As the lights in the auditorium faded, the excited
mutterings of the attending crowd diminished to an occasional stolen whisper. A
single spotlight illuminated the stage as a bearded man strode confidently
towards it from the wings, taking up his position. As he turned to face the
crowd, his eyes gave away his nervousness.
“Ladies and gentlemen”, he enunciated to the back row, the
clipped tones struggling to hide his common south-east London vernacular;
“thank you for coming. May I remind you to remain seated following our feature
presentation for an additional bonus performance.” He paused for dramatic
effect.
“And now, without furth…….” he halted mid-sentence and
stooped to pick up a medium sized black dog which had wandered on stage to steal
the limelight. Forgetting the microphone was still on, the man whispered in the
dogs’ ear; “Buckley, I told you I will take you for a walk as soon as I finish
this blog post. You can’t keep interrupting me.” He coughed, remembering where
he was and with Buckley tucked under his arm he continued.
“Without further ado, I am proud to present the Barking Mad
Book Bloggers review of………….”
I’m no stranger to treading the boards. As a teenager I
spent every Saturday at the Croydon Warehouse Theatre attending their Youth
Theatre Group in the day, then working front of house for the main events in
the evenings, taking tickets and selling ice creams in the interval – never
understood why stem ginger and acacia honey was always a sell-out………in Croydon!
A few years later, I became involved in Amateur Dramatics
and spent several years performing in numerous productions. I was even lucky
enough to perform on Broadway two years running! (Lewisham Theatre, Catford
Broadway – Annie Get Your Gun in 1992 and My Fair Lady in 1993)
Then, three years after giving up the grease paint I had a
very successful tenure as drummer and backing vocalist for Kent’s top Rock
covers band (possibly) Contraband, which continued for eleven years.
I present
the following as photographic evidence m ’lord....
(I think given this last photo we should have stuck to the original band name idea.....Betty & The Swallox!)
But I digress. The point I am making is that Louise Beech’s
I Am Dust is dripping with so much atmosphere and authenticity that it
immediately brought all my thespian memories flooding back to centre stage. If
ever there was a prime example of the adage “write about what you know”, then
Louise has done this to the max, with brass knobs on! You can almost feel the
buzz of a busy backstage and the contrasting eeriness of when a theatre ‘goes
dark’ throughout the book, as Louise expertly draws on her own knowledge of the
arts to bring us a gloriously rich and evocative tale of teenage angst,
unrequited love, spine chilling paranormal activity, betrayal and murder. I Am
Dust has got it all, and I loved every single page of this superb novel.
But what is it about, I hear a cry from the cheap seats!
Well, twenty years after the musical ‘Dust’ was abandoned following the murder
of its leading actress in her dressing room, Chloe finds herself working at the
same theatre as an Usher. The events from two decades ago has resulted in the
theatre gaining a notoriety for being haunted and the star dressing room, where
the murder took place, is somewhere that Chloe can’t bring herself to enter.
There are certainly some incredibly chilling scenes right from the outset which
set the tone and pace of the story and immediately draw the reader into Chloe’s
world and the ominous surroundings she finds herself in. Then, news comes that ‘Dust’
the musical is to be revived to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, and is
returning to the very same theatre. As a huge fan of the original production,
Chloe is excited by this prospect, however as the weeks countdown to opening night,
events start to trigger dark memories of her teenage years which are all
intertwined with that fatal night many years ago. As the spirits grow
increasingly restless, and flashbacks from her past become manifest, Chloe
finds herself caught between two worlds; determined to solve the ‘whodunit’
mystery from twenty years past and making sure that history does not repeat
itself.
A little tip before you dive into this book – don’t start reading
it late at night before bedtime! It can lend itself to some pretty vivid dreams
resulting in shouting yourself awake and glaring warily into the shadows…. I…er….
*cough*…. imagine. I Am Dust is a seriously creepy book with some very visual
scenes of ghostly goings on. The tension and pace of the story does not wander
at any point; if anything, it gets increasingly claustrophobic and more
terrifying as it builds to its heart stopping climax.
Louise’s writing has always had lyrical and poetic undertones,
and I Am Dust is no exception. Incorporating lines from the musical’s songs within
the pages adds a lot of depth to the narrative as it brings to life the passion
and tone of the play that made Chloe fall in love with so much – a bit like Les
Misérables does for me – and you begin to understand how obsessive and
entrancing the world of the theatre can be. Chloe is a troubled protagonist but
incredibly likeable and you will find yourself completely consumed by her
journey. Louise has also assembled a superb cast of supporting characters, including
the brilliantly comic Chester who provides some light relief to contrast what is
essentially a dark and disturbing tale. Yet at its heart, I Am Dust is a story
of love and friendship and the importance of not letting anything get in the
way of that as they are the fundamental aspects of how we live our lives. It
even bought a lump to the throat of this grizzled old blogger!
I absolutely loved I Am Dust, which for me has
claimed the book of the year title so far. Louise is such a versatile author
with a passion for storytelling and an expertise in drawing the reader into her
vivid imagination. I can’t wait to see what she brings us next.
Now, if you were paying attention I mentioned a “bonus
performance” at the top of the page? Well, as I’m on a bit of a "Louise Love-In",
I thought it would be nice to copy my pre-blog review of her previous novel
Call Me Star Girl here which I originally posted on Amazon. It’s not as wafflely
as my blog posts you’ll be pleased to know!!
Call Me Star Girl showcases the
talent of a writer at the top of her game. Although Louise's first thriller
novel, this is essentially a story about love and passion and the intense
emotions that surface as a result of giving yourself completely and utterly to
one person. Louise skilfully intertwines this with an atmospheric and highly
charged whodunit relating to the murder of a young woman and a mysterious
caller who keeps phoning into our protagonist Stella McKeever's late-night
radio show claiming he saw what happened.
The scenes set within the radio station are incredibly
tense and claustrophobic, with a creeping paranoia that intensifies as Stella
becomes increasingly drawn into the mysterious callers' world. Turn the page
and the reader is drawn into a passionate and, at times, incredibly sexy love
affair that's almost voyeuristic to read. The story twists and turns until both
worlds collide with shocking results.
Call Me Star Girl is a highly addictive read which
further reinforces Louise Beech as one of the best authors to have emerged over
the last few years. Her ability to effortlessly cross genres from her
incredibly emotive and personal previous novels such as How to be Brave and The
Mountain in my Shoe, to this dark and disturbing mystery reflects a highly
skilled writer and one whom I believe has only just begun to show us what she
has to offer despite an already incredible back catalogue of work.
Both books are published by the
fabulous Orenda books and you can purchase them now by clicking here
As always, thanks for reading and
have a great weekend.
