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Head Case #1
Head Case
It's 1988 and Regi Sebastian is fighting to stay sober in order to save her marriage and keep her rock band on top of the charts. It's a life of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but will it finally be the end of the music world's favorite female drummer?
247 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 22, 2018
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Stone
8 books83 followersKathleen has been a freelance writer since 1999. Her work has appeared in Doll World Magazine, Apolloslyre.com, The Lake County Journals, Trails.com; USA Today, Livestrong.com, Essortment, eHow, Answerbag, Examiner.com, Suite101 and YahooVoices. She is the author of Missing From Me, Heatherstone, the award-winning novels Hey Jude, Tell Me You Love Me and Whispers On A String, and the Head Case Rock Novel Series (Head Case, Whiplash and Haven). She also has short stories published in the Secrets: Fact or Fiction I & II anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 18, 2020
This author seems to have a main focus of bands in her stories — specifically, historical bands from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s — and I think that’s really cool. I’ve read a few stories about bands before, but not very many so stories like these are a refreshing change to me.
I think that the author does a really good job getting the overall rock ‘n’ roll feel, and I think it matches up with the era the book takes place in really well, too. There are definitely some similarities with the other book I’ve read by this author, Whispers On A String, but there are also differences that make sense for the differing time periods. Whispers on a String mostly takes place in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s while Head Case takes place in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s so there’s about a 10-year cultural difference.
However, I think I like Whispers On A String more for the sole reason that the characters felt more developed. Whispers On A String did a really, really good job in letting me get to know Lonny and Roo and even the supporting characters. Meanwhile, Head Case is a lot shorter and, while that works for some stories, I felt like I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters like I could Lonny and Roo. In Head Case, they felt a bit underdeveloped, more like outlines than fully fleshed functioning characters.
Also, while I understand and appreciate the “chaotic, spontaneous” lifestyle of the rockstars in Head Case (another thing that I think Stone gets down pretty well), I just feel like there were a lot of plot events that were just sort of... glossed over. Like, they happened... but then they were never spoken of again and then didn’t really seem to have much impact on the rest of the plot.
I’ll give you two examples that come to mind:
A) I won’t give away their name for sake of spoilers, but there’s a character that literally takes the band hostage and threatens to kill them all and then themself. The situation calms down... but there’s no repercussions for the character. They aren’t reported to the authorities, they don’t seek mental help (mind you, this is late ‘80s, but I’m just throwing out examples), everything literally just... goes back to normal. The character is supposedly depressed, which is what causes The Situation, but even that is never brought up again. The character appears several more times throughout the story, and what they did is never referenced again.
B) Again, I won’t give away their name for sake of spoilers, but they go through a similar depressive episode and become suicidal, much like Character A. This character does not hold anyone hostage, but seeks out someone shady who is LITERALLY ABOUT TO HELP CHARACTER B COMMIT SUICIDE when they’re suddenly interrupted and everything is fine again. Much like Character A, everything goes back to normal, this depressive episode is literally never spoken of again.
I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence that both plot points involved someone trying to commit suicide, but I felt like it was all very loosely done. The plot points themselves could have been interesting as hell — reading them was certainly intense — but I just feel like they were poorly executed. (Perhaps that is... not the best wording... given the circumstances.)
As with the other book, Whispers On A String, Head Case reads a little choppily. Not nearly enough to be considered “unreadable,” in my opinion. It’s like... it’s *just* noticeable enough to pick up on and become somewhat annoying. There were some choppy sentences, some abrupt chapter endings. I just feel like this story could have been smoothed out by an editor just a liiittle bit more.
Overall, I certainly don’t think this was a bad book — I just, personally, prefer Whispers On A String. I think the length of Whispers was much more appropriate for the subject matter, the complex cast of characters and the intriguing plot events. But, I would still certainly check this book out if it sounds like your thing! As I said above, I don’t read about fictional bands a whole lot, especially not ones from historical eras, so I think the overall idea is hella interesting.
I think that the author does a really good job getting the overall rock ‘n’ roll feel, and I think it matches up with the era the book takes place in really well, too. There are definitely some similarities with the other book I’ve read by this author, Whispers On A String, but there are also differences that make sense for the differing time periods. Whispers on a String mostly takes place in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s while Head Case takes place in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s so there’s about a 10-year cultural difference.
