One Hit Wonder

August 16, 2010
Eighteen-year-old Mickey DeFalco got dumped by his girlfriend and wrote a plaintive love ballad that became a huge hit. Since then, it’s been downhill. Twenty years later, broke and drinking too much, DeFalco moves in with his parents in Queens, toting plenty of baggage: a stash of ill-gotten money and two items busted almost beyond repair, his career and his heart. The onetime teen heartthrob is reduced to mowing lawns for a living; a resurgence of interest in his song, to which he foolishly sold the rights, only rubs salt in his wounds. But when his runaway love resurfaces after a mysterious 20-year absence, secrets and lies come to light, revealing the unpredictability of life. Wry insights and ironic twists of fate mix a bit uneasily with nostalgia in the latest novel from the author of Raising Jake, which scored a more direct hit in exploring the theme of a middle-aged man trying to grow up. This one pounds the same notes a few times too many, but the likable loser hero and old neighborhood vibe make the journey rewarding all the same.

August 1, 2010

It's back to the old Little Neck, NY, neighborhood for 38-year-old Mickey DeFalco, who hit it big 20 years ago with his first--and only--pop song, "Sweet Days." Then it was drop out of high school, off to L.A. to star in a brief and disastrous TV series based on the song, and bounce around for two decades before returning to his parents' home with a duffel bag full of memories and a mysterious coffee can full of money. Except for writing the song, nothing went right for Mickey after Lynn Mahoney ran away when they were teens. People still ask, Whatever happened to Mickey DeFalco? Mickey asks, Why did Lynn leave me? VERDICT Carillo (Raising Jake) paints Mickey with a wise-cracking flourish that best denotes this Queens, NY, native. The locale is the perfect setting for dreams that never quite make it out of the gate yet still paw the dirt years later. The sex here is of the bittersweet kind; guys really are from another planet. No one-hit wonder, Carillo takes readers on another funny and poignant ride. Recommended for those who like their heroes more flawed than flawless.--Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

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