Marie Fortsch

Reviewing the Arts

2-25-12

Black Dogs Review

The gangs all here. Patrick, Alex (fresh out of jail), Frenchy, and stereo stealing Keith make up the ultimate bad boy group.  Black Dogs written by Jason Buhrmester is the ultimate rock and roll book.  It’s a tale about those four guys and their past and present crime record.  Their new goal is to do the unthinkable and rob a band, Led Zeppelin.  Patrick was involved in the crime that landed Alex in jail so at his “Welcome Home” party he suggests this crazy idea to rob Zeppelin.  Why would anyone who just got out of jail four hours ago want to be involved with a serious robbery?  Patrick is one with words and made a pretty convincing argument on how it will work. 

You’ll be on the edge of your seat with each page turn wondering how they are going to pull this one off.  They have a solid plan but of course many things go wrong.  One of the buds ends up in jail which leads them to find a new fourth member.  The only semi capable guy is Danny who batched the last one because he saw a snake and now Alex has the bite marks to prove it.  Danny is a high school dropout and in his twenties he’s got nothing going for him except for these robberies.  They have no choice but to take a gamble on him.  Frenchy also told Zeppelins crew that he had an extremely rare guitar, 1958 Les Paul Guitar, and he would be showing it to them in New York City at the Drake hotel.  This of course brought up a set of new issues.  How were they going to get that goddamn guitar? There are so many times where you wonder how are they going to pull this off. 

“Black Sabbath” is a constant theme throughout; Patrick loves them and is constantly talking about them or wearing their name on his t-shirt.  Alex doesn’t even like Led Zeppelin which makes it easier for him to want to rob them.  They all know the band carries loads of cash in a briefcase.  There are roughly 200,000 in the briefcase the night they want to steal it.  Now that’s a whole lot of cash.  They plan to split it four ways if they pull it off.  They also have to find out who is carrying this briefcase and where it will end up.  They guess it will be put into a safe in the hotel.  A safe they would have to break into.  If they don’t see who has the money and what room its going into then everything is seriously messed up. 

            These guys have some serious balls to try and bullshit their way through each obstacle.  Do people actually do this and get away with it?  Apparently in this book they do.  Motorcycle gangs, Misty Mountain Hoppers fan club, funk band called the New York Giants, they cross paths with every random person you can imagine.  The second to last chapter is called “getting away with murder” but do they pull this one off? You will have to read to find out. 

            Remember it’s the “possibly true story” of a robbery that happened to the band Led Zeppelin.  Buhrmester has a way with words and is a fabulous story teller.  Whether the story is true or false you will be left wanting more.  Even the writing of each intro to the chapters is cool and different.  You feel like a badass with every page turn.  By the end of the book you will feel like you smoked a pack of cigarettes, chugged a six pack, or smoked a blunt and who wouldn’t want that?