"The Music of Time" is a riveting life story that reads like a fine novel, giving voice to the author's sensibilities, secrets, and fears, without traces of inhibition. All the major and minor characters are here, an astonishing variety of men and women who have influenced the writer's life and work over a period of six decades. We discover precisely how he learned the craft of novel writing, his lifelong passion for music that became a catalyst for his creativity, and how an unexpected insight at Harvard would dramatically change his life. This book is the haunting self-portrait of a truly gifted American artist, still working, whose reputation is secure among the finest writers of his generation.

Publisher's note: John Minahan is the author of 21 books, including the Doubleday Award-winning novel, "A Sudden Silence," the million-copy bestseller, "Jeremy," produced as a major motion picture by United Artists, and "The Great Diamond Robbery," produced as a two-hour television special on CBS. An alumnus of Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia, he is a former novel-writing instructor on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Mr. Minahan and his wife, Verity, now live in California, where he is working on his next book.

"The Music of Time" is a riveting life story that reads like a fine novel, giving voice to the author's sensibilities, secrets, and fears, without traces of inhibition. All the major and minor characters are here, an astonishing variety of men and women who have influenced the writer's life and work over a period of six decades. We discover precisely how he learned the craft of novel writing, his lifelong passion for music that became a catalyst for his creativity, and how an unexpected insight at Harvard would dramatically change his life. This book is the haunting self-portrait of a truly gifted American artist, still working, whose reputation is secure among the finest writers of his generation.

John Minahan is the author of 21 books, including the Doubleday Award-winning novel, "A Sudden Silence," the million-copy bestseller, "Jeremy," produced as a major motion picture by United Artists, and "The Great Diamond Robbery," produced as a two-hour television special on CBS. An alumnus of Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia, he is a former novel-writing instructor on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Mr. Minahan and his wife, Verity, now live in California, where he is working on his next book.

THE NEW YORKER: "It is a genuinely gripping narrative, with some striking asides, made all the more interesting by the author's apparent familiarity with current police procedures."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Grim and realistic...blending the excitement of the chase with a strong infusion of burlesque...enlivened along the way by New York local color."

WEST COAST REVIEW OF BOOKS: "Well-written, bristling with action, and authentically detailed in its description of the modus operandi of a Manhattan manhunt by sharp and wary detectives. It's one of the most exciting stories of the year."

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "A lively caper of the tough-guy school, with lusty humor, a machine-gun style, and a Grand Guignol finish."

LOS ANGELES TIMES: "A wildly ribald yarn....Absolutely nothing's barred."

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: "Minahan's clipped dialogue is unprintably funny and his thumbnail descriptions have a marvelously malicious quality."

WEST COAST REVIEW OF BOOKS: "Minahan handles it with great skill. "The Great Grave Robbery" is a combination of science, cynicism and mystery that blends into an absorbing piece of work."

FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL: "Minahan is at his best, the story is plotted out neatly, offering the right number of clues and the right amount of suspense to keep us engaged and entertained."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Mr. Minahan tells a lively story. He is of the tough-guy school, with prose to match. Here is a fast-paced new Rawlings novel with a labyrinth of evil and intrigue, a high-tech heist, and a powerful comtemporary theme."

THE MIAMI HERALD: "Rawlings, bless him, keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs, and thinks his way to an inventive conclusion. Minahan's fast-paced, first-person, sotto-voce, talking-to-myself narrative drives the story nicely."

JUDITH CRIST: "I read it nonstop and thoroughly enjoyed it. Refreshingly different. The narrator is indeed worthy of a series."

WEST COAST REVIEW OF BOOKS: "Hilarious and intriguing....A deliciously inventive cops-and-robbers chase."

SAN DIEGO UNION: "A comedy thriller with genuine humor and incisive social comment."

