SILVERMAN

A 30-something accountant considers revisiting his rock-star past.

As the novel opens, Ben Silverman, the successful head of a Boston tax preparation company, is about to join his former band mates in the popular rap-rock group Da Funk for a reunion performance at Roseland in New York City. The band members have all moved on with their lives since Silverman left them eight years ago, just as he has: He’s living with his second wife, landscape architect Ingrid; Ava, his 10-year-old daughter from his first marriage; and his and Ingrid’s infant son, Zack. He can’t really imagine returning to a life of shows and touring, but his manager, Kelly, and his band mates want him to accept a lucrative new offer, and the allure of the past is intensified when Alison Clarke, an old romantic fling, attends his reunion show and wants very much to resume contact with him. These formidable specters from Silverman’s past quickly wreak havoc, creating chaos at home and pushing him to the brink of an early midlife crisis. Wergland wisely crafts Silverman as immediately sympathetic; very early on, readers will find themselves invested in whether Silverman ruins his life by making the wrong choice at a pivotal moment. “He could have married Alison eight years ago,” he finds himself thinking later in the novel, adding, “Until now, he had never looked back.” However, at nearly 300 pages in length, the work is allowed to simmer too long, and several subplot resolutions are likely to strike readers as highly predictable. Still, the fine storytelling spirit, which is emotionally perceptive and wry by turns, ultimately wins the day.

A novel about getting the old band back together that has heart and humor despite a lack of surprises.