The new novel from the bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift—a vivid and immersive tale of one woman’s reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is

Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father’s forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills’ wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning—one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.

The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father’s sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil’s beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she’d lost desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country—and drives her to a desperation all her own.

Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back—where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.

I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I started this book with curiosity and finished it feeling a lot of guilt. Curiosity because I’ve somehow never read anything by M.L. Rio, despite hearing constant praise for “If We Were Villains”. Guilt because when I got an advance copy of this highly coveted title, and then ended up not enjoying it, I suspected a bigger fan might have appreciated it more than I did.

The setup is intriguing: a woman haunted by a violent moment from her childhood, raised on the fringes of her father’s rock band, is suddenly thrust back into that chaotic orbit after decades of trying to live a quieter life. The potential for emotional depth, family drama, and messy self-discovery is all there, but it never grabbed me the way I hoped it would.

Let’s start with the good. The writing is rich and layered. You can tell Rio knows the music world inside and out. She captures the grit and glamour of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s rock scene so vividly that you can practically smell the cigarette smoke clinging to leather jackets. Every song mentioned was a fave of mine back then. One thing I did get out of this? A killer playlist.

My problem? I never clicked with Suzanne, our main character. I kept waiting for something that would make me root for her, but it never came. I found her to be very bland. Instead, I found myself far more interested in the side characters she meets on the road. They felt alive in a way she didn’t, at least for me.

Then there’s the pacing. The book opens slowly, which I can forgive if it builds to something, but the middle section dragged even more. By the time the story hit its stride toward the end, I was already mentally checking out. The climax landed, but I didn’t have the emotional investment to really feel its impact, which was a little disappointing.

I think this is one of those books that will land well with those who enjoy a slower pace. I also suspect that those true music lovers (those who enjoy a deep cut and really know their stuff) might enjoy this more than I did. I think that’s where some of the magic was lost on me.

In the end, I can see why others might love this. It’s smartly written, dripping with atmosphere, and unflinching in its look at ambition, self-destruction, and the cost of chasing a dream. For me, though, it just lingered a little too long in places I would have preferred to gloss over, and it took too long to get to the good part. I know this book will have an audience. Sadly, that audience isn’t me.