"Indian Burial Ground" by Nick Medina (2024)

 

Most of the time I read for entertainment and escapism. Sometimes, I go for non-fiction or literary classics but mainly its the desire to transport myself far away from the reality and enjoy the imaginary worlds. Out of curiosity (and desire to move away from my usual safe zone) I have checked the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards, thinking that it might be a good idea to see what is actually new and recent. This particular novel was one of the nominated for reader's favourite horror. The winner was actually Stephen King but since I am already familiar with him, I thought why not read someone for the first time. 

I understand writing a novel is not an easy thing to do and author must be inspired in the first place. And Nick Medina has quite a few titles behind him already. But I don't remember when was the last time I suffered so much trough reading the book, I was reading it while literary gnawing my teeth. What appealed to Goodreads readers definitely did not appeal to me and although it might have been interesting to experience how it is to live in Native American reservation (called "rez" here) - well, according to Medina its all depression, sweat, alcoholism and suicide. There might be something about it, since apparently there is huge number of suicides and alcoholism amongst Native Americans - still, it makes a depressing reading experience as every single character here suffocates in a poorly isolated trailer home, drinks and mopes around aimlessly. Basically, everybody here wants to be somewhere else.

The story is happening simultaneously in present time and in 1986. Not that I actually understood this - it was pointed to me by other Goodreads readers - so we are following two different stories, connected by the same characters. In the present time, Noemi can't accept the suicide of her boyfriend and tries to find out is this true, while her long gone uncle Louie returns to the reservation for the first time since she was a child. Than we find out about young Louie and what happened back in 1986 that made him leave in the first place. The novel is extremely slow-burning (take it as you want, I would describe it as "not exactly gripping"), the switch between different timelines is not clear and all this atmospheric, creepy and eery plot (peppered with Native American mythology) eventually just fizzles out at the end, since we are led to believe supernatural powers are behind everything, but it turned out there is nothing supernatural at all. It's just a bunch of poor, depressed alcoholics doing things to each other out of the spite and boredom. I finished this book simply because I have already invested too much effort in it, but will not return to the same author again. 

TV: "Foundation" (2021)

 

In previous post, I have mentioned how I dislike TV series that go on forever. This is the main reason why i am reluctant to commit to something massive. However, after enjoying "Silo" on Apple TV, the curiosity inspired me to check out SF series "Foundation" based on the novels by Isaac Asimov. I have never read the books, because there are simply too many of them and it felt like a rabbit hole - the only title I have ever read by him was 1990 "Nemesis" which was not bad, so I had some idea that I might liked it. Liked? Binged for two seasons breathlessly and loved every minute of it, though must admit dear reader, sometimes the plot was so complex and convoluted that I had to watch recaps on youtube to understand what have I just seen.

This Apple TV version of "Foundation" is hugely ambitious, majestic and cinematic - like "Silo", it has only slight connection with the novels that inspired it (probably just a few names and not much else) but everybody comments that TV series are work on its own and rolls on nicely without taking much notice to the books. First of all, I must compliment the way it looks - its simply fantastic and full of details about different worlds, planets, architecture, clothes, etc. Sometimes it looks so huge that it would be easy to imagine watching this in the cinema. And the story itself is deep, serious and complicated - this is not for somebody with short attention span, you must focus on several different storylines that happens simultaneously (or even in various centuries) while one of the main story includes a complex mathematic theory - no wonder I had to re-watch recaps. 

The story is naturally, set in the future where galaxy is ruled by trio of genetic clones: brother Day, Emperor Cleon and brother Dusk - somehow they are all the same person, cloned from the original Emperor Cleon who set the plan to extend his rule beyond the grave. So they sit on the three thrones and rule the galaxy, continuously changing places - when Dusk retires, Cleon will move to his place, etc. They are always supported by ageless Lady Demerzel who is kind of omnipotent governess to all of them (and later we learn, the last of humanoid robots, programmed to serve the empire, no matter what costs). There is also a famous mathematician and professor Hari Seldon whose mathematic theory predicts that in the future will fall and wants to start a new foundation to preserve the knowledge of humanity. So the whole plot is happening on the several different places: we are following the complications around Emperor, the building of foundation on a lonely and faraway planet Terminus and adventures of Seldon's helpers Gaal Dornick and her daughter Salvor Hardin - its all terribly complicated and difficult to explain but I plowed trough two seasons with the greatest pleasure and only at the very last episode i felt something like a twitch of saturation - like my brain is telling me that 20 one hour episodes was enough and now I need some rest. Even though the second season had ended with some deaths of important main characters, at this point we are familiar with the idea that nobody is really dead and there is always some way to bring them back to life, so I would not worry too much about it + Emperor and his brothers are cloned anyway, so even if they die, there is always another clone stored away nicely in some jars in the basements, and ready to be uncorked & set in motion. I am actually so hugely impressed with this series that i even started considering checking out the original novels. 

