Rating: 4/5
Review:
Very enjoyable
I thoroughly enjoyed Did You See Melody? It's ostensibly a psychological thriller –
which it does pretty well – but it also has a witty and rather penetrating take
on US "justice-by-media" and other aspects of the differences between
US and British culture.
The plot sounds fairly well-worn: Cara, an English mother
has left her family to visit a luxurious spa in Arizona
for a couple of weeks. On checking in,
she sees someone who, it emerges, was declared to be murdered five years ago,
although her body was never found. We
get various, possibly unreliable, accounts of present-day events and of the circumstances
of Melody's disappearance and the subsequent media and court trials. Cara comes under threat and around half-way
through events begin to move in fast and frightening ways.
Frankly, the plot is…well, improbable, shall we say. However, Hannah writes so well and with such
wit that I didn't mind that. Her picture
of an ordinary Englishwoman pitched into extremes of American luxury and
customer service is well observed and funny, Cara herself is made believable
and there are two fabulous creations in a monstrous, ruthless, egocentric TV
"justice-show" host and a pushy, rude fellow guest whom I ended up
liking a lot. Hannah paints excellent
portraits, sometimes in just a few neat words, like "…the blond,
goodlooking one, made considerably less attractive by his air of seeming
pleased with himself for no apparent reason."
There is more than a hint of tongue-in-cheek here, but
Hannah still makes her points very well and presents us with a very cleverly
structured and well-written story. I was
very happy to suspend my disbelief for the duration and I found this an
enjoyable read from a very good writer.
Recommended.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
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