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Star Struck (Mass Market Paperback)

by Val McDermid (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £5.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Star Struck + Kick Back + Dead Beat
Price For All Three: £14.97

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Harper; New edition edition (4 May 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006498329
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006498322
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11.1 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #11 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > M > McDermid, Val

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
All series thrillers have an element of the soap opera about them, and so it is logical that Val McDermid's sixth novel about Manchester private eye Kate Brannigan should take her into the world of television soaps. Tough computer-literate Brannigan is hired as bodyguard to the star of Northerners, which bears an uncanny resemblance to another soap filmed in Manchester. Brassy Gloria has been warned by her clairvoyant that death is in the offing, but it is the clairvoyant who gets her skull smashed with a crystal ball. Meanwhile, someone is leaking plot lines, Kate's burglar chum is accused of murder when he takes up honest work, and her staff find themselves in sexual predicaments.

There is a charm to all of this, and some intelligent puzzles competently worked through; McDermid knows, or competently invents, the social milieux she describes. The book is particularly good on the feel of the Northwest on a raw winter day--McDermid's writing gets better and better. This book, though, lacks some of the vigour of the earlier Brannigan books and their note of social protest. Her fans will have no complaints, but this is not the best of her books. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'Combines wit and exuberant writing with a careful and clever plot and oodles of perceptive social observation' The Times 'McDermid is at her best when describing the petty crimes and scams that flourish in her Northern city! the book has considerable charm' Mail on Sunday 'Written with fluent ease, making use of Kate Brannigan's own distinctive voice, Star Struck is a clever novel as well as an entertaining one' TLS 'Contemporary feminist crime at its finest' Good Housekeeping

The Wire in the Blood was a breakthrough book for McDermid, and increased substantially the (already considerable) number of Kate Brannigan fans. This time around, Manchester's favourite female private eye is in the unenviable position of playing nursemaid to a paranoid television soap-opera star when a medium is brutally murdered, and Kate finds herself with more than a handful of disparate mysteries to unravel - not to mention considerable threats to life and limb. McDermid is able repeatedly to invigorate the reader's interest in her protagonist and her peers should be looking to their laurels after this. (Kirkus UK)

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sharp, funny and right in touch with contemporary life, 19 Jun 2000
By A Customer
Star Struck is a must for anyone who has ever watched a soap opera. McDermid takes us inside the world behind the scenes and is not at all star-struck at the antics of the cast of her ficitonal soap opera. The dialogue is, as always, very realistic and often very funny indeed. And there's a clever murder mystery worked out as well when the Seer to the Stars gets bumped off without seeing it coming.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Great story but a little too PC for some tastes, 17 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This Kate Branigan adventure rolls along at a fair old pace and is a great read from start to finish. Val McDermid may not be the greatest writer in the world. (Check out some of her early Branigan books - they read like the work of someone straight off a creative writing course) but she is undoubtedly an excellent storyteller and gets the reader turning those pages to see what happens next. Her real ability is to produce a simple yet engaging plot that makes you want to keep going until you find out 'whodunit'.

Unfortunately what lets the whole book down (and the Kate Branigan series in general) is the relentless 'right on' attitudes shown by the author. There is never any danger of the reader being allowed to forget where Val McDermid' s political and social sensibilities lie. You just know that certain groups will always be seen as 'good' and others as 'bad'. So (most) women, lesbians, gays, those differently sexual (transsexuals/transvestites) and those from ethnic minorities will be noble, put upon, hard done by and exploited. Whilst virtually all men (especially those middle class and white) will inevitably be stupid, brutish and nasty.

The only exceptions being the nerdy men (such as boyfriend Richard and Computer expert 'Gizmo' who are tolerated by the never ending stream of clever, witty, brilliant women who inhabit the Branigan books. From Kate herself to her female friends such as the ace crime reporter; dazzling Police Chief Inspector and unbeatable Solicitor. All leaders in their field and who without doubt would be at the very top were it not for the aforementioned chauvinistic, bullying but ultimately useless middle class men in their respective professions keeping them down. Indeed one ongoing male Police Inspector is so unremittingly stupid and idiotic it is a wonder he keeps his job, little loan ever achieved his rank in the first place.

The ultimate irony of course being that McDermid is as prejudiced as those she clearly sets out to parody and ridicule. Which is a shame, because if you removed the bolted on PC stuff, the Branigan Books are really very good indeed So if you want to indulge in a little feminist/lesbian wish fulfilment, this is the book for you. Those wanting more realistic crime novels, try Ian Rankin's 'Rebus' series.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great read, 28 Sep 1999
By A Customer
More often than not books and films with humorous undertones tend to get less critical acclaim. Unfairly, this also seems to be the case with Val McDermid's Lindsay Gordon and Kate Brannigan books. However, after reading the superb but very dark The Mermaids Singing, and the almost more gruelling The Wire in the Blood, fans must delighted in being able to return to the light relief of Star Struck. In Star Struck, having bought out her partner in the detective agency, Kate Brannigan has gone solo. Against her better judgement Kate agrees to become the bodyguard to Gloria Kendal, star of a television drama that has disturbing similarities to Coronation Street. Once on board, the Manchester PI gets to experience the day-to-day goings on of a television star, and also manages to clear up a spot of blackmail as well as apprehend a murderer. With Star Struck Val McDermid and Kate Brannigan have come along way. The author, having now tackled various genres of crime writing, has honed her ability to give a greater depth to the heroine she created in Dead Beat in 1992. The plotting is taught, the one-liners are funny and come fast and furious, and all the characters are three dimensional and believable. Regardless of which McDermid books you prefer, they inevitably are a great read.

Adrian Muller.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling! Couldn't put the book Down!
This was my second Val McDermid book, when I started to read it I was on a lovely holiday in Ireland! Exciting is an understatement really ! What can you say about her? Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars On Par with all her other brillant books
I have read all Val Mcmid books with the same zest as this book. Once started i was unable to put this down. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2000 by maztucker@hotmail.com

1.0 out of 5 stars boring
I kept losing my place because where I was was really not exciting. I got utterly fed up of hearing the word 'chuck' to denote a local person. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read
More often than not books and films with humorous undertones tend to get less critical acclaim. Unfairly, this also seems to be the case with Val McDermid's Lindsay Gordon and... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars McDemid holds up the mirror - what we see makes me chuckle
If you want fiction firmly based in a real world with real people so much so that you believe you are getting the inside story on something that really happened, this is it! Read more
Published on 21 Jul 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars I devoured it in one sitting, and eagerly await the next.
Gloria Kendal alias Brenda Barrowclough larger than life star of the much loved soap opera 'Northerners' hires Kate Brannigan when she starts receiving threatening... Read more
Published on 17 Jul 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid book in a solid series
McDermid's Brannigan series consistently amuses and entertains, and this installment is no exception. Recommended to existing fans - those new to the series, buy them all!
Published on 1 Jul 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars More great Kate Brannigan action
I love Val McDermid but would have to agree with one of the other reviewers who said this isn't her best. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and humorous novel
It started off quite confusingly as I had not read a Brannigan mystery before, but I found it was all explained very quickly once I got into the novel. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 1998

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant but not vintage Brannigan
A fast read but definitely not one of the best Kate Brannigans. The plot is strangely dated, with a strong 1980's feel, unlike the other books in the series which are topical,... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 1998

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