Customer Reviews

The Drummer

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Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Toss in some secrets and a man on the run. What more could you ask for from a book? It's all there in The Drummer by Anthony Neil Smith.

Merle Johnson is a man of secrets. Lots of them. Deep, dark secrets that haunt him every day of his life. He wants to be left alone and have a "normal" life. So he moves to New Orleans and buys a former funeral home to live in, attempting to just blend in. But the secrets from his past come roaring back one night when a man from his former life shows up at the bar. Soon, the life Merle has tried so hard to put together begins to crumble right before his eyes. Not only might his secrets be exposed, but people's lives now hang in the balance. As he tries to hold everything together, Merle is pushed to his breaking point. Can he ever reclaim the quiet life he worked hard to create and so desperately desires?

I loved this book. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the book description, but this one sucked me in from the get-go and wouldn't let go. It's much more than just a book about rock 'n' roll; it's crime, love, and mystery all rolled up in one. An atmospheric story with grittiness throughout, you'll feel like you're on the run in New Orleans with Merle. Smith describes it as his "love song to New Orleans," and that's a very apt description. If you're a fan of authors such as James Lee Burke and Tom Piccirilli, make sure you read The Drummer. Or if you're a fan of good stories, read The Drummer. Heck, just go read The Drummer.

I discovered this from a promo in an amazon forum (so it does pay off). I was a rock fan in the 1980s and this certainly brought back memories for me. Descriptions of New Orleans were lush and detailed and I could have been there - same for the life of a rock star. I suspect the author secretly *was* a rock star and this may be an autobiography! :-)

Enjoyed this a lot. Rich, full of flavour and a great read.

Oh and to clear up any misunderstandings - I do not know the author. I just bought and read his book.

I will say one thing about this book. You don't have to have been to NOLA prior to Katrina, but it helps a lot. I had been twice myself but never made it back before the storm hit. So my cursory knowledge of the city helped me enjoy it and also gave the story a flavor of nostalgia. Thanks, ANS, by the way, since I was drunk when my friend took me to that bar where they had the flamenco dancing and I couldn't remember the name (El Matador). Wonder if it's still there.

Either way, this is a great noir thriller that takes the trope of the man escaping his past and gives it a fresh twist by having the hero escape not from gangsters, but from the world of hair metal, and the constant threat of the shame of a reunion tour hanging over his head that starts the plot going. Smith's passion for the city shines through and really makes you feel like the hero has something to lose - he's not just another drifter, he's found a home, and now he has to find a way to keep it.

If you're old enough to remember when hair metal was cool then you are caapable of appreciating this book. Maybe younger kids could but then they might find the flashbacks to the 80s to be funny instead of nostalgic and kind of sad.

I bought this a while ago but for some reason kept putting it off. Maybe I knew that when I started reading it, I'd have to finish it in one sitting. Smith really makes you feel like he knows this world of music and glamor as well as the gritty streets of New Orleans.

I recently discovered Smith's writing through his now available Kindle titles (loving my device). Seems his entire backlist is available for 99 cents each. Good man.

I picked up Choke on Your Lies and enjoyed it quite a bit, but that's a review for another page. Point is, I liked it well enough to buy the entire backlist (at 99 cents each, why not?)

I read a little of Yellow Medicine, but got distracted by life's bumps and wrecked cars, etc. So, I started on The Drummer.

I'm blown absolutely away. Crime fiction is crime fiction, and noir is noir. But, this is legit. This blurs the line between awesome and art. Drummer is a perfect story, perfectly told. There's not one slacked off moment in the writing. It's razor sharp like it's been through a number of top notch editors (but, knowing A. Neil is a fine editor, himself, I lay most of this praise at his own door, too). Drummer slices through the readers mind with laser precision and gives me a situation and a scenario so cool and just believable enough that I can sit back, take my hands off the wheel and cruise, because we're on masterful autopilot here.

Smith is definitely on his way to arriving full-blown on the scene of the crime/noir genre. Hell, I'd say he's one Raylan Givens level character away from being the next Elmore Leonard (and, maybe he's halfway there with his new Billy LaFitte books--don't know, haven't finished 'em).

If read only one book by Smith (and why would you read only one?), it has to be The Drummer.

Perfect.

Doc Smith knows New Orleans. You can feel it in this book. Doc knows the ins and outs of the human mind. The places and spaces he takes you to prove that. But the real soul of The Drummer is not the desperation of Mearle's course at the end of a life. The soul of the book is the unheard music. It's the beat that rumbles under your shoes, so real and strong while you're reading, that you keep looking down to see where it's coming from. The story is as real as the right-between-your-eyes smack of Gumbo, thick and black as bottom mud out of the river. But that's not the thang of it, brother. The thang of it is: Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, Armstrong, Willie The Lion, Neville (all of them Nevilles), Doctor John and too many other blues/jazz/zydeco/cajun/blackwater/slave/voudon voices to list. Broke down and broke out, it's the music of the town that Doc Smith plays for you. All the music, all of it in history, playin' in your head while you're reading about dirty deeds and desperate people in a definitive city. Doc writes New Orleans from a real knowledge of that broken glass place. Like Big Bill Broonzey used to say about Jack Daniels Black Label: "Man don't like that? He gotta be crazy."
Same thing for The Drummer.