Eighteen-year-old Flynn Robinson leaves high school and his sleepy suburban life to join a popular club circuit band, following his dream to be a rock musician like his Uncle Ray, who’s spent his whole life on the road. Flynn’s clearly a fine guitarist, but readers may wonder whether he is really leaving home to be a musician or just trying to avoid getting caught up in other people’s aspirations for him – those of his parents and Julianne, his girlfriend.

Being on the road seems like a good life – Flynn’s got money and a chance to play all the great classic rock that he loves – but it’s hard work too, and he sees the slimier side of touring in small towns. When he embarrasses the band playing a guitar he hasn’t tested out; when Julianne meets Allie, a talented singer-songwriter Flynn has fallen in love with; and when the uncle he idolizes turns out to be a fraud, Flynn’s world seems to come crashing down around him. That’s when he discovers just what his connection to music is all about and leaves the band to gain the experiences he needs to write his own material.

Mike Tanner’s first YA novel offers readers an insightful look into the less glamorous side of being a rock ’n’ roll musician. Flynn, who’s a naïve 18, is a perfect guide. Readers will feel as if they’re seeing firsthand the inside dope on sleazy club gigs, the tensions among band members, and the sex and drugs that are part of a rocker’s life on the road. Tanner, himself a musician who started touring when he was just a little older than Flynn, has clearly used his own experiences to shape Flynn’s, but Flynn feels like a very real character, not a Mike Tanner substitute. It seems far-fetched that Flynn’s hell-bent idolatry for his uncle causes him to break with his family, but Tanner manages to smooth that over by the power of the poignantly disastrous meeting with Ray.

Flynn’s love for classic rock might inspire readers to check out the songs that he loves to play, such as the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” – Resurrection Blues cries out for an accompanying CD soundtrack. Tanner is a refreshing new voice I hope to hear again.