If there’s one thing you should know before picking up Melanie Blake’s latest novel, Guilty Women, it’s that you’re going to have a lot of fun. There are discussions of hard-hitting topics such as addiction, assault and more, but Blake ensures that they don’t bog you down entirely, counter-balancing with a story that will fully envelop the reader and bring a huge grin to the face, whilst also delivering a blow to the gut with the more twisted turns of fate.
The celebration of women in all of their shapes, sizes and differing personalities is at the forefront of Guilty Women, which picks up four months after the murderous and chaotic events of the Ruthless Women finale. During a live Christmas Day episode on the always-surprising set of worldwide sensation and soap opera, Falcon Bay, something awful happened. Though it appears to be an accident, a group of the soap’s most powerful females know different; and some of them are willing to go to any lengths necessary to keep their secrets buried.
Whilst I would completely recommend reading the original book from which this sequel was spawned, Ruthless Women, this is also a very plausible entry point. The details of the madness that ensued throughout those 300 or so pages are explained well, with enough description that those who weren’t lucky enough to read the aforementioned novel can still enjoy this one. What’s more, we know that a third and final entry is also on the way.
At times, a trilogy can be bogged down by the part that comes in the middle. We saw it with the recent Halloween Kills release, which was quite clearly created as a cash cow rather than to further the story along. Here though? Absolutely no complaints. Guilty Women is essential reading and lays the foundations perfectly for what should be a rip-roaring conclusion.
You may feel as though you know exactly where the story is headed, but Blake has such an incredible knack of flipping the narrative on its head that you’d be a fool to make a guess. Packed full of raw passion, humanity, outlandish but still grounded storylines and of course, a good dollop of sex, this is undoubtedly the most fun you’re going to have when reading a novel centred around murder this year.
To miss out on this story would be criminal. If you’re a fan of high-stakes, lust-fuelled good times, then make sure to pick up a copy.
Guilty Women by Melanie Blake is available now in hardback via Amazon.
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