‘Playlist for the Dead’: Book loses its footing over tunes

In Michelle Falkoff's new young adult novel 'Playlist for the Dead,' Sam finds his best friend Hayden dead after a disastrous encounter at a party. Hayden leaves behind a playlist of songs and a note: 'For Sam. Listen and you'll understand.'

It's an intriguing, if sad, set up for the novel, but the playlist conceit never truly pays off. Falkoff, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, writes convincingly about Sam's sorrow, guilt and efforts to understand what his friend was trying to tell him.

But the songs on the playlist are perhaps too much in the background given the book's title and the dramatic note Sam finds in the opening pages.

Perhaps to avoid permissions difficulties, no lyrics from the songs that serve as title headings appear in the text, and their connection to the plot seems tenuous at best.

I was familiar with a number of the songs in the book, and didn't feel that knowledge deepened my understanding of why Hayden did what he did.

Book reading

What: Michelle Falkoff reads from 'Playlist for the Dead'

Where: Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Cost: Free