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The Art Of Falling Apart
Dystopia are a total phenomenon in Europe, so now it's time for this band from Manchester to crack the American market The first venue is in Las Vegas, and their opening concert there seems a huge success But secret envy and open animosity have begun to tear the group apart The lead singer Vid, is off on a predictable roller-coaster of self-indulgence and egomania...Jared, the lead guitarist, increasingly resents the fact that he is being shouldered out of the limelight his creative input surely ments...Spin, the warm-up DJ, longs to be back with his family in England, yet cannot resist a risky extramarital adventure...nor can their manager, Alex, resist the lure of personal gain that greed and duplicity can offer him. Then one of them dies, an apparent accident, and there begins to unravel a chilling saga of petty emotions, cynical manipulation, and murderously ruthless self-interest.
- GenresFiction
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 25, 2001
24 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Mark Dawson
114 books1,830 followersFor news and special offers join Mark's mailing list at:
http://eepurl.com/Cai5X
Mark Dawson was born in Lowestoft and grew up in Manchester and Chicago. He has worked as a lawyer and currently works in the London film industry. His first books, "The Art of Falling Apart" and "Subpoena Colada" have been published in multiple languages.
He is currently writing two series. Soho Noir is set in the West End of London between 1940 and 1970. The first book in the series, "The Black Mile", deals with the (real life but little known) serial killer who operated in the area during the Blitz. "The Imposter" traces the journey of a criminal family (think The Sopranos in austerity London and you'd be on the right track).
The John Milton series features a disgruntled special agent who aims to help people to make amends for the terrible things that he has done. Mark, as a child of the 80s, will freely admit that he watched a lot of The Equalizer in his youth.
Mark lives in Wiltshire with his family.
You can find him at www.markjdawson.com or www.facebook.com/markdawsonauthor.
http://eepurl.com/Cai5X
Mark Dawson was born in Lowestoft and grew up in Manchester and Chicago. He has worked as a lawyer and currently works in the London film industry. His first books, "The Art of Falling Apart" and "Subpoena Colada" have been published in multiple languages.
He is currently writing two series. Soho Noir is set in the West End of London between 1940 and 1970. The first book in the series, "The Black Mile", deals with the (real life but little known) serial killer who operated in the area during the Blitz. "The Imposter" traces the journey of a criminal family (think The Sopranos in austerity London and you'd be on the right track).
The John Milton series features a disgruntled special agent who aims to help people to make amends for the terrible things that he has done. Mark, as a child of the 80s, will freely admit that he watched a lot of The Equalizer in his youth.
Mark lives in Wiltshire with his family.
You can find him at www.markjdawson.com or www.facebook.com/markdawsonauthor.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 21, 2022
Banale and over-wordy…
Too much descriptor and not enough story, there were twinkles of genius but not enough meat to the bones of this story for me.
It relied on a person being born in 1974 to be vaguely relatable to the references in the book.
It was a clever premise but executed poorly. I believe that this was the authors first novel, it did show a little and I understand that the John Milton books are improved. I hope so.
Too much descriptor and not enough story, there were twinkles of genius but not enough meat to the bones of this story for me.
It relied on a person being born in 1974 to be vaguely relatable to the references in the book.
It was a clever premise but executed poorly. I believe that this was the authors first novel, it did show a little and I understand that the John Milton books are improved. I hope so.
December 8, 2013
This would have got 5 stars because I really enjoyed it but I'm pretty sure the last bit of the book was missing. Can that happen?
October 25, 2023
Sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, murder and double crossing are abound in Mark Dawson's first novel. A strong, well written story make this an excellent effort for the first to be published. I think his later novels such as John Milton, Beatrice Rose, Isabella Rose and Atticus Priest are better than this but you see the talent here that came through to those. It is also fairly original which is unusual for a first novel. Can't comment on the plot as it would ruin the twists. Well worth a read!
September 13, 2025
Picked this up 2nd hand about 20 years ago and when I came across it the other day , decided to re-read it.
Not great, but a bit of light grittiness that I wouldn't say was time wasted.
Bit salty about the Manics catching strays lol
Not great, but a bit of light grittiness that I wouldn't say was time wasted.
Bit salty about the Manics catching strays lol
November 5, 2022
Mystery in the music business. Interesting plot with a cast of shallow and selfish characters.
January 25, 2013
Let's get my disclaimer out of the way, as cliche as it is, this is not the type of book that I normally read. I'm not sure what that says about me though because this book had, hands down, the best imagery and detail I've experienced in a book. Seriously, this book would be an amazing read for anyone aspiring to be an author....unless of course you're of the "less is more" school of thought, then you just better move on!
I honestly may not have finished this book if I was reading it, but I listened to it on my kindle keyboard in the car everyday and that helped me get through it. Again, not a reflection on the book but on my 40 year old career/mom cheesy romance reading attention span! Honestly, listening to it made me feel like I was experiencing a rock documentary or VH1 special, it was actually kind of fun.
I'm ashamed to say but I'm a contemporary romance gal and haven't picked up a book this deep in a long time. But, I have this obsession with all things rock and thought this would be a good read. Notice I didn't say fun read, easy read or hawt read! It was none of those. This was very interesting and while the characters were extremely believable, not every aspect of the story was..but it's fiction.
The book introduces us to a struggling rock band in England that eventually hits it big, their manager, a DJ, a drug dealer, a band member's girlfriend and a few other people get cameos but the death, destruction, music business, sex, drugs, rock n' roll, drugs, (and did I mention drugs?), and thousands of words of detailed description of the world around them focuses on that cast of interesting people. The best part is an obsessive fan and her daily emails to one of the band members. It was highly entertaining but only because you read her insane ramblings and think "there are people out there that do this!"
