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The Song is You - Review

The best moments of The Song is You are reminiscent of the best James Ellroy. This may seem like a back handed compliment, but trust me it is not. It is out of sheer laziness that I evoke the dean of 50's LA Noir. Which is to say that The Song is You approaches greatness. Give me a little time and I might be talked into calling this one of the great books I have ever read. How's that for a backhanded compliment. To understand this praise that I heaped upon this book it is important to discuss Ms. Abbott's first book, Die A Little.

Die A Little is a book that I was conflicted about. I enjoyed it, but I felt the book was aping the style of noir, of pulp, of Ellroy to be honest. A meticulously researched piece of work that only served to imbue the book with a lifeless quality. It was clinical, not alive. With The Song is You all of those concerns are washed away in an effortless display of noir style.

Jean Spangler was a comer. An actress on the rise. Legs all the way up to there. And one day she disappears. Jean Spangler was a real person, a real actress with a few screen credits to her name, and she really did disappear. The Song is You plays out a what-if scenario that crackles with honesty. The Song is You takes place in a world where no one is clean and everyone is dirty.
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