Review: Pretty as a Picture - Elizabeth Little

Review: Pretty as a Picture - Elizabeth Little - February 2020

This book captured my attention on the Libby Library App as I was scrolling through looking for some good thrillers to read. The other thing that I enjoyed about this book was that two of the characters were neurodivergent which made them a little different and quirky as we have Marissa who is the main female - a movie editor and then over on Kickout Island - we have Billy Lyle - the accused. Pretty as a Picture starts with Marissa and Amy going their separate ways and Marissa being offered a job for director Anton aka Tony Rees. The job makes her sign an 18-page NDA and is a very hush-hush top-secret project out in the middle of nowhere. When she arrives, she learns that the film is based on the true-crime murder of a young girl named Caitlyn who died in the 90s on the island. The crime was unsolved and is currently a cold case. The police on the island only had only one suspect - her friend Billy Lyle, but there was no evidence and to this date, he still claims he is innocent. As the book goes on, we have two young girls Suzy and Grace who decide to play Veronica Mars / Nancy Drew, or as they are called in this book The Bobbsey Twins, and with the help of Marissa and Isaiah - the ex-SEAL bodyguard, they will work to uncover the killer as another female from the movie is killed and it looks like the movie set is cursed. In between the story, we also have a Podcast format as a past/present moment reflecting on the crimes that have occurred and the craziness that happened that fateful summer on Kickout Island. Overall, the book was a good read but very slow-paced at times and I felt this was a borderline average read.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Ki11he