Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock's Greatest Robbery

OBEDIENCE TRAINER NEEDED

by Susana Fletcher

This part is true: In 1973, after Led Zeppelin played a three-night show at Madison Square Gardens, the band's $203,000 cash payment was stolen from their safety deposit box at the hotel. No one was arrested; the money was never recovered.

What editor of Inked magazine and debut novelist Jason Buhrmester weaves in Black Dogs is the story of a group of small town hoodlums and their fortuitous, if not preposterous, scheme to pull off the biggest heist of their parentless, criminal, moral-free lives. This is the story of how they're going to rob Led Zeppelin's $203,000 payoff from their hotel safety deposit box.

Patrick is a burglar, Alex is a recently released ex-con, Frenchy's a guitarist, and Keith is a stereo installer and weekend stereo "remover". The motley gang and their flimsy paper-thin characters definitely have some coolspeak, but the majority of their time is spent on crime, music, drugs and alcohol. They run into some trouble with the local pawn shop, and the Holy Ghosts, a "Christian" motorcycle gang, which lends for some fun moments and good conflict.

Not one of the characters has any remorse, or repentance, or any sympathetic quality, which is unfortunate, since their bad sides make for a good read. Black Dogs is mildly amusing, and no doubt rock-n-roll fans will dig it for the fun and entertaining theme, but in the end, it fails to hold water for it's underdeveloped characters, the myopic and unscrupulous team of young men that really just deserve to go to jail.

BLACK DOGS: THE POSSIBLY TRUE STORY OF CLASSIC ROCK'S GREATEST ROBBERY

By Jason Buhrmester

256 pp. Three Rivers Press. $14


Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock's Greatest Robbery