TV: "The Decameron" and "Zero Day"

I am very reluctant to approach TV series, because knowing there are 365 episodes and 7 seasons always feel like a task and most of the time these series visibly loose the steam after a while. However, from time to time I accept an exception, specially if its something like mini-series with limited amount of episodes, at least than I know it will not go forever and I can deal with 7-8 episodes.

The medieval romp "The Decameron" was surprisingly delightful, though it has almost nothing to do with 14th century novel that inspired it - the original by Giovanni Boccaccio was something like a medieval "One Thousand and One Nights" set in plague-ravaged Italy, but instead of stories told by Scheherazade, Boccaccio uses a group of young aristocrats entertaining each other with the stories while isolating from plague in a luxurious countryside villa. In this TV version, there IS a villa whose owner invited some wealthy guests to hide from the plague, but what his guests don't know is that the owner of the house had already died from plague and his servants are just keeping appearances and pretending that he is somewhere on a trip to Venice. The show focuses on the wealthy guests and their interconnections with each other - once they found out the owner is dead, they manipulate and fight each other in order to get their hands on a villa. 

There are many excellent and entertaining characters:

Pampinea (Zosia Mamet) spoiled and arrogant wealthy lady who came to marry the owner of the villa. Once she discovers he is actually dead, she pretends they have quickly been married and in fact she claims to be pregnant in order to inherit the villa.

Misia (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) her loony servant who always fights to protect her mistress and dares anybody to disobey her orders

Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin) another obnoxious nobleman who is totally narcissist and self-absorbed, mostly tolerated because of his wealth and always demanding attention with his hypochondria .

Dioneo (Amar Chadha-Patel) his personal doctor who in reality is nothing but a charlatan and manipulating Tindaro in the background.

Panfilo (Karan Gill) young aristocrat who arrives with his wife, social-climbing and secretly twisting everything in order to get his hands on a villa

Neifile (Lou Gala) his extremely religious wife who has vowed to chastity and later eyeing every man around, as she regrets her promises. 

Filomena (Jessica Plummer) selfish young aristocrat who leaves her sick father alone at home, so she can visit the villa and catch a wealthy husband

Licisca (Tanya Reynolds) her servant who - in a comical twist - exchanges place with Filomena and now pretends to be wealthy lady and real Filomena her servant

Stratilia (Leila Farzad) the villa's cook and mother of a boy who is son of villa's owner, therefore the real owner of the villa

Sirisco (Tony Hale) the main servant of the villa, who buried his master and is pretending that everything is still in order

"Zero Day" had only six episodes and cast to day for: Robert De Niro (in his first ever TV series), Angela Bassett and Lizzy Caplan lead the star-studded show about the retired US president who is investigating a cyberattack. It's all extremely convoluted and complicated, with nods to a very current political atmosphere and squabbling inside the government itself. While people on social media are busy arguing amongst themselves about pronouns and such, real trouble is brewing in the background where heavy hitters are intriguing and planning a coup. It's all very interesting and gripping up to a certain point - there is a very fascinating idea about someone using cyber-weapon from a distance on president's brain - perhaps some wavelength? - which potentially makes him distracted and vulnerable. Unfortunately the show goes on and on without ever resolving this potential weapon and settles on suggesting it was simply stress that De Niro suffered and therefore it was all (literary) just in his head. So after 6 one-hour episodes it all ends up pretty bland and pointless, almost a waste of all this spectacular talent.

"Silo 3: Dust" by Hugh Howey (2013)

 

Without thinking twice, I continued immediately with the third part of "Silo" as it represents culmination of the story + both "Wool" and "Shift" finally merge into one, with characters from both novels now finally merging together. We follow what is going on in Silo 1 (where Donald faces senator Thurman), Silo 18 (where people react with panic as they don't understand what is Juliette trying to do) and Silo 17 (where Solo and a handful of survivors are hiding). I thought it was excellent and the end is basically the only logic, realistic possibility so it felt like a satisfactory trilogy.

