Hot Wax - by M L Rio (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift-a vivid and immersive tale of one woman's reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is"--

Book Synopsis

"By the end of this feverishly-composed rock 'n' roll masterpiece, you'll be on your feet shouting for an encore." --Layne Fargo, bestselling author of The Favorites

The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift--a vivid and immersive tale of one woman's reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood and made her who she is.

Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father's forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills' wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning--one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.

The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father's sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil's beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she'd lost forever: desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country--and drives her to a desperation all her own.

Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back--where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.

Review Quotes

A Most Anticipated Book from Garden & Gun and BookPage

"A brooding, double-sided highway thriller."--The New York Times

"Like multiple guitarists unspooling an epic jam, Rio knows how to ratchet up the tension. . . . she's got us planted in front of her loudspeakers, like the old Maxell tape guy."--San Francisco Chronicle

"The best book about rock'n'roll music since High Fidelity."--The Irish Examiner

"Hot Wax is a passionate novel that takes readers on turbulent joyrides while exploring both the glory and the gore of live rock 'n' roll."--BookPage (starred review)

"Rio (If We Were Villains) captures the joy and danger of rock 'n' roll in her raucous latest...Rio keeps the reader guessing--and turning the pages--while shining a light on Suzanne's emotional scars. This electrifies."--Publishers Weekly

"Sensory and visceral, Hot Wax is a propulsive father-daughter story infused with rock and roll down to its very cadences. M. L Rio is a force to be reckoned with."--Jennifer Egan

About the Author

M.L. Rio has been an actor, a bookseller, an academic, and a music writer. She holds an MA in Shakespeare studies and a PhD in English literature. She is the author of the internationally bestselling novel If We Were Villains, the USA TODAY bestselling novella Graveyard Shift, and Hot Wax. She never stays in one place for long, but keeps her books, records, and four-legged sidekick in south Philadelphia.