I'll Eat When I'm Dead by Barbara Bourland

This novel sort of falls between a crime story and a faux-expose of the fashion industry.  That sounds actually pretty terrible but it genuinely isn't, I did end up surprised with how much I enjoyed the story.  Initially it seems pretty vapid and is all about the clothes, the accessories and the settings; not really my sort of thing.  However, once you get past all the surface frippery and name dropping of real and imagined high status brands there is actually a pretty decent story tucked away here.

We follow Cat Ono as she struggles with not only being an immigrant to the United States with all the tension not having a Green Card gives but also struggling with daily life.  Indeed, her whole life centres around her job at RAGE magazine.  When a senior staff member turns up dead in the office it initially seems that she has starved herself into a heart attack.  When NYPD Detective Mark Hutton takes a second look at her demise at the request of the family Cat finds herself torn between what she knows and what her heart wants.  Cat is a great character on the page and the revelation of her character upon the page is handled very well, slowly unpeeling her outward facade to reveal her true personality.  She isn't always particularly likeable and does make some confusing decisions but she feels wholly real and, if we're being honest here, the sort of woman you could have a darn good night out with.

The sub-plot of the death of Cat's mentor and friend weaves well in to the world built by the author.  It does sometimes serve as a distraction from the horrors of the fashion industry which became strangely compelling to someone who lives in jeans and a t-shirt.  The final denouement for the method of death and who is behind it do take a large leap in to the scarcely believable but still manage to remain entertaining.

On the whole I really enjoyed this book, the writing has a snarky wit to it that draws you in to the characters and their rarefied world.  Some of the relationships between them feel a little "off" somehow and I could never really figure out why, it did distract me on occassion from the story as I tried to figure out why it just felt wrong.  Generally, I can recommend this a good read.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PUBLISHER.