Untouchable Paperback – 13 Aug. 2015

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 but oh so nearly 5 stars!This is a great book if you want a quick and easy read, with a few twists thrown in and totally engaging characters.Although be warned, the sex scenes are a little graphic in places, so not for the faint hearted or easily offended!Recommended and I will now be reading the next book by the author.

Untouchable is the debut release by Ava Marsh and having seen numerous recommendations from other crime fiction authors that this novel was something special I had to take a look. So, was it worth the top billing? Absolutely!Untouchable opens with an ominous threat, 'Michael says hello' being delivered to high class prostitute, Grace, but how on earth does the man know her real name? Opening three years earlier Grace Thomas aka Stella turns her first trick, sells her body for sex and with 'no more than a vague sensation of having lost my virginity all over again' she enters the world of high class prostitution. From then on a line had always been crossed in Stella's mind and there was no going back. Fast forwarding to the present day Stella is dealing with the altogether more mundane task of filing her tax return, describing in a perfectly matter-of-fact way what she can possibly claim for as expenses and how she can describe her business to the Inland Revenue.There is something fragile is Stella's narrative from the off, a sense that she is barely keeping things in check under a flinty exterior. As she goes about her day to day 'work' it becomes clear than she is a woman of contrasts, from reading Murakami to volunteering at a rape crisis centre. Her self aware narration and wry sarcasm has a huge appeal and helps to convey the impression that there is a seriously determined personality bubbling under the surface, and the clinical detailing of the sex reduces her line of work to just another occupation. There is nothing gratuitous about the sex scenes in Untouchable, rather Stella's observations are reduced to a sterile description and the details I craved were of the real woman hiding underneath it all. Stella is a fascinating protagonist and has an unerring sense of being wonderfully grounded, all adding to the impression that she is a remarkably intelligent woman.Stella is astute enough to recognise that she is running from her former life, trying to escape the misery of a past which has been lost to reproach and never being able to forgive herself for the one fatal misjudgement she made. Whilst Stella sees prostitution as her escape plan from her old life, you sense that she is an inner ball of tension, threatening to go off kilter and spiral out of control. There is an element of her actively alienating clients; not caring what they think or even worrying about the repeat business and 'user' reviews which means that the events which follow seem almost inevitable and that Stella was already leaning towards change. When a few days after a birthday party for a client, one of the two other girls who has entertained alongside Stella is found murdered in a shabby hotel room, Stella smells a rat. Despite only having worked with the murdered girl, Elisa, half a dozen times, Stella feels an obligation to not simply lie down and accept the whitewash verdict. Going to see Elisa's long term partner was a step too close to the heart of the trouble and after what she learns there is no turning back. Apparently Elisa hadn't recorded the appointment in her diary, hadn't told her partner and even paid for the hotel room where she was discovered herself. The police say that Elisa has sex in the hotel room, but why then, is there no DNA evidence of her murderer? That Stella had previously encountered the most enigmatic and self contained of the four men at the party and had seen the signs that he could spell danger certainly raised the stakes.Why does Stella go all out for justice for Elisa? Maybe because she has let herself be reduced to a shell after her own mistake and she has finally accepted that she deserves more than the misery she has been inflicting on herself relentlessly for the last five years? As it becomes clear that Stella has now become 'fair game' thanks to her active pursuit of the investigation, she finds herself in a very vulnerable position. Untouchable is a thought provoking novel about corruption and revenge, yet the most striking point was that at the end of the day, prostitution is no worse and certainly nothing different to taking any old Tom, Dick or Harry home from the pub or club for a one night stand. Taking risks shouldn't be regarded as the territory of prostitution any more intrinsically than any other casual hook up, yet it often is. Stella's volunteering at the rape crisis centre also forced me to consider the instances of rape and domestic violence which go on behind the closed doors of many marriages,Untouchable is a blood pumping, anxiety raising thriller