This book has an interesting premise, but the plot felt slow and anticlimactic. Additionally, the writing style felt more "tell" than "show", which leaves me less intrigued and invested in the "mystery".

Despite a slow start, this book was a ride! Salma, a former child starlet, better known now for her wild teen years, is still reeling from her sister's murder twenty years prior. When she comes across a woman's body at her sister's old house, she can't help but wonder if there is a connection.

When she decides to investigate her sister's murder, she is thrown back into Hollywood politics, backstabbing, and secrets that might be worth killing for.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC!

First of all, this is not a thriller--BUT it is a good family drama with a murder mystery. I enjoyed it. If you like Hollywood stories, especially the dark side of Hollywood and the tragic stories of beautiful starlets who die way too soon, you will enjoy this one. I didn't like the choices the characters made all the time, but I was invested and needed to find out how it ended.

A former child starlet is plunged back into the dangerous glitter of Hollywood after discovering the body of a young actress.

Salma Lowe, daughter of Hollywood royalty, found her brutally-murdered older sister's body when she was just a teenager. Fast forward 20 years and she discovers another young starlet's body...in the pool of her sister's old house. Coincidence? Let's find out.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The plot really kept you guessing and the pace was fast enough to keep you interested. I would definitely be interested in anything else Halley Sutton puts out.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was an okay read. It really did drag through the middle, seemingly to cycle though the same things over and over. However, there is quite the twist at the end, which helped.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

A quick, addicting, intriguing mystery you just can’t put down.

Years ago her sister, an actress was found murdered. No suspects. Now Salma finds another dead body where her sister was murdered and she has more questions than answers. Who is killing these women? Will no one stand for them? Salma will. This was an engrossing story and I enjoined it.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Group for the ARC.

Salma's sister Tawny was murdered in the 90's and the crime was never solved. When another dead body turns up at the exact same location, Salma knows she can't avoid her family history any longer. Digging into the past never turns up anything good, but especially not in Hollywood.

I liked this thriller. It was refreshingly different from the kinds of thrillers that I’ve read lately and kept me interested the whole way through.

Halley Sutton's THE HURRICANE BLONDE is a startling conglomeration of starlets of the past. If you follow true crime, you'll recognize some of the stories.
Salma Lowe's older sister Tawney, a rising starlet, was found dead in her pool when Salma was only fifteen. The case was never solved. Salma was a child star in her own right and offspring of two household names after their own blockbuster hit, Iron Prayer years before. After Tawney's death, Salma copes the only way she knows how, drugs, alcohol and a few stints in rehab. Now she acts as a tour guide for the Stars Six Feet Under tours in and around Hollywood. Then during one such tour, she finds another woman actually floating in the same pool in which her sister died. YIKES! Turns out that the woman was actually the actress that was cast as her sister in an upcoming movie about Tawney.
When she finds out that her sister's ex-fiance, and director extraordinaire, Cal Turner is planning the movie about Tawney's death, Salma signs on as a consultant. She was always convinced that Cal had something to do with Tawney's death, and now with the first actress cast but how can she prove it? She also feels protective of the new lead, Melany who is falling under Cal's abusive thumb. As Salma watches and waits she begins to put some of the pieces together of what may have happened to Tawney all those years ago. We meet some of the important people in Salma's life as she struggles with revelations of both past and present.
This book had me gripped from page one and never let up. I could feel myself holding my breath during filming and meandering through the dark soundstage. I really enjoyed Ms. Sutton's writing style and was surprised to learn that this was only her second release. She will definitely be an author to add to my ever-growing list of favorites.
Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam &Sons for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

I struggled with this one. I liked the premise behidn the story, but fel that it was poorly executed. The main character was annoying, the chapters seemed very repetitive and the story was jumping all over the place. It was difficult to follow and flat our boring. I was shocked by the reveal at the end, but that didn't make up for the struggle throughout the book.

Salma Lowe was raised by Hollywood royalty with everything she could ever dream of but all that glitters is not gold in her case. There‘s a ton of secrets, lies, DECEPTION, abuse (although not graphically depicted) and is justice ever served for the Hollywood Blonde or the other young starlet that dies too soon? Personally, I don’t think so. It’s always interesting to me when I feel bad for problematic characters. This book was rich in drama and I was very grateful to get the chance to read the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

The Hurricane Blonde is a haunting portrayal of old and new Hollywood. Salma is a one-time child actor, in recovery for alcoholism and searching for her sister's killer. She runs a Hollywood tour bus that visits crime scenes where Hollywood starlets were murdered, including the scene where he sister was killed. The past and present perspectives are very effective. I got the creeps whenever Salma spoke to me from the past. I was on the lookout when she spoke to me from the present. This is a haunting, chilling tale of fame, stardom, deceit and the price of love.

I first found this through Ashley Winstead’s blurb on it, and as an avid Winstead fan, her recommendation is as good as gold in my book.

I found this to be very intelligently written and layered, a bit more noir than true suspense, but SO good. Fantastic character development in Salma- she is flawed but realistic, racked but also driven by her grief, and a fantastic narrator for Sutton’s second novel. ( Now adding her first to my TBR!)

I found the pacing to be a little bit slower than my normal reads, so it took me a bit longer to get through, but not for lack of enjoyment. I was so impressed with the writing and thematic elements that I really wanted to savor the story instead of flying through it. Highly recommend!

Sometimes you want a fast-paced thriller that's a little fluffy, but dark and that's what The Hurricane Blonde is!

