Not terribly believable, but exciting and undemanding...

(I have no idea what to star-rate this book so please IGNORE the star-rating. It's only there because NetGalley wouldn't let me submit this review without one.)


Title: Did You See Melody?

Author: Sophie Hannah

Genre: contemporary, crime


A few starting notes:


I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.



OK, so I tend to like Sophie Hannah books - they're full of the tensions and depths hiding behind ordinary, oh-so-British, small-town lives.

So when I got the opportunity to review this, I jumped on it!

I have to say though... this one didn't do it for me. Still, there were some good points, so let's get reviewing!




Premise:


After a blazing row with the family, Cara Burrows needs some time away. So she packs everything up and heads to a random spa/hotel place in America.

It's not long before things get a little weird - an old lady says she's seen Melody Chapa, a girl who went missing, and who was presumed murdered, years before.

The thing is... Cara had never heard of Melody Chapa before coming on this trip. But she's sure that she's seen her too.



Best bits:


This definitely has the readability, and the 'just below the surface' stuff that I like in Sophie Hannah's books.

The insertion of interviews, articles, etc. from when Melody first went missing is great - you really get the impression of learning about these things as Cara does!

There are plenty of twists and turns from one suspect, or one suspected scenario, to another - and it does keep you guessing.

It also examines moral issues around leaving kids in particular situations etc. which was interesting.

Unfortunately, that's about all I can say about the good stuff.




Not so great bits:


Many potentially distressing content things here, so be aware of the following:

- missing children
- missing people
- child murder
- child abduction
- child neglect
- child abuse
- abduction
- violence
- trial by media
- wrongful imprisonment
- vigilantism

There's also some swearing.




OK, to me, this book missed the mark in a lot of ways.

Cara isn't that sympathetic a character, and Tarin Fry - who I guess we were supposed to like? - I actually hated.

Why did I hate Tarin? Because she hates everyone. She just likes to spew bigoted ideas here, there, and everywhere. From ableism to racism, she's your gal. *sighs*




So many 'jokes' and casual remarks missed the mark in this book - as an example:

Cara, Tarin, and Tarin's daughter whose name escapes me, are talking about a toy that belonged to Melody Chapa.

Cara thinks that the girl she saw had a toy that she called by the same name as Melody Chapa's toy, Snowy.

This results in them discussing how that's a name that a lot of kids would give a white toy.

One of them then asks what you would name a black toy.

Tarin's daughter - who is a teenager, not like, a five year old who's picked up adult's bad attitudes or anything - answers 'Nelson Mandela.'

Somehow NO-ONE SEES THE PROBLEM WITH THIS.

I mean, really. REALLY?! That is a racist joke. It's not ok. Simple.




There were several other micro-aggressions and poorly framed characters/plot points related to race.

(E.g., one character's Latino ex-husband, one of the only instances of Latinx rep, is an abusive a**hole; the only black character is both inept at her job and makes sketchy decisions... *sighs*)

It disappoints me when a good author screws up this bad.




My other major issue with this book is the ableism - there's casual ableism against people with mental health problems, dementia, etc.

I have mental health problems, and actually, I'm rarely offended by casually ableist language ('crazy' etc.) though I totally get why other people are offended, but in this case? I was offended.

There was so much stigma against mental health problems here that yes, it offended me. There's only so much leeway I can give people, y'know? And this was more-or-less constant. #NotGood

Also hugely frustrating (and I'm going to have to be vague here to avoid spoilers) was the use of the 'fake disability' trope.

Like - WHY WOULD YOU USE THAT TROPE?! WHY?! Nothing good comes from that trope - it just adds to the impression that people with disability and serious illnesses are 'faking' - WHICH THEY ARE NOT.




Not only that, but the plot became messy as we went along. There was the impression here that Hannah wasn't really in control.

Honestly? If you want to read a missing-child crime novel which covers a lot of this ground - and in a more thorough and controlled way - read Gone Baby, Gone.

That book's not perfect; far from it - not least because Dennis Lehane is a white author who needs to stop using the 'n' word - but it handles things more competently than Did You See Melody? does.



Verdict:


I'm so disappointed. I usually love Sophie Hannah books - but this one just isn't there.

I'm sure in the future I'll read other books of hers, because I know she is capable of writing great books; but I'd be lying if I said that this one hasn't knocked my confidence in her.

I don't mean that in a personal way - you guys know that; on a personal level I have absolutely no problem with Sophie Hannah.

It's just, I was disappointed with this one, and especially with the problematic aspects within it.

I hate leaving a bad review but I also like to be honest. I didn’t like this.
The main basis of story is good, but the rest got so silly. English Mum spends half her savings to run away to think about her pregnancy leaving her other 2 kids. No that wouldn’t happen.
Annoying florist ends up helping police even sitting in on police meetings. No that wouldn’t happen.
TV presenter in meetings as well.
Sorry but was glad when I finished it.

