Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 336

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Released: 24th of August 2017 

Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl.

A simple mistake on the part of the hotel receptionist - but Cara's fear intensifies when she works out that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving life sentences for her murder.

Cara doesn't know what to trust: everything she's read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?

What I Have to Say 

I've enjoyed Sophie Hannah's books before and this one wasn't an exception. She built up the mystery so well from the very start, not only what happened to Melody Chapa, but also what happened to Cara at home, why was she running away? There were so many different things to be intrigued by that it kept you reading, interested in what would happen next. 

The Melody Chapa stuff was really interesting. Obviously as the main theme of the book, it was really prominent. It was funny to see the other characters in the book and how they were all drawn up into the mystery of whether the girl in the hotel room was Melody Chapa. I really liked the side characters in this book, possibly more than Cara herself. 

The mysteries around Cara were really interesting at first, but I was unsure about the character. She seemed a bit timid and suggestible, a housewife who suddenly had the thrill of independence, booking her secret holiday and running away from her family. It was good to see her grow over the course of the novel and change into someone more secure with voicing her own opinions. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this copy for review.