Picture this: two sisters grow up as daughters of a famous Hollywood director. One daughter continues acting and finds fame and a famous boyfriend...until she mysteriously drowns. The remaining sister gives Hollywood death tours "Stars Six Feet Under" complete with actresses playing famous dead ladies like the Black Dahlia. One day an actress almost drowns in the same pool her sister died in And that changes everything.


This book gets deep into Hollywood's seedy underbelly and how far we go to cover family secrets. It's uncomfortable and entertaining and I liked it--even if it made me feel icky afterwards.

Halley Sutton's sophomore novel The Hurricane Blonde is a noir-esque dark story that follows a string of ominous deaths among blonde actresses in Hollywood.

Heavily embedded with Tinsel Town culture, this book focuses on a star-studded family whose enigmatic 20-something year old daughter, Tawney, was brutally strangled in the 90s. Her murderer was never found. Her younger sister Salma, now in her mid-30s, is still reeling from her beloved sister's death, spending her days leading tours for Stars Six Feet Under, showing Hollywood tourists where actresses have died around the city. When another actress is found dead on one of Salma's tours, she can't help but notice the similarities to Tawney's murder. It sends Salma in a tailspin, chasing a rabbit down an ever-darkening hole as she hunts down a killer that she believes has struck again.

The Hurricane Blonde is a book that I expected to love; however, it did not quite hit the mark. While this novel is incredibly atmospheric and menacing, the storyline move slowly, cycling through the same emotions and details over and over again. The pace finally picks up toward the end, but concludes with my least favorite suspense novel plot device - when the suspect spills their guts, laying everything on the table in a confessional manner. On the other hand, this novel also contains a surprising twist that I did not anticipate, but quite enjoyed. In all, a mixed bag - good, but not great.

This book! The voice! The premise! I am in awe with Halley Sutton's abilities here. This centers on a former child star, Salma, whose star sister was tragically murdered. Now, Salma gives tours about murdered Hollywood starlets. But another body appears and there are parallels to her sister's death, so she begins to investigate. I really liked Salma's POV and the way she saw the world. I had a sense of the twist at the end, but it was still so well-done that I found it really satisfying. A great read!

Looking for a good summer thriller? THE HURRICANE BLONDE is about Salma, a former child star—and daughter of Hollywood royalty—who runs a murder bus tour in LA and one day, during a routine tour, discovers the body of a young actress, whose death is eerily similar to that of Salma’s sister twenty years ago. This book is INCREDIBLE. It’s filled with dark and disturbing twists, and has so many highlight-worthy lines. It’s about how far people will go to protect powerful men, about the concessions we make for powerful men in the first place, about the question of whether we can—or should—separate great art from an artist who does terrible things. The writing is at turns sharply clever and achingly beautiful, with a poignant and memorable ending. I was also so fascinated by all the real-life stories of the dark underbelly of Hollywood that were referenced throughout the book, and these twisted anecdotes emphasized the powerful themes even more. And if that’s not enough, this book gives you two compelling mysteries for the price of one. I promise this thriller will hook you from the first page and will stay with you long after you finish.

The Hurricane Blonde is both a twisty thriller and a commentary on the dark shadowy aspects of Hollywood 🎬

It begs us to consider - How far will the industry go to protect powerful men when money and art are on the line? And what value do women hold when men are the ones determining their value?

Halley Sutton is an absolutely fantastic writer, I found myself highlighting so many beautifully-written lines that were thoughtful, shocking, moving, and deeply emotional

I can’t wait to see what’s next for her! 🤩

Thanks so much to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC! This book is out now and is the PERFECT summer read.

I really enjoyed this one. This book centers on a family that is Hollywood royalty because of generations involved in the film industry in various ways and the tragedy that befell them when a young starlet (and the main character’s sister) was murdered tragically when her star was just rising. This book touches on the theme of Hollywood starlet deaths (and touches on our obsession with these beautiful, young women whose lives were tragically cut short).

This book kept me gripped from start to finish as we followed Salma, the younger sister of Tawney, the actress taken too young, and how this tragedy really comes to consume her life and keep her stuck in a period of time that was a nightmare for her and her family. She soon comes to see that she isn’t the only one stuck in the past, and her picture perfect family might be hiding more than she ever imagined. This book was full of secrets, many of which were so tragic and angering, and I felt all of the emotions alongside Salma as she uncovered more and more. With Salma being a complex character with an addictive past full of many screwups, it definitely made her a more relatable character. It was also moving to watch her realize she wasn’t the biggest screwup in her family as the secrets slowly come undone.

This is just a fast-paced and enjoyable story. If you are fascinated by the darker side of Hollywood, then this one is definitely for you!

Summary
Salma is the daughter of Hollywood royalty and former child-actor. Now she leads a 'dead girls' tour that visits famous spots in Hollywood that are related to the untimely deaths of actresses, including her older sister, Tawney Lowe. One day, twenty years later, when ending a tour at Tawney's old house, Salma discovers a body in the pool, another dead girl. This one was set to play Tawney in the upcoming movie directed by Cal, Tawney's ex-fiance', and who Salma believes is responsible for her sister's unsolved murder. Seeing the parallels between Tawney and this newest death, Salma jumps right back in to investigating what may have happened to her sister, determined to solve it once and for all.

Review
This book is dark and suspenseful and tense, from beginning to end. Salma, as the first-person narrator, added to that suspense because as a former party girl who struggled with addiction, she isn't necessarily the most reliable narrator. She is fixated on Cal to the point as a reader you have to question... is the evidence skewed based on Salma's perspective? It was a sad story, with stories of corruption and loneliness and how things aren't always what they seem.