I Am Dust

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.