Last Dance at Studio 54

by Jack Ricardo

Experience this culturally-significant and world-famed (some would say infamous) disco that burned white bright during the latter half of the 1970s; where you will be lured to mix with the stoned, the famous, and the trendy faggots in a drug-drenched world Dante could only envy with lip-smacking pleasure.1977. NYC. Paul’s dope-addled mind confronts frightening forces as he wallows in the maw of Studio 54, where he meets Adam, another reforming addict. A powerful but rushed connection sparks between the two before they are forced apart. Paul is compelled to find out exactly who Adam was. He queries Andy Warhol at his studio, which leads him to the muddle of a middle-class town, which leads him to a small dark disco in the village, which leads him to the portentous refuse at the St. Marks baths, all leading and luring him back to Studio 54 where Paul purposefully mingles with Andy, Halston, Liza, Truman Capote and Roy Cohn until he is driven to confront and battle his own delusional beast of addiction.

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good read. At turns, from the protagonist POV, his journey is sad, sweaty, dangerous, terrifying, (SPOILER) and finally redemptive.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off stronger than the finish. A look at gay nightlife and its dangers in 1970's New York. The music references and the nods to the clientel that frequented Studio 54 seemed a bit generic. A guy is trying to investigate the past of a potential hook up who ends up dead before they can finish their date. His journey leads him to Andy Warhol's Factory- somehow he just walks right in and talks with him- to the VIP basement of 54 with Steve Rubell and Liza Minelli. It has a lot of potential (I love this time period of NYC), but would have had a stronger plot if he didn't pepper it with real people. I wanted more of a reason why the protagonist was so fixated on a dead man he knew from a couple pick up lines at a club.

[Cris West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pointless story, bad writing and no real ending.