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G'Day L.A. (2000)

by Tony McFadden(Favorite Author)

3.11 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

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review 1: A fascinating thing about this book is how every alternate chapter is written in the first person and third person. So, every for every chapter written in third person, there's a chapter after that written by a male author - thinking and feeling as a female.This means you get the first person 'feel' of the girl realising she might be able to set up the bad guy for a fall. Then, in the next chapter, we get the third person description of the bad guy that's excited at how he has actually set her up, and how she's taken the bait. And so on.It is worth reading the whole book to get to the fight scene three quarters of the way through. We get a first person description of the fight as the model turned actress struggles with the bad guy - catches him out with a few kicks to sens... moreitive areas! Again, we get both sides of the chase, capture, evasion, retaliation and it keeps you guessing as it turns each corner (a maze of corners would be better analogy).I also enjoyed the characters... and I dare say anybody who has had anything to do with show business will recognise the 'realness' of these characters - the victims, the exploiters and the rare stable person that can actually make a career out of any type of show business.As with Mr McFadden's other books, again quite unique, and cleverly executed. I've read a few of his books now and, as ever, will reserve my judgement until I've read all his books, but I am getting ready to make that statement that you only make about great authors: "with Tony McFadden books, you just can't go wrong".
review 2: Let me get this out of the way at the start: this is a real page turner."G'day L.A." is basically a modern crime thriller. The protagonist, one Ellie Bourke, is an Aussie trying to make it as an actor in Los Angeles, after a part in a C-grade horror flick filmed in Australia. And she's having just enough success that she doesn't quite need a real job. Her flatmate, Joel, is a stand-up comedian who is starting to make some headway in a similarly difficult career choice. Unfortunately, shortly after the story starts, he is found dead in the bathtub. In a locked house.Though ruled suicide, Ellie doesn't believe it and can't convince anyone else. Then she discovers something that convinces her it wasn't suicide. But how to prove it?It's been a long time since I read any crime fiction, particularly modern crime fiction; so long, in fact, that I can't remember what I last read in that genre or when. This may explain why I was a bit startled at first at the fruity language - but then I recalled it was quite realistic, really. People do talk like that, whether they're Hollywood figures or not. Once over that, the story moves apace. I was well into the story proper way before I realized it. I guess I'm used to longer books! But the pace accelerated nicely and there were several tense moments towards the end where everything could easily go pear-shaped. And almost does a few times.McFadden has clearly made it a product of the times. There are two iPhones in the story. GPS navigation is mentioned. So is Dr Horrible. I doubt this will date it, of course, merely set it in it's time period. McFadden has also done something with the narration I haven't really seen before: multiple points-of-view. Much of the story is told from Ellie's POV, and the narrative is in first-person, describing what she sees, says and feels. But there are other interludes from other characters, even the prime antagonist, and they are always in third person. This is in direct contrast to most advice to writers which is to pick one POV and stay with it. However, McFadden makes it work. Since the story is basically Ellie being a Nancy Drew, he still needs to leave out story that would give the game away. And does this deftly. In fact, there are several scenes where the narration overlaps, allowing a select interactions to be told from both points of view. Neat.If I had a criticism, though, it would be that some of the characters were not defined well enough. There were three characters surrounding the antagonist, story-wise, making the B-story happen. But I had trouble keeping them straight. Fortunately, it barely mattered in the end.All in all, a good book and a good story. less

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