By Louise Beech
Published by Orenda Books (E-book - 18 February; Paperback - 18 April 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher
Publisher's description
Stirring up secrets can be deadly … especially if they’re yours…
Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago – and her killer hasn’t been caught.
Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers.
Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after fourteen years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father …
What Stella really wants to know is more about the mysterious man calling the station … who says he knows who killed Victoria, and has proof.
Tonight is the night for secrets, and Stella wants to know everything…
My verdict
Call Me Star Girl addled my brain. I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards, as it's so much more than a psychological thriller.
I think of Louise Beech as a chameleon of fiction - blurring the genre boundaries with her gorgeous writing. Yet again, you can tell that she has put her heart and soul into writing this book. This is literally full of blood, sweat and tears (murder, sex and grief).
There’s a crime at the heart of Call Me Star Girl, but this is also a journey of self-discovery. I couldn’t tear myself away, wanting to hide from the truth yet desperate to know how everything would eventually pan out. Who killed pregnant Victoria Valbon? Who is the mysterious man who seems to know how she died? And what secrets will be revealed during Stella McKeever's final radio show?
Call Me Star Girl is tense and gripping, powerful and shocking - a tale of love and loss. It's dark and twisty, yet also packed with passion and raw emotion. I was at the radio station with Stella, both on and off air. I felt part of her life, as she shared some of her secrets and her mother shared some of hers. I was there right until the end, with tears in my eyes and a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. Digesting. Thinking. Grieving.
Yet another 'must read' from Louise Beech.
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