Rem's Chance

Rem Bruxvoort is forty-six and not getting any younger. The former guitarist of The Bubbling Samovars—an obscure nineties punk band—is still feeling fallout from the pandemic. It’s October of 2021 in southwest Florida and he’s stuck living under the same roof as his ex-fiancée, who hates his guts. As they sell off the bungalow they bought together before everything between them went up in smoke, Rem seeks a way forward to better days.

A chance encounter reunites Rem with his former bandmate Gene, who’s traded in playing the bass for a cushier life as a soon-to-be-married entrepreneur in the tech sector. As the two old friends catch up, the subject of the lost master tapes of The Bubbling Samovars’ unreleased album arises. Soon Rem’s quest to locate the master tapes, which might yield a reissue that will set everything straight, is put in motion.

Gene’s sister Julie is a thoughtful closet poet with musical ambitions of her own. When she grows tired of working overtime in a drab corner of the Upper Midwest, she puts her life there on hold and heads down to Florida. Rem and Julie soon rekindle their long-dormant friendship, growing closer and closer, while waxing philosophical about a host of subjects.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone, an ominous figure in a white van has been stalking them in the periphery, seething with resentment. Known simply as “the man,” he has bad intentions and seeks revenge on Gene for reasons that are unclear. But “the man” has issues of his own and is plagued with an ineptitude that undermines his malevolent aspirations. Will he cause the carnage he wants so badly to enact?

Multiple plotlines are fleshed out as individual character arcs overlap and eventually convene. In his second novel, Dave J. Andrae employs his characteristic wry wit to explore an aging Gen Xer’s mindset against the backdrop of gritty crime and mystery elements. Rem’s Chance is a blended-genre effort that touches on romance, philosophy, intrigue, what it’s like to play in a band, and so much more. With ample humor and cultural references to keep things colorful, the book is a well-structured page turner.