M.L. Rio’s latest offering, Hot Wax, strikes like lightning across a storm-darkened sky—raw, electric, and utterly unforgettable. Following her critically acclaimed works If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift, Rio delivers her most ambitious and emotionally devastating novel yet, weaving together the intoxicating world of late-80s rock and roll with a haunting meditation on trauma, family, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Set against the backdrop of the music industry’s grittiest era, this novel reads like a fever dream soundtrack to destruction—equal parts beautiful and terrifying, much like the rock gods it depicts.
A Tale of Two Timeframes: Past Sins and Present Reckonings
Summer 1989: The Birth of a Witness
The narrative operates on dual timelines with masterful precision. In 1989, ten-year-old Suzanne Delgado discovers her father Gil’s forbidden world of electric guitars and the dangerous allure of Gil and the Kills’ rise to potential stardom. Rio captures the intoxicating chaos of touring life through young Suzanne’s eyes—the backstage mayhem, the crushing weight of adult secrets, and the moment when childhood innocence collides with unthinkable violence.
The 1989 sections pulse with visceral energy. Rio’s prose becomes almost hallucinogenic when describing the band’s performances, particularly their inflammatory song “Papal Bullshit” and the catastrophic night that changes everything. The author demonstrates remarkable skill in balancing the wonder of a child experiencing rock and roll’s raw power with the darker undertones of addiction, abuse, and impending tragedy.
Present Day: The Weight of Silence
Twenty-nine years later, Suzanne has traded music for suburban silence, marriage to mild-mannered Rob for safety, and her father’s wild legacy for careful anonymity. When Gil’s death forces her to confront the past she’s spent decades burying, Rio crafts a road novel that becomes both literal and metaphorical journey toward self-discovery.
The present-day narrative gains momentum when Suzanne encounters Simon and Phoebe, free-spirited nomads living in an Airstream trailer. Their unconventional relationship and fearless approach to life serves as a perfect counterpoint to Suzanne’s careful existence. Rio handles their polyamorous dynamic with refreshing honesty, never sensationalizing but exploring how different forms of love can heal old wounds.
Character Studies: The Anatomy of Rock Gods and Broken Souls
Gil Delgado: The Charismatic Destroyer
Gil emerges as one of literature’s most complex paternal figures—simultaneously magnetic and neglectful, protective and abandoning. Rio avoids the trap of romanticizing the absent rock star father, instead presenting a man whose love for music and his daughter exists in constant tension with his inability to provide stability. His relationship with Suzanne forms the novel’s emotional core, a love story complicated by silence, secrets, and the brutal realities of fame.
Skelly “The Hands” Skillman: Darkness Incarnate
Perhaps Rio’s most chilling creation, Skelly represents rock and roll’s capacity for both transcendence and destruction. His tattooed skeleton hands and dead-eyed stare mask depths of violence that even Gil cannot fully comprehend. The author crafts him as a figure of genuine menace without falling into caricature—his interactions with young Suzanne crackle with tension that makes every scene a masterclass in psychological suspense.
Suzanne: The Survivor’s Journey
Rio’s protagonist evolution spans three decades, from wide-eyed roadie to traumatized suburban wife to, finally, a woman reclaiming her own story. The author excels at showing how childhood trauma shapes adult choices—Suzanne’s marriage to Rob represents not love but a desperate attempt at normalcy that ultimately suffocates her spirit.
The Music as Character: Rock and Roll’s Dangerous Salvation
Rio understands that music functions as more than backdrop in this story—it’s a living force that shapes, destroys, and potentially redeems. Her descriptions of Gil and the Kills’ performances read like transcendent experiences, capturing both the euphoric rush of live rock and its capacity for chaos. The fictional songs feel authentic, their lyrics peppered throughout the narrative like fragments of half-remembered dreams.
The author’s background in music journalism shows in her technical knowledge and emotional understanding of rock culture. She captures the specific atmosphere of late-80s touring life—the DIY venues, the dangerous mixing of substances and personalities, the thin line between artistic expression and self-destruction.
Technical Mastery: Rio’s Evolved Craft
Prose Style: Raw Poetry
Rio’s writing in Hot Wax feels looser and more dangerous than her previous works, matching the wild energy of her subject matter. She employs a kind of stream-of-consciousness technique during performance scenes that mimics the disorienting effects of loud music and flashing lights. Her metaphors often draw from music—characters move in rhythm, speak in harmony or discord, and emotions build like crescendos.
