Jimmy Wayne is headed for LA to make the new album that will hopefully make him a star. In a quiet, deserted canyon a few miles outside Blackjack lie the bodies of his victims who inspired each song – all his secrets are buried in that dry and arid ground. Can he leave his past behind or will the ghosts of his past come back to haunt him?

I received a review copy from the publishers and was invited to join the blog tour by Anne at Random Things Blog Tours

Blood on the Tracks may sound like Guy Hale is taking us on a train journey but the Tracks in this book are musical, he is taking us into the recording studio. We join Jimmy Wayne and his band as Jimmy prepares his big comeback after around two decades of being in the music wilderness. But there’s a dark secret behind Jimmy’s songwriting success, the tracks which seem to be destined to propel him back up the music charts only get written when Jimmy is responsible for someone’s death.

In the first book in this series (Killing Me Softly) it appears Jimmy managed to wipe out a few bad guys. Their lives ending meant Jimmy had enough songs written which allows him to get an album together. Though Jimmy isn’t overly upset at killing a few people who deserves to die he also accidentally is responsible for his girlfriend’s death. But, despite being dead, Wendy still manages to appear in ghostly form beside Jimmy to chat with him and provide useful information on what his enemies are up to.

You don’t get much of a clue from the book’s blurb as to what to expect from Blood on the Tracks so I was quite surprised to see Jimmy chatting to a ghost, two former Scandanavian “special forces” playing an integral part in the story, a heavily guarded (but secret) goldmine hidden in the mountains outside Las Vegas, a psychopathic 74 year-old and her mob boss son plus a mystery man who brings calm and compassion everywhere he goes – he’s determined to see Jimmy succeed and nobody is going to stop this all-seeing stranger from getting Jimmy where he wants him to be.

The bad guys want Jimmy dead. Maybe. If he does well then they may actually make some money off his success. So maybe they will let him live a bit longer. But if he flops then there’s an expectation that the mob boss will pass Jimmy to his mother so she can violently end his life – she feels he deserves to die as Jimmy has slighted her family honour. People just don’t get away with that – even if their record could net them a healthy investment return.

The best way to enjoy Blood on the Tracks is very much to let Guy Hale have fun with his cast. Some people will die, some comedy characters will pop up to make you laugh then the bad guys will plot for more bad things to happen. Jimmy’s dead girlfriend will keep him in the loop as to how his enemies are out to get him and the mysterious stranger will just keep being mysterious but highly entertaining at the same time. It all sounds a bit surreal at times but it’s surprisingly readable and I found myself enjoying the story more and more.

One cool bonus which I only spotted as I was preparing my review; there’s a QR code at the start of the book which you can scan and the wonders of technology will let you hear Jimmy’s song – a nice touch to give the reader a feel for the music we read so much about.

Blood on the Tracks – decidedly quirky, often unexptected, lots of fun.

Blood on the Tracks is published by Whitefox and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/blood-on-the-tracks-2/guy-hale/9781915036810