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The blurb on the back:

Bobby Sharp is the newest star in a growth of youthful worship. His records sell in their millions and with the largest fan-club of any pop star he can - and does - command fantastic sums for each personal appearance.
But show-business expertise and talent are not enough - a star like Bobby needs a manager who doesn't know the meaning of ethics and when it comes to exploitation the Teeny Boppers are a gift of the kind he knows how to manipulate.
This is the story of a week in the life of Bobby Sharp, pop-star extraordinary, feted by millions and dreamed of in a way that defies the reality of an ordinary day. It is also the story of back-stage life and the gulf between the idolised and idolisers.

James Moffatt wrote literally hundreds of novels under a vast array of pseudonyms including Trudi Maxwell, Etienne Aubin and - most successfully - Richard Allen. It was as Allen that he produced the Skinhead novels: an unavoidable part of growing up in the early-1970s, even if they don't turn up in TV celebrations of the era.

In recent years the complete set of Allen novels has been republished by S.T. Publishing in an attempt to reclaim his reputation as a great writer, albeit of pulp fiction. Actually he wasn't much cop. He was prolific and he was competent, but the best that can be said is that maybe he should be remembered as being to the 1970s what GWM Reynolds was to the 1840s. Who? Exactly.

Anyway, in amongst the likes of Suedehead and Boot Boys was this one-off curiosity about the pop world. Is it any good? No, not really. It's a pretty feeble portrayal of the industry, the characters are unconvincing and the story fails to grip. I wouldn't bother if I was you.

ARTISTIC MERIT: 1/5
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 1/5
HIPNESS QUOTIENT: 3/5

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from the maker of...

The Terror of the Seven Crypts

Diary of a Female Wrestler

Suedehead

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more '70s teen-pop on our sister site:

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