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Book: “The Whyte Python World Tour” by Travis Kennedy
Publishing Info: Doubleday, June 2025
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: It’s Los Angeles, 1986, and metal rules the world. For aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder, life is good—even if he is sleeping in a condemned paint store and playing with a band that’s going nowhere. But when he gets a shot to join L.A.’s hottest up-and-coming band, Whyte Python, Rikki’s young life turns up to 11. Soon he has a hit single scorching up the charts, and the new love of his life in the audience. Rikki couldn’t ask for anything more.
But good fortune can be deceiving. With the Cold War breathing its last gasps and American music blasting through the Iron Curtain, a youth revolution is taking hold – and a hair band is unknowingly playing host to the final battle for the hearts and minds of the Eastern Bloc. Rikki Thunder soon realizes there is a deeper web of influence propelling Whyte Python, and the stakes for his mission—to spread peace, love, and epic shredding across the globe—are far more dangerous than he could ever imagine.
Raucously funny and refreshing, The Whyte Python World Tour is a head-banger of a debut, steeped in ‘80s music culture nostalgia and international suspense.
Review: Thank you to Wunderkind PR for sending me an ARC of this novel!
In the past few years I have fully embraced my love for glam metal. My husband has been a big Motley Crue fan since we were teenagers, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized that I, too, love the over the top melodramatics of hair metal and the spandex and make up and androgyny that goes with it. So when I was asked if I wanted to check out “The Whyte Python World Tour” by Travis Kennedy, I couldn’t help but say yes. The idea of a tongue in cheek music story with hints of “Spinal Tap” and ‘Behind the Music’ lunacy mixed with a Cold War Espionage tale is so funny to me. Because why would you want a hair metal band involved in global politicking and coups?!
This is part espionage thriller, part raucous coming of age rock and roll tale, and while it doesn’t take itself too seriously it also never treads into cheap laughs or lazy tropes. We follow Rikki Thunder, a young hair metal drummer in L.A. right as the Cold War is starting to see serious cracks in 1989. He is recruited to be the new drummer for the hot band Whyte Python, but what he (and the band itself) doesn’t know is that everything is being manipulated by the C.I.A. in hopes of brining the rebellion of hair metal to the U.S.S.R. and starting a rebellion by the youth. We have Rikki’s POV, but we also follow members of the agency, including his handler who calls herself Tawny and presents herself as a rock and roll groupie. I really enjoyed both of these perspectives, whether it’s golden retriever and deeply earnest Rikki, or the Cold War politics and spy thrills of Tawny and the agency trying to pull off a glam metal fueled revolution. It’s a bit of a goofy premise. but Kennedy leans fully in and I found it entertaining and at times very suspenseful. It is also very funny at times, and I found myself laughing throughout the story at the ludicrous situations and musings that Rikki and his fellow cast members would get into.
But this book is also such a love letter to glam metal and its entire essence and aesthetic. Whether that is the Southern California roots that Whyte Python has, or the fashion styles described in this book, or the little nods to other legendary bands, be it directly or indirectly (I mean come on, Rikki’s love interest/handler gives herself the name Tawny. I said to myself ‘yeah, as in KITANE!!!’ when we first met her), this book clearly adores the entire oeuvre of hair metal. I enjoyed the moments of Rikki interacting with his bandmates, and even real life people (there is a scene between him and Brett Michaels that was practically killing me), and I also enjoyed the way that Kennedy shows how powerful and unifying music can be for people of many backgrounds and experiences. It’s just such a wholesome concept, and it really reminded me of the original premise of the “Bill and Ted” movies about how hair metal could change the world for the better. In a time where cynicism has really taken root and some really dark things have been happening, it was just a nice balm, even if for a moment.
“The Whyte Python World Tour” is an entertaining and heartfelt read that centers a healthy affection for glam metal music and the power it holds. I really enjoyed it.
Rating 8: A tongue in cheek, goofy espionage thriller with a glam metal sheen, “The Whyte Python World Tour” is entertaining, funny, and filled with heart and a love for the power of music.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Whyte Python World Tour” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists a of now, but it would fit in on “Fiction Involving Rock/Pop Music”.
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