A My Chronicle Book Box review of Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah.

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication date: 21 August 2017

Publisher Synopsis:

The stunning new pageturner from the queen of psychological suspense.

Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can’t afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied – by a man and a teenage girl.

A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist – but Cara’s fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can’t possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.

Cara doesn’t know what to trust: everything she’s read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody?

And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?

My Chronicle Book Box Review:

This book was included in the November 2017 Crime and Mystery My Chronicle Book Box.

Cara Burrows has been sent into crisis by an unexpected pregnancy. Now in her late thirties with two children in high school, Cara feels let down and angry that the rest of the family would rather she did not continue with the pregnancy. As a result she takes the rather rash decision to abandon them (only for two weeks mind you, she is very clear about her return date) and take off for a 5* spa resort in Arizona. To me this seems to be something of a mid-life crisis fuelled by pregnancy hormones!

She is hoping to escape her problems, relax and take some time to come to terms with the pregnancy and work out how to move forward with her family, unfortunately she immediately stumbles into a bigger problem! When Cara realises she has seen the apparently murdered Melody Chapa she feels compelled to investigate further in spite of the potential danger.

I don’t like too many spoilers so I will simply summarise that Cara meets some very interesting characters in Arizona and between them they solve the mystery of the disappearance of Melody Chapa and give Cara some perspective on her own problems. Oh, and the delicious twist at the end left me stunned!

This is a well written novel that you will struggle to put down and will get you thinking. The book also provides an interesting comparison between the English and American legal systems and media coverage and I think the American characters have been written somewhat larger than life to emphasise this point.

Hi, I'm Louise the founder of My Chronicle Book Box and I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog post.

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Louise

Hi, I’m Louise and I am the driving force behind My Chronicle Book Box. I am a busy working Mum, with three gorgeous daughters and a very supportive husband. I spend much of my spare time reading and reviewing a wide variety of books and love the whole idea of subscription book boxes.

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