Garage Band by Adam Rabinowitz
Reviewed By Robyn
5 Stars
I received this book in an online competition and am THRILLED to have it as part of my collection now.
The Book
Lanthus Trilby is an actuary at an insurance company, a husband and father to an uninterested and unappreciative family and living under the shadow of a far more successful brother in law, which his wife Felicity never hesitates to remind him about. He’s given 17 years of his life to his job, so when the a**holes retrench him, he is less than impressed, in fact he’s down right ravenous for revenge. Meeting a bomb expert at a bar on Fathers Day (having slaved away for everyone else and getting no rest for himself), he finds himself plotting a scheme so great, the world would HAVE to stand up and pay attention.
A bomb expert, a gymnast/cage fighter, a university student/hacker, and The Lovers come together under Lanthus’ still developing leadership as The Garage Band. Failure is not an option.
What I loved 1. Lanthus’ internal dialogue had me in stitches, Adam has done an incredible job at making everything he comments on completely relatable and realistic. 2. The plot – there is no slow intro here, you’ve got your character introduction and then BOOM we’re straight into the story 3. I was desperate to fast forward to the last page. I couldn’twait to get to the end of this book, purely because I needed to know whether the GB succeeded or not.
What I didn’t love 1. Even though I couldn’t wait to get to the end, I didn’t want it to end.
I was beyond excited when I first read about this book, so when I received a copy I had to make sure I could devote 100% of my attention to it. Adam has managed to put together a story that remains focused on the main character, but still providing sufficient spot light for other characters that the tale never gets boring. The dialogue is witty, often sarcastic and even heart warming, as we see the bond of the group strengthen the closer to D-Day they get. Adam’s ability to describe the South African consumer hot spot of Sandton was brilliant, better words I could not have chosen. He even manages to incorporate just a hint of political scandal without dulling the overall tone of the book.
It is a fresh take on a well known subject of getting even with the ‘big dog’, never before have I felt as satisfied to read the words “You’re fired” as with this book.
