Found: A nice review of 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang' in the Whanganui Chronicle.

 

Book review: The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang

22 Feb, 2022 04:15 AM2 minutes to read

Whanganui Midweek

The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang
By Robert Philip Bolton
Reviewed by Albert Sword

There is so much 'knowingness' in this exceptional novel, a knowingness bred of the author's deep wisdom, a common-sense knowingness of the surety of relationships and entanglements.

To say the characters are finely drawn is an understatement, for, from page one, each character is etched into the reader's consciousness; they become persons we knew growing up, or persons we know now, with hindsight helping form the connections.

Crudely put, we fall in love with Bolton's characters, who take us on a well-constructed romp through the 60s and 70s of the 20th century.

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My baby-boomer birth date of 1950 meant a catch-up of a few years to join these characters, but everything mentioned in this superbly researched book is strong in my memories of the time, vivid and meaningful.

Robert Bolton doesn't put a foot wrong in his narrative, I am there with him, all the way, and anyone growing up in working-class/middle class 60s/70s New Zealand will also be with the author. The ease of the everyday vernacular, and laid-back syntax instantly draws the reader into the narrative, also into trusting the writer.

There are no off putting gaps in the narrative, or in the way. Bolton stitches together the nine separate main characters, their families, friends and significant relationships. To bring together all these varied stories into one cogent and powerful novel is nothing short of magical.

Robert Philip Bolton is a consummate, and prolific, storyteller. In all his books, he creates interesting characters, hones them to perfection, then lets them tell their stories, just like a brilliant symphonic conductor can set parameters for the orchestra, then get out of the way of the musicians who are then left free to create their own realities. Wonderful stuff!

I enjoyed every word of The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang.
Robert Philip Bolton is an independent New Zealand writer.

Like many dedicated and professional writers, he found it impossible to break into the small New Zealand publishing establishment.

"Thus," he says, "I happily publish my own books on Amazon and Kindle and sell them to loyal and satisfied readers around the world."

'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang' is here.

‘Bolton’s new book lifts the dark lid off Auckland’s past in a brilliant, clever read. Loved it.’

Sir Bob Harvey

The Kindle version's been available for a couple of weeks and now, at last, the first printed copies have arrived at my studio and are available for sale. 

Only $34.50 

You can order your copy online from my website or email me and pay with online banking.  

First reactions are in for my new book. And they're brilliant.

Two important and discerning early readers have posted brilliant reviews of my new book, The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang. 

'To understand the shape of the real Auckland of the 50s this is a truly great reveal. Loved it.'
Sir Bob Harvey

'I loved this book. Superbly drawn characters and a clever, interwoven plot make for compulsive reading with a few shocking surprises. Ten out of ten. But not for the faint-hearted.' 

Lel Scott, Director, PublishMe self-publishing.

The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang is available now from Kindle. Or you can order your paperback version from my website for delivery late February.    

NEW. 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang'. KIndle version available NOW

I started it on 1 April, 2018. Now, after nearly two years work, my new book is finished. It's called The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang and it's like nothing I've ever written before. It's off to the printer now and will soon be available from my website. Meanwhile the very affordable Kindle version is available now. 
Here's the cover and the back cover blurb: 

In a working-class suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1957, eight mildly rebellious schoolboys, inevitably obsessed with sex, were attracted to the arrogant and thoroughly delinquent little Mickey Rooney whose fantastic dreams of Hollywood fame were to be his downfall.

It wasn’t a real gang, and it didn’t last long. It disintegrated after an obscene practical joke played by Mickey on the gang’s most vulnerable member. Meanwhile, though, the boys’ thoughts, conversations and actions, which were largely crude and obscene – as the thoughts, conversations and actions of boys and men often are – are faithfully reported here in plain and graphic language.

The book then follows the boys into manhood. Nine men. Nine lives involving love and romance, sadness and joy, success and failure, illness and death, drugs and vice, violence and crime, and murder.

Nine men with nothing in common but the teenage year they wasted in Mickey Rooney’s gang. 

KINDLE VERSION AVAILABLE NOW. PAPERBACK VERSION AVAILABLE SOON. EMAIL ME HERE TO RESERVE YOUR COPY FOR DELIVERY LATE FEBRUARY.