Book Summary and Reviews of The Whyte Python World Tour by Travis Kennedy

Reader Reviews

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Catherine O. (Altavista, VA)

Quirky and Fun
The Whyte Python World Tour was a fun trip. It is so difficult in this world of many, many books to come across an uplifting and original novel like this. The writing was descriptive, the characters jumped off the pages. Reading this book was just like watching a movie in my head. I really felt like I knew the characters. Rikki Thunder is an amazing narrator!

I think any reader would have get a kick out of this book, outlandish and yet believable at the same time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a fun read, anyone who is interested in music, especially 80s rock, and anyone who likes memorable characters with heart. I hope my book club will choose to join me on the Whyte Python World Tour, I think they will love it!

Lesley F. (San Diego, CA)

When Does the Movie Premiere?!?!
What a hoot to read about a late-80s heavy-metal rock band "on the road" in eastern Europe in the final months of the Cold War after becoming a huge hit stateside. With an assist from the CIA, the band gets into the youth revolution taking hold there, and we are in a festival of music, spies, and scary bad stuff going down, as the band tries to spread peace, love, and rock-and-roll over the eastern world, and spy organizations try to win the cold war. This was a great read.

The characters are often over the top as befits this wild story but they are personable and believable, too. I will be buying several copies soon for my Gen-X kids who were in rock bands, on the road, or writing songs, and keeping one in memory of their father with whom I could say long ago: "I'm with the band"....

PeakProse (Melissa)

A fun metal spy adventure
This glam metal/spy thriller combo taking place in the mid-late 1980's was really a fun distraction from current events. The story is pretty ridiculous - stereotypical glam-metal pretty boys getting wrapped up in a CIA mission to end the cold war. It took the zeitgeist of that period - over the top hair metal and matched it up with clandestine cold war ops. I remember the cold war and hair metal vividly from my childhood. These two topics dominated the media, but separately. Having them marry up was fantastic.

Reading these guys get wrapped up in the propaganda machine was actually one of my favorite and funniest features of this story. The CIA got involved in the band was entertaining. I can actually see myself going down a rabbit hole to see how pop culture was used behind the iron curtain. (See ya in like 8 hours!)

Overall this book was super entertaining, the "bro" glam metal characters were funny and the protagonist, Rikki Thunder was very loveable. It was a light read that I'm sure gen-x and "elder" millennials will enjoy not just for the nostalgia, but for the satire and escape.

Dee D. (Cleveland, OH)

Join the Whyte Python World Tour
Rock On!!
Irreverent and laugh out loud as you become part of the 80's heavy metal music scene. Add in a spy plot and lots of big hair and it is pure joy!

There are some crazy characters, but they maintain believability and are ultimately lovable.

I highly recommend this book as it will be on my list of top reads for the year. So buy your ticket (in this case the book) and fan out…I will be right there with you.

This is going to have a wide audience, those that experienced the 80's and those that wish they did. Rock On!

Thanks to Bookbrowse, the author and the publisher. I already preordered a copy for a friend.

JanineS

Hilariously irreverent but fun thriller
Wow! What a hilariously irreverent but fun thriller about a heavy metal band in the late 1980s being recruited by the CIA to “topple the Eastern Bloc through the power of rock.” Strange and weird premise but it works! The author has created a great character in Richard Henderson aka “Rikki Thunder”. He’s a sweet guy who’s just looking for love and acceptance but on a dead end course with his current band, Qyksand, when he’s unwittingly recruited by Tawny Spice (undercover CIA operative, Amanda Price) to replace the drummer of the up-and-coming Whyte Python, a glam-pop band, and who eventually gets the band on a “youth corrupting” world tour of Soviet bloc countries.

The humor is tongue-in-check as the band is a group of misfits as are the CIA operatives - think the Apple series, Slow Horses, if you’ve seen it, with its MI15 misfits and you get the idea of the humor! I laughed so many times but there is also a seriousness to the story in how Rikki grows up and how he gains acceptance with his new band. The Whyte Python band has some crazy characters too whom you grow to love. I really enjoyed this ARC from Penguin Books. I highly recommend it.

Robyn V. (Niles, IL)

Interesting Premise
The Whyte Python World Tour was not what I had expected. I enjoyed this book even though sometimes the writing felt forced. I like the main character Rikki Thunder a lot and felt he had depth and became a likable character. The writing creates a vivid picture in your head of what the characters are experiencing and their surroundings. I think this is a good book for anyone that enjoys fiction with a twist; this is not really a book about a band.

...3 more reader reviews