Fabulous reads – Mystery thriller shares a powerful message
Book review - Plus One by Vanessa Raphaely.
Plus One, Vanessa Raphaely, Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN: 9781770106215
VANESSA Raphaely’s Plus One is the perfect novel to buy your daughter, sister or mother – and even the men in your life!
Set on the the backdrop of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal that rocked Hollywood, Lisa Lassiter’s story as the ‘plus one’ to her movie-star-friend, Claudia Hemmingway’s glamorous world of champagne, VIP parties and private jets, unveils some of the dark secrets and truths behind the world of fame and fortune.
Lisa’s life is turned upside down after a beloved Hollywood actor, Robert Morton, turns up dead during an alcohol and drug-abundant party on a luxury yacht. She is left ‘ghosted’ by Claudia and her step-brother, Liam, with whom Lisa fell head-over-heals in love following an intimate moment they shared on the night of the murder.
Before she embarked on this party, however, Lisa (an award winning journalist and successful deputy editor of a successful glossy women’s magazine) discovered that Robert might not be the wholesome Hollywood hero he pretends to be. For years, Lisa is haunted by the many unanswered questions she has of that night.
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The protagonist’s character is so relatable as she goes through all of the emotions of feeling inadequate in a world where beauty standards are impossible to reach and where, regardless of their success, women are seen as sexual objects. She also battles through heartache and self doubt over frail friendships, the expectation and guilt to settle or love another man and the shame over her own doubt and powerlessness when it comes to the claims of a sexual assault victim.
Throughout the novel, Raphaely also dabbles on some of the emotions, fears and trauma experienced by sexual assault victims, She sheds some light on why they often choose to remain silent and, sometimes only years after the assault, decide to speak out. On the other spectrum, she also hints at why people sometimes doubt sexual assault claims.
Not only is Plus One an entertaining page turner with a brilliantly chilling and unexpected ending, it carries with it some important and powerful messages!
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