Interesting,. A girl disappears from an American town. Totally unconnected with her a wife leaves her husband and children in England for two weeks, whilst she disappears to an American spa for two weeks, to think through her life and her marriage. This tells the story of how the two lives become inextricably linked, starting with an elderly senile lady who imagines that she keeps seeing the missing girl

The synopsis is very promising and the book starts with a nice speed too. A woman on the run surrounded by a lot of mystery walking in even more mystery. But as soon as Cara walks into Tarin the story started to fall apart for me. She was such a nosy and annoying character and Cara was just lost in the pages. I lost every connection with the characters.
There was the mystery, the puzzle. But it was difficult to get a grip on the investigation. There was not enough information to puzzle along.
The only thing that kept me reading was the writing style. Sophie Hannah knows how to write a book that is easy to read with a proper speed in it.
Did You See Melody? is the UK release title. In the US this book is released as Keep Her Safe.

A pretty ordinary book with a slightly silly story. There were, however, some excellent descriptive passages but not a book that would be suitable for discussion at a book club. Not highly recommendable.

A very intriguing read that I really didn't know where it was taking me. Set in a deluxe holiday park in Arizona, Cara Burrows has escaped family life in England to have time to think, unexpectedly pregnant for the third time. She stumbles across a mystery that leads her into danger and meets some entertaining characters along the way. Its very light, characters are almost comic, I found it rather confusing as to what had actually happened until near the end but it kept me interested and there is a great twist.

Quite hard going, not enough pace, but some interesting bits at times.

I really did enjoy this book. There were plenty of cleverly done twists to the plot, with one in particular which surprised me - not the norm.
I nearly did take one star away, though, as I thought the book could have been tightened up by an editor - the long paragraphs of detail from the court case were just too long. I felt that the book could have happily been shortened by giving the gist of those pages, not spelling everything out at length. It was unnecessary; it was tedious. But I loved the rest of the book.

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?


****


Oh, this one throws you right in at the deep end. We, the reader, arrive at a holiday resort in the midst of the Arizona desert, with Cara, who is running away from her life in England.

But why? What does she need to get away from so urgently? And how is she supposed to relax in a luxurious holiday complex when the other guests, and even some of the staff are slowly getting caught up in conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of a young girl, seven years ago?

There have been sightings reported of Melody Chapa, and here the book flickers between present day events and interviews, TV shows and reports from the time of Melody's disappearance.

Is Cara's over-stressed brain making far too much out of seemingly innocent events? Or could the suspicious behaviour of her fellow guests be because they really are hiding something? How long will she herself be able to hide, before her family have enough and try to track her down?

This definitely took a different turn to that which I'd expected, but it was fast-paced and engaging; I was desperate to find out what had happened to Melody.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I am quite familiar with the work of Sophie Hannah, having read most of her previous novels. For this reason, I wasn't sure what to make of this one. It didn't sound like the style I am used to and the story was actually quite boring. I couldn't engage with any of the characters and found the whole plot quite fanciful and unbelievable.

Unfortunately, this is not one of Sophie Hannah's better books.

Cara Burrows can't cope. She is pregnant with her third child but her husband and two children are not as happy about it as she might have hoped. In an attempt to sort out her feelings she spends a large part of the family savings & takes herself off to a luxury resort in Arizona. On arrival, numb with tiredness, she is given a key to the wrong room - one that is already occupied by a man & his teenage daughter.

As an apology she is given a luxury 'casita' and after a good sleep she explores her surroundings and finds herself embroiled in the mystery of the disappearance of a young girl seven years ago. Another visitor to the resort maintains she has seen Melody, although this is not this guest's first sighting of the girl at this resort in the last year or so. Melody's parents are serving life sentences for her murder. But is Melody dead- or merely missing? The girl in the room had a distinctive soft toy- the same as the one that Melody had. Perhaps to take her mind off her own problems Cara becomes intrigued with the story which is a mistake! Swept along with Tarin Fry they dig deeper - . I loved Tarin Fry as a character but she would drive me crazy if I had to put up with her!

When Bonnie Juno, a television journalist who has been obsessed with the story for years arrives, the waters become increasingly muddied.

My opinions are very mixed about this book. On the one hand I did find it far fetched and confusing. On the other, I really wanted to know how it turned out & couldn't put it down. Overall I'd give it four stars. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This is my favourite Sophie Hannah book I have read! Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

This book gave me heart palpitations, but in a good way. It dragged me along willingly on a crazy journey of deceit and batshit revelations, with one wild twist after another.

I do much of my reading on the tube, to and from work, and Did You See Melody? earned me some concerned looks from my fellow commuters. I'm not surprised. Between my audible gasps at each shocking turn of events as the story unfolded, and feverishly tapping my Kindle in an effort to turn the pages quickly, my symptoms were obvious. I was none other than a thriller-loving bookworm in the final desperate stages of a novel. I was so close to discovering the truth, the big reveal, and nothing would stop me in my mission to get there.

