Matt McAvoy Book Review

There’s something of a feel of pulp about this well-crafted and well-written crime/wartime thriller.  With its cast of an abused teenage runaway rock star, a vicious Vietnamese gangster, corrupt cops, a sleazy senator and a warzone murder cover-up and conspiracy, the ingredients are definitely there for the tangled narrative you would expect from noir fiction – of course, they must be connected, but there are generally two separate storylines going on across the anthology.  And connected well they are, by a hardworking, very serious professional author. 

Set in a tense and simmering 1968, against the backdrop of a Vietnam war which was very real for some, and significant growing racial tensions following the murders of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, there is a sadness to young Gloria’s desire to cling to the previous year’s summer of love, which by now must feel like a fake dream – a year after the events in this book, Manson would help put the illusion to bed once and for all.  What we are therefore left with is the anger, heartache, sadness and tension, mixed together in a superb pulp thriller melting pot to create a dark, creative stew.

I did feel that perhaps some of the points were laboured a little – the abuse Gloria suffered; her continually asserting her racial identity – and this helped contribute to what felt like a long book.  To be honest, it feels as if the theme of racial inequality is the fundamental one underlying all strands.  There was also a lot of dialogue, which could have been dispensed with; I would even go as far as to suggest that as much as a quarter of this book’s content could easily be trimmed to lower the word count, and it would certainly take nothing away.

A great read, raw at times and rough at others, Sunshine Blues really makes you feel in the time that it is set – this one of the most interesting years in America’s recent history.  Well recommended.