Since only the first book ("Wool") was made into TV series (so far) I could tell there are differences between the novel and the TV version, no doubt the same will happen later but to be honest I did not miss the TV version at all - producers and actors are doing excellent job but I also enjoy creating the whole world inside of my head and "Dust" was gripping enough to read it breathlessly - there was interesting antagonist (but not much space given) in a shape of religious cult leader who might be better used in TV series later eventually. Also the character of Juliette - previously so heroic and brave - now started to irritate me a bit as she really comes across and perpetually angry and argumentative without patience to actually explain what is her plan - the main reason why people turn against her is because she is just bulldozing around, without enlightening people why is she doing all this digging, etc. And when citizens of Silo 18 finally break into the remains of Silo 17, they just grab everything they see and it is obvious this is not a good thing - but Juliette is too busy with her anger to do anything about it. Luckily Solo shows more strength and force that we even expected. The end is brilliant and now I can take a deep breath and wait for TV version. 

"Silo 2: Shift" by Hugh Howey (2013)

 

A month ago, I was so intrigued with TV series "Silo" that I decided to read the trilogy upon the series were based. To my biggest surprise, script was not literary following the novel but in fact embellished on it - the final result might be even better, as far as TV series goes, since it added many new characters and kind of twisted it a bit around, making it much more interesting. It kept the same basic story as in the book, but added much, much more. However, reading the book after the series also meant that I knew the end. 

It might sound like a sacrilege but I enjoyed "Shift" even more than the first part "Wool" for the simple reason that TV series at this point is still not being made and everything was new to me: I resisted temptation to read anything about it online and just hungrily dived into the story. "Shift" goes deep into the background of how Silo(s) actually came to be built in the first place and its even darker and more claustrophobic than the first part. Just like the first part, it follows several different timelines:

- 2049: we follow young politician Donald who is employed to built the huge underground silo, allegedly for nuclear waste. He bows to influential senator Thurman who obviously don't tell him everything and there is also Thurman's daughter Anna who continuously throws herself at Donald, even though their relationship is long over and Donald now has a wife, Helen

- 2110: deep frozen Troy is awaken for his shift in Silo 1, where everybody is deep frozen and awaken for work at scheduled intervals. He is deeply depressed as he knows that the world above was purposely destroyed and the only surviving population is the one inside 50 Silo's. Eventually we learn that Troy is actually Donald and everybody he ever knew is dead, including his wife. 

- we also follow young man Mission who is "porter" (messenger) in Silo 18 and we see the revolution from his point of view. We learn that Silo 18 was spared from destruction but all its inhabitants have erased memory. Much later, we learn about new sheriff from 18 who refused to clean the camera outside and she ventured into next door Silo 17

- we also follow young boy Jimmy who survives uprising in Silo 17 by hiding in a secret place where his father let him hide - he is instructed not to open door to anybody and spends years totally alone, until at the very end of the novel the sheriff from Silo 18 arrives

I was totally into it and enjoyed it a lot - again, because there was no TV series to confuse me, everything was fresh and new to me. I don't doubt that once when its finished, TV series will be exciting and again totally different - until than I intend to read the whole trilogy. 

Tribute to Live Aid: 40th Anniversary

 

Well imagine, it is exactly 40 years since Live Aid happened - a bit mind boggling fact, as I clearly remember this as one of the quintessential moments of 1980s pop culture and since I was a teenager back than, a major highlight of my life. I remember everything like it was yesterday, it was this spectacular 16 hour charity concert where simultaneously we followed what was going on at Wembley and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. I was at the hospital, recovering from a very difficult lung infection and I still remember hushing my mother and sending her back home so I could go back to TV and watch the biggest pop stars in the world duetting with each other. The highlight was supposed to be duet of Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, for which I had to wake up at 5 a.m and sneak into hospital's living room so I could watch it while nurses slept. The pictures of their duet was on every cover page next day, this is how huge they were. Of course, there were many stars performing and it was literary Olympus of the biggest names you can imagine, on both sides of Atlantic. 

