Novella based on Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video

The Beastie Boys’s video for “Sabotage” is one of the all-time greats. Not only is the song itself one of the best from the group’s stacked catalog, but Spike Jonze directing MCA, Ad-Rock, and Mike D as they run around in thick mustaches and aviators, playing pretend ‘70s cops, is an eternal delight.

A quarter-century after “Sabotage” first premiered, writer Jeff Gomez has shared a free novella set within the rich fiction of the music video. Spanning four chapter-length acts and an epilogue, Sabotage: A Novel follows the Chief (“a detective who’s been around for years and knows all the angles”), the Rookie (“fresh from the streets and still getting used to not being in uniform”), and Cochese (“a dedicated cop on a frantic search to find his missing partner”) as they “uncover a conspiracy of drugs, death, and dirty cops” in 1978 Los Angeles. At long last, readers will learn the full story behind the pursuit of Sir Stewart Wallace; learn who, exactly, the enigmatic Bunny really is; and uncover the criminal plot that motivated the detectives to chase crooks across LA’s smoggy streets—and throw their bodies from high places.