However, once Gal is back in the mix, figuring out the murder, she dives back in to the most compelling parts of her life as a musician. She’d spent her post-musician years away from urban life in the northern woods with an understanding boyfriend met at rehab. Gal is a sturdy protagonist, curious and rough-edged. This is a richly detailed suspenseful thrilled with strongly developed characters, a shifting point-of-view (the ‘90s and the present). But she comes out of her self-imposed exile to attend the funeral of a beloved bandmate. Her protagonist, Gal, is a formerly-star-bound singer/songwriter who was nearly done-in by the lifestyle. It was loud, and filled with all kinds of misfits and savants, and Clea has accurately and enthusiastically captivated the spirit of “la rock d’antan.” See all of my reviews at .Ĭlea Simon’s latest suspense thriller, Hold Me Down, is set in a world I’m really fond of: the Boston local rock scene of the previous century. Thanks to Suzy Approved Book Tours, Clea Simon, and Polis Books for inviting me on the tour, and providing me a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review! The story shifts between past and present and almost feels as if things are being revealed like memories becoming clearer. While some of the blurbs promoting this book have called it a thriller, I’d say it’s more a story about survival, how memory can both protect and hurt us, and the immense responsibility we feel toward those we care about. She learns the dead man had been asking about her, but why after all these years? But the deeper she digs, the clearer memories of her past become, memories she had hidden so deeply she didn’t realize they existed. Gal can’t believe her friend would murder anyone, but when he refuses to fight the charges, she needs to understand why. She is shaken when she spots a familiar face in the crowd, and that shock intensifies when she finds out that man was killed not far from the concert venue later that night-and her best friend’s widower is accused of the murder. Now middle-aged, it’s been a while since she’s performed, but she agrees to participate in a tribute for her former drummer and best friend. But life on the road, particularly for three women in a band, was tough, full of drugs, alcohol, sex, and those who believed women were inferior in the music world. Gal remembers what it was like to command an audience as the singer of a once-popular band. As Clea Simon's latest book, Hold Me Down, shows us, sometimes painful memories confront us even when we have no idea they’ve been hiding within us.
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