The author uses intense imagery and while that's great, it wore on me a bit from time to time. Having someone stare out the window and watch planes taking off into the sky and describing them as floating off like a children's balloon was good...a full paragraph to describe the face of a waitress, maybe not so much. There were times I didn't feel like the details were taking me anywhere either. Overall the story does a great job of coming full circle, although there were a few aspects/characters that we spent time with, and more detail, only to have them left somewhat up in the air. Again, not that big of a deal, but I was actually pretty interested in what happened with them, which is a credit to Dawson's writing.
I would read more by Dawson, I find his style fascinating, and I might just email him to find out what happened to a couple of these characters (yeah, yeah...I know they aren't real. None of the rock stars I read about are real...right? You would tell me if they were, wouldn't you!?!?)
I honestly may not have finished this book if I was reading it, but I listened to it on my kindle keyboard in the car everyday and that helped me get through it. Again, not a reflection on the book but on my 40 year old career/mom cheesy romance reading attention span! Honestly, listening to it made me feel like I was experiencing a rock documentary or VH1 special, it was actually kind of fun.
I'm ashamed to say but I'm a contemporary romance gal and haven't picked up a book this deep in a long time. But, I have this obsession with all things rock and thought this would be a good read. Notice I didn't say fun read, easy read or hawt read! It was none of those. This was very interesting and while the characters were extremely believable, not every aspect of the story was..but it's fiction.
The book introduces us to a struggling rock band in England that eventually hits it big, their manager, a DJ, a drug dealer, a band member's girlfriend and a few other people get cameos but the death, destruction, music business, sex, drugs, rock n' roll, drugs, (and did I mention drugs?), and thousands of words of detailed description of the world around them focuses on that cast of interesting people. The best part is an obsessive fan and her daily emails to one of the band members. It was highly entertaining but only because you read her insane ramblings and think "there are people out there that do this!"
The author uses intense imagery and while that's great, it wore on me a bit from time to time. Having someone stare out the window and watch planes taking off into the sky and describing them as floating off like a children's balloon was good...a full paragraph to describe the face of a waitress, maybe not so much. There were times I didn't feel like the details were taking me anywhere either. Overall the story does a great job of coming full circle, although there were a few aspects/characters that we spent time with, and more detail, only to have them left somewhat up in the air. Again, not that big of a deal, but I was actually pretty interested in what happened with them, which is a credit to Dawson's writing.
I would read more by Dawson, I find his style fascinating, and I might just email him to find out what happened to a couple of these characters (yeah, yeah...I know they aren't real. None of the rock stars I read about are real...right? You would tell me if they were, wouldn't you!?!?)
October 2, 2013
It's been 4 years since I first read The Art of Falling Apart and as back then, I am still completely blown away by its cleverness.
Right, let's not talk about the cover because it's verging on the edge of awful. Thus this book is a walking proof that you should never ever judge a book by its cover. Back in 2009, I snatched it from Ebay for a few euros because of the storyline. I dig the music business and its ugliness and Mark Dawson throws you right into the middle of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. His story is clever with twists and turns that drew me in completely right from the start, especially if you're interested in that kind of thing. Having working in the music business myself for years, I happily dug it. And either Mark has been a rock star himself in his past or he's done a hell of a lot of research. Or he's just very cleverly making it all up. Which would be amazing. Especially for someone who had to pull the whole thing out of his sleeve within 3 months after he got an agent before he even had the story finished.
So you can tell that I like it. A lot. I still like it after the second reading and I'm still not sure who is the murderer. Or if there actually was a murder. That bugs me to no end - in a good way - because unclear endings are sometimes the best you can do for your story.
Right, let's not talk about the cover because it's verging on the edge of awful. Thus this book is a walking proof that you should never ever judge a book by its cover. Back in 2009, I snatched it from Ebay for a few euros because of the storyline. I dig the music business and its ugliness and Mark Dawson throws you right into the middle of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. His story is clever with twists and turns that drew me in completely right from the start, especially if you're interested in that kind of thing. Having working in the music business myself for years, I happily dug it. And either Mark has been a rock star himself in his past or he's done a hell of a lot of research. Or he's just very cleverly making it all up. Which would be amazing. Especially for someone who had to pull the whole thing out of his sleeve within 3 months after he got an agent before he even had the story finished.
So you can tell that I like it. A lot. I still like it after the second reading and I'm still not sure who is the murderer. Or if there actually was a murder. That bugs me to no end - in a good way - because unclear endings are sometimes the best you can do for your story.
October 23, 2013
This book actually surprised. It's really well written, very engaging and where characters are not entirely three-dimensional, the world in which they live in is so well crafted that it makes up for it. I felt that the book had something very American Psycho about it. The detailed descriptions of the super hip, super expensive settings I guess, against the emotional vacancy found in the characters. Anyway, I recommend this book and definitely find it underrated.
June 27, 2016
this was Mark Dawson's first novel and there are some flaws, loose ends which do not seem deliberate. A commentary on the rock music and drug culture of the time coupled with some legal content which adda a bit of complexity
November 30, 2013
It was stupid, I hated every minute of it but had to finish since I don't leave books unread.
July 15, 2015
Stereotypical book for the MTV generation, almost nostalgic with the amount of 90s rock references. No surprises but readable.
March 20, 2016
Depressing
I have read a lot of Mark's books and have enjoyed them all - except this one. The most depressing tome I have ever come across.
I have read a lot of Mark's books and have enjoyed them all - except this one. The most depressing tome I have ever come across.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews