Wednesday 12 March 2014

Book Review: Jason Brummell’s ‘All Or Nothing’


Having recently read Jason’s ‘All Bout My Girl’, a fictional book set in the early 60s Mod scene of London, I have been really looking forward to his latest book, ‘All Or Nothing’, and I most certainly wasn’t disappointed.

The new book is a continuation of the story of the main Mod character from the first book and is set in 1966. Being the tail-end of that scene, with original styles, club nights and themes fragmenting, this gives a very interesting perspective of that time (particularly as the main character has been out of the UK for a couple of years and is returning (to attend a friends’ funeral) to a changing scene himself). Jason carefully crafts in the changing styles in shirts, going to Tiles on Oxford Street, the younger generation of Mods on the scene, the disappearance of older Faces and even talks about Jeff Dexter DJ’ing and what has happened to Guy Stevens (post The Scene Club)whilst he’s been away.

But that’s not all, there is a good old sixties gold bullion caper running throughout the story with the Old Bill on the teams’ trail – the main characters having chapters in the first person so you can really feel the story developing and how they all interact with each other. And all of this during the 1966 World Cup tournament!!!

There’s a few twists and turns along the way, culminating in an exciting finale (at the same time that England are facing West Germany at Wembley), which certainly leaves the door open for another story in the future.

With ‘All Or Nothing’, Jason has given us another fictional book combining attention to the detail of Mod (at a very interesting point in time) with a rip-roaring, humorous, adventure story which is a great read on many levels.

Having read most of the large volume of Mod fiction that has come out in recent years, Jason’s work is amongst the very best – you would be doing yourself an immense favour by getting a copy of ‘All Or Nothing’ (and ‘All About My Girl’ if you haven’t already read it) and immersing yourself in this incredibly entertaining Mod caper.

Both books are available from http://suavecollective.co.uk/ for just £5 (incl. P&P) and are available for Kindle at just £2 each. Go on – you know you want to…….

By Paul Hooper-Keeley

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BREAKING NEWS: The Mark Three to play the IPO Festival at The Cavern, Liverpool, on Sunday 2nd June

  The Mark Three's stage times for Sunday 2nd June are: - 5.15pm The Cavern Pub 7.00pm The Cavern Club