Blur

Reviews / Votes

Michelle Berry is being interviewed on femail.co.uk about researching on theinternet. We've given BLUR a press date of 27 June and the first review was great. Still to come are reviews in Crime Time, Observer and Independent. 'What a cool read. Michelle Berry might have called her debut novel BLUR but shewrites with cunning clarity...an ultra-stylish and ultra-pacy noir thriller that beautifully deconstructs the old Hollywood notions of celebrity and identity. It could easily become a cult classic because it's a moody murder mystery perfectly in tune with the beginning of the 21st century.'Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror 'Chic, sleek Hollywood murder mystery, shaped like a screenplay andemanating that bruised nostalgic mood of late-night movies...Infinitely seductive'Literary Review 'Blur takes on many big themes - the nature of identity, the corrosive effects of envy, the satisfactions of family life, the vacuity of fame, redemption...'Peter Connor, TLS 'As the story unfolds, it begins to take on the feel of one of DavidLynche's wilder movies. Mulholland Drive cocktailed and shaken with Sunset Boulevard...Ms Berry's fiction style is crisp, pointed, poignant, and comic by turn. Some lovely writing, lots of passageswhere you find yourselfthinking 'I wish I had written that.''Declan Doyle, Sunday Independent (Ireland) BLUR has also been recommended in Hello magazine.There's been a great mention in the debut section of Publishing News'This could almost be a private eye novel, and first-time author Berry has fun with notions of identity, truth, love - by implication the myths of Hollywood itself. Her prose is direct, clipped and to the point, creating a no-nonsense impression entirely suitable to the material.' Publishing News Prize Quest magazine have also reviewed, and are giving away 5 copies of the book to reader. A fantastic couple of endorsements:"A pacy, noirish, fractured echo of Sunset Boulevard, Michelle Berry's BLUR is pulp fiction written with a postmodern hand."Andrew Pyper (author of Lost Girls) 'I loved the book so much I wanted to buy the film rights.'Imogen Stubbs And some brilliant reviews in Canada:' Berry's style is to die for - it's cool and confident, with a kind of wary watchfulness that echoes her protagonists personality.'Adair Brouwer, Quill & Quire 'It's a tough act to pull off, setting a noir-style novel in a California cess-pool. After all, the literary and cinematic precedents are formidable: Raymond Chandler, James Cain, James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential and the films of Robert Towne - particularly Chinatown and the Two Jakes. But Berry manages it with panache, imparting a suitably gritty feel to her take on L.A.'Charles Mandel, Calgary Herald 'The novel has all the makings of a classic whodunit...'Paula E. Kirman, Edmonton Journal '...Michelle Berry takes a sharp pen to the excesses of Hollywood and does an excellent job of exposing the superficiality and emptiness of a star's life...Berry's novel is a snappy, engagingone that provides entertainment both in its comment and its lively pace.'Cand