I have never been on a Tribute Act concert, somehow suspecting its not the real thing so why bother. However, this sounded too good to miss and I am glad I went - with a faithful Tina fan in a tow - we went simply to check the Jagger/Turner duet but we actually ended up having great time. I explained him this is a venue where I already witnessed The Three Degrees and knew the audience was totally middle aged, happy, relaxed and confident - no youngsters, no kids, simply people of our age having fun. Nothing pretentious. On arrival, I was delighted to hear the sound of Royal Fanfare exactly like the concert originally started and than "Rockin' All Over The World" which was the first song performed back in 1985 - it was just as good as I expected and even more, since glorious 1980s hits simply poured from the stage and the audience was in a great mood. 

When Jagger/Turner duet happened, the performer who sung Turner (Dutch artist calling herself Diva Turner) explained that Turner had only one song on Live Aid, she will nevertheless sing few of Turner's live favourites and almost unbalanced the concert with her strong performance - I watched, fascinated. She was obviously not Tina Turner but she inhabited and very respectfully performed exactly in that gloriously regal and powerful style - the audience loved it and danced away. Later it continued as a 1980s jukebox and I totally got into it, much more than I expected - you see, I was there, living trough 1980s so I rarely listen to this music anymore, but this was great fun and I actually knew every song by heart. I promised to myself to check out other Tribute acts because as long as I like the music, it doesn't matter that is not original artist - we simply celebrate music itself and enjoy a good time. In a way, we also honour artists who are not here anymore. 

Performers: Arjan Janissen

                   Maureen Fernandes

                    Nicolette Junggeburth 

                    Jeroen Kraneveld

                    Richard van der Heijden

                    Charl Dijkhoff 

                    Robert van Asseldonk

"Elektra" by Jennifer Saint (2022)

Not long ago I saw stage production of "Trojan Women" by Euripides and it struck me how the play was ancient and modern at the same time (the fact strengthen by the characters wearing modern-day clothes) - the story about the war, destruction, suffering and survivors/victims might be the ultimate story of our world. I even watched 1971 film version, which was not bad at all. But reading is something else, it brings you completely in the mind of the characters and this is why books are still my number one treat. From the top of my head I recall several titles dealing with Trojan war - "Cassandra" by Christa Wolf, "The Penelopiad" by Margaret Atwood and "The Firebrand" by Marion Zimmer Bradley are just some that come to mind, apparently the subject is very popular again and exploration of Greek mythology is turning into a new literary trend. It is refreshing, because we are all getting a bit tired of same old Tudors. 

I was familiar with Greek mythology - at least I thought that I was, but obviously I forgot a lot trough the decades, so it struck me as a surprise to recall that notorious Clytemnestra was twin sister of Helen, almost like dark mirror to Helen legendary glow - but where Helen is shrouded in some imaginary cloud of her beauty, Clytemnestra is forever associated with murder of her husband and this is where Jennifer Saint gets her inspiration from - why Clytemnestra hated him so much and why did she do it. So the book is divided into three different (but connected) points of view - the sorrow of Clytemnestra who can't get over the ritual killing of her daughter Iphigenia as sacrifice, the confused anger of cursed priestess Cassandra and finally the white hot fury of Elektra who is obsessive about revenging her father's death. There is a lot of anger, hatred and all sorts of violent feelings here - one revenge follows another and it all gets a bit too much sometimes. Here is one voice of reason:

'‘You’ve lived under the shadow of this curse all your life. You’ve learned from your family’s history that blood must be repaid in blood. But I’ve been farming, working on your father’s lands for all of mine. I learned it from my father, how everything dies away and comes back again, how we sow and reap the harvest every year. I’ve learned the rhythms of the seasons, and how even the harshest of winters is always followed by spring. It’s a cycle constantly changing, but always the same. And your family’s curse, it’s like that, too. All the way back to Tantalus, your ancestors have done the same thing to one another. There’s a terrible crime, unbearable pain and then the lashing out of vengeance, and then it all begins again. I know it’s hard for you to see it, when the storms are raging and it’s impossible to imagine the dead earth will ever bring forth crops again. But it does – it always does."

‘But if we don’t take vengeance, if my brother lets our father’s killers go unpunished, what will the gods do then? It’s our duty.’ I clutch at the lock of hair in my hand, the only thing I have to give my father until Orestes comes back. ‘A woman can’t kill her husband, a usurper can’t steal a throne, and neither of them pay. It’s an insult to the gods, to my family, to everything.’

