{"product_id":"the-whyte-python-world-tour-isbn-9780385551335","title":"The Whyte Python World Tour","description":"\u003cb\u003eRikki Thunder, twenty-two-year-old drummer for the scorching new ’80s metal band Whyte Python, is about to have it all: absurd wealth, global fame, and a dream girlfriend. But an unwitting role as an international spy? That was definitely not part of the plan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A rock-n-roll thrill ride... Heavy Metal icon Rikki Thunder's satirical memoir is sweeter than Cherry Pie and better than a prescription from Dr. Feelgood! You need to read it.\"—Ernest Cline\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s Los Angeles, 1986, and metal rules the world. For aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder, life is beautiful, just like his hair—even if he is sleeping in a condemned paint store and playing with a band that’s going nowhere. But when Rikki gets a shot to join L.A.’s hottest up-and-coming club band, Whyte Python, his young life takes a mind-blowing turn. Soon he and his new band mates have a hit single rocketing up the charts, Whyte Python is selling out major clubs, and Rikki has a gorgeous girlfriend in the audience and in his life. He literally could not ask for anything more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut good fortune can be deceiving. As the band gets a deeper taste of success in the US, the late-80’s Cold War is breathing its last gasps around the world. American music is blasting through the Iron Curtain and a youth revolution is taking hold—with a hair band unknowingly playing host to the final battle for the hearts and minds of young people everywhere. Rikki Thunder soon questions the forces that are helping to propel Whyte Python, and he realizes the stakes of his musical journey—to spread peace, love, and epic shredding across the globe—might be far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrafted on the satirical knife-edge between high-suspense and head-banging hilarity, \u003ci\u003eThe Whyte Python World Tour\u003c\/i\u003e is a raucous, uplifting, and refreshing debut. Travis Kennedy’s adrenaline-charged novel is delightfully steeped in ’80s music and cultural nostalgia, delivering one of the most entertaining reads of the year.\u003cb\u003eAmerican Library Association Alex Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The laughs are as big as the mullets in this rollicking story about a hugely successful hair-metal band that’s really a cover for a covert operation in Cold War-era Eastern Europe.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeople\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Enormously fun. . . . Surfing through Travis Kennedy’s finely crafted, splendidly entertaining tale of Whyte Python’s whacked-out world tour is sheer delight.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePortland Press Herald\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A rock ’n’ roll thrill ride. . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Whyte Python World Tour\u003c\/i\u003e feels like a cross between a harrowing episode of \u003ci\u003eBehind the Music \u003c\/i\u003eand a Roger Moore–era James Bond flick. Heavy metal icon Rikki Thunder’s satirical memoir is sweeter than cherry pie and better than a prescription from Dr. Feelgood! You need to read it.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eErnest Cline\u003c\/b\u003e, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eReady Player One\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Travis Kennedy is too fiendishly clever for his own damn good. As he’s perfectly satirizing the hair-metal scene on the very first downbeat, you’re strapping yourself in for a wild ride. . . and suddenly he spikes your drink and cranks the Marshall stack to 20. Outrageous fun. Outrageous twists. Just outrageous, period!”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eLincoln Child\u003c\/b\u003e, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sex, thugs, and rock 'n' roll! If Iron Maiden had made a James Bond movie it would have been Travis Kennedy's \u003ci\u003eThe Whyte Python World Tour\u003c\/i\u003e, an antic thriller that spins the shiniest metal videos of the1980s with cliffhanging adventure movie in which an unsuspecting heavy metal band is infiltrated by the CIA and becomes a secret weapon in the final days of the Cold War. Heads are banged, fists raised, and the KGB and Stasi are no match for the power of rock 'n' roll.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003ePeter Ames Carlin\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBruce\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Name of This Band Is R.E.M.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The Whye Python World Tour\u003c\/i\u003e has everything: the glam rock satire of \u003ci\u003eThis Is Spinal Tap\u003c\/i\u003e; the cloak-and-dagger thrills of \u003ci\u003eBridge of Spies\u003c\/i\u003e; and a hero you'll want to climb over the hood of a car in a leopard-print bikini for. The only thing missing is a parental advisory sticker: WARNING: THIS BOOK ROCKS HARD.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKat Rosenfield\u003c\/b\u003e, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eNo One Will Miss Her\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Hilarious, fast-paced, and thoroughly debauched. The Cold War was a lot weirder—and funnier—than we knew.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eCory Doctorow\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eWalkaway\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A unique story, told in a unique way. Kennedy makes the late 1980’s come alive on the page.... Filled with color, sights, and sounds. You can almost see yourself walking down Sunset Strip, hearing Poison, Mötley Crüe, or Van Halen pouring out of one of the many clubs you pass by. You experience being in the crowds on the street or in the venues, smell the cigarette smoke and feel the spandex\/leather pants.... A fun and wild ride of a book.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Author Travis Kennedy is bringing you the best of hair metal bands with espionage on the side.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJohn Scalzi, \u003ci\u003eWhatever\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A heavy metal drummer is recruited by the CIA to help topple the Eastern Bloc with the power of rock.... This offbeat gem does for metal dudes what \u003ci\u003eDaisy Jones \u0026amp; the Six \u003c\/i\u003edoes for the yacht-rock crowd. A nostalgic, headbanging comedy about rock ’n’ roll refugees.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Kennedy nimbly heightens suspense via numerous twists... without neglecting the story’s ample comic possibilities.... A diverting dive into the paranoid past.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eTop Secret!\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eThis is Spinal Tap\u003c\/i\u003e… GenXers, metalheads, and fans of spy thrillers alike will enjoy this delightfully silly and suspenseful Cold War-era adventure.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooklist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eTRAVIS KENNEDY's work has been featured in the\u003ci\u003e Best New England Crime Stories \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Best American Mystery Stories \u003c\/i\u003eanthologies,\u003ci\u003e Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's Internet Tendency\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the Grand Prize Winner of ScreenCraft’s 2021 Cinematic Book Contest for “Sharks in the Valley,” to be published as \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Redemption\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Scarborough, Maine, with his wife and their two children. \u003ci\u003eThe Whyte Python World Tour \u003c\/i\u003eis his debut novel.","brand":"Doubleday","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302430265573,"sku":"NP9780385551335","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780385551335.jpg?v=1767742210","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-whyte-python-world-tour-isbn-9780385551335","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}