Earworm: A Novel about the Music Industry: Sean McManus review

Earworm: A Novel about the Music Industry

By: Sean McManus
Rating: 4 Star

Simon and Fred are working hard to make it big with their band -they just need a way to get recognised by the music industry and make their name known.

However, music buying patterns have changed, and the small record labels have all been bought up by Bigg records. This means that the chances of Simon and Fred 'making it' are getting slimmer all of the time.

Earworm, (previously released as University of Death) is the debut novel from Sean McManus.

The book is really funny and quite surreal in its comedy throughout. However, that comedic layer only lightly papers over the serious points that McManus is trying to make about the current state of music production.

The book is rich in technological throw backs to the 1990's (computer games, Commodores et cetera) and the characters all serve their functions well, even if some of the characters are only 2 dimensional such as the classic villain Mr Bigg, owner of the record label.

This is an enjoyable and light-hearted read with some serious points.

Highly recommended.