American Library Association Alex Award Winner
“The laughs are as big as the mullets in this rollicking story about a hugely successful hair-metal band that’s really a cover for a covert operation in Cold War-era Eastern Europe.”
—People
“Enormously fun. . . . Surfing through Travis Kennedy’s finely crafted, splendidly entertaining tale of Whyte Python’s whacked-out world tour is sheer delight.”
—Portland Press Herald
“A rock ’n’ roll thrill ride. . . . The Whyte Python World Tour feels like a cross between a harrowing episode of Behind the Music and a Roger Moore–era James Bond flick. Heavy metal icon Rikki Thunder’s satirical memoir is sweeter than cherry pie and better than a prescription from Dr. Feelgood! You need to read it.”
—Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One
“Travis Kennedy is too fiendishly clever for his own damn good. As he’s perfectly satirizing the hair-metal scene on the very first downbeat, you’re strapping yourself in for a wild ride. . . and suddenly he spikes your drink and cranks the Marshall stack to 20. Outrageous fun. Outrageous twists. Just outrageous, period!”
—Lincoln Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Sex, thugs, and rock ‘n’ roll! If Iron Maiden had made a James Bond movie it would have been Travis Kennedy’s The Whyte Python World Tour, an antic thriller that spins the shiniest metal videos of the1980s with cliffhanging adventure movie in which an unsuspecting heavy metal band is infiltrated by the CIA and becomes a secret weapon in the final days of the Cold War. Heads are banged, fists raised, and the KGB and Stasi are no match for the power of rock ‘n’ roll.”
—Peter Ames Carlin, New York Times bestselling author of Bruce and The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
“The Whye Python World Tour has everything: the glam rock satire of This Is Spinal Tap; the cloak-and-dagger thrills of Bridge of Spies; and a hero you’ll want to climb over the hood of a car in a leopard-print bikini for. The only thing missing is a parental advisory sticker: WARNING: THIS BOOK ROCKS HARD.”
—Kat Rosenfield, bestselling author of No One Will Miss Her
“Hilarious, fast-paced, and thoroughly debauched. The Cold War was a lot weirder—and funnier—than we knew.”
—Cory Doctorow, author of Walkaway
“A unique story, told in a unique way. Kennedy makes the late 1980’s come alive on the page…. Filled with color, sights, and sounds. You can almost see yourself walking down Sunset Strip, hearing Poison, Mötley Crüe, or Van Halen pouring out of one of the many clubs you pass by. You experience being in the crowds on the street or in the venues, smell the cigarette smoke and feel the spandex/leather pants…. A fun and wild ride of a book.”
—Chicago Review of Books
“Author Travis Kennedy is bringing you the best of hair metal bands with espionage on the side.”
—John Scalzi, Whatever
“A heavy metal drummer is recruited by the CIA to help topple the Eastern Bloc with the power of rock…. This offbeat gem does for metal dudes what Daisy Jones & the Six does for the yacht-rock crowd. A nostalgic, headbanging comedy about rock ’n’ roll refugees.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Kennedy nimbly heightens suspense via numerous twists… without neglecting the story’s ample comic possibilities…. A diverting dive into the paranoid past.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Top Secret! meets This is Spinal Tap… GenXers, metalheads, and fans of spy thrillers alike will enjoy this delightfully silly and suspenseful Cold War-era adventure.”
—Booklist
