Author: Ava Marsh
Publisher: Transworld
Publication Date: 7th May 2015
Pages: 384
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon
Stella is an escort, immersed in a world of desire, betrayal and secrets. It’s exactly where she wants to be. Stella used to be someone else: respectable, loved, safe. But one mistake changed all that.
When a fellow call girl is murdered, Stella has a choice: forget what she’s seen, or risk everything to get justice for her friend. In her line of work, she’s never far from the edge, but pursuing the truth could take her past the point of no return.
Nothing is off limits. Not for her – and not for them.
But no one is truly untouchable.
Sometimes I like to pick a random book from my TBR and start reading it. I bought Untouchable a while ago when everyone was raving about how good it was. A short while after I had started reading, I'd made a 30% dent in my Kindle and it felt like I'd been reading for no time at all. It would have been rude to stop reading and so I carried on, and finished the book in one sitting. Untouchable is an addictive read that had me glued to my Kindle. It's also a book very different to anything I've read before, and that's probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much.
It's hard to know where to start with a book like this, but I guess with our main character, Stella. Stella is a prostitute, albeit one that doesn't have to parade her wares on a freezing cold street corner. Instead she commands £250 an hour. Seemingly lucrative work if you can get it. I think what intrigued me the most in the beginning was Stella herself. From how she viewed her clients, and her 'job' overall and then comparing that with her previous life. Stella isn't your typical escort, and in fact had a previous 'life' where she had a family and a successful career. Ava Marsh portrays a brutal picture of life as an escort and it's an extremely explicit read in places. That said I think it's all relevant to the story, and helps you to understand the women more. Stella is a mysterious character that we learn more about as we discover her history and I'm always impressed when a writer has you experiencing real feeling and emotion towards a fictional character, especially one that you can't really relate to, and I really felt that with Stella. She felt like a 'real' person.
When a fellow escort is murdered, Stella is faced with a dilemma. She must decide whether to fight for justice for her friend, or to ignore what she's seen. It's hardly a spoiler to say that she doesn't just walk away as it'd be a pretty dull book if she did. Instead we get to witness Stella's quest for vengeance and she becomes a very easy character to like and root for, especially as she's up against some truly horrific human beings. And it just serves to show that you face danger just as much as a high-class escort as you do a low-renter on a street corner. A rather sedate build-up in the beginning leads nicely into an action-packed second half and this is a thriller in every sense of the word. My excitement and anticipation heightened by not knowing what was coming next, and I felt a strong emotional connection towards Stella and so I was right there next to her on her journey. Untouchable is a first-rate debut thriller and I'm very excited to read more from Ava Marsh.
Grab This Book has a brilliant interview with Ava Marsh over on his blog (and how amazing does her second book sound)?!
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