Slashing Mona Lisa
by D.M. Barr
Genre: Mystery, Romantic Suspense
Killer body or body killer? When fat shaming backfires…
Most people are dying to lose a few pounds. Not so in Slashing Mona Lisa, where it's the weight-loss advocates who are losing their lives.
Whenever Terry Mangel's body acceptance revival meeting rolls into town, local diet execs and "fat shamers" turn up dead, often in grotesque, ironic ways. All single murders in small suburbs, no one's noticed the pattern…until now.
Rookie journalist Camarin Torres is a crusader against discrimination, partially to assuage the guilt she feels over the suicide of her obese, bullied twin sister. She reluctantly accepts a job offered by handsome publisher Lyle Fletcher, a widower with a vendetta, who sees Torres as salvation for Trend, his fledgling fashion magazine. Torres, however, detests everything the publication stands for, and joins solely to transform its judgmental, objectifying content.
As an unexpected romance blossoms, the overconfident, justice-hungry reporter defies orders and infiltrates Mangel's world—only to find herself in the crosshairs of a vigilante group targeting the sixty-billion-dollar diet industry. Unmasking the killer may save her life but shatter her heart: every clue seems to implicate Fletcher, her mercurial mentor and lover, as the group's mastermind.
With a sassy, snarky voice and multi-cultural overtones, Sashing Mona Lisa explores body shaming and its victims: the disenfranchised who don't conform to society's arbitrary norms, and the lengths they will go to for love and acceptance.
Content Warning: contains some strong language, violence, and explicit sexual scenes
I had never heard of the book Slashing Mona Lisa, or its author D.M. Barr but if you’ve learned anything from me, you know I’m a sucker for books with mysteries. Add in vigilantes, murders, and body shaming issues and I was all in with this book! I was a fan of the main character Camarin from the minute she confronted the woman who thought it was her job to monitor any food that goes into an overweight person’s mouth. How can you not be a fan of someone willing to put herself out for a stranger like that? I was suspicious of Lyle the minute he was introduced into the story. I felt like I was on edge throughout this book just waiting for the shoe to drop! But, Lyle was a good guy suffering from the loss of his wife and everything that brought her to the end of her life.
There were some parts of the story that felt a little tedious, but I think that was more because I wanted to get to the “good stuff”, lol. Reading through this book had me constantly feeling that something was about to happen. The suspense was so well done! But, it feels that way because there’s a lot of different storylines running in the background that you’re not aware of until later in the book. I had guessed the secrets behind Camarin and Lyle, but until it was confirmed, it was just my suspicions. I felt like the reveal of the truth behind Camarin’s most painful memories was a part many will be surprised by, whereas I was like, Yes, I knew it!
The body shaming versus the love yourself conversations in this book were fantastically well done! I thought the love yourself movement was pretty interesting, though Terry, the guy running it was a creep of the first order. I was suspicious of him from the beginning and was not surprised by anything that happened when he was involved. Despite my suspicions being proven right over and over again with this book, I still enjoyed it! Something that did annoy me, Rachel. I liked her and her friendship with Camarin but the ridiculousness of her "slang" annoyed me.
I loved this book! It was full of interesting characters and storylines. I just could not put this book down once I started reading it. Some of it seemed too good to be true, like Camarin and Lyle’s relationship and Lyle’s reaction to the hidden parts of Camarin. But, who wants to read fiction that doesn’t have a HEA element and is depressing? I mean, sure people want to read that, but not me! In mystery/suspense/murder books you don’t always get a HEA but I thought this book had a great ending that gave that ending to readers.
Rating: 4.5 stars
WHO IS D.M. BARR?
By day, a mild-mannered salesperson, wife, mother, rescuer of senior shelter dogs, competitive trivia player and author groupie, happily living just north of New York City. By night, an author of sex, suspense and satire.
My background includes stints in travel marketing, travel journalism, meeting planning, public relations and real estate. I was, for a long and happy time, an award-winning magazine writer and editor. Then kids happened. And I needed to actually make money. Now they're off doing whatever it is they do (of which I have no idea since they won't friend me on Facebook) and I can spend my spare time weaving tales of debauchery and whatever else tickles my fancy.
The main thing to remember about my work is that I am NOT one of my characters. For example, as a real estate broker, I've never played Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed anyone at my local diet clinic.
But that's not to say I haven't wanted to...
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I’m new to DM Barr’s writings and this book seems like a good one to start - quite an intriguing blurb and catchy cover.
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