Today it's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour A Song of Isolation by Michael J. Malone.
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers.
His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines, After He Died and In the Absence of Miracles soon followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr.
Follow @michaelJmalone1 on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit mjmink.wordpress.com, Buy A Song of Isolation
About the book
Film star Amelie Hart is the darling of the silver screen, appearing on the front pages of every newspaper. But at the peak of her fame she throws it all away for a regular guy with an ordinary job.
The gossip columns are aghast: what happened to the woman who turned heads wherever she went?
Any hope the furore will die down are crushed when Amelie’s boyfriend Dave is arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Dave strongly asserts his innocence, and when Amelie refuses to denounce him, the press furore quickly turns into physical violence, and she has to flee the country.
While Dave is locked up with the most depraved men in the country and Amelie is hiding on the continent, Damaris, the victim at the centre of the story, is also isolated – a child trying to make sense of an adult world…
Amelie Hart is distraught when her boyfriend is arrested for child sexual abuse. She just knows one thing for certain, that he is innocent. Her own experiences might have made her cautious, but there is no way he would ever harm a young girl, is there?
The fact she is a well-known celebrity make the situation tenfold worse and there are repercussions for everyone involved. Even the victim and her family. It really helps to make the snakes come out of the grass. The blame game and guilt is something they are all confronted with.
This was a harder one to read for me at the moment and was certainly framed through my personal experience of inadequate systems unable to protect the vulnerable. Systems that put the rights of the perpetrator above those of the victim. I do however absolutely acknowledge why it's necessary to show a scenario like this from a completely different perspective.
The smallest percentage of invalid cases tends to get the largest amount of press exposure, which then invalidates the other very valid cases. I get it though, when you throw feces, especially when the media make it a point to - some of it will stick and the stench never goes away completely, regardless of what anyone says or does.
With each book Malone is getting more serious and the subject matter darker. The need for the opposite side of the coin to be out there and envisaged is a necessity. It's a domestic thriller that wades into the quagmire of inadequate judicial, police and social systems, but more importantly I think into the realisation that journalism no longer means printing facts. It's now all about opinions, speculations and how much hype any media outlet can create to sell their medium of choice.
Aside from the serious subject matter of the plot, this is perhaps the most important aspect of the story for me - the public, the press and social media have become judge, jury and executioner. There is no longer such a thing as a fair process and if a jury is involved there is no way they can be kept away from the information flow we live in now.
On top of that people need to be aware that many laws have been changed to accommodate the ability to create a situation, such as the main character finds himself in. Better safe than sorry if you are sure the culprit is guilty, right?
Buy A Song of Isolation at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Orenda Books; Publication Date 17 September 2020 | Paperback Original | £8.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Orendabooks.
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