Comeback by Chris Limb
I would like to thank Anne from Random Thing for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher - Unbound
Published - Out Now
Price - £0.99 Kindle eBook £6.99 paperback
Genie has everything – a BRIT award, a singing career, the attention of the press and Oliver Fox, a pretty boy who looks good on her arm.
Until he dies.
His death brings Genie’s long buried feelings bubbling to the surface. Her grief over the death of her lover Wendi who introduced her to this world. Her self doubt and fear that she will be exposed as a fraud.
How far is she prepared to go to fix things?
The afterlife isn’t the most comfortable of places for anyone who’s still alive, but Genie’s not going to take any crap from the dead – she’s got years of experience in the music business.
Sometimes going to Hell and back takes a lifetime...
Music and the underworld always seem connected - deals at crossroads, sympathy for the devil and go further back songs always call from the living to the dead and vice versa. It is not to be unexpected that we see music as magic words and music make images in our heads and can even make us dance. On top of that it is an industry famous for using people, manipulation and pain. In Chris Limb’s fantasy novel one promising singer finds herself lost in the underworld and may finally have an opportunity to find a lost love
Genie in 2007 is both a promising Brit award winning singer and a mess with drugs, dead lovers and a life out of control. and on the worst night of her life she finds herself in the Underworld for reasons yet unclear. The story then moves into Genie’s early life from a University events organiser to backing singer and then pop star and along the way drugs, love with a famous singer and finding out how ruthless the music industry is. Can she find out her way out of hell and also her mess of a life.
Limb’s passion for music being allowed to be loud and free clearly comes across and a 21st century take on Orpheus is to be commended. Limb is good at creating big loud characters and capturing the absurdity of the music business that micro manages everything from fashion to paparazzi gossip. It’s a nightmare to live in and Limb’s frustration comes across well.
The early 2000s setting unfortunately felt like it could have been with just a few references changed set any time between the 70s to 80s. It went for the obvious ideas of controlling managers, backstage lies and publicity that eats the talent away. genie I found Genie a very empty character and had little agency of her own - things happened to her and we never really understand her motivations or even how she fell in love. I couldn’t click and the use of fantasy setting was again a bit predictable.
Overall not a book that delivered the surprises I was hoping for but I think hard core music fans may appreciate the in jokes and attitude.
