Title: Pretty as a Picture
Author: Elizabeth Little
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Pub. Date: 01 July 2021
Synopsis
Marissa Dahl is a shy film editor who’s been hired to work with the legendary director Tony Rees on his new film. She travels to the small island off the coast of Delaware, where the movie is going to be shot. In the beginning, she tries to stay out of everyone’s way and spend her time in the editing room, turning pictures into actual stories. However, even she was able to notice that something very wrong was going on around the set. Scandals, accidents, schemes, and fired crew members were only the beginning of the big mystery. Besides it all, no one seems to know what happened to the editor she was hired to replace.
After some time she meets two young girls who are determined to solve the murder mystery, which is also a central subject in the movie they are shooting. Shortly after Marissa is drawn into the investigation and tries to find as many clues on who’s the killer as she can, especially that it seems that the killer may still be on the loose.
Book review
I made a huge mistake when I read this book on my way to Croatia. I’m so bad with picking up the important details when I’m in the car and in this book it was very important to do. This is the reason why I cannot tell you if I was surprised by every plot twist because I didn’t pay enough attention or because it was unexpected. That’s my fault. Wrong time and wrong story. However, I can tell you that the plotline was very interesting. I’ve always liked to read stories based around Hollywood and movies, so when I saw this book on NetGalley I immediately decided to read it! I wasn’t disappointed when I finally read it.
The story focuses on Marissa who at first doesn’t seem like a very interesting character, however, with time I found her interest in mystery very intriguing. Especially, that most of the time she repeats that she prefers to stay back in the editing room and do her job rather than being around people. However, when she learns that no one working on the movie knows why the previous editor was fired, she tries to get out of her comfort zone and find a way to contact him. During her little investigation, she learns much more about the strange atmosphere and accidents on the set. I think from this time on the story and the protagonist was growing on me and I wanted to know more and more about what’s gonna happen next. The introduction of the so-called killer of the girl they made a movie about in the early stage of the book was so unexpected that I just wanted to learn more and more with each chapter. The character I would like to read more about in the book would be Tony, the director. I don’t think we had enough scenes with him to be able to analyze his personality and actions, even if he played a very important part in the story.
To be honest, I didn’t expect this book to end in the way it did. On one side it was a much smoother ending than I was expecting but on the other, I would never guess that this is how it will end. I don’t know if it’s good or not but I was satisfied with this ending. It was a very nice closure to the book.
Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I would like to thank NetGalley, Pushkin Vertigo, and Elizabeth Little for providing me with a copy of this book!
Video of the Day
I decided to choose something different this time. Instead of adding a song of the day, I will share with you one of my favorite murder mystery YouTube channel that I’m obsessed with! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!
Love, Karo
cafeyre 