Social Media Tour : Still Lives by Maria Hummel

                                                                   THE BLURB

The guests who were attending the opening night weren't overly concerned at first when revered artist Kim Lord didn't make an appearance at the unveiling of her most shocking show yet: Still Lives, a series of self portraits in which she impersonates the female victims of America's most famous murders.There was even speculation that her not turning up was part of a publicity stunt and that she would probably reappear days later with some outlandish story about how she had been kidnapped and held prisoner until she miraculously escaped.

But as time passed and there was still no sign of Kim,the speculation and joking started to turn into concern. Where was Kim? Had she actually been kidnapped and ended up suffering the same fate as the women in her paintings?

When Kim's new boyfriend Greg is arrested on suspicion of murder, Maggie Richtar,museum editor and Greg's ex girlfriend is convinced that he is innocent and is drawn into her own investigation,little realising the danger she is placing herself in. Someone knows what happened to Kim,someone hiding in plain sight who will go to any lengths to prevent Maggie from uncovering the truth.

Throughout this book, I had mixed feelings about our heroine Maggie who was the sole narrator of this story. Sure she was brave and feisty at times but she also occasionally behaved very strangely,such as her behaviour and actions when she spent the night at Greg's apartment. Her constant harping on about Greg was also frustrating considering how badly he had treated her in the past. During the story Maggie takes us back into her past and we learn that she used to be a journalist until the murder,six years previously of her source Nikki Bolio,a murder that was never solved and still haunts Maggie and plagues her dreams. The deeper Maggie digs into the shady underworld of art collectors,super collectors and the buying and selling of art,the more dark and deadly secrets she uncovers. Because Maggie is Greg's ex girlfriend,she is also a suspect in Kim's disappearance, could she not be as innocent as she appears? Could Maggie knowing both women be more than just a coincidence?

It makes me a bit uncomfortable to admit this but the lover of psychological thrillers and mysteries in me loved the graphic descriptions of Kim Lord's paintings. Many people have what some might call a morbid fascination with murders,just look at the amount of crime channels and programmes that are on the tv. And as the author tried to convey in this story,unfortunately a large number of the victims of violent crime in books,tv and films are female. Is this a true representation of real life or is society still guilty of portraying women as weak,vurnerable victims even in these so called modern times.

It's certainly a very descriptive book,there's a lot of descriptions of the culture,places and roads in Los Angeles,how art galleries are run,the buying and selling of art (I didn't even know there was such a thing as a super collector) It took quite a long time for anything to actually happened and when the confrontation did happen it was over far too quickly. I personally would have liked there to have been a bit less description and a few more mystery elements to the story. I also would have liked there to have been some chapters that followed Private Investigator Ray Hendrick's investigation into Kim's disappearance,Maggie and the other vivid characters who worked at the museum. The story flows well and is quite a quick read,it only took me two days to read the hardback edition. There was parts that I enjoyed and parts that I didn't. We all feel differently about the books that we read and although I had mixed feelings about it, I'm sure there will be many readers who will absolutely love this book

                                                                 AUTHOR BIO

Maria Hummel is the author of Still Lives, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, a Book of the Month Club pick, and top new summer read by Time. She has also published the novel Motherland, a SF Chronicle Book of the Year; and the poetry collection  House and Fire, winner of the APR/Honickman prize.

She worked as a writer/editor at MOCA in Los Angeles, then received a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University and taught there for many years. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Vermont, and lives in Vermont with her husband and sons.

Social Media Links....

Website: http://www.mariahummel.com
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/MariaHummel2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/790462.Maria_Hummel

PUBLICATION DATE : 8th October 2018

PUBLISHER : Quercus

GENRE : Crime,Thriller,Mystery

PURCHASE LINK....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Lives-Gripping-Reese-Witherspoon-ebook/dp/B07HF95Z5W/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

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