Richard Blandford

Richard Blandford's Hound Dog is a vicious, snarling, slobbering beast that'll have your throat out soon as look at you. But it's also got heart and a whole load of funny. Not for the easily offended - but authors who worry about offending their readers aren't to be trusted anyway.

The star is Elvis, a fading Presley impersonator with a dark and unsettling past. However disturbing that past, it's nothing compared to what happens to him in the course of this novel. Hound Dog is one hell of a brutal book. There is murder. There is savage violence. There is gratuitous masturbation (but... isn't it all gratuitous?) There is sex, drugs, and yes, plenty of rock 'n' roll, though none of it is remotely glamorous - this Elvis even hates the King he sings. Then it gets dark. I was shocked at how dark. That scene by the swimming pool in the middle of the night? I really didn't see that coming. And yet... it's also curiously uplifting and had me crossing my fingers for a glimmer of regal redemption till the very last page. For all his flaws, this Elvis is a likable (I wouldn't go so far as to say lovable) rogue, and the author keeps you rooting for him throughout. Even when he kicks the shit out of Buddy Holly...

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A book about growing up, forming a band, and getting absolutely nowhere in your quest for fame and fortune. I don't believe I'm spoiling the plot by telling you this, as that's not really where you'll find the surprises. Instead they come from the developing characters of Chris (our weak-willed narrator, far too eager to be one of the lads for his own good), Ben (a good-for-nothing-except-playing-guitar layabout), Thomas (a thuggish, "pussy whipped" gang leader), Jase (perhaps the most sympathetic and likeable of the bunch - except he's the drummer), and Neil (an extrovert geek who may well be smarter than all of them... but will pay the price for his individuality). It's also a book about just how cruel and destructive teenagers can be, and naturally a book about learning to stand on your own two feet. Good quality rites of passage stuff.

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