 |
|
Allison & Busby. This edition published May 2007
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill
O’Connor is a confident young journalist known for her insightful
celebrity interviews. There is nothing she enjoys more than delving into
secrets that her interviewees don’t want revealed. When the opportunity to
write a book, a biography of the most popular comedy duo of the 50’s and
60’s, arises, O’Connor jumps at the chance.
Vince Collins was the suave sophisticated crooner, Lanny Morris the
monkey-faced clown. They haven’t seen each other in the fifteen years
since they ended their partnership. The apparent suicide of Maureen
O’Flaherty, a bellhop from Miami found in their New York hotel suite, is
rumoured to have been the cause of the break-up. Neither were suspected of
a hand in her death because they were both visibly in Miami at the time,
taking part in a televised charity event. However rumours have circulated
ever since and O’Connor is determined to find out the truth.
As O’Connor gets to know these two men she is charmed by both of them.
Neither of them know she is in touch with the other and as smart as
O’Connor is, she allows herself to be fooled by both. She learns more
about the men and their past and secrets are gradually revealed with twist
upon twist until the final shocking revelation of Maureen’s fate.
If the name Rupert Holmes rings a bell somewhere, perhaps it’s because he
was the writer and singer of that cringingly 70’s song Escape, known by
most people as The Pina Colada Song. Yes, folks, this is the same man. In
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, Holmes proves he has significantly more substance as
a novelist than he did as a song writer. He has a deft touch with
unexpected plot twists which leave the reader guessing until the very end.
The story is told from the perspective of O’Connor. Somewhat
disconcertingly, we never find out her first name. O’Connor is very much a
child of the 70’s. She drinks and smokes too much, is happy to pop pills
and doesn’t mind the occasional one night stand here and there. There was
something about O’Connor that didn’t feel quite right. Perhaps it was the
lack of a first name or maybe it was the somewhat unemotional descriptions
of sex that gave O’Connor’s voice a masculine tone to it. It’s difficult
to pin down why it felt a little out of kilter. That being said, WHERE THE
TRUTH LIES does capture a feeling of the time. The flashbacks to the 50’s
and 60’s had a quality to it that evoked the time of the “Rat Pack”. Were
Vince and Lanny based loosely on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis?
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES is also a movie which stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth
and Alison Lohman. Apart from his skill as a writer and songwriter, Rupert
Holmes has also written for television and the theatre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Holmes has a rundown on his career
and a his “semi-official” website is
http://www.rupertholmes.com/home.html .
March 2008 review originally posted on Murder and Mayhem
All cover art used at Reviewer's Choice Reviews is copyrighted by the
respective publisher. All reviews and articles found at Reviewer's Choice
Reviews are the sole property of the contributor and are copyrighted by
the same.
|
