First published 2020
John Lennon returns to the recording studio in 1980 after years away from music. He feels energized and excited about his new album, ready to show the world what comes next. Meanwhile, Mark David Chapman sits in his security job, nursing anger toward the former Beatle. Chapman once idolized Lennon from a distance, but now believes the musician has betrayed fans with false promises of hope and peace. Chapman quits his job and flies to New York with a handgun in his luggage. Patterson draws on exclusive interviews with Lennon's circle, including Paul McCartney, to tell the story of these two men whose lives intersect in December 1980. One created songs that still move listeners around the world. The other ended that music forever with five gunshots outside the Dakota building.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, obsession, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dakota, New York
Period: 1980
448 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: death, murder, violence