The Last Days of Disco, by David F. Ross

Bobby and Joey try and establish a mobile disco in their home town (somewhere near Glasgow maybe?) in the early '80s. They have to contend with opposition from the local gangster, and the story takes place against the backdrop of the Falklands War, where Bobby's soldier brother has been sent.

This was a 99p kindle deal-of-the-day which I was attracted to partly because of the promised nostalgic appeal. But it didn't work on that level for me - I think partly because it was a little too late: I'm not mad keen on early '80s music, and I don't think the Falklands conflict had such an impact on me. Plus this took place in Scotland which didn't feel very familiar to me.

As to the story itself, I couldn't really engage with any of the plotlines - maybe the stuff about Bobby's brother was the most interesting, but I realise now that that mainly took place in London/the Falklands, rather than Scotland. For the rest of it, I found there were too many characters, and I couldn't keep track of who was who: gangsters, police, friends, enemies, they all had strong Scottish accents, and all seemed to be fairly rough-and-tumble.

So for someone who was brought up in Scotland, and is a few years younger than me, maybe this would be a great read. But I didn't really get on with it.

Completed : 02-Aug-2015

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