The Upsetter Blog by Brett Marie

The Upsetter Blog by Brett Marie

To write the Upsetter Blog, washed-up author Henry Barclay will have to leave behind his adult son Patrick, who has Down Syndrome, and follow the Flak Jackets, a rock band of no renown, on a grueling, months-long nightclub tour for the obscure magazine startup, Upsetter. He's reluctant to take on the assignment, but when Patrick catches the band's act and immediately declares himself their 'Number One Fan, ' Henry sees a chance to redeem himself after decades of clumsy parenting. Setting out from Los Angeles, blasting through the deserts of Southern California and up the West Coast, Henry quickly learns how tough this job will be. He did not expect he would become obsessed with the mystery behind lead singer Jack Hackett's tortured wailing and violent onstage antics. He did not expect he would fall in love with Jack's new girlfriend, Wendy, who's along for the ride.

Faced with Jack's hostile stonewalling, struggling to hold back his own feelings for Jack's girl, Henry can only hang on tight and keep writing, filling in the blanks Jack leaves with musings about his own troubled past-and watching in horror as life on the road takes its toll, and Jack's fragile world begins to fall apart.

An accomplished, polished, surprisingly moving piece of writing. Brett Marie has a strong sense of the messiness of life, of how things rarely pan out as hoped or planned, and how that can be good, bad or anything in-between. There's tons to admire here.

─Gavin Extence, author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods