Melanie Cole is a Hollywood movie star that has been put on a blacklist by the movie studio's, because she is suspected of being a communist, which she never has been. She is not able to do her work as an actress anymore because of this, and has to stay at home at her house that is rented from other people. The only company she has is her housekeeper Eva, a woman who moved to the USA after the war in Europe, and who has a little side story about that in the book.
The house next door belongs to Elwood, a Hollywood scriptwriter, and his sister-in-law and caretaker June lives at the house too. The mysterious word about Elwood that goes around in the neighborhood and in the movie studio where he still writes scripts for, is that he has sephere agrophobia and never leaves his house. Sometimes he is seen by the windows and he is able to talk from his room upstairs.
One day Eva and Melanie spot June digging in his beloved rose garden. After this, Elwood is never seen again. Eva and June start to talk to each other, and Eva starts visiting the house more and more during the story as she and June become friends. Also she never sees Elwood leaving his room, and even never hears him making any sound. There obviously is something mysterious going on around him, but what?? During the story, we learn more about the background of Melanie, Eva and June. And then a huge wildfire breaks out in Malibu, and the mystery evolving Elwood takes a turn for the bad, and is on the brink of being found out..
At first, I didn't know what to think of this story. Certainly the first half of the story took of in a slow pace. But just before the half of the story, the story got more and more pace, and slow pace of the first part was just a take-off to a great and mysterious further development of the story. It got better and better and that lasted untill the final page of the book, and how the story was wrapped up was also very good, and three characters of the story got all new perspectives and goals in live. This is just another brilliant page turner by Susan Meissner. I truly wonder how she knows to create such amazing and gripping story every time and time again. Besided the great storyline, the characters of Melanie, June and Eva where also terrific. Not the most realistic characters, but characters you can imagine in an old movie set in LA or Hollywood. The mystery around Elwood was just the right dose of mysterious-ness, altough I could predict a little what had happened to him as it was quite clear he wasn't alive anymore. When the wildfire breaks out in Malibu, this mystery around him got in a fast paced rollercoaster , but I won't put too much spoilers around that here..
Overall, I truly enjoyed this new and entertaining page turner by Susan Meissner!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a comment here, but keep it nice!