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…
With echoes of the Play Misty for Me, Call Me Star Girl is a taut, emotive and all-consuming psychological thriller that plays on our deepest fears, providing a stark reminder that stirring up dark secrets from the past can be deadly…
Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech Review
You Won’t Be Able to Put This Book Down!
It has taken me a fairly long time to write this review – I finished the book weeks ago and have done nothing but recommend it to book lovers since… but I struggled to put into words what I loved about it, at first.
You see, I am a huge Louise Beech fan – if I lived in the UK she might have to worry about me turning up on her doorstep to ask questions about these characters of hers that she creates so well. So well in fact that I am convinced she hides them under her stairs for inspiration.
Louise’s other books, How to Be Brave, The Mountain in My Shoe, Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer who Lost, have all gripped my heart – and all for various reasons. Louise’s ability to draw you in from the first page is almost uncanny. She doesn’t just tell a story, she takes you on a voyage of self-discovery through each and every one of her novels.
So imagine my surprise, when I found out that my favorite ‘deep thinking’ author, who excels in discussing the hard topics in the most relatable way, was about to tackle the psychological thriller genre. One of my favourtie genres to escape into.
With her first thriller, Call Me Star Girl, not only tackled the genre – but bloody well mastered it! I am so very glad to report that Louise Beech did not disappoint with a single word of this magnificent book.
Stella McKeever is about to undertake her final radio show – only she hasn’t warned anyone it will be her last. Her final discussion topic… secrets! At such a later hour, with so many people staring at their ceilings contemplating their own faults and dangerous undisclosed failings – who will step forward and take the baton from her? Who will reveal their own secrets as Stella edges closer to exposing her own?
Call Me Star Girl is emotive, addictive and fraught with tension. The pacing is perfect and the characters are so well drawn that when the truly worst happens (I won’t tell you what) you will scream, cry and get so very angry with the author… before you settle down and applaud her ability to truly make you believe in the world she has created.
Many authors are warned about crossing the genre divide. Many are cautioned to stick to what they know best. Louise hasn’t just crossed the divide, she has shown that she can pull the guttural heart-wrenching emotion from her previous books, and inject it perfectly into the tense and addictive thriller genre.
Louise Beech has achieved something quite remarkable with Call Me Star Girl, and I for one, can not wait to see what she pulls out of her Mary Poppins bag next!
An easy 5 star – and a ‘highly highly’ recommend for anyone looking for a thriller with more twists than spaghetti junction, but more heart and soul that you will ever see coming.
Published by: Orenda
ISBN: 978-191237-463-2
