New Review: The Thunder Girls, Melanie Blake

Melanie Blake is an author, playwright, TV critic, and former music manager - one of the best in the industry. Hers is a true rags to riches story, and she uses the richness of material from her career to write a thoroughy enjoyable, nostalgia-inducing, and shocking story about a girl band called The Thunder Girls. She writes in her book that none of the characters are based on real life people, but everything that happens in the book - good, bad, and ugly - has happened in the music industry, and then some.

It starts with betrayal. Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita are at the top of their game, until Chrissie sells out the rest of the girls. She signs a contract as a solo artist and the Thunder Girls are no more. 

Thirty years later. Chrissie arrives home from her honeymoon to find out that her new husband has taken her for a ride - persuading her to open joint accounts, he has quite literally drained all of her wealth and done a runner. Chrissie is at risk of destitution, until her manager, Jack, offers her a way out. 

The idea is to reunite the Thunder Girls for a huge eighties gig at Wembley. It comes with the promise of renewed fame and fortune, but at a cost. Chrissie will have to get down on her knees and grovel - hard. Meanwhile, Jack's sudden interest in their renewal isn't at wholesome as it seems. 

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. There was never a dull moment. Melanie Blake's experience of the industry pours out from every page and, even though this is technically a work of fiction, the fact that she said the music industry is all of this and more makes you think about how much more rough of a business it is than what we see. All we get, as consumers, is the end product. We don't see the behind the scenes battles between artists, producers, managers, and execs. We don't see the power plays, unless it comes out on social media. The recent exposure by Taylor Swift of how hard it is for writers and artists to own their work, even if they have the money to pay for it, is just one small example.

Melanie writes with flair, aplomb, and compassion as well. As a manager, she will no doubt had to support people in the valleys as well as on the mountains, and it shows. Despite the flaws of these characters, you can't help but feel sympathy for them - even Chrissie, begrudgingly at times - and you root for them, knowing that as teenagers they were pawns in a much bigger game but, with the benefit of experience, they have learned to fight for themselves.

And that's what Chrissie, Anita, Carly, and Roxanne do. They come out fighting. I really loved this book, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it, particularly as it's coming up to the summer holidays. It's a perfect summer read.