Review: Killing Monica by Candace Bushnell

Pandy "PJ" Wallis is a renowned writer whose novels about a young woman making her way in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films. After the success of the Monica books and movies, Pandy wants to attempt something different: a historical novel based on her ancestor Lady Wallis. But Pandy's publishers and audience only want her to keep cranking out more Monica-as does her greedy husband, Jonny, who's gone deeply in debt to finance his new restaurant in Las Vegas.

When her marriage crumbles and the boathouse of her family home in Connecticut goes up in flames, Pandy suddenly realizes she has an opportunity to reinvent herself. But to do so, she will have to reconcile with her ex-best friend and former partner in crime, SondraBeth Schnowzer, who plays Monica on the big screen-and who may have her own reasons to derail Pandy's startling change of plan.

Review: having loved everything Candace Bushnell has written before I was really looking forward to this novel. The reader is dropped right into the action, a little disconcerting at first but definitely necessary after everything this book has to throw at you, you don't have time to stand around getting your bearings. PJ Wallace seems to have it all in New York so be prepared for fabulous scenes with New York socialites, clubs and shopping, very Liptstick Jungle, very Sex and the City, only it seems that Pandy isn't quite ready for all of this and so throughout the book we hear her kind of inner turmoil at all of this and get the sense that she would rather be rucked up somewhere much more relaxing on her own with her thoughts and her writing. 

Drama seems to find Pandy though and so there are moments in the novel where you literally will struggle to believes what is happening to this character. The storyline is definitely as fast paced as it is dramatic. This sometimes meant that I struggled to follow which character was which and then there the illusion character of Monica. Monica is a creation written by our main protagonist but she is also part of Pandy herself and is also played by Pandy's former best freind which gets really really confusing. The symbolism behind the real Monica and the fictions Monica is quite interesting and would be intriguing to track upon a reread of this novel I am sure. 

Obviously I loved the fact that a lot of this book is set in New York and it is really quite fun to have a book that is about a writer under pressure to write another book in a very successful series when she really really doesn't want to. The writing style is quite pacing and a little brief in parts leaving the reader to make up their own mind about what exactly is going in between two characters. The characters felt very realistic and so were easy to relate to and there is one big secret which  sure will keep many readers guessing towards the end. This book offered me a certain amount of escapism from the real world but definitely required my full attention when reading to keep track of who was who and what was what.