While touring in Rio de Janeiro with a Latin popstar, rhythm guitarist Tony Kozol and his bass-playing partner Rock Bottom discover the dark and brutal underbelly of this sensual and exotic city when a powerful and wealthy killer draws them into a deadly game of murder. Reprint.
It took a lot of persistence to finish this book. One reason was that the two heroes, Tony and Rock, are so stupid. They're two teenagers in adult bodies, just looking to play music, get laid, and have a good time. There are plenty of opportunities to get into trouble in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Rock and Tony take advantage of all of them. The other reason that I had trouble enjoying the book was that this book is just as sexist as any Raymond Chandler novel. Most of the women are playthings or annoyances. Very few of them wear clothes. The statutory rape of a teenager is mentioned only because of the inconvenience it causes the male characters. I think Rock and Tony are meant to be charmingly naive, but I don't see them that way. As far as I'm concerned, the world already has too many heedless male chauvinists. There's no reason to tolerate any more fictional ones.