Heartbreaker

0/5 ( ratings)

All Johnny Burns ever wanted was to be in a band. When he and his best friend Tom Watson founded Heartbreaker, they realised their wildest dreams a hundred times over.

If the sixties was a naive and charming flower child, then the seventies was her big, bad older brother; darker, more worldly, less giving … and the eighties was his garishly-painted and promiscuous girlfriend. It’s no wonder against such a backdrop that things could become confused — and that dreams could turn to heartbreak.

When Alex Weston is hired to ghostwrite a book about the life of Johnny Burns and his band — from playing down-and-dirty pubs and clubs in the sixties, through the excesses of seventies stadium rock to eighties meltdown — even she isn’t prepared for the depths of excess, betrayal and guilt that she uncovers.

At the heart of the Heartbreaker story lies the tragic deaths of two members of a band at the very summit of its success — deaths wrapped in a web of secrets and lies. As Alex turns detective and sets out to learn more, she digs deeper into the past and is forced to realise that she may have to confront Johnny’s part in the devastating events of all those years ago …

Praise for Heartbreaker:

Julie Morrigan’s book explores probably the deepest desire of all music fans: spending time with your idol and getting to be their friends. It also explores the price to pay for fame and how prejudices and a touch of jealousy can twist even those you love the most. Morrigan’s writing is fluent, filled with twists and humanity.

Alessia Matteoli, AAA Music

Morrigan has taken a myth, a myth that applies to many rock bands, and made it her own. In her tight structured prose, her razor dialogue, her observed humour and her strong evocation of what the price of fame is, she has written a story full of human drama. The title fits the novel perfectly. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Richard Godwin, author of Apostle Rising and Mr Glamour

With Heartbreaker, Morrigan has taken a completely fictional band and brought them to life more realistically than many actual rock biographies I've read managed to do. Her obvious knowledge and love of rock and blues is infused throughout the book, adding little details, references and layers of realism that makes Heartbreaker a pleasure to read on several levels. You not only get a great story, you get a mini history of classic rock along the way. Heartbreaker is the best new band I've discovered in a while ... and a hell of a book.

Elizabeth A. White

If you've ever loved/followed a band, you'll find your own obsessions reflected within Heartbreaker's pages — watching a DVD of a legendary live performance or recalling a favourite song that shaped your youth, it's all here. Part rock biography, part mystery, even a little nod to romance, Morrigan displays a versatility often lacking in the works of more established authors.

Leon Steelgrave, author of White Vampyre and A Pauper’s Shroud

This version July 2012.