South Beach Shakedown: The Diary of Gideon Pike [Hardcover]

Don Bruns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Someone is about to make a killing in the music industry. Why would songwriting legend Gideon Pike mysteriously disappear just when he is about to turn his 30-year career into a multi-million dollar profit? Music columnist Mick Sever is back in Don Bruns' third suspense masterpiece. This time he's looking for answers and his missing friend in the gritty backrooms of South Beach's biggest nightclubs, dodging suicide speedboats and running from sniper fire. What surfaces is how the major players in the music industry are not making the headlines, they're just pulling the strings that create them. Hit it right and the royalties, even someone else's, can rake in millions for the rest of your life. The key is finding Gideon before Korean mobster Jimmy Shinn does. Jimmy is ready to cash in on the one secret that will bring Gideon to his knees and strip away what's left of his career, his fortune, and his life. Whoever gets to Gideon first will either save him or pull the trigger. The deadly race is on.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bruns substitutes exotic locale for suspense in his lukewarm third beach-based mystery (after 2003's Barbados Heat) featuring music journalist Mick Sever. Based in Chicago, Mick heads to Miami when he hears from his ex-wife, Ginny, that her client, legendary rocker Gideon Pike, has vanished. Pike's sudden disappearance leads Ginny, who's editing his forthcoming memoirs, to fear for his safety. Mick has saved Gideon's life before, and he turns detective once again to track him down, a quest that leads him to a seamy underworld of Korean gangsters and recording industry corruption. Bodies, gunfire and betrayals abound, but superficial characters and flat writing make for an unconvincing depiction of Sever's transformation from scribe to action hero. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In his third outing, rock-music journalist and amateur sleuth Mick Sever looks into the disappearance of Gideon Pike, whose legendary status comes as much from his offstage shenanigans as from his performing skills. Pike, who is writing his autobiography, has a fistful of enemies, any of whom might want him permanently silenced. Bruns, a veteran musician, clearly knows the music biz, and readers are sure to enjoy the behind-the-scenes material. Others may be less thrilled with the author's narrative style, which can swing dramatically from smooth to clunky. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933515023
• ISBN-13: 978-1933515021
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,666,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Bruns is a novelist, advertising executive, musician, songwriter, cook and painter who has no idea what he wants to do when he grows up. He's the author of nine books and was editor of the mystery/music anthology A Merry Band Of Murderers.

Don's published novels cover two series. One, a Caribbean thriller collection and two, the Stuff series, a humorous look at two twenty-four year old guys in South Florida who start their own detective agency and end up neck - deep in trouble. Skip and James from the Stuff series have often been compared to grown up versions of the Hardy Boys.

Jamaica Blue, Barbados Heat, South Beach Shakedown, St. Barts Breakdown and Bahama Burnout make up the Caribbean books. The Stuff series consists of Stuff To Die For, Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, Stuff To Spy For, and Don't Sweat The Small Stuff- which came out in December 2010. Bruns is currently working on the fifth Stuff book, Too Much Stuff.

His two series have won numerous awards, and the latest "Stuff" series has won a starred review in Booklist.

"Will remind the reader of Tim Dorsey's cast of whacked-out characters but with the narrative voice and feel of Mark Twain's Huck Finn."

Traveling the Caribbean for his Mick Sever series, or hovering around Miami for his "Stuff" series, Bruns enjoys the writing life. You can find him at http://www.donbrunsbooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Glam Slam for Bruns, December 6, 2006

By 

Sara L. Williams "mysteryfreak" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: South Beach Shakedown: The Diary of Gideon Pike (Hardcover)

The olives are for the pits in this glam slam number by musician turned novelist Don Bruns. Korean born mobster Jimmy Shinn chews green olives and drives an olive Lexus as he puts the squeeze on hapless superstar musician Gideon Pike. When Pike disappears after agreeing to a tell-all book, it's just another of Pike's usual disappearing acts, or so say his lyricist, his lawyer and his business manager. But rock journalist Mick Sever and his stunning ex wife Ginny, fear otherwise, especially after they gain access to Gideon's plush condo and find hints of Pike's anguish in his diaries. It doesn't help matters that Gideon's latest guy friend turns up dead on his yacht and Pike becomes a murder suspect. Mick finds himself on the wrong play list, fending off boats, bullets, bottles and fists. The pursuit of Pike through South Beach bistros, Little Havana and back streets of Coral Gables, Bruns lays Greater Miami bare, likening the sprawl "an aging lady without proper foundation garments." All right! Meanwhile, the hapless Jimmy Shinn, third generation scion of an old school Korean family puts the ultimate squeeze on Pike in a last-ditch effort to please Dad, only to be exposed by one of the little guys he so despises. Bruns serves up each of his novels with a new cocktail; Savor Southbeach Shakedown, I say. Here's a novel that goes down like a cold, sweet drink that fevers the brain while it freezes the gullet.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, October 26, 2006

By 

rustneversleeps (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Beach Shakedown: The Diary of Gideon Pike (Hardcover)

The character premise, a rock reporter who solves mysteries, is a great concept. The problem is, Mick Sever is not a likeable character. The story itself is halfway decent, but every chapter has Mick Sever reflecting in a loser-like depression all the regrets he has for leaving his perfect ex-wife Ginny. It gets old after a while.

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winning South Beach Mystery, October 31, 2010

By 

Edie Dykeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: South Beach Shakedown: The Diary of Gideon Pike (Paperback)

I just recently caught up with Don Bruns and his South Beach series of mysteries involving music columnist Mike Sever. Legendary songwriter Gideon Pike has gone missing. Mike's ex-wife is in the midst of writing Gideon's life story and because Gideon and Mike are longtime friends, Ginny enlists Mike's help to try to find the elusive star.

It soon appears that Mike and Ginny are not the only ones looking for Gideon. Korean mobster Jimmy Shinn is also trying to find Gideon. With untold millions of dollars on the line, whoever finds Gideon first will either save him or kill him.

This fast-paced mystery about the lucrative music industry and South Beach scene ended up being one of those books that keeps one up at night. It is a true page-turner that has all the action, mystery, twists and turns any good mystery should.

Looking forward to more Mike Sever (and Ginny?) mysteries.