Adam Fletcher works in a call center but his true passion is his car, a Plymouth GTX which has a 440 cu in (7.2 litre) petrol engine mated to a 4 speed manual gearbox. His uncle Tommy passed down this muscle car to him and gives Adam dreams of becoming a street racer.
Adam’s life is not rosy as he spends his time at work actively listening to callers whilst he gets so many put downs at work. He has no social life, just a dream of restoring and racing his uncle’s muscle car, which he affectionately calls Rustbucket.
Velo City has a problem with illegal street racing and there are 2 rival car clubs. Musclebomb, where uncle Tommy was a member and Rising Sun which supports Japanese cars. There are many wannabe drivers and posers who take great pride in their cars. They belong to a separate culture to Adam’s lonely life. But Adam wants to be accepted and goes to the docks to further his dreams.
The reader gets hints about the bad side of Musclebomb but Adam knows nothing. These guys have very different clothes and image, enjoying a very different lifestyle to his. These guys are free and are living life to the full. Adam goes along to Solids, a nightclub at the docks and makes some colourful friends.
Kingdom of Asphalt is a nice novel about achieving a good work/life balance and having fulfilling hobbies outside of work. I was amused by this book and you do not need to be a boy racer or a petrolhead to enjoy this story. I trundle along in my common rail diesel car but can still appreciate the joy these characters get from their high performance petrol engined cars. This tale is a bit of a soap opera and the characterization is okay with readers having a lot of empathy for Adam as the underdog. As a right of passage, Adam has to do a special task to be accepted into the Musclebomb car club. The pace of this story is okay although the twists and turns are not that surprising. The epilogue was rather silly though making this book an okay read that I will vote as 3 stars.
Kingdom of Asphalt is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.
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