Pistonhead

...I have seldom encountered a more interesting account of the life of a working musician. Furthermore, there are few, if any novels I have read which manage to render with such painstaking detail and accuracy the sensations of performing, both on stage and off. As a novel, Pistonhead is an odd duck. It’s not a strictly literary work (but who would want that, anyway?). It’s not an exploitative genre exercise (which would be of no lasting, or of barely even more than ephemeral, value). Rather, it’s cross between a journalistic expose of Entertainment Babylon and a quasi-documentary account of a rock ’n’ roll musician—one with a great many very thinly disguised music business and local color flourishes. I read it in one sitting. It was that kind of book.

- Francis DiMenno, The Noise: Rock Around Boston

A troubled man looks away as he holds his Fender Telecaster close to his leather jacket with rolled up sleeves. The image is a common one in the rock star world: A shredding lead guitarist posing for a book cover that will tell about his life's journey as a member of the rich and famous.

Careful though, one must remember not to judge a book by its cover. Thomas Hauck, a Gloucester resident, has a new novel, Pistonhead, that tells the unfamiliar story of a guy living in Boston, playing guitar in a rock band and keeping a day job to pay the bills. “There's no limousines, there's no groupies; the story is quite different,” Hauck said. “It's a story I know something about, from my own background, and I wanted to provide readers with an alternative to the typical rock star nonfiction.”

- Cameron Kittle, Gloucester Daily Times

This one gets seven stars. This was very well written, with a nice, easy to follow story. I especially enjoyed that this was a very real story, with real characters. Everyone was, while not entirely likable, someone you could really meet in real life. It made for a very comfortable feeling story that left you smiling at the end. This is definitely recommended for music lovers and everyone else who just loves a good story.

- Beth's Book Review Blog

Pistonhead could be cast as a converse of literary nonfiction. While it is a novel, it is undoubtedly based on Hauck’s own experiences, thereby giving it a quasi-documentary feel. Even if it does wrap a couple things up just a bit too easily due to its compressed time frame, at just 175 pages the book is a compact look into the dedicated pursuit of an avocation you’ll never see on so-called reality television.

- A Progressive on the Prairie Book Blog

I didn’t give Pistonhead 4.5 stars (my highest rating to date) because it was a literary masterpiece that blew me away... I gave it that rating because it managed to pack more information, emotion, feeling, power and just plain real life into 174 pages, than anything I’ve read in quite some time. It gave a glimpse into the life of the guy next door, revealing the same issues, problems and worries everybody else has.

- Renee C. Fountain