Fractured Beat by RB Hillard

 

Published on September 18, 2016

340 pages

Back cover

When Grant Hardy, Meltdown’s lead singer, falls off the stage in the middle of a concert while under the influence, his record label has no choice but to step in and take control.

The solution is simple.

Send Grant to rehab and avoid a public relations nightmare by covering it up as a bad case of the flu.

When the rehab facility’s recommendation for extended treatment starts to affect the label’s bottom line, they are forced to find an alternative solution – hire an in-house counselor for the duration of the tour.

There’s just one problem.

Grant Hardy isn’t an addict.

My review

This is the first book I read for RB Hillard and I know I said it often, but I wish I did not wait 2 years to read it. Music always been an important part of my life and I always enjoy reading book about it. It’s a good mixt of thriller and romance in a universe that I like to know more. The author wrote in a way you can think there are real and it’s almost impossible to put the novel down before you reach this end.

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure that I will connect with Malory, she was distant and barely talked about herself so the reader did not really know her. Fortunately, she started to trust Grant more and we learned that she is a nice person who only wants to protect herself and forget her past. I understood her reason and I admire her for what she did. I will let you read the book to discover what happens, but it totally worth it.

I was also scared that Grant became a cliché of a popular singer who takes drugs and tried to get his fans sympathies, but I was wrong. He is full of surprises and I enjoyed his point of view and learns more about life on the road. There are two other books were the other bandmates become main characters and I put them on my wish list.

This story have two alternative point of view and I mostly enjoyed to see the difference between male and female thinking. The only thing that bothers me a little, the author goes back a few times so the reader can see what the other character was thinking while the event was happening. I felt it was a repetition, but not enough to be annoying.

I also loved that the book has different antagonist and every time you though someone was guilty of what happened to Grant, you realized it might be the wrong person. The author was great to keep the secret until the end. Chelle was the one character I like to dislike. As a blogger, I could have connected to her, but her behavior gave me chills and I hope I will never act like her. I think I did not like her that much because I wanted Grant to end up with Malory and not her. I still think it might be interesting if she comes back and the reader learns more about her. We know she is a huge fan of the band, but why did she decide to create a blog and how she became so famous in that world.

I missed going to concert and this book helped me to get through that nostalgia. I recommend it if you like music as much as me and I hope you will enjoy it.

Excerpts

Today I feel like an intruder. Two weeks ago, I walked onto that stage in Houston at the top of my game. Now I felt like a stranger in a world I’d created. I’d had plenty of time to stew while in rehab. Disappointment and regret had become my closest friends. (p.27)

I gave all that I am.

I’ll never be that man again

Stop trying to bring him back

He’s never coming back

Never coming back (p.115)

 

So what if I smoked weed every now and again? Who fucking cares if I drink a fifth of bourbon after I pour everything, I have onto the stage night after night? I’d paid my dues. I’d spend years playing every backwoods dive bar in Texas. I’d slept on friends’ sofas and ate tasteless Ramen for weeks on end just to make ends meet. (p.118)