotions and the social pressures of that age: this story of abortion, murder, and jealousy is in itself a tale of the repressed '50's. It's populated by my long-forgotten friends in poodle skirts and saddle shoes, their uptight parents and repressed aunts and uncles, and the bipolar behavior of a teenaged generation breaking loose from the past. This a wonderful mystery novel: well written, well designed, and suspenseful. I'm anxiously waiting for more novels by Ed Gorman.

I almost put this book down after the first page. How much can you expect from a story built around a famous event when neither the writer nor the editors have bothered to learn when it happened? On the off chance that the author was playing with time for some surreal purpose yet to be revealed I kept reading. No surrealism here - just a straightforward mystery yarn, notable for its humor, interesting characters and very successful evocation of the "late fifties." I'm glad I read it, and that's disturbing because sloppy editing almost scared me away. Dare we hope for a sequel - "The Day Camelot Died, Nov. 22, 1962"?

The characters and action in this book are possessed of a political correctness that did not exist in the Heartland (or probably anywhere else) at the time (whichever time that happens to be - February 3, 1958 or 1959 - see previous reviews.) In a time when June Cleaver wore chic dresses and real pearls everyday to wash & wax the kitchen floor, the author expects us to believe that one of the main characters is a FEmale judge and another main female character intends to go to law school? It just wasn't like that then.

Another error - let's try a little sing-a-long here: o/~ 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 . tell the people what she wore. She wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weenie, _____ polka dot bikini o/~ The author gets gonged here because he says it was pink. [p. 154, original hardcover ed.] Those of us old enough to know better will tell you it was yellow.

The mystery is just so-so and the ambiance the author takes pains to create is simply not credible because he needed fact checks!

As many have pointed out, the date that Buddy Holly died is wrong, and song lyrics are misquoted. There are other copyediting errors as well. We are told that the Judge's grandfather was shipped out to Iowa after disgracing the family back east. But later it becomes the judge's greatgreatfather. There are other such minor gaffes. But far worse, especially for a novel in this genre, the hero solves the mystery with the help of a verbal clue referring to something a character said earlier. But I went back and reread that passage several times and the key line was never said! For a mystery such an error is disgraceful. Didn't anybody read this book before it went to press? All that aside, this is a minor but reasonably entertaining effort, with a nice breezy style and a likeable protagonist. There is little real suspense, however, and the author seems far more interested in depicting the late '50s small town Iowa setting than in building a creditable mystery. The "solution" to the crime seems tacked on and half-hearted.

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED has a promising premise, historical setting and protagonist but is ultimately disappointing. Gorman labors at working in the historical details--there's no feeling of the references to foods, music, architecture, prejudices, etc. coming up naturally in the course of the action. The murderer doesn't feature strongly enough early in the plot to be believeable. Finally, Gorman is gratuitously offensive when his protagonist is reluctant to shake hands with the coroner who has Psoriasis. Whose ignorance is Gorman proclaiming? His own or his character's?

I was at the library and saw this book at the paperback rack. I had never read his work but saw in the back cover that he was getting great reviews. I have read another of his books since. Sam McCain the lead character is a very lovable guy. As a short man I couldnt help but liking him. Set in the late 50s it is a fun read. Very real characters. Very readable prose. I will read anything I can find from Ed Gorman.

As historical fiction, and as a mystery, this books fails. Besides occasional references to convertibles and AM radio, the story could have been from any time. The mystery is uninvolving, and ultimately dissappointing.

The author of this new book has given his readers a REAL PERSON to follow around in a REAL PLACE. One almost forgets that this is a mystery novel as Sam McCain's life, loves, family, hopes, dreams, and nightmares truly come alive as if he's somebody you know. There are a lot of stories in Black River Falls, Iowa, and each one of them holds your interest. The dustjacket says it's the beginning of a new series. I hope so.