Wednesday, 15 April 2020

Book Review - I Am Dust by Louise Beech - Blog Tour

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Title: I Am Dust
Author: Louise Beech
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Random Things Blog Tours
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication Date: 16th February 2020
Rating: 5 Stars

A haunted theatre
A murdered actress
Three cursed teenagers
A secret that devastates them all…

The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer…

Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years. But who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in her dressing room?

Theatre usher Chloe Dee is caught up in the spectacle. As the new actors arrive, including an unexpected face from her past, everything changes. Are the eerie sounds and sightings backstage real or just her imagination? Is someone playing games?

Is the role of Esme Black cursed? Could witchcraft be at the heart of the tragedy? And are dark deeds from Chloe’s past about to catch up with her?
Not all the drama takes place onstage. Sometimes murder, magic, obsession and the biggest of betrayals are real life. When you’re in the theatre shadows, you see everything.

And Chloe has been watching…

Incredibly creepy, bewitching, and oddly compulsive to read. 

Typically I'm very sceptical when it comes to supernatural beings, and the occult, and also being a scaredy cat, I will do my best to avoid it. But yet the way Louise Beech described everything I could have almost turned into a believer. 

At least it all made sense, and I was determined to know just who killed Morgan Miller all those years ago.  Everything to do with young Chloe, Jess and Ryan and the dangerous "game" they were playing when they were 16.   And then there is the present day story line with Chloe at the heart of it, and she is key to just about everything that happens. 

I was drawn to this book due to the mention of musical theatre which is a passion of mine, but perhaps reading this on the day when the West End went dark due to the dreaded real world virus, may not have been my smartest mood, as I was continually aware while reading that this may be the last time I see any sort of musical for a long while. Which is rather scary in itself but I am grateful for the various song lyrics that were included, and the mentions to other shows. 

In fact some of the other shows that were in the theatre that Chloe is an usher in, sounded downright bizarre, but in the current climate if they were real I'd be first in line to get my theatre fix. 

This is only the second book I've read from the author, and it is another incredibly accomplished story. and while I was reading, I was completely transported to the settings being described. It is very easy to follow the various time lines, and I did in time start to feel the creepier elements were rather normal.

This is a story that kept me guessing throughout,  I had absolutely no idea how it would all resolve itself and I feel the ending was rather fitting.  

I have no idea why I have left it so long since I last read a book from this author, and it is something I need to fix eventually.   I Am Dust has bewitched me, affected my ability to sleep, and really got under my skin.  Always to my mind signs of a very impressive book. 

Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Blog Tours for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

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