However, I think I like Whispers On A String more for the sole reason that the characters felt more developed. Whispers On A String did a really, really good job in letting me get to know Lonny and Roo and even the supporting characters. Meanwhile, Head Case is a lot shorter and, while that works for some stories, I felt like I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters like I could Lonny and Roo. In Head Case, they felt a bit underdeveloped, more like outlines than fully fleshed functioning characters.
Also, while I understand and appreciate the “chaotic, spontaneous” lifestyle of the rockstars in Head Case (another thing that I think Stone gets down pretty well), I just feel like there were a lot of plot events that were just sort of... glossed over. Like, they happened... but then they were never spoken of again and then didn’t really seem to have much impact on the rest of the plot.
I’ll give you two examples that come to mind:
A) I won’t give away their name for sake of spoilers, but there’s a character that literally takes the band hostage and threatens to kill them all and then themself. The situation calms down... but there’s no repercussions for the character. They aren’t reported to the authorities, they don’t seek mental help (mind you, this is late ‘80s, but I’m just throwing out examples), everything literally just... goes back to normal. The character is supposedly depressed, which is what causes The Situation, but even that is never brought up again. The character appears several more times throughout the story, and what they did is never referenced again.
B) Again, I won’t give away their name for sake of spoilers, but they go through a similar depressive episode and become suicidal, much like Character A. This character does not hold anyone hostage, but seeks out someone shady who is LITERALLY ABOUT TO HELP CHARACTER B COMMIT SUICIDE when they’re suddenly interrupted and everything is fine again. Much like Character A, everything goes back to normal, this depressive episode is literally never spoken of again.
I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence that both plot points involved someone trying to commit suicide, but I felt like it was all very loosely done. The plot points themselves could have been interesting as hell — reading them was certainly intense — but I just feel like they were poorly executed. (Perhaps that is... not the best wording... given the circumstances.)
As with the other book, Whispers On A String, Head Case reads a little choppily. Not nearly enough to be considered “unreadable,” in my opinion. It’s like... it’s *just* noticeable enough to pick up on and become somewhat annoying. There were some choppy sentences, some abrupt chapter endings. I just feel like this story could have been smoothed out by an editor just a liiittle bit more.
Overall, I certainly don’t think this was a bad book — I just, personally, prefer Whispers On A String. I think the length of Whispers was much more appropriate for the subject matter, the complex cast of characters and the intriguing plot events. But, I would still certainly check this book out if it sounds like your thing! As I said above, I don’t read about fictional bands a whole lot, especially not ones from historical eras, so I think the overall idea is hella interesting.
November 1, 2022
The 1st book of a trilogy about a band named the Pages. Regi Sebastian is the drummer and main focus of the trilogy. She is married to the lead singer Mickey. There is also Murphy and Jesse. The 4 of them are good friends.
The 4 characters face many issues including love, broken hearts, drug and alcohol problems, and poor communication that leads to a very interesting story. Many twists. At times I want to yell at the characters to talk about what they think and feel, but they don't. The lack of talking leads to the roller coaster ride of joys, sorrows, success, and new beginnings for them thru the 3 books.
I advise to get all 3 so you can continue the journey at once and not delay knowing what happens next
The 4 characters face many issues including love, broken hearts, drug and alcohol problems, and poor communication that leads to a very interesting story. Many twists. At times I want to yell at the characters to talk about what they think and feel, but they don't. The lack of talking leads to the roller coaster ride of joys, sorrows, success, and new beginnings for them thru the 3 books.
I advise to get all 3 so you can continue the journey at once and not delay knowing what happens next
August 6, 2020
Be Prepared to Get Invested in These Lives
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Regi and Mickey and all the band members. This book is a roller coaster of emotions from beginning to end and I encourage you to ride along.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Regi and Mickey and all the band members. This book is a roller coaster of emotions from beginning to end and I encourage you to ride along.
November 21, 2021
Set in the late '80's, Head Case is a wild ride of a story that follows the antics of Regi, her husband Mickey, and their friends in the world of hard rock. Regi & Mickey are half of a successful rock band, and the other two members are close friends. However, when the story begins, they band has had a two-year hiatus in which Regi and Mickey recovered from a devastating motorcycle accident and dealt with Regi's alcohol addiction. Although Regi is sober now, she is taunted by the powerful desire to drink in times of stress or even if around anyone with alcohol on their breath. As promised in the blurb, this book delivers sex, drugs, and rock and roll, among other surprises. The characters are complex and well-drawn by the author and the plot a compelling one that kept me up past my bedtime! I recommend this book as a highly entertaining read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews