A ghostwriting job with an unexpected and even terrifying twist…

Synopsis

Every screenwriter knows the best stories come from the truth…

But the truth can be terrifying

Marnie thought she’d left behind her days of writing ‘celebrity’ tell-all memoirs, but when her big break as a screenwriter turns to dust she’s forced to take another ghost writing job.

Except this time it’s for someone who is actually famous. Or rather, infamous. Blythe Hopper. A reclusive former Hollywood star who recently murdered her screenwriter husband.

And Marnie has her own reasons for wanting to meet Blythe, not least because of an email she received from Blythe’s husband, sent two days after he was shot dead.

But Marnie soon learns Blythe is not a woman to be messed with.

Dark secrets lurk at the Hoppers’ palatial London home – secrets long buried, which Marnie is determined to unearth. At any price.

Because this isn’t just about Blythe’s past.

It’s about Marnie’s too.

My review

Marnie is disappointed that her big break as a screenwriter went up in thin air. And the last thing she wants, is act once again as a ghostwriter.
But this latest job is one she could impossible refuse, as this time it concerns the memoirs of Hollywood star Blythe Hopper, infamous now after murdering her screenwriter husband.
A husband that appears to have sent Marnie an email, two days after his murder…
But Marnie learns quickly during her stay at the Hopper’s home in London that there are more dark secrets ready to be uncovered. Secrets that may even involve her…

I don’t often read thrillers, as way too often I am faced with the ugliness of people, and learn how far some would go. So I rather prefer a good romance, or a cosy mystery, where there is always a lightness present.
Yet once in a while, I cannot resist temptation and I grab a thriller, ready to be making my own connections and making an attempt to discover the truth myself before the big reveal.

In a book, there are always characters, most of the times the main character, that you immediately like. But in Marnie’s case, for me, she was a character that I had to learn to like.
I could understand her disappointment when her big break doesn’t happen at all. Of course it’s a bitter pill to swallow, and I could comprehend that she didn’t want to go back to ghostwriting.
But I found it difficult to agree with her work ethos. Especially at the very start, instead of arriving early, she prefers to have a pit stop and have a drink, which results in more drinks and appearing not only late but also inebriated at the scene.

Yet once settled in, Marnie’s misstep was the last thing on my mind, as Blythe Hopper and her loyal business manager Ludo Villander for sure aren’t acting all that welcoming or even normal…
Everything about the place and its inhabitants gave me the chills, and I knew that what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg.

The more the story evolved, the more there were awkward moments. From an overenthusiastic Blythe, to a Ludo acting more and more suspiciously, even on the verge of illegal.
Yet I couldn’t manage to connect all the dots and my imagination went from one extreme to another.

I have to admit, when everything was revealed, it’s not that I was disappointed, but I had a ‘that’s just it?’ – feeling. I had thought it would all have been more elaborated, complicated but Blythe’s revelations and what drove her to murder her husband, were in disproportion compared to her actions.

But that doesn’t take away that I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, trying to make any sense of the story. I wanted to understand everything that was going on, I needed to know what drove the characters to act in the way they did.
And in the end, I found myself thinking that yes, in fact sometimes the world can be an ugly place, driving you to do things you otherwise wouldn’t. But in a way it’s also a place where Karma will always do its thing…