From the author of The Perfect Play comes a charmingly romantic–yet very edgy-novel set in the music industry about friendship, love, growing up, and always following your dreams. Danny McQueen has dreamed of being a pop star since he was thirteen-years-old. Now he's twenty-nine and still dreaming. But he faces a dilemma. His girlfriend Alison wants him to sort his life out. She's given him an ultimatum: Find a record deal by the end of the year or it's find a new girlfriend. When is it time to give up on your childhood ambitions? When is it time to stop watching Columbo in your underpants and get a proper job? Is six months long enough for one last assault on the big time? Is friendship ever more important than love? Is it just your imagination or can your girlfriend always tell when you've been looking at Internet porn? With the help of his boss Kostas, his two best friends, and an eighty-year-old Kung Fu enthusiast called Sheila, Danny McQueen is about to find out. Adult/High School–Danny McQueen and his girlfriend, Alison, are about to go through their quarter-life crisis in their own ways–she by taking a job with more responsibility in Belgium, he by giving his dream of rock stardom one last, aggressive push. After some trickery that gets his band, Dakota, a slot as an opener for the next big thing, it looks like Danny might actually be on the verge of the success that has so far eluded him, but now he has to decide if it's what he wants after all. Wener spent some time as a pop singer herself, and her knowledge of a small-time touring circuit is spot-on. The situation and resolution that Danny and his band go through are fraught with lucky coincidences, but it's all in the spirit of a tale with a happy ending. Some references are slightly dated (the characters play the video game FIFA '98 when FIFA '05 is actually on the shelves now), but none are too outrageous. The language is very British, but fans of Nick Hornby and Helen Fielding should feel right at home. In fact, the story has a sense of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson and her Sex God, 10 years later. –Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Here is the first novel from the former singer of the British band Sleeper. Drawing on her own experiences in the music industry, Wener tells the thoroughly enjoyable story of North London rocker Steve ("Danny") McQueen, whose girlfriend, Alison, gives him an ultimatum: get a record contract or get out. Surprisingly enough, Danny heeds the call, proving quite devious in contacting an old schoolmate who has hit it big fronting the band Scarface on a U.S. tour. Soon enough, Danny and his talented band mates land a gig as Scarface's opening act. While dealing with the politics of touring--attempting to get on the good side of the sound man, being polite to the obnoxious Scarface singer--Danny is also beset by worries about his deteriorating romantic relationship. This novel may strike some readers as the lite version of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity (1995) and Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones (1997); nevertheless, it is a sweet and funny read. Wener's second novel, The Perfect Play, appeared in the U.S. earlier this year [BKL Mr 15 04]. Joanne Wilkinson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “An entertaining story of how far to follow your dreams.” - Sunday Mirror (London) “If you liked: High Fidelity You’ll love: Goodnight Steve McQueen” - Sunday Times Magazine (London) “Thoroughly enjoyable.... [Like] Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones..., it is a sweet and funny read. - Booklist “The author trains her razor-sharp wit on the transition between post-adolescent drifting and adulthood... Wener paints a smart, funny piture of a man kicking and screaming his way into adulthood... [she] crafts her tale of a guitar-playing Peter Pan with a kind eye that allows readers to see themselves in Danny, even as she takes an honest look at his self-absorption, irresponsibility and fears of growing old.” - Publishers Weekly “Shades of Nick Hornby and Roddy Doyle...A former sharp-tongued, controversy-courting ladette...Wener can be amusing -in a blokeish kind of way -and refreshingly unsentimental.” - The Times (London) “Wener’s prose is readable, colloquial, and snappy and she is funny...Steve is cleverly made to navigate the line between dope and dreamer, and holds our attention until the end.” - The Observer “It may be her debut novel, but the former Sleeper singer proves she’s more than just a pretty voice.” - The Mirror “Steve - a loveable simpleton along the lines of Nick Hornby’s narrators, though without their penchant for angst - is an entirely plausible creation, and the book as a whole jaunty, unpretentious fun.” - Time Out (London) “This is high-class bloke lit... It’s funny and tawdry, and Wener has a lovely way with words.” - Daily Telegr