Blog tour: I Am Dust

By Louise Beech
Published by Orenda Books

Synopsis: The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer…

Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years. But who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in her dressing room?

Theatre usher Chloe Dee is caught up in the spectacle. As the new actors arrive, including an unexpected face from her past, everything changes. Are the eerie sounds and sightings backstage real or just her imagination? Is someone playing games?

Is the role of Esme Black cursed? Could witchcraft be at the heart of the tragedy? And are dark deeds from Chloe’s past about to catch up with her?

Not all the drama takes place onstage. Sometimes murder, magic, obsession and the biggest of betrayals are real life. When you’re in the theatre shadows, you see everything.

And Chloe has been watching…

How did this book end up in my hands? It all started with an email from Anne of Random Things Tours. Would I be interested in reviewing this book? Well, I didn’t know I could type so fast. The moment I saw the author’s name, I knew I didn’t care if the novel was about baked beans on toast. I had to read it.

Was it a page-turner? My first instinct is to say ‘yes, absolutely’ because it is… but, at the same time, it isn’t. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop. I needed to know what was going to happen to these three teenagers playing with something far bigger than them. However, I was also so spooked that I had to put the book down and make the pages breathe before picking it up again.

Did the book meet my expectations? I don’t like saying that it exceeded my expectations because it sounds so clichéd… but it did. This book massively shattered and soared over any expectations I might have had. I approached it with eagerness because, having fallen in love with one of the author’s previous novels, I knew I liked her storytelling. For the same reason I was also wary, as I feared I might be disappointed. I needn’t have overthought it! I Am Dust is a unique and distinctive work of fiction. The dual narrative was greatly executed and all the characters felt so real that I will miss them for a while. And the story… oh, the story will be hard to forget too thanks to more plot twists than I imagined there would be, with one in particular being quite memorable. I think it is rather amazing.

Three words to describe it. Mesmerising. Electric. Heart-stopping.

Do I like the cover? Yes, it does a great job of capturing the ethereal quality of the novel.

Have I read any other books by the same author? Yes, I read and loved The Lion Tamer Who Lost, which I still recommend to anyone who will listen. There really is no excuse not to read it.