But where does it stop?’ His vehemence startles me. I’ve never known Georgios like this before. ‘Can’t you see that it just goes on, over and over? The gods demand their justice, but we suffer for it, every time.’

‘Well, what else should we do?’

‘You could be happy.’ He reaches across the table for my hand. ‘You escaped your mother and Aegisthus. They have nothing to do with your life any more.’

I snatch my hand away. ‘My father is dead because of them.’

‘Many people have dead fathers, Elektra.’

Strangely that the novel is named after Elektra (the sister of sacrificed Iphigenia and daughter of Clytemnestra herself) because Elektra herself might be the least interesting character of all - while all he other characters have some kind of background and explanation, Elektra is basically very one dimensional (at times even irritating) daddy's girl who almost gets mad with her daddy issues and than when he actually returns home after ten years, she can only get a glimpse of his helmet before he is murdered. So the revenge and fury goes on and on and its quite exhausting. Still, makes for great reading. 

Marianne Faithfull - Scarborough Fair

The Vagabond Lady: Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025)

 

We all knew that she was ailing - Covid almost killed her a few years ago and ever since she was basically retired - still, the news about her death came as a disappointment. I secretly hoped she would live to be a hundred and would forever bask in a glow of adoration from all the new generations of listeners who would find her cool, brave and inspiring. After all, how many 1960s pop stars can you name who had completely re-invented themselves and actually became even better, more interesting artists in their mature years? So when we talk about Marianne Faithfull, we are actually talking about two completely different artists: there is a young, breathtakingly beautiful girl in the 1960s and later, angry, middle aged and shock provoking rocker who gleefully enjoyed in her notoriety. Even though many (including Faithfull herself) dismissed her beginnings, I enjoy both of her phases and understand that the later chapter would not be possible without those early 1960s pop that would eventually serve as a stark contrast of things to come. 

What always bothered me - ever since I became aware of her - was the media's endless fascination with her fall from grace. Everywhere you look, her name was always connected with the excess of Swinging 1960s - drugs, police, arrests, scandals - it was almost like journalists could not stop talking about the connection with Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones. To a certain extent, this happens to many female artists, no matter how successful or important they might be: its always Sonny & Cher, Ike & Tina, Marianne & Mick, John & Yoko, Dylan and Baez. Almost like relationship to a famous men is what matters the most. In the decades since she left Mick Jagger behind and moved on to a surprisingly rich solo career, every single article would always go in the length about her 1960s days - which is actually illogical since her music really became better as she moved on to the middle age. I read how Faithfull herself was annoyed with this - every new album or a tour was always mentioned passingly but the biggest juice was her scandalous past. Even now in all these obituaries, its again the police, arrests and drugs and not her music that matters. No doubt, once the biopic is made, it will focus on that and not on her later years that really matter. 

Well, I see it differently, partly because I was not there in the swinging 1960s and I could only admire her glow from the geographical distance, that at the same time protected me from UK tabloid culture, so I always connected with Faithfull trough what matters - her music. Our first encounter was probably accidental - my mother, who knew that I always loved and doted on my vinyl collection, bought me 1981. LP "Dangerous Acquaintances" simply because she loved the cover photo. As a teenager, I knew nothing about the singer, except that her voice was obviously very different from everybody else - it was not a pretty voice but it had an interesting character and eventually I grew to love it. Back in the day, I played this one album over and over again until I memorised every word and every note. It was much later that I learned about her past and she stayed with me ever since - the very first CD I have ever bought was her 1987 compilation "The Very Best of Marianne Faithfull"  (the first time I actually heard her 1960s music)  and I even managed to see her live, performing Kurt Weil cabaret songs in London's Almeida Theatre - she was beautiful and I treasure the memory of it.

"Broken English" with the heartbreaking "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is still probably the best introduction to mature Faithfull, though I actually prefer the original mix of the album, that was not released until 2013 (as deluxe reissue) - what the audience heard in 1979 was over-produced Steve Winwood version, that producers thought would sell better - in my opinion, his synthesisers intrude too much and if you can find 2013 release, everything sound much better without them. Recently I have been listening this album again a lot and marvelling how much colder, cleaner and somehow more logical everything sounds without this extra added padding.  

