Jimi After Dark -- Stephen Mertz

Jimi After Dark is quite a bit different from the last Stephen Mertz book I commented on.  The setting is swinging London in 1970, and Jimi Hendrix is coming apart because he's being cheated by music biz people, other people are out to kill him, he has real woman trouble, and all that's not even the worst of it.  So Jimi calls on Soldier, an old friend whose life he once saved, for help.  Soldier gets a two-week leave from his service in Vietnam and comes to help.

London's a lot different from Vietnam, but Soldier is tough enough and smart enough to adapt to the situation.  Jimi's having a tougher time of it than Soldier is, or at least isn't able to deal with it without plenty of drugs.

Stephen Mertz is himself a musician, and he spent time in London during the period covered in the novel, so all the descriptions in the book of the locations, the music, the people, ring true.  So do the action scenes, as you'd expect from Mertz.  This is also a novel of character, however, and Soldier has his own demons to deal with.  There's good stuff on several levels here, so grab a copy and don't miss out.