The dual timeline structure allows for sophisticated storytelling, with past and present echoing each other in increasingly complex ways. Rio plants details that resonate across decades, creating a sense of fate that feels earned rather than manipulated.
Dialogue: Authentic Voices
The author demonstrates remarkable range in crafting period-appropriate dialogue for both eras. The 1989 sections crackle with authentic 80s rock speak, while the present-day conversations feel naturally contemporary. Suzanne’s voice shifts believably from child to adult, carrying traces of trauma that manifest in her careful word choices and emotional guardedness.
Thematic Depth: Violence, Memory, and Redemption
The Cycle of Trauma
Rio explores how violence ripples across generations and relationships. The central act of violence that Suzanne witnesses becomes the organizing principle of her entire adult life, influencing her choice of partners, her relationship with music, and her ability to form authentic connections. The author avoids simple psychological explanations, instead showing trauma’s complex, often contradictory effects.
The Stories We Tell
Hot Wax functions as a meditation on narrative—who gets to tell stories, which versions become “official,” and how silence can become its own form of violence. Suzanne’s journey involves not just confronting the past but claiming her right to speak her own truth, even when it contradicts more comfortable versions of events.
Love in Multiple Forms
Rio explores various forms of love—the desperate attachment between Gil and Suzanne, the toxic codependency of band relationships, the suffocating safety of Suzanne’s marriage, and the liberating possibility represented by Simon and Phoebe’s unconventional arrangement. Each relationship type illuminates different aspects of human connection and the ways people seek healing.
Critical Considerations: Navigating Dark Territory
Violence and Sensitivity
Rio handles the novel’s violent content with appropriate gravity, never exploiting trauma for shock value. However, readers should be prepared for intense scenes involving drug use, physical violence, and implied sexual threat. The author’s treatment remains tasteful while acknowledging the genuine danger that surrounds certain characters.
Pacing Concerns
While the dual timeline structure serves the story well, some present-day sections feel slightly rushed compared to the richly detailed 1989 sequences. The final act, involving Rob’s pursuit of Suzanne, occasionally veers toward thriller territory that feels incongruous with the novel’s more literary concerns.
Musical Authenticity
Rio’s deep knowledge of rock culture generally serves the story well, though music industry insiders might question some details about touring logistics and band dynamics. However, these minor quibbles pale beside the author’s success in capturing the emotional truth of musical obsession.
Literary Context: Rio’s Growing Ambition
Hot Wax represents a significant evolution from Rio’s previous works. While If We Were Villains explored academia’s dark side and Graveyard Shift offered gothic workplace horror, this novel tackles broader themes of family, trauma, and redemption. The author’s willingness to engage with messy, uncomfortable subjects marks her as a writer unafraid of difficult territory.
The novel joins a distinguished tradition of rock literature including Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, while maintaining Rio’s distinctive voice and literary ambitions.
Recommended Reading: Similar Musical Journeys
Readers who appreciate Hot Wax might explore:
- Just Kids by Patti Smith – For authentic rock memoir
- The Commitment by Dan Barry – Small-town band dynamics
- High Fidelity by Nick Hornby – Music obsession and relationships
- Almost Famous (film) – Coming-of-age through rock culture
- Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 1970s band drama
Final Verdict: A Dangerous Beauty
Hot Wax succeeds as both a gripping story and a serious exploration of trauma’s lasting effects. Rio has crafted a novel that respects both the transcendent power of rock and roll and its capacity for destruction. Her unflinching examination of family dysfunction, coupled with genuine hope for healing, creates a reading experience that lingers long after the final page.
This is Rio’s most accomplished work—a novel that rocks as hard as it thinks, balancing intellectual ambition with emotional honesty. While not for the faint of heart, Hot Wax rewards readers willing to join Suzanne’s difficult journey toward self-discovery.
The book stands as a testament to the idea that the stories we survive become the songs we’re meant to sing—raw, imperfect, but ultimately our own. In a literary landscape often afraid of genuine emotion, Rio offers a novel that dares to feel everything, and the result is nothing short of electrifying.