The Alternative Hero (Vintage Contemporaries)

In this comic, wildly energetic first novel, Clive Beresford is a failed music fanzine writer in his early thirties who fears that his best days are behind him.  The turning point came when Lance Webster, the lead singer of Thieving Magpies, the band that Clive is obsessed with, self-destructed on stage right before his eyes.  Years later, Clive has discovered that Lance has moved in down the block.  Desperate to meet him, but more desperately nervous, Clive concocts an ill-advised, alcohol-fueled scheme to befriend Lance and land an “earth-shattering exclusive” interview that will revive both their careers.  With the story shifting between Clive’s life-changing Magpies past and his frantic present, Tim Thornton has written a warmhearted, uproarious view of friendship, hero worship, and the full-blast power of music.