BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS - Dashboard Elvis is Dead by David F Ross

A failed writer connects the murder of an American journalist, a drowned 80s musician and a Scottish politician’ s resignation, in a heart-wrenching novel about ordinary people living in extraordinary times.

Renowned photo-journalist Jude Montgomery arrives in Glasgow in 2014, in the wake of the failed Scottish independence referendum, and it’ s clear that she’ s searching for someone.

Is it Anna Mason, who will go on to lead the country as First Minister? Jamie Hewitt, guitarist from eighties one-hit wonders The Hyptones? Or is it Rabbit – Jude’ s estranged foster sister, now a world-famous artist?

Three apparently unconnected people, who share a devastating secret, whose lives were forever changed by one traumatic night in Phoenix, forty years earlier…

Taking us back to a school shooting in her Texas hometown, and a 1980s road trip across the American West – to San Francisco and on to New York – Jude’ s search ends in Glasgow, and a final, shocking event that only one person can fully explain…

Dashboard Elvis is Dead is … something else. 

A visceral, evocative mystery surrounding something as mundane as a little dashboard doll and making it anything but mundane. Ross undeniably has a strangely compelling writing style, almost intoxicating at points - he crafts unique observations about life, about the way it shapes, scars and soothes us as we move through it. 

The story moves forward almost like a diary, Jude letting us into her thoughts as she casts her mind back into her past, showing us her work, her notes as a journalist, talking about the yesteryears with a painfully bittersweet nostalgia that was so vivid it was almost suffocating in its' intensity. The stylising was visually intriguing, with phonetic speech (and a lack of punctuation) which for me helped create a more descriptive, fully formed world but I know may put some readers off. 

This hard-hitting tale links into real-world events, blurring the lines between real and fake, between reality and imagination in the most spectacular way. This entire story is set firmly in the grey and the gritty parts of life that even a spotlight can't get rid of.

Wickedly deceptive, funny and dark, this is one of those books that you just need to read and decide for yourself. 

Note: There were parts of this book that even though I believe the author wrote to portray the racism and segregation that was rampant both in the 80's and today, there is language in this book that is likely to make readers uncomfortable and potentially cause upset. Personally, I didn't feel this was required for the story and could have been omitted but as a Caucasian person that's not for me to decide so I'll leave that up to you, reader. 

About the author: 

David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over 30 years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social-media commentator, author and enabler by night. 

His debut novel The Last Days of Disco was shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and optioned for the stage by the Scottish National Theatre. 

All five of his novels have achieved notable critical acclaim and There’s Only One Danny Garvey, published in 2021 by Orenda Books, was shortlisted for the prestigious Saltire Society Prize for Scottish Fiction Book of the Year. David lives in Ayrshire.

Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours and Karen at Orenda Books for inviting me to take part in this tour. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.