Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Genre:
Contemporary Fiction/Paranormal/Humor/Satire
Approximate
word count: 70-75,000
words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
“As
a singer/songwriter, Ty Hager's humorous songs have been heard on Dr.
Demento, and Bob and Tom, as well as on XM Radio. As a radio
broadcaster, he's hosted morning shows in several markets, and his
syndicated country music interview program, Behind
the Hits,
aired for thirteen weeks during the summer of 2011 on the American
Forces Radio Network.
He turned those complete interviews into Nashville
Songsmiths - In-Depth Interviews with #1 Country Songwriters.
He's also been a professional stand-up comic, and has written two
screenplays, numerous short stories, and his name in the snow. Many
times.
Diary
of a Dead Guy
is his first novel. It's about freakin' time.”
For
more, visit Mr Hager's website.
Description:
“Harvey
Boyd is a small-town radio newsman who thinks the biggest story of
his career is the murder trial of Angel Whaley, accused of offing her
husband – rising country star Jared Whaley – in his dressing room
before a show at a local nightclub.
He has
no idea.
Following
a field trip to the station by a group of sixth-graders, Harvey finds
a suspicious document uploaded to his laptop. It had to have been put
there by that quiet kid who’d slipped away from the tour and been
caught at the computer, yet there’s no way this twelve-year-old
redneck could have written the words. They tell the story of a
middle-aged country singer, murdered just as his career was taking
off. It’s written with intelligence and humor. It’s written in
the first-person. It’s written in the past tense.
Harvey’s
about to become a part of the biggest story of his career.
Diary
of a Dead Guy
is part ghost story, part outrageous comedy, and part
whimsical-yet-sobering look at some of the harsh realities of the
country music business. Alternating between the first-person memoirs
of the suddenly-deceased Jared and the narrative tale of a small town
turned upside-down, it describes what can happen when the
unfathomable thrusts itself upon the innocent, leaving no other
option than to believe.”
Appraisal:
I
picked this book up because I had a reading hangover, I needed
something really different to shake me out of my slump. This book did
it in spades. Jared Whaley was a country songwriter and singer that
had a lot of irrepressible charm. On the downside he was also
belligerent and obstinate. I don’t know anything about the country
music business but everything related in the story sounded honest,
realistic, and absolutely believable. This helped lend to the
authenticity of that part of the story. Harvey Boyd’s character,
the small town radio newsman, also carried the same credibility. As
well as the ego of the high-powered lawyer, Marshall Laughlin, hired
by Angel’s wealthy father to represent her in her defense for the
murder of Jared Whaley.
Willard
Blevins, a twelve-year-old with a new laptop, inexplicably starts
channeling Jared’s spirit. Jared wants his story told from the very
beginning, and he has chosen poor Willard to type out his story. Ty
Hager, the author, often breaks the fourth wall in the story, which
is told from different points of view in alternating chapters. I
found it engaging and entertaining as we learn more about Jared’s
life story. There are laugh-out-loud scenes as well as suspenseful,
emotional, and heartbreaking scenes, with twists and turn of events
that could not be foreseen. Diary
of a Dead Guy has the
whole gambit, adventure, sex, drugs, comedy, country music, and rock
and roll, from Oklahoma, to Texas, to Tennessee and back again. It
was a joyful ride most of the time that I couldn’t wait to get back
to in the evening. I sure enjoyed it.
However
there is one thing I have to mention. I found an inconsistency in
Chapter 26 where Mack, Willard’s father, was silenced by a sharp
look from Harvey. When on the page before Harvey had left the judge’s
chamber to follow Angel after she ran from the room to the lady’s
room. It was a minor inconsistency that didn’t really impact the
story-line and since the rest of the editing was good I am not going
to take away a star. This is a creative, unique, and entertaining
tale that deserves five stars. I will happily read anything else
written by Ty Hager.
FYI:
Lots
of swearing and F-bombs. There is also some sexual content that may
not be suitable for some readers.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Nothing
to speak of except what I mentioned above in my review.
Rating:
***** Five stars
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