Never Divided

SF Punk Trio #3

by Todd Stadtman

July, 1984: The Democratic National Convention has come to San Francisco and thousands of punks take to the street in protest of what they see as America's turn to fascism under president Ronald Reagan. The SFPD seizes the opportunity to vent their long-held grudge against the city's punk community in a series of brutal confrontations. During one of these, teenage punk Micah is wrongly accused of attacking a police officer. When his friends Scott, Bridge, Benny and Cassie try to prove his innocence, they end up being hunted throughout the city's darkest corners by a murderous criminal gang operating secretly within the police department.

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2019

About the author

Todd Stadtman is a musician turned author whose latest book, Never Divided is the third and final entry in his SF Punk Trio, a trilogy that also includes his first novel, Please Don't Be Waiting For Me, and it's follow up So Good It's Bad. His first book, Funky Bollywood: The Wild World of 1970s Indian Action Cinema was published by FAB Press in 2015. He also writes about global cult and genre cinema on his Rondo Award nominated blog Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! and on the long-running cult film website Teleport City, and has contributed articles to Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and The World Directory of Cinema (Turkey edition). In addition, his work has been published by the websites io9, and The Cultural Gutter and the Times of India. When not writing, he can be found hosting Pop Offensive, a radio show focusing on pop music from around the world, on Oakland's KGPC FM and the podcast Friday's Best Pop Song Ever.

Reviews

[Mari LivTollefsonCarlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Never Divided, the third and final book in Todd Stadtman's San Francisco Punk series, Scott and friends butt heads with the police again - this time from the inside.
In the previous two books, Please Don’t Be Waiting for Me and So Good It’s Bad, the punk friends sought justice for the murder of follow rocker, Nadya. In this finale to the trilogy, the crew takes part in a 1984 protest against Reagan and the Democrats’ ineffectiveness against him. Given Scott’s record, the Feds think Scott and crew might be up to worse than mere protesting. They accuse his roommate, Micah, of killing an officer during the event. But the police might need the punks’ help against their own: a gang of nefarious policeman inside the SFPD.
The novel begins with a domestic scene: Scott and girlfriend, Bridge, meet Scott’s dad’s new girlfriend and her son, Hunter. Little do they know, Hunter will become part of an adventure Scott and Bridge never intend to have, involving bar fights, sting operations, and kidnappings. They thought they were done with this! The book flirts with settling down into adulthood. Yet, Scott never compromises his punk spirit. If there’s injustice afoot, Scott will face it, along with his pals.
New characters in the series, Hunter, and Micah’s girlfriend, Shiva, add ripples to the plot. Scott and Bridge feel parental toward young Hunter - new feelings for them both. Shiva’s mysterious past makes her suspect to all the friends. She must prove herself time and again. Reed, aka Inspector Serious, returns, with a humorous twist. These fresh relationships add depth and complexity to the high energy.
Like the other two books in the series, this one is full of vivid, action-packed scenes. The chapters are short, each focusing on one scene. Sub-plots are woven into a thick fabric of intrigue. Sentences are robust, like the layered sound of a punk band. Most chapters end with a cliffhanger, making it hard to stop reading. Love for San Francisco is palpable. Hot spots around the city enliven the narrative.
A coming of age story and crime thriller, the mature characters in Never Divided are also never diluted.