Author: Mike Baron
Genre: Action Adventure
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Publication Year: 2019
ASIN: B07VCG9RK5
Mike Baron is a biker and a prolific writer who is currently signed with Wolf Pack Publishing. He recently converted from Liberty Island Publishing to Wolfpack and this is book three in the series Bad Road Rising about a biker/private investigator. Wolfpack currently has over 100 authors cranking out adventure books, including biker novels.
A friend introduced me to Mike and I agreed to review one of his books. Since I wasn’t familiar with his line of Bad Road Rising, the title of the book caught me off guard, Not Fade Away. It didn’t seem to speak to anything, but if I read books one and two, I’m sure it would have clicked.
I don’t know if his other books are centered around the Rock and Roll music industry, but this one is. I tried to look up some of the groups mentioned and I’m not sure where fiction and reality meet. But if you’re a fan of ‘70s Rock and Roll, this puppy will keep you enthralled as Josh, the biker investigator finds himself chasing song rights. Here’s the book pitch.
Reformed motorcycle hoodlum Josh Pratt has had some curious cases, but this is the first time he’s been asked to find a missing song. After the late, great Wes Magnum wrote “Marissa,”‘ his band Cretacious rose from small-town Wisconsin to storm the world’s stages.
Marissa Yeager claims Wes wrote the song about her and gave it to her. But she’s never been able to prove her claim and now an insurance company is using it as a jingle. Marissa hires Josh to prove she owns the song.
Josh sets out to prove the impossible, embarking on a journey that will lead from the drug-fueled clubs of Hollywood to a tragic encounter with a ninja clan, and finally to a shattering discovery that will set the world of rock on its ass.
“Mike Baron scores big with this story!”
Author Mike Baron Mike Baron is the creator of Nexus (with artist Steve Rude) and Badger two of the longest lasting independent superhero comics. Nexus is about a cosmic avenger 500 years in the future. Badger, about a multiple personality one of whom is a costumed crime fighter. First/Devils Due is publishing all new Badger stories. Baron has won two Eisners and an Inkpot award and written The Punisher, Flash, Deadman and Star Wars among many other titles.
Baron has published ten novels that span a variety of topics. They have satanic rock bands, biker zombies, spontaneous human combustion, ghosts, and overall hard-boiled crimes.
Mike Baron has written for The Boston Phoenix, Boston Globe, Oui, Fusion, Creem, Isthmus, Front Page Mag, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
As I mention, he’s a prolific literary creator and his book contains a very readable style. Most chapters are less than three pages. It makes it a blast to skim through a chapter and return to your girl, a beer or working on your bike.
I’m about 2/3s the way through Not Fade Away and the story shifts from Wisconsin to Hollywood and back to Colorado. It takes you into mansions in Beverly Hills to hidden cannabis facilities in the hills of Colorado. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
