Platinum Blues

When I first spotted this book in a book shop's bargain bin, I didn't have any high hopes or inclination that I was about to read a classic legal thriller. The story twists and turns like a roller coaster and then when you think your equilibrium is nearing a state of normal, another twist throws it up in the air again. Small town lawyer Oliver Gulliver is down on his luck and feeling sorry for himself, until his daughter returns home. His joy is short lived as he discovers she is now dating a fading rock star with an drug addiction, CC Gilley. A strange friendship between the two men blossoms; Gilley is persuaded to go cold turkey and returns to writing songs for a comeback album. Gulliver is quickly drawn into the tale, when he called upon to test his advocacy skills after one of Gilley's songs is plagiarised by another band. His success starts him on a road to recovery, or so he thinks... A stunning read and which prompted me to devour the rest of the William Deverell canon like a starving man. In fact, it was the first book I have ever read, where I sent the author an e-mail to praise him on his work.

Oliver Gulliver is a small-town lawyer beset with problems and worries. He's just turned fifty, old enough to know that he's never going to be a hot-shot lawyer , but now he's even losing his bread-and-butter work to a dubious competitor.Family life is also fraught with anxieties. Oliver is a widower, having lost his wife eight years earlier to cancer. He's has sex once since then , and might never have it again. Just being a lone parent to two teenage girls is wearing him out.Things seem to get even worse when his eldest daughter Elora finds a new boyfriend - C.C. Gilley , a wreck of a rock star, almost destroyed by booze and drugs. Oliver is horrified, but gradually accepts that they are a genuine loving couple, especially when Gilley writes a new ballad "Small-Town Girl", in honour of Elora.When another band suddenly has a big hit with "Goin' Down for the Last Time", a track with very similar music and sleazy lyrics, Gilley is outraged and wants to sue for plagiarism. Oliver finally has his big lawsuit, his one chance for legal glory, his opportunity to sort out his life.The plot flows smoothly , it has the right legal and rock-music details and there are twists all the way. The sex scene, when it comes, is funny and touching.Buy this book, settle down with Springsteen, Tom Petty or Bachmann Turner Overdrive in the background, and enjoy!