Book Review- Beyond The Pale Motel
Hello again!
Today's book is not a very popular one, but is written by my favorite author, Francesca Lia Block. I'm planning on doing a post soon on my favorite and least favorite books of hers that I've read over the years. I found Francesca in my local library in Middle school and devoured the books they had there. She is best known for her Weetzie Bat series, which surprisingly I have not read all of.
After many years, I finally decided to pick up another Francesca Lia Block book. I hadn't read anything new of hers since 2007, after receiving Ruby & Necklace of Kisses. I purchased Beyond The Pale Motel on accident in Kindle form, after looking through her newer(at least to me) releases on Amazon and decided to give it a shot, thinking what the heck, I like her other books.
But when Catt's husband, Dash, leaves her, and then her neighbor is brutally murdered, possibly by a man being called the Hollywood Serial Killer, Catt's world begins to come crashing down. The murdered victims all seem to bear a chilling resemblance to Bree. Catt suspects that Bree is the next target of the Hollywood Serial Killer...is she losing touch with reality or simply coming to terms with the truth?
In Beyond the Pale Motel, a terrifying and intensely erotic novel, Francesca Lia Block explores the dangers of modern living, loving and dying with lyrical edge and sensational attitude.
In this story we follow Catt, who is a 30 something hairdresser living in the Hollywood hills. A series of murders happens in her town and, having been around when Dahmer was active, Catt was intrigued by the serial killer. Throughout the book the collection of murders lingers in Catt's mind and she eventually links them to her friend Bree.
Right away we are introduced to two very important people to Catt, her husband Dash and her best friend Bree. We see the dynamic of Catt and Dash's marriage and how obviously harmful it is right away; since she suffers from low self esteem due to her body image and Dash comes off as a douche in my very blunt opinion. Bree is this bombshell that has been in Catt's life since they were teens and all three are recovering alcoholics having been sober for roughly 11 years.
Alot of the plot revolves around this small bubble of Catt's life, the gym she frequents, her friends, her feelings towards Bree's son Skyler. We also get bits of Catt and Bree's younger years as well and the very open relationship between the two women, the sex and parties. Through the recollections of Catt's past, we see how she is a dependent person; utilizing alcohol or sex to cope. Both of Catt's parents are out of her adult life, but we get a sliver of how their somewhat selfish behavior has affected her upbringing. Looking at this portion of the story, it kind of explains why Catt and Dash got married and the progression of their relationship.
Dash ends up leaving Catt right away, which we find out was because there was another woman that he had a baby with. Very relieving because if I had to read through Catt's anxiety and esteem issues this entire book I would have DNF'd it so fast.Catt then goes through what I would consider a very interesting grieving period. She focuses on Bree's son, Skylar, who is also her godson and a bit of denial which is expected. Again, Catt comes off as a very dependent person so her behavior doesn't surprise me through the story which leads it to be a little bit dull.
While taking Skyler to his baseball practice, Catt meets his coach and it starts this trend of hook-ups with different men. Bree, who is a single mom and has a revolving door of her own men, urges Catt to try online dating. At the same time, Catt's ex-brother in law is sending some serious mixed messages while he visits Catt on business trips. And as if that isn't the cherry on the cake, Catt's personal trainer Scott, who is secretly battling cancer has told her for years that he's loved her.
I think comparing Catt's relationship with her husband to the attention she is getting from other men almost instantly is something I struggled with and made it evident to me that Dash and Catt's marriage would have never lasted regardless of their seperation happening in the beginning of the book. With Dash, he didn't want to have a baby and came off as reluctant to really invest himself into his wife. After he leaves, her need to be a maternal figure to someone translates to Skyler and she ends up coming off as this desperate woman who kind of gives off "I will kidnap your kid" vibes. Then Jarell the coach comes in, they establish a very obvious booty-call relationship and Bree has to be the one to explain to Catt that all Jarell is using her for. Catt moved onto a man she met online, thought he was a charmer and continued to go on dates with him that always led to them hooking up in a hotel room. She finds out he's married after the weirdest date ever of a Psychic reading making you believe her date is the serial killer on the list and him admitting he's in an open relationship with his wife. The final hook-up was this guy in her AA meeting, which was obviously going to happen despite her "rule" of not getting involved with guys from meetings even though she met Dash in a meeting. Again, they went back to her place after some heavy flirting and next thing we know, he's fucking with her already fragile emotions while they have sex.
