Not just a female empowerment #MeToo revenge fantasy.
When her younger sister, Georgia, is murdered at a Hollywood house party, aspiring pop star Scout Sage reinvents herself in the years that follow. It's now 10 years later and suddenly rumor, speculation, and innuendo are implicating Scout and her unusual cohort of women in the murders of men and women connected to industry corruption, abuse, and coverups. The crime scenes feature lyrics from Scout's own songs so she becomes a prime suspect.
The investigation into Scout and her "Ladies of the Dark" also known in the press as the Hot Girl Murder Club, is led by Detective Grey Holloway. These friends form a network to help wronged women. As coincidence will have it, the cop is hunting for information about her own missing sister, Alice, who was last seen at a notorious nightclub.
Does the line between victim, predator, and vigilante blur when everyone tries for justice.
"The fire of passion and the dark void of hate."
This was more complicated than the typical female rage story and it definitely has a gritty atmosphere that strips the glamour off the entertainment industry showing its institutional rot and trauma.
Told in dual times with flashbacks to the party 10 years ago, and the present, the book suffers from point of view bloat with too many juggling perspectives. This slows down what could have been a relentless thriller pace. So the plot was messy and chaotic and that made it hard to connect deeply with the characters. It doesn't really follow any sort of typical police procedural either and the detective work doesn't feel real. Let's not even talk about the convenient FBI boyfriend.
In the end, even the secret sisterhood angle felt more like over the top drama instead of the caring female bond it was probably meant to resemble.
Despite its flaws, I liked the story well enough.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Brittany Pressley, did an admirable job trying to create unique voices for all the female characters but there were just simply way too many for one actor. This production would definitely have benefited from a full cast. I always enjoy listening while reading as it creates a more immersive, enjoyable experience.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre and tags: fiction, Hollywood, sexual assault, murder, corruption, female friends, revenge, social activism
No comments:
Post a Comment