Publication Date: Feb 2012
Pages: 300
Book Source: Thanks to Julia Madeleine
Synopsis: Scarlet Rose, the once remarkably beautiful,
queen of the burlesque scene in 1960s Toronto, has aged into a decrepit bitter
alcoholic, living on welfare and her daughter’s handouts—a daughter she forced
into the adult entertainment industry at the age of sixteen to support the
family. Now in 1983, Scarlet’s wealthy ex-husband has been found tortured and
murdered in a hotel room, and her twenty-two-year-old daughter Fiona, must help
the police find the killer.
While Fiona
navigates her way through the dark recesses of her family’s history, uncovering
shocking secrets that threaten to destroy her, Scarlet Rose employs the skills
she learns in Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War, fixating on making a new life for
herself using other people’s money. But when she befriends a lonely American
woman sitting on an inheritance, greed that knows no bounds, cold-blooded
murder and identity theft, might just prove to be Scarlet’s undoing.
My Thoughts:
Sick, twisted and darkly entertaining.
Sylvia Dalton is a washed up, conniving, bitter crone fixated on her past as dancer and stripper, Scarlet Rose. A more
loathesome, vile creature I'm yet to read about but Julia
Madeleine's ability to vividly portray Sylvia's warped psyche made for page turning reading. I couldn't wait for Sylvia to get what was coming to her
but I kept turning the pages in morbid fascination.
Fiona, the daughter Sylvia forced into the adult entertainment industry at 16 is devastated when Sylvia's ex-husband Charlie and the closest thing Fiona had to a father is murdered. Fiona's miserable, dysfunctional upbringing hasn't hardened her and despite functioning with the use of 'pharmaceuticals' she's a woman with heart and morals striving for a better life while chained to the futile hope of her mother's love.
As the murder investigation progresses, a dysfunctional family unravels further, lies and secrets are revealed, as is Sylvia's true character, and no amount of sad, tormented history can explain her depravity.
"You want to call being born without a soul an illness?”
The Truth About Scarlet Rose isn't for the faint-hearted; not much joy, nothing sugar-coated, this is one wild, twisty ride.
The Truth About Scarlet Rose is available at Amazon and pick up Scarlet Sins the short back story of Scarlet Rose's life for just .99 cents.
GIVEAWAY:
If you'd like to win an ebook copy of THE TRUTH ABOUT SCARLET ROSE just leave a comment with your email address. Winner will also receive a copy of SCARLET SINS
EXTRA ENTRIES:
+2 tweet about giveaway
Giveaway ends 24th May and winner will be announced on my blog.
I like the description sick, twisted and darkly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! This sounds really really really good!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat quote. Still not the book for me, but still if this was my genre then yes
ReplyDeleteI think I might actually like this one...sick, twisted, and darkly entertaining is sometimes my "cup of tea." Although "cup of tea" sounds too nice for this book, eh?
ReplyDeleteI'm at chezraine@gmail.com
But my Kindle address is laurelrainsnow@yahoo.com
This sounds really interesting! I love discovering new books I had not heard about via blogs. Thanks!
ReplyDelete+2 tweeted (at)LiteraryChanteu
Margaret
singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com