Review: Rock & Roll Murders by Phillip B. Chute

Author Phillip B. Chute takes readers on a winding West Coast ride through murder, jealousy, betrayal and music in Rock & Roll Murders: An Entrepreneur Finds that Murder is No Business Solution, a lurid and thrilling true crime tale.

Raymond McDade is the sleazy centerpiece of this creative nonfiction thriller, a radio station owner who will do anything to stay on top and keep his wife beside him, even if it means leaving bodies in his wake. The story traces his career and the infamous murder case in which he becomes embroiled, after his wife’s lover ends up dead at the end of a hired gun. However, this is far from an open-and-shut case; readers are dragged along for a wild, emotional and occasionally jaw-dropping read torn from California’s history.

Alice, Mitch, and Raymond are each vividly drawn central characters, with distinct personalities and dialogue that snaps with authenticity, despite some rare exceptions. The relationships formed and strained between them are believable, as is the behavior and attitude of Raymond, which grows more disturbing as the story progresses. Chute captures Ray’s simmering sociopathy well, hinted at through the misogynistic internal monologue and manipulative mindset. The bond between Alice and Ray is fraught with red flags, and while it is easy to despise Ray for his behavior, it is also hard to fully understand Alice’s shifting motives.

The writing style is that of a slow-burning thriller, with the ends of most chapters reminding readers that something terrible and violent is brewing. This story covers many years, so it moves quickly out of necessity – 7 years pass in the first 40 pages. Still, important pieces of exposition are sometimes rushed, such as Alice and Ray’s reunion after his desperate and violent search for her, while other seemingly unimportant sections drag the pace considerably. Some of the procedural passages with the police feel unbelievable, including how quickly Dom folds under pressure. The overall balance and energy isn’t perfect, but there is a threatening momentum that builds as the story moves forward, particularly once Domingo gets involved. Chute does capture the complex nature of the legal system, and the many loopholes and weak points that have allowed crimes to go unpunished, particularly in the past.

On a more technical note, some of the writing is a bit too explicative, spelling out the details of a characters’ emotions or motivations. Leaving something to the imagination – and a reader’s ability to infer – is important for building tension. The storytelling is generally patient, but such heavy-handed moments should be smoothed down or eliminated entirely. That same editorial sweep could help identify the tangential and distracting bits of prose; there are numerous instances of anecdotal stories and exposition that go nowhere. The formatting is also flawed in many places, with multiple characters’ dialogue in the same line or paragraph, which can be distracting.

Aside from those clumsy errors, the story itself sparkles, and the true-crime thrill of this tangled California drama is undeniable.