Finished Dead to Me by Mary McCoy. I received a copy from the publisher for review.
Summary (from Goodreads):
“LA Confidential for the YA audience. This alluring noir YA mystery with a Golden Age Hollywood backdrop will keep you guessing until the last page.
“Don’t believe anything they say.”
Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace. Alice spent four years waiting and wondering when the impossibly glamorous sister she idolized would return to her–and what their Hollywood-insider parents had done to drive her away.
When Annie does turn up, the blond, broken stranger lying in a coma has no answers for her. But Alice isn’t a kid anymore, and this time she won’t let anything stand between her and the truth, no matter how ugly. The search for those who beat Annie and left her for dead leads Alice into a treacherous world of tough-talking private eyes, psychopathic movie stars, and troubled starlets–and onto the trail of a young runaway who is the sole witness to an unspeakable crime. What this girl knows could shut down a criminal syndicate and put Annie’s attacker behind bars–if Alice can find her first. And she isn’t the only one looking
Evoking classic film noir, debut novelist Mary McCoy brings the dangerous glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age to life, where the most decadent parties can be the deadliest, and no drive into the sunset can erase the crimes of past.”
I was incredibly excited to read this book for two reasons: 1) it’s set in Holllywood’s Golden Age and 2) it’s noir. I absolutely loved the idea of YA noir, and this book was definitely fun to read.
I wish this book had been a little longer, though. I didn’t get a grasp on who Alice was, and the pacing felt a little rushed. I still enjoyed the book, but I didn’t get as much out of it as I was expecting to.
Still, Alice is an incredible heroine. She’s as sardonic as any private eye from the 30s, and in the best noir tradition, forces she can’t even fathom are working against her.
This is a fun novel and I will keep an eye out for future books from Mary McCoy.
