Hang Time

Lauden’s frenetic conclusion to his Greg Salem trilogy (after 2016’s Grizzly Season) finds the 41-year-old punk rock front man and part-time PI preparing for a reunion tour with his cobbled-together Bay Cities, Calif., band, Bad Citizen Corporation. Things get off to a bad start with the discovery of a suicide in the band’s storage closet that’s a copy of the 1998 suicide of Greg’s older brother, Tim. Meanwhile, Greg and Marco Johnson, his PI partner and fellow band member, are trying to wrap up a case involving Latina rapper Gabriella Flores, who may have been cheating on her husband; complications arise when Marco gets involved with her. Once the band gets to Santa Barbara, another suicide turns up in their music trailer. Then there’s the fallout from a popular and inflammatory book, Among the Grizzlies, detailing the band’s origins and rise. In addition, Greg, a recovering alcoholic, falls off the wagon, adding to his problems with his wife, Kristen. Lauden’s busy, unpolished thriller will appeal mostly to fans of the first two volumes. [em](Jan.) [/em]