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL: "The fourth of Minahan's 'Little John' books, 'The Great Pyramid Robbery,' is a delightfully refreshing reading experience. John Rawlings is an insightful comedian cop who breezes through investigations with an acid, entertaining wit and a cynical eye toward his chief of detectives. Put on the trail of a robber who manages to make off with $8 million in an armored car robbery, Rawlings tracks his suspect to Egypt and discovers a plot to break into the secret treasure room of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. A sequence where the hard-bitten cop has to disguise himself by going into drag is an entertaining diversion. The premise of the book and the robbery appears far-fetched, but the tale is skillfully woven and moves to a suspenseful and believable conclusion."

JEREMY / Hardcover / Published 1973 / Sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide / Produced as major motion picture by United Artists, 1974.

WHITEFRIAR TALKING (London): "JEREMY, by John Minahan, couldn't help but best-sell even without a film being made of it. The fact that a film has been made and has pulled down the "Best First Film by a Director Award" at the Cannes Festival only emphasizes the enormous sales future for such a book."

The choice of this author to take his unedited preliminary notes started for a contemplated book project and publish them as a finished product is unfortunate.

To suggest this apparently random collection of third-party unverified information has anything to do with a supposed "Torment" of Buddy Rich is silly.

Whatever this document may be, it is not a completed work of any kind and certainly would never be published by any other than this author's vanity press.

For those of us blessed to take unconstrained joy from the life and music Buddy Rich poured, these dregs must be tasted. But for those sane in this life, stay away.

WEO

Books about musicians can never tell the story that the musician tells through music, especially in Jazz. I enjoyed the book, even though it's a bit rough around the edges, but I always enjoy books about Jazz masters. Worlds Greatest Drummer? Buddy was a great one but not the greatest. Just listen to a recording from the late 1950's, Rich vs. Roach, where Max Roach just blows him away head to head. That said, I love Buddy's work. His solo on The Monster with the JATP group is amazing. Buddy was a Real Character and one of the most popular guests ever on the old Carson Tonight Show.
I went to a concert with his big band of the late 'Seventies at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. It was a two show gig and Buddy found out the Guthrie had somehow managed to sell tickets to only one show. What does Buddy do? He invited the crowd to stay on, had an intermission and then played a completely different second set! I could swear the band never knew what tune he was going to call next. That was one of the most disciplined big bands I have ever heard. Maybe not the Worlds Greatest Drummer but for sure one of the Worlds Greatest Shows.

Terrific book about an exceptional talent! Don't know what the other reviewer is complaining about. I paid full price and don't regret it. (That's about eighteen bucks, with shipping.)
If you like Buddy's kind of music, you'll appreciate the book. In addition: you get plenty of insight into the man, what for me, was an added bonus: Buddy's devotion to friends and good-hearted nature (ie: the passage with Johnny Carson, Count Bassie, et al). Granted, he wasn't always the easiest guy to get along with, but what matters most is that he had a good heart, loved music and those who had the same love and dedication for it as he did. Reading the book made me want to take the albums out and play them, etc.

While I'm at it here, have wanted to express for years now how impressed I was with his daughter Cathy's version of the Sonny Bono tune entitled THE BEAT GOES ON. She does a terririfc cover of it on Buddy's Big Swing Face album recorded years ago. Cathy was only 12 and 1/2, mind you, at the time, and showed great promise in my opinion, and have wondered why she never pursued a singing career, etc.

There is so much more I could say about this book, but it would take too long. You get a good glimpse into what life must have been like for Buddy and his family in this country during the 30's and 40's, etc., (through various interviews with family members), what it was like for him as a gifted kid at age 3 to be traveling the world as "Traps the Drum Wonder," all that.

The only thing that bothered me (and this is a relatively minor objection, if you can even call it that) is the awful photo of Buddy Rich used for the cover, as someone else mentioned as well. I mean, couldn't they have found something more flattering? I think the legendary Buddy Rich deserves better.

All in all: nice job, Mr. Minahan. Thank you.