The Silent Treatment by Melanie Surani

 

 

Blurb: Twenty-eight year old Katrina Jaitley is rebuilding her life after escaping an abusive boyfriend. The last thing she needs is the mystery she stumbles on during a bout of retail therapy. But she can't ignore the coil of film -- a piece of movie history -- she finds hidden inside her purchase. Unfortunately, Peter, the handsome host of the estate sale, disappears before Kat has a chance to return it to him.

Curious, Kat watches the strip and is shocked to witness the brutal murder of a famous 1920's silent film star by a fellow actor. When a news article cites Kat as the film's owner, her already complicated life goes from bad to worse. Someone is stalking her. Are they trying to silence her or what she has discovered?

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Excerpt 1

THE WORST PART about working the vampire shift was that apart from Bridget, Kat experienced little human interaction since moving back to Memphis. Bridget still had college buddies who she went drinking and sleeping with, two activities Kat thought better about participating in for the time being. That left Kat stuck either in front of the computer or TV, or in extreme cases, at the twenty‐four hour Walmart.

Solitude in those first two weeks after two years of limited privacy was a welcome relief in most respects. Kat left her belongings, however few, in the living room and returned to find them where she left them, not thrown in the trash. Her computer no longer had a keylogger, thanks to a few hours spent with Bridget's IT savvy brother, and she was free to search whatever she wanted without fear of lecture afterward (Why were you looking at ticket prices? Are you thinking of leaving me?), Kat couldn't shake the feeling that someone was going to burst through the door. The baseball bat she kept under her bed wouldn't help if someone startled her in the living room.

After placing the Missed Connections ad online and praying Peter would respond, Kat surfed the Internet until her eyes burned. Since her mind was on the coiled piece of film she'd found and she desperately wanted to watch it, she focused instead on silent movies, her favourite escape subject.

Her interest began with a poor copy of Metropolis, recommended by a pen pal as being  the best thing heʹd ever watched. The release date put her off since so many ʺclassicʺ movies her mom subjected her to involved fast‐talking pictures from the thirties. Three years before the decade change, the constant talkers were quiet, gestures theatrical, and Kat put her own inflection on the written dialogue.

She found a used copy of the novel on which Metropolis was based— written by the director's wife—to fill in the gaps left by massive editing and plot restructuring that rendered the film nearly incomprehensible. Though historians and buffs wanted to experience what the film looked like on opening night, one‐fourth had either been lost or destroyed like so many of its silent brethren.

That was what made the news article on the computer screen stand out.

The complete three‐hour version of Metropolis was found in an unlabeled canister in the Museo del Cine, a film museum in Argentina.

Kat blinked at the screen. ʺAll that time.ʺ The butchered, washed out copy that lay buried somewhere in the box of movies she'd dragged to the middle of the living room wasn't the end of the story but the beginning.

  

 

 

Melanie Surani is a blogger, hair stylist, and author with a heart for international travel. When she isn't cutting hair, Melanie is thinking about ways to kill people (for mystery novels). She lives with her husband and cat in New York City, where she is hard at work on her next book with Booktrope Publishing. Melanie is a member of the International Thriller Writers society. You can follow Melanie’s adventures on Facebook at MelSurani, on Twitter @melsurani, and Tumblr at MelSurani

 

My Review

 

What would you do if you found out that your favourite silent movie actor could be a murderer? Would you report it? Ignore it? That is the decision Kat Shergill has to make. As well as witnessing an 80 year old murder, escaping a violent ex, being followed, having her apartment broken into and dealing with her mother!!

What I loved is that we have a leading lady who is real, who has flaws but has real balls. She has baggage and a Mum who sounds very much like my own. Kat has a best friend Bridget who is the kind of friend every girl should have, one who drove for hours straight to rescue her.

The author Melanie Surani has kept the language simple and the story gripping, the plot on the whole is a good one although I could have done with a few more plot twists but I am a big suspense/thriller/crime reader and I think a couple more twists are more than welcome. I read this book in one sitting on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a big cup of tea and chocolate and it was also the book which completed my Goodreads Challenege yippee! Great book to complete it with.

The good thing is this is the first book in a series and I cant wait to read more about Kat, Bridget and of course Peter. I just hope the next one is longer :-)

4/5 I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving by Jenny Eclair

Synopsis

Edwina Spinner has lived in the same house for over fifty years. It used to be a busy, crowded family home but now Edwina lives alone and it has grown too big for her. She has decided to sell it.

The young estate agent who comes to value the house sees potential. Knock down a few walls, add a wet room. 'People like a project.' But as Edwina takes him from room to room, she is transported back to her old life as a young mother. Back to her first husband Ollie and their twins, James and Rowena. Back to lies and dark secrets and to a stepson whose name Edwina cannot even bear to speak aloud.

As Edwina's story unravels she is revealed as a complex and intriguing person. Not just the 'frail old lady' trapped in her dated house, but a woman who has lived an extraordinary life, full of love and tragedy. Why is she now so alone? What happened to Edwina's family all those years ago?

My Review

This is the first book I have read by Jenny Éclair and it certainly wont be the last. To say I enjoyed this book is an under statement.

Moving follows the life of a lady named Edwina who has lived in the same house since getting married. Edwina decides the house is getting too much for her as she is getting on and she decides to put the house on the market. When the estate agent comes round to value the house, each room they go into triggers a memory for Edwina. The other characters in the story are Edwina's twins Rowena and Charlie, her second husband Dickie, his ex-wife Barbara and their son Lucas. We follow the children through childhood and onto becoming adults. The chapters are split into Edwina, Fern and Lucas each telling their own individual story and point of view. I loved the characters of Edwina and Fern, I just wanted to envelope Edwina in a big hug and go for a drink with Fern.

I have always heard people use the term "book hangover" but never really got it until I read this book. The characters from this book will stay with me for a long time and I really hope Jenny Éclair writes more about this family.

I  received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 5/5 for this book.

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