Death of a Punk

by John P. Browner

Book by John P. Browner

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Maureen]

Back in the late 1970s when the music world was abuzz, punk rock took over lower Manhattan. First at Max's Kansas City and CBGBs, and then at the Mudd Club and a host of other locations, loud, raucous rock and roll was the name of the game. Browner told me that he wrote this as an "airport book," not intended to be more than an afternoon's entertainment. I recognized many, many people I knew in its pages. Virtually every character is based upon a real person, thinly veiled. As a light, fun artifact of its time, I give it three stars.

[Kimberly]

Takes one on a ride through the early Punk Rock Scene.

[Toffolotty]

Okay. John owns a great second hand store here in Munich. Once every two months I go there and spend hours in the pretty well-stocked crime section.

This book was pretty inspired and the writing is pretty good - the humor is a really nice touch. The story is in line with a lot of tropes and narratives found across decades in mass paperbacks, of which I'm growing into a huge fan. Some scenes are particularly well done. It does tend to get rather cheesy and maybe it's about 40-50 pages longer than it needs to be.

[Hope Broadway]

It was a quick read and kind of interesting. I am Gen X, so I knew to read this "for the time and place" and while unsavory things happened, I wasn't offended by them. I know they no longer happen, but they happened then....
I liked the references to real places and people. The Hairdos, especially.
It's a good story and read.

[Jordan West]

3.5; very much the first novel of a young writer, but by the end the strengths mostly balance out the weaknesses.