Why Murray Lightburn loves a book that casts Barack Obama & Joe Biden as a detective duo
Murray Lightburn is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for the Montreal indie rock band The Dears. Lightburn recently released his second solo album, titled Hear Me Out.
Lightburn stopped by The Next Chapter to talk about a book he enjoyed, Hope Never Dies by Andrew T. Shaffer. It's a noir thriller based on the fictional adventures of former U.S. president Barack Obama and vice-president Joe Biden.
"The book I just finished reading is called Hope Never Dies by Andrew T. Shaffer. Imagine ex-president Barack Obama and ex-vice-president Joe Biden as the Hardy Boys. The book opens with Joe Biden lamenting about how he hasn't heard from his best friend in a long time. He's bitter and resentful about Obama auditioning for a new best friend by hanging out with people like Richard Branson and Bradley Cooper.
"Biden is a frequent train commuter — they call him Amtrak Joe. He's taken the train for 30 years and he knows everybody in the train operator community. One of his favourite conductors is found dead on the train tracks with a bag of heroin on him.
"It turns out that Barack Obama has some information about this murder. That's how they are brought together and, little by little, they get pulled into this mystery. Every three to five pages, I'd be sitting there by myself laughing out loud at something that happens in the book. It just seems so ridiculous to me and amazing."