Faithfull would go on to continue recording and performing into her seventies, that famous croak becoming raspier with time and she would go on the stage even with a walking stick. I enjoyed her even in the movies - she was empress Maria Theresa in "Marie Antoinette" and a sweet naive widow who turns to sex shop work in "Irina Palm". I lived long enough to see her being finally celebrated as a solo artist and spoken in the same breath as Leonard Cohen. I read both volumes of her memoirs and it saddens me to see how media always focuses on scandals when discussing her - kind of what happened to Billie Holiday, really. I love her music and my all-time favourite Faithfull album would be 1999. "Vagabond Ways". Goodbye, my sweet lady. 

p.s.

Just recently discovered a harrowing video clip of obviously unwell Faithfull performing one of her old 1960s songs somewhere on a UK beach, where she had just fallen before the shooting and her dress is all dirty & soiled. She is high as a kite and prancing around - really fascinating in a bad sense - I share it here simply to point how much she changed in the meantime and grew into a well loved and respected artist.  

"They Thirst" by Robert McCammon (1981)

I am doing incredibly well with reading so far, already six books completed and its not even end of January! For my latest book, choice fell on an author I was not familiar with - I simply followed good reviews on Goodreads and thought, good old fashioned horror novel can't be bad. And I devoured the book in a week, with the greatest interest!

"They Thirst" is a gripping story, impossible to put down - as you guess from the title, its about vampires and as such one of the best vampire novels I had encountered - its not exactly in the same league with Stephen King, but than, nobody is. Still, it turned me into obsessive reader, the kind who reads long after the midnight and than again in the morning - I found it even amusing that reading fever grabbed me so strongly, it had not happen in a very long time. According to Goodreads it looks like I read the whole thing in five days, which sounds realistic. 

The story itself is about vampire invasion of Los Angeles and follows many (sometimes TOO many) characters as they first must accept the idea about vampires in their midst, than figure out how to survive and perhaps fight back. It's all very action-packed and holds reader's attention firmly, though I noticed that well-stocked cast of characters is here simply to add more victims and the story feels more exciting when the antagonists are kept as a mystery - when we are close to them, they loose some of the danger. Absolutely recommended.  

"He stared at Kelsen, his eyes going dark and cold. "Mr. Kelsen," he said, "is there a lock on the door of your little house there?"

"Yeah, there's a lock. Why?"

"Because I'm going to suggest that you do something, and I want you to listen to me very carefully." Palatazin's hands curled tighter around the bars. "If I tried to explain to you why I want you to do this, you wouldn't understand. So just listen, please."

"Okay," the watchman said, but he stepped back a pace from the man at the gate whose gaze had gone so hard and chilling.

"If anyone else comes to this gate tonight—man, woman, or child—you should lock your door and draw the blinds. If you hear this gate opening, you should turn up your radio very loud so you can't hear. And you should not come out to look. Let whoever it may be do as he or she pleases. But do not—do not—come out to try to stop them."

"If and when someone comes to this gate tonight," Palatazin continued, ignoring the question, "you should pray. Pray very loudly, don't pay any attention to anything they say to you." He squinted when the watchman's light hit his face. "Perhaps if you pray hard enough, they'll leave you in peace."

"Out of His Head: The Sound of Phil Spector" by Richard Williams (1972)

I bought this original 1972 paperback simply because I liked the ancient owner of the second-hand bookshop and even brought him some food from a fresh market nearby - he must be in his 80s and this place is his universe, loved everything about it. Than it turned out that the book itself actually excellent! Obviously this is from 1972 and this is the best thing about it - later books about Spector focus too much about scandals and the descent into the madness, but this little book is all about the music and the best thing about it might be that it was written while Spector was still working - it is a close look at the music industry circa 1972, with recently disbanded Beatles working closely with Spector and at that point he was still not completely manic, but respected producer instead.

One interesting thing that Williams notes is how before Spector, producers were really in the background - while he was preceded by some important names like John Hammond, George Goldner and Sam Phillips, it was Spector who marketed his records like the latest, newest product by Phil Spector - to my knowledge, nobody else did it before and surprisingly (from our perspective) the main artists were almost unimportant, it was all about Spector himself. Williams also covers every important aspect of Spector recorded output up to that point and how Beatles connection helped to bring him back to the forefront of music industry - for a while he seemed invincible but as we know, it will not stay like that.