Never Break the Chain
Writing a book is a journey culminating in a moment not unlike a key one in this very story: the author hands his or her baby off to the reader, saying “Here. This is yours now.” Today we arrive at that moment: the publication of Never Break the Chain, the sequel to Believe in Me.
Set among the Malibu mansions and Hollywood rock clubs of California’s southland, Never Break the Chain finds Tim Green’s grief over the loss of his father spinning into an obsessive quest to track down the wayward mother who deserted him almost three decades before. It’s a journey that once again sends Tim venturing deep into the heart of the rock and roll jungle.
Never Break the Chain opens a few months after the end of Believe in Me, landing Tim in the oceanfront Malibu compound of British guitarist Blake Saunders, who’s just hired him to pen an authorized biography of his floundering, formerly-huge arena rock band. Even as the highly combustible Saunders’ son Mal—recently installed as the band’s new lead singer—and daughter Jane offer back distorted reflections of himself, Tim’s efforts to retrace his mother’s steps through LA’s rock and roll underworld propel him toward a cathartic confrontation. The revelations to come challenge every answer he once thought he possessed to the most fundamental question of all: who is Tim Green?
Equal parts family drama, literate thriller, and peek behind the curtain of an aging rock band, Never Break the Chain is ultimately a story about families—the ones we’re born into, and the ones we create.
Here’s what others are saying:
“Rock writer Jason Warburg ties up some loose ends with his latest Tim Green novel, Never Break the Chain. His charming protagonist is still threading the road to self-knowledge by poetically and amusingly examining the lives of others in this tale of excess and success. Best of all, a turn in the story resolves the mystery of who Tim Green really is. It’s the magic of music that takes us there, along with Warburg’s very entertaining style.”
— Viola Weinberg, Poet Laureate emerita of Sacramento & former KZAP FM News Director
“A beautiful book… Never Break the Chain is a novel about family life and the ties that bind people together. It is not easy to write about music and the life of musicians in a convincing way, but Jason Warburg never misses a beat. Warburg understands how music can play a major part in the staging posts of people’s lives.”
— Greg Spawton, co-founder & songwriter, Big Big Train
Never Break the Chain is available now in paperback and Kindle editions.
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