Back Street Runner - Paul Breeze

Book Details

Country: UK
Language: English
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication Date: 1980


Fictional Artist: Black Dog, Mushroom
Genre: Rock
Country: UK
Real World Analogue: N/A

Jacket Blurb: 

Fleeing from Stoke after killing the three thugs who viciously put an end to his career as a guitarist in the rock band Black Dog, Billy Dancey finds himself drifting from city to city, eventually arriving in London. He still hasn't adjusted to an existence outside music and, inevitably, he decides he must try to return to the rock scene in the only capacity now available — as a drummer.

Returning to the North, to Sheffield, he meets Caroline, a lonely young black nurse with problems of her own. But they fill a gap in each others lives and she gives him the stability and encouragement he needs, although he knows he can never tell her the real truth about his past. After weeks of practice on a set of drums, he feels competent enough to join a second-rate pub-rock band, Mushroom. At last he seems to be settling into a routine; he has a day job at a local colliery, he has Caroline, he has rock music; maybe he can start afresh — even if he is still plagued by bad dreams.

Then the illusion is shattered, when Mushroom have a gig in Stoke. Billy is thrown into panic. He could refuse to go but his new loyalty won't allow him to. He knows he is taking a risk but he feels sure that fate is on his side. He is wrong, and he finds himself to be a desperately hunted man, with Caroline, miles away, his only hope of survival. All he can do is run; run, hide and hope....