Product Description

Danny McQueen's day job in the local specialist video shop is only a way to pay the rent until the current incarnation of his band makes it big. Danny's been coasting along like this for years, and sees no reason to change. Until his girlfriend Alison is offered a job in Bruges and issues him with an ultimatum: he has six months to get a recording contract, get a proper job, or get a new girlfriend. Suddenly Danny needs to decide where his heart really lies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189918 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'If you liked HIGH FIDELITY, you'll love GOODNIGHT STEVE MCQUEEN' - The Times 'Compelling first novel' - She An entertaining tale on how far to follow your dreams - Mirror 'She knows how men talk' - Telegraph

Steve McQueen is a failure, from his unfortunate name (his mother was a fan) to his lack of career - other than as lead guitarist in a going-nowhere band, Dakota. Or so his mother and his girlfriend Alison tell him. When Alison issues Danny - as he insists on being known - with an ultimatum of a job or a record deal by Christmas, he is forced to make decisions. He doesn't want to give up his lifestyle and friends and get stuck in a dull job with hobbies such as playing golf - but is this the only way to keep Alison? On hearing that the well-known band Scarface is touring Britain, Danny decides that it's time to ask a favour from their singer, Ike, with whom he went to school: can Dakota be the support band? This is the debut novel by the singer/songwriter from the band Sleeper. It is a funny look at relationships and the extent you should go to make your dreams come true. Danny is a lovable but irritatingly naive character whose best friend is Vince - a Dakota singer and pessimistic cynic who is obsessed with Dexy's Midnight Runners and the right type of shoe for the 30-something male. Other friends include Sheila, an octogenarian mad about kung-fu films, and Kostas, the owner of a 'cult' video shop in Crouch End. Set in a recognizable North London and peopled by wonderful and credible characters, this is an entertaining and motivating read. After all, if this 'loser' can follow his dream, why shouldn't we? (Kirkus UK)

A lame, long-winded tale from Wener, a former lead singer with the Brit pop band Sleeper. "Why is my girlfriend so fed up with me that she feels the need to go and live in a whole other country?" whines narrator Danny McQueen, whose mother was such a Steve McQueen fanatic that she married a man named McQueen. (Because you're a boring lout, readers who've persevered through the novel's first third to get to this point will reply.) After five years, marketing consultant Alison is fed up with 29 year-old Danny's rock-star fantasies. He and two mates, one of whom gives him a black eye for being a "self-absorbed, moaning little git," play for beer at friends' parties. He gets up at midday, eats his breakfast in front of Supermarket Sweep, and drinks all of Alison's Bacardi Breezes before she gets home from the office. He should shape up and get a job, says Alison, who's accepted a six-month reassignment from London to Bruges. Danny tells the band they have to get a recording contract or hang it up. He tracks down an obnoxious high-school buddy who is now the lead singer in a hot band called Scarface and bluffs his way into a contract to back them up on a tour. It's a vanity deal-his band has to pay $1,000 for the lowly 8-8:30 p.m. time slot-but it's a gig. By the end of the tour, a reviewer has called them "the next big thing," and the three have dipped into the life of champagne, cocaine, and groupies. A record deal may be in the works, but that doesn't make Danny's life with Alison any easier. Unfortunately, he's such a flat character it's hard to care what happens to him. Much inferior to The Perfect Play (2004), Wener's first and more mature novel to appear in the US before this fledgling effort, which needn't have made the flight across the Atlantic. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
'If you liked HIGH FIDELITY, you'll love GOODNIGHT STEVE MCQUEEN' (The Times )

'Compelling first novel' (She )

'An entertaining tale on how far to follow your dreams' (Mirror )

'Entertaining' - The Times

'She knows how men talk' (Telegraph )

Telegraph
'She knows how men talk'

Customer Reviews

Interesting easy read
Some really funny bits in this book actually and i felt for the main character all the way through. Written from a guy's perspective made me think about the things they worry about and how they read between the lines.
I ended up reading this book in one night and actually didn't see the ending coming. Really easy to read chick lit book.

Fab book!
I thought this book was a great read. I couldn't put it down and ended up with too many nights getting wrinkly in the bath. I'd recommend it to both males and females

London's indie scene, warmly reflected in Wener's rye mirror
I had my trepidations about picking up a book about an indie band, written by the lead singer of a successful band. But it was not what I feared i.e. a series of smug music industry in jokes. Instead this a laugh out load take on twenty-something life in the new millennia. Louise Wener set herself a difficult task, writing a racy novel in the male voice. But whoever coached her in the ways of the males mind did a great job.
A smart, sophisticated pager tuner. Nick Hornby meets Douglas Coupland with a sassy, sexy London feel.