Painted Black

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 23 MAR 2015

Billed as a mystery, Kihn s sequel to 2013 s Rubber Soul amounts to a rock-and-roll travelogue with a focus on the final tumultuous months in the life of Brian Jones, the founder of the Rolling Stones, leading up to his death in 1969. London antique dealer Dust Bin Bob, a friend of the Beatles, is coerced by John Lennon into trying to keep the troubled Jones out of trouble. With Jones s personal and professional life spiraling downward, Bob accompanies the volatile musician all over the globe including Morocco, a Pentecostal church in Baltimore, and the Monterey Pop Festival and experiences (often under the influence of drugs) existential and spiritual revelations with the shattered man. But while the myriad of musical references and overall atmospherics of the time are spot on, the mystery elements of the storyline are disappointing. There s no sense of rising action at all just the looming question of who (if anyone) is behind Jones s death. The conclusion is anything but climactic, and only fans of the Rolling Stones or rock-and-roll historians will find any satisfaction.