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#Zero
Young, sexy, smart and brilliant, a 24-7 #genius and multi-hyphenated (singer-songwriter-rapper-producer) next level superstar for the digital generation. According to his publicist at least.
He's also an obnoxious, narcissistic, insecure, hyperactive, coke-snorting, pill-popping, loud-mouthed, oversexed, misogynistic, misanthropic maelstrom of contradictions skating over the thin ice of terminal self-loathing. But that is all part of the attraction.
He has touched down in New York with his sycophantic entourage for the simultaneous launch of a new single/album/movie/tour. It is countdown to Year Zero. But the mixed race Irish-Colombian boy (Pedro Ulysses Noone to what's left of his shattered family) at the centre of the media feeding frenzy is cracking up. Inside the echo chamber of his own skull, he isn't sure he deserves all the attention, doesn't even know if he wants it anymore and is being driven half mad by the mysterious absence of the love of his life. His fiancé, legendary singer and actress Penelope Nazareth, is all over the internet canoodling with a co-star on the set of an Aztec epic shooting in the Amazon jungle.
As the crucial hour of Zero's launch approaches the young star cuts and runs, pursued by paparazzi, news reporters, fans, fortune hunters and his Mephistophelian manager Beasley.
He's about to find out that when you have the most famous face in the world, you can run … but you can't hide.
He's also an obnoxious, narcissistic, insecure, hyperactive, coke-snorting, pill-popping, loud-mouthed, oversexed, misogynistic, misanthropic maelstrom of contradictions skating over the thin ice of terminal self-loathing. But that is all part of the attraction.
He has touched down in New York with his sycophantic entourage for the simultaneous launch of a new single/album/movie/tour. It is countdown to Year Zero. But the mixed race Irish-Colombian boy (Pedro Ulysses Noone to what's left of his shattered family) at the centre of the media feeding frenzy is cracking up. Inside the echo chamber of his own skull, he isn't sure he deserves all the attention, doesn't even know if he wants it anymore and is being driven half mad by the mysterious absence of the love of his life. His fiancé, legendary singer and actress Penelope Nazareth, is all over the internet canoodling with a co-star on the set of an Aztec epic shooting in the Amazon jungle.
As the crucial hour of Zero's launch approaches the young star cuts and runs, pursued by paparazzi, news reporters, fans, fortune hunters and his Mephistophelian manager Beasley.
He's about to find out that when you have the most famous face in the world, you can run … but you can't hide.
417 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
6 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Neil McCormick
8 books4 followersNEIL MCCORMICK, a Senior Vice President at Talent2, has 30 years’ experience in international management, human resources and consulting.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 17, 2019
Zero is a internet famous rock star who goes through the typical motions we expect. Sex, drugs, and rock n roll. The book opening drags on with these cliches before spiraling into a bizarre search for Zero's true self which I just didn't buy. To invent a "rock star" when there are so many real life ones out there is a difficult task to get people to buy into, and I just didn't get invested in Zero.
April 3, 2019
Zero is a very 21st century rock star, catapulted to global fame from social media. But with that fame comes an ever present entourage and a non-stop treadmill of commitments. When it all gets too much and he runs away from an awards ceremony he discovers that having a famous face makes it hard to hide. What starts as an attempt to escape turns into a journey into his own past.
McCormick does a great job of getting inside the head of a character who is self-obsessed but also deeply insecure. Sometimes that’s not an especially nice place to be but the narrative is rescued by a leavening of humour.
The book feels a little too self-indulgently descriptive at times, however, it’s an entertaining read with an ending that I didn’t see coming.
McCormick does a great job of getting inside the head of a character who is self-obsessed but also deeply insecure. Sometimes that’s not an especially nice place to be but the narrative is rescued by a leavening of humour.
The book feels a little too self-indulgently descriptive at times, however, it’s an entertaining read with an ending that I didn’t see coming.
Want to read
June 10, 2019Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This book is about a very narcissistic rock star. It gives us a peek inside his brain and it's not pretty. Perfect book for the times. I really enjoyed this and loved all the song lyrics thrown in.
April 22, 2019
Dynamic, fast paced and full of comedy genius ... I received a copy of this for an honest review / blog tour - read the full review here: https://www.gemmaromanbooks.co.uk/boo...
April 27, 2019
This book deals with an unusual theme and is written in a even more unusal way.
Zero is a main character with whom it is easy to empathise even though he is not the nicest character around and that is part of the reason why this book is so good.
This book is a perfect x-ray of our times dealing with themes such as racism, fame, social media and climate change.
Being a book about a rockstar there are some song lyrics inside and I was surprised with how much I would like to listen to them being played by a real band. Even the sentences carried a poetry within themselves. This book is masterfully written and I can barely wait for whatever Neil McCormick writes next
Thank you to Unbound and NetGalley for this ARC.
Zero is a main character with whom it is easy to empathise even though he is not the nicest character around and that is part of the reason why this book is so good.
This book is a perfect x-ray of our times dealing with themes such as racism, fame, social media and climate change.
Being a book about a rockstar there are some song lyrics inside and I was surprised with how much I would like to listen to them being played by a real band. Even the sentences carried a poetry within themselves. This book is masterfully written and I can barely wait for whatever Neil McCormick writes next
Thank you to Unbound and NetGalley for this ARC.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews