Release date: April 18, 2019

Publisher: Orenda

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Blurb:

Tonight is the night for secrets…

Pregnant Victoria Valbon was brutally murdered in an alley three weeks ago – and her killer hasn’t been caught.

Tonight is Stella McKeever’s final radio show. The theme is secrets. You tell her yours, and she’ll share some of hers.

Stella might tell you about Tom, a boyfriend who likes to play games, about the mother who abandoned her, now back after twelve years. She might tell you about the perfume bottle with the star-shaped stopper, or about her father …

What Stella really wants to know is more about the mysterious man calling the station … who says he knows who killed Victoria, and has proof.

Tonight is the night for secrets, and Stella wants to know everything…

With echoes of the chilling Play Misty for Me, Call Me Star Girl is a taut, emotive and all-consuming psychological thriller that plays on our deepest fears, providing a stark reminder that stirring up dark secrets from the past can be deadly… 

Review:

Louise Beech’s writing gets under my skin in a way no one else’s does, her gorgeous prose somehow pulls me in like no other and doesn’t let go until the end. It’s an all consuming experience every time I pick up one of her novels up and she raised the bar with Call Me Star Girl, which is a huge accomplishment as she’s already an amazingly talented author.

Stella is planning something big for her last night on the air as a radio host and not knowing what she had up her sleeve heightened the air of anticipation that was already palpable, you could feel the tension in the air. Which brings me to my next point, this was devastatingly atmospheric, who would’ve thought a radio station in the dead of night could be such a creepy place?! Louise Beech, that’s who and I swear I could feel the intensity crackling in the air while I was sitting in my own living room, it was brilliant and so clever. There was something so harrowing about this one but I mean that in a beautiful and almost poetic way. You have this group of highly complex characters combined with an intricate narrative that took me by surprise more times than I can count. It all concluded with a totally jaw dropping ending and one that I never saw coming but also one that left me awestruck, it was just perfectly executed. Highly recommended for psychological thriller fans, especially those who like ones with sophistication and a sense of noir.

Call Me Star Girl in three words: Slick, Atmospheric and Haunting

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.