Cara Burrows, British mother of two, leaves behind her family and runs away to a luxury, five-star spa resort in Arizona. Arriving late at night, there's a mix-up with the room keys, and Cara enters another guest's room, thinking its hers. Inside is a man and a young girl, who Cara later believes may be Melody Chapa, the girl whose murder has been heavily documented in the press; her parents are even serving life sentences for it. As Cara tries to get to the bottom of things, her own safety is at risk.

This was a book full of interesting characters that were well developed, and the writing was suspenseful and the plot well executed.

Cara has run away from her home because she is pregnant and her husband and older children don't seem too thrilled. She's taken a big chunk of the family savings and gone to an exclusive resort in Arizona. On her first night, jet lagged, Cara is given the wrong room key and disturbs and man and a child. Over time she hears rumours and pieces together that the child is Melody Chapa who disappeared, presumed murdered, seven years ago.

I know that Sophie Hannah is a very popular author and to be honest for the first half of this book I could see why. Cara is an irritating protagonist but I can imagine she appeals to a certain type of reader. My biggest issue was that whilst the set-up was perfectly entertaining in a superficial way, the action in the last third of the book seemed to get sillier and sillier. This left me wondering why Hannah is so well thought of. Reviews elsewhere seem to suggest that this is not one of her better books - I certainly hope so!

I always love Sophie Hannah's books. She writes incredibly compelling, twisty thrillers with really original premises. So when I saw 'Did you see Melody?' I knew immediately that I'd enjoy it. While it's quite different to some of her other books (there's a lot more humour in this for one thing), it's immensely readable if a bit unrealistic!

There are so many elements of this where I'd suggest that you suspend your disbelief...and then suspend it a little more. The key element of the plot - a woman blowing all her savings and running away from her family to a luxury spa in the USA because she don't appreciate her (or the new baby she's carrying) is a little far fetched. But from there it expands the limits of credibility even more. There's a tangled plot, a missing - presumed murdered child, some American characters taken straight out of a daytime soap opera (including an awful TV legal personality) and police officers who wouldn't seem out of place in a cheesy cop drama. Yet, somehow Hannah manages to pull it all off, mostly because of the levels of humour present throughout it all. One gets the impression that she wrote most of this with her tongue lodged firmly in her cheek, wondering just how far she can push the reader's patience. It's all very silly and yet very readable. This isn't one of her best books by a long shot, but it's definitely a lot of fun.

I received a free e-arc of this book from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Hannah has become a bit hit-or-miss for me. I’ve read books of hers that I’ve really enjoyed (not that I can remember which ones, those were before Goodreads and I got them from the library so I can’t check my shelves), but I distinctly remember DNF-ing THE CARRIER a couple of years ago as it was (and I quote my 2015 twitter feed) “fantastically dull”.

This book, however, was an odd one. There are parts of it I really enjoyed, like the actual plot, and there are parts I didn’t like. It was a pretty good thriller, if a little predictable, and just about interesting enough to keep me gripped. The thriller part is really interesting – there’s a lot of did she die, did she not die, and if she’s not dead who did Cara see and why are they so suspcious? However, I would have liked more of Cara’s actual life rather than the mystery taking over. I get that her reasoning for being in Arizona is supposed to be a sub-plot compared to the mystery but I feel like it got totally overlooked and then resolved within the space of half a page while she’d spent half the book (while not obsessing over Melody) obsessing over it.

And the writing! The narrative is interspersed with transcripts of interviews on fictional talk show Justice with Bonnie, which tell the story of Melody’s original disappearance and possible murder. Chunks of the book are just Cara, the main character, watching those videos and that is how she (and we) learn what happens to Melody originally. I just found these parts really boring and to be honest, a little lazy. Couldn’t Cara have learned all this information another way? Maybe doing a bit more amateur detective work with her new friends Tarin and Zellie? I don’t know.

I’m just disappointed, really. I feel like this could have been fantastic. Maybe I’ll try another Sophie Hannah novel in the future.

Problems with her marriage and family situation cause a nice English housewife to naff off to Arizona for a fortnight alone in a huge spa complex – a resort with, it seems, only one receptionist at key times, and such a huge place that she is forced to bump into the same few residents everywhere – residents that are also, handily, obsessed with the famous case of a dead/missing girl. Which is key, as the first time our heroine has gone to a room in the resort it's to find the allegedly dead girl inside and very much alive…

It's a compelling read – for every dodgy bit there's an arch discussion of how suspects get treated – clearly by both the detectives in such books and also by the reader. It does get to be too baggy when flashing back to the reportage of the girl's case, but all the same delivers the high-concept shock bits just as well as demanded. What's more, the number of clever call-backs and tiny details circling through the story with their own disguised significance makes for a bravura closure. It's not without flaws (including the final, final twist, which gives too much agency to **** over ****, which sounds unlikely), but it certainly is a solid genre read – with added sexism, so only four and a half stars in truth.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story. It was a good read and I would recommend it to other readers who like mysteries.. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.