Back to her sultry, kinda-off-limits brother in law, Cyan. He's a photographer from Seattle who has remained single for the entire existence that Catt has known him. Catt tried hooking him up with Bree, who gets butterfly lashes anytime shes around him. He comes off as a great guy in the beginning, then as he drops in more you maybe root for Catt thinking "Hey, maybe she married the wrong brother." He's protective, open, supporting, and in general cares for Catt. So whats his issue?
He happens to be our serial killer. Super.
After throwing herself a birthday party, Catt breaks her 11 years of sobriety after being fed a drug filled cookie. The relationship between Bree and Catt is immediately destroyed. Everyone abandons Catt except a gay couple from her gym and the creepy gym owner. Catt goes through the list of people she's become so co-dependent on through the story; all the dudes she hooks up with except Mr. Married, her sponsor who dropped her, Dash, Bree and Skylar. Alone, she starts to stalk Bree and Skylar despite Bree distancing herself by cutting off communication. Catt then ends up following Bree one night out to an abandoned motel in the SoCal desert. There Catt snoops in and finds Bree in a sensual pose drugged up with Cyan. Jealousy ensues which causes Catt to burst in, distracting Cyan from making Bree his next victim and drags Catt away to marvel at the collection of body parts he kept from his previous murders.
This is the most interesting yet overplayed part of the book. We finally get to see into Dash and Cyan's childhood, which previously had been mentioned as "dark" since the boys also grew up without actual parents. Apparently there may have been some abuse between Dash and his mom, which Cyan mitigated by taking his moms pictures which led him to be a photographer.
Fucking neat.
In the end, Cyan ends up killing Catt by carving out her heart. We don't know if he left Bree alone, or if he was caught really.
Overall, it was a shitty thriller novel. It wasn't the writing I had come to expect from Francesca and made me wish I left her novels alone in grade school.
You can find this book on Amazon! Make sure to check back to see if the kindle version goes on sale.
Beyond The Pale Motel
* There may be spoilers in this section of the review. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading.
Today's book is not a very popular one, but is written by my favorite author, Francesca Lia Block. I'm planning on doing a post soon on my favorite and least favorite books of hers that I've read over the years. I found Francesca in my local library in Middle school and devoured the books they had there. She is best known for her Weetzie Bat series, which surprisingly I have not read all of.
After many years, I finally decided to pick up another Francesca Lia Block book. I hadn't read anything new of hers since 2007, after receiving Ruby & Necklace of Kisses. I purchased Beyond The Pale Motel on accident in Kindle form, after looking through her newer(at least to me) releases on Amazon and decided to give it a shot, thinking what the heck, I like her other books.
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| Beyond The Pale Motel by Francesca Lia Block |
♥♥♥♥♥
Title: Beyond The Pale Motel
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Published: 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Adult, Fiction, Horror, Thriller
Plot: ♥♥♥♥♥
Characters: ♥♥♥♥♥
World Building: ♥♥♥♥♥
Flow: ♥♥♥♥♥
Synopsis
Maternal, sexy Catt and her beautiful, daring best friend Bree are hairdressers at an L.A. salon called Head Hunter, and work out at a gym called Body Farm. They have over a decade of sobriety behind them and are getting close to living the lives they've always wanted.But when Catt's husband, Dash, leaves her, and then her neighbor is brutally murdered, possibly by a man being called the Hollywood Serial Killer, Catt's world begins to come crashing down. The murdered victims all seem to bear a chilling resemblance to Bree. Catt suspects that Bree is the next target of the Hollywood Serial Killer...is she losing touch with reality or simply coming to terms with the truth?
In Beyond the Pale Motel, a terrifying and intensely erotic novel, Francesca Lia Block explores the dangers of modern living, loving and dying with lyrical edge and sensational attitude.
Review *
Man, compared to her other works this was disappointing. It was a short book, so I read it in two days. I probably could have crammed it into one day, it was easy to get through but at the same time I wasn't excited.In this story we follow Catt, who is a 30 something hairdresser living in the Hollywood hills. A series of murders happens in her town and, having been around when Dahmer was active, Catt was intrigued by the serial killer. Throughout the book the collection of murders lingers in Catt's mind and she eventually links them to her friend Bree.
Right away we are introduced to two very important people to Catt, her husband Dash and her best friend Bree. We see the dynamic of Catt and Dash's marriage and how obviously harmful it is right away; since she suffers from low self esteem due to her body image and Dash comes off as a douche in my very blunt opinion. Bree is this bombshell that has been in Catt's life since they were teens and all three are recovering alcoholics having been sober for roughly 11 years.
Alot of the plot revolves around this small bubble of Catt's life, the gym she frequents, her friends, her feelings towards Bree's son Skyler. We also get bits of Catt and Bree's younger years as well and the very open relationship between the two women, the sex and parties. Through the recollections of Catt's past, we see how she is a dependent person; utilizing alcohol or sex to cope. Both of Catt's parents are out of her adult life, but we get a sliver of how their somewhat selfish behavior has affected her upbringing. Looking at this portion of the story, it kind of explains why Catt and Dash got married and the progression of their relationship.
Dash ends up leaving Catt right away, which we find out was because there was another woman that he had a baby with. Very relieving because if I had to read through Catt's anxiety and esteem issues this entire book I would have DNF'd it so fast.Catt then goes through what I would consider a very interesting grieving period. She focuses on Bree's son, Skylar, who is also her godson and a bit of denial which is expected. Again, Catt comes off as a very dependent person so her behavior doesn't surprise me through the story which leads it to be a little bit dull.
While taking Skyler to his baseball practice, Catt meets his coach and it starts this trend of hook-ups with different men. Bree, who is a single mom and has a revolving door of her own men, urges Catt to try online dating. At the same time, Catt's ex-brother in law is sending some serious mixed messages while he visits Catt on business trips. And as if that isn't the cherry on the cake, Catt's personal trainer Scott, who is secretly battling cancer has told her for years that he's loved her.
I think comparing Catt's relationship with her husband to the attention she is getting from other men almost instantly is something I struggled with and made it evident to me that Dash and Catt's marriage would have never lasted regardless of their seperation happening in the beginning of the book. With Dash, he didn't want to have a baby and came off as reluctant to really invest himself into his wife. After he leaves, her need to be a maternal figure to someone translates to Skyler and she ends up coming off as this desperate woman who kind of gives off "I will kidnap your kid" vibes. Then Jarell the coach comes in, they establish a very obvious booty-call relationship and Bree has to be the one to explain to Catt that all Jarell is using her for. Catt moved onto a man she met online, thought he was a charmer and continued to go on dates with him that always led to them hooking up in a hotel room. She finds out he's married after the weirdest date ever of a Psychic reading making you believe her date is the serial killer on the list and him admitting he's in an open relationship with his wife. The final hook-up was this guy in her AA meeting, which was obviously going to happen despite her "rule" of not getting involved with guys from meetings even though she met Dash in a meeting. Again, they went back to her place after some heavy flirting and next thing we know, he's fucking with her already fragile emotions while they have sex.
Back to her sultry, kinda-off-limits brother in law, Cyan. He's a photographer from Seattle who has remained single for the entire existence that Catt has known him. Catt tried hooking him up with Bree, who gets butterfly lashes anytime shes around him. He comes off as a great guy in the beginning, then as he drops in more you maybe root for Catt thinking "Hey, maybe she married the wrong brother." He's protective, open, supporting, and in general cares for Catt. So whats his issue?
He happens to be our serial killer. Super.
After throwing herself a birthday party, Catt breaks her 11 years of sobriety after being fed a drug filled cookie. The relationship between Bree and Catt is immediately destroyed. Everyone abandons Catt except a gay couple from her gym and the creepy gym owner. Catt goes through the list of people she's become so co-dependent on through the story; all the dudes she hooks up with except Mr. Married, her sponsor who dropped her, Dash, Bree and Skylar. Alone, she starts to stalk Bree and Skylar despite Bree distancing herself by cutting off communication. Catt then ends up following Bree one night out to an abandoned motel in the SoCal desert. There Catt snoops in and finds Bree in a sensual pose drugged up with Cyan. Jealousy ensues which causes Catt to burst in, distracting Cyan from making Bree his next victim and drags Catt away to marvel at the collection of body parts he kept from his previous murders.
This is the most interesting yet overplayed part of the book. We finally get to see into Dash and Cyan's childhood, which previously had been mentioned as "dark" since the boys also grew up without actual parents. Apparently there may have been some abuse between Dash and his mom, which Cyan mitigated by taking his moms pictures which led him to be a photographer.
Fucking neat.
In the end, Cyan ends up killing Catt by carving out her heart. We don't know if he left Bree alone, or if he was caught really.
Overall, it was a shitty thriller novel. It wasn't the writing I had come to expect from Francesca and made me wish I left her novels alone in grade school.
 |
| Original Artist: Corey Miller |
You can find this book on Amazon! Make sure to check back to see if the kindle version goes on sale.
Beyond The Pale Motel
* There may be spoilers in this section of the review. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading.
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