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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fitzhugh's New "Track" is a Big Success, October 5, 2004
This book by Fitzhugh is different, in some good ways, from his previous books, though the trademark keen wit, action-filled plot, and memorable characters are still there. In reading some of the other reader reviews, while most of his fan club loved this book as much as I did, I saw that a couple of readers complained that it was not the "same" as his other works. I think that these readers simply failed to appreciate the added depth of this book. As a writer should, Fitzhugh seems to be maturing. This book retains the ribald humour that we have come to depend on from Fitzhugh, but it also probes deeper into real life. I think that it's a great direction for him to go in, as this book demonstrates that real life can be more entertaining, unpredictable and rewarding than the lighter, more improbable yarns that certain readers seem to want Fitzhugh to spin out.
Unlike Fitzhugh's previous works, which often featured outrageous, hilarious, though implausible, scenes, Radio Activity is more grounded in reality - which I liked. The protagonist, Rick Shannon, is an Everyman, slogging along from paycheck to paycheck. He is someone whose many hard knocks and few successes we can all identify with. But Rick is more than just another "schmo" - he also is a hero, fighting - on the very brink of the yawning, black hole of pasturized rock that the Modern Big Radio Industry has become - to promote a music format that retains and revitalizes the heart and essence of true, classic, rock'n roll. In the course of pulling hard for Rick and his cool cast of DJ's to win the musical battle against corrupt Management and the Industry, as well as for Rick to succeed in solving the murder mystery and in finding real love in mid-life, the reader also learns fascinating details about the history and nuances of rock music and famous rock musicians. Fitzhugh is clearly on home turf when he writes about rock music in a deep South setting.
This a highly entertaining read, with plenty of humour, intrigue and action, that also makes a powerful statement about the sad state of affairs of present-day rock'n roll as played on the radio. By the time I reached the exciting conclusion of Radio Activity, the close relationship I had developed with Rick left me wanting to know what humourous life adventures lie ahead for him, as he seems to be, at last, poised to ascend in his radio career, as well as in his love life.
This is one of Ftitzhugh's best, and represents a promising new direction for him.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In Fitzhugh's hands crime doesn't pay - but its lots of fun!, May 2, 2004
In his previous novels mystery author Bill Fitzhugh has used various industries as backdrops for his stories, including pest control, biotechnology, organ transplantation (both human-to-human and animal-to-human), country music, and advertising. In RADIO ACTIVITY, his latest effort, Fitzhugh sets his sites on the radio industry. Rock and roll deejay Rick Shannon has seen better days. Media giant Clean Signal Corporation (a jab at real-life media monster Clear Channel) has gobbled up the radio station that had provided him with gainful if less than glamorous and far less than artistically satisfying employment. His vast and precious record collection turns out to be worth far less where he is, in Bismarck, North Dakota, than it would be elsewhere, which is exactly where Rick would like to be. So when he is offered the seven-to-midnight shift on classic rock station WAOR in McRae, Mississippi, he packs his stuff into his pick-up and heads for yet another radio gig, his fifteenth in twenty years. What Rick finds in McRae is ultra-smarmy WAOR station manager Clay Stubblefield. Clay informs Rick on his arrival that he has already been promoted to program director, the position having been vacated thanks to the disappearance of notorious cokehead Jack Carter. Rick accepts the news with something less than full enthusiasm. But a man without a paycheck is easily swayed. At Clay's invitation Rick moves into Carter's abandoned mobile home. After settling in Rick finds a reel-to-reel tape, apparently hidden by Carter, of a telephone conversation between Stubblefield and an unidentified man. The blackmail-worthy chit-chat on the tape, coupled with Carter's sudden absence, leads Rick to suspect that Carter may have been using the tape in an ill-fated plan to siphon cash from the unctuous Stubblefield. Rick's growing curiosity about Carter's fate and the truth behind the tape proves as powerful a lure as the abundant blue eye shadow preferred by Traci, WAOR's deliciously trashy receptionist. The story that ensues deftly combines all the necessary ingredients of a first-rate murder mystery with a remarkably detailed and fascinating dissertation on the definition and nature of classic rock, the current state of the radio business, and the homogenization of America as big media's search for the all-important mass audience dilutes what's left of local and regional color to the muddy charcoal gray of the asphalt parking lots that are rapidly becoming the dominant feature of the American landscape. Fitzhugh's reputation for memorably off-center characters and crisp, comical dialogue is fully in evidence here. But having come of age in the era when AM top 40 began to give way to FM album-oriented rock (it was called underground or progressive music back then), I was particularly enthralled by the remarkable detail in which the music of the era was discussed. Fitzhugh, through protagonist Rick Shannon, mentions bands and songs that I haven't heard since I was a teenager, and the effect was an odd mix of nostalgia for those times and anger at what bean-counters and market research types have done to rock and roll. A couple of recent newspaper stories about the wildfire success of satellite and Internet radio coincided with my reading of RADIO ACTIVITY, and the thought of the pending demise of whatever rock and roll radio has become added an extra dimension to my enjoyment as I rooted for Rick Shannon to solve the mystery of Jack Carter's fate and make a success of the truly classic rock format he has devised for WAOR. RADIO ACTIVITY offers plenty to satisfy mystery fans and music fans alike. The research into the history of the music of the late sixties and early seventies rivals that of the technical research that goes into Tom Clancy novels. But the information is blended seamlessly into the story, or more to the point, into Rick Shannon, which makes his character all the more interesting. And Rick is but one of a menagerie that includes good ole boys, cranky roadhouse waitresses, bent cops, assorted local ne'er do wells, and some eccentric good guys for balance. In Fitzhugh's hands crime doesn't pay, but it rocks, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. --- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Half And Half, September 6, 2005
This review is from: Radio Activity (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is an enjoyable read, especially for those true music fans who can only imagine a radio station that would care as much for the music as the do at WAOR. As far as a music/detective novel, I'll give it 50% on both sides. The music references were SUPURB, but it's a detective novel. The private investigator that Rick will become will hopefully spawn a little more excitement and not be quite as predictable. Overall, once again, it was an enjoyable read. It was my first from this author and I will definitely pick up another of his novels.
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