#Blog Tour - I Am Dust

TITLE: I Am Dust
AUTHOR: Louise Beech
PUBLISHER: Orenda Books
PUBLISHING DATE: April 16, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: 

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…

MY THOUGHTS: So pretty much all I have to do is see "thriller from Orenda Books" on an email and I'm sunk.  I've had such great luck with the books I've read for their blog tours and I am thrilled to say I Am Dust is no exception.

Dust was the first show for the Dean Wilson Theatre.  And it definitely put the theatre on the map because the lead actress, Morgan Miller, was murdered during its run.  Miller's murder was never solved and such a tragedy left a haunted imprint on the venue.  Now, twenty years since the original run, Dust is being revived. Many believe this is a bad decision as they think the musical is cursed.  Add is a ghost, some ominous sounds and a eerie backdrop and this book has all the makings of a good thriller. 

The tale is told in dual timelines which is a writing technique I almost always enjoy.  The reader gets a glimpse of what happened in the past and how those incidents are shaping present day activities.  I also found it to be a highly atmospheric read.  I really felt a connection to Chloe, the MC, and truly felt her sadness.  And it's an automatic given that a night filled with best friends and a Ouija board are bound to come back to haunt Chloe years later.

I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole novel.  Because of the spooky atmosphere, reading it was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if they have an extra interest in musicals and theatres since I found all the glamour surrounding the production very interesting.

Orenda Books, you've done it again!

RATING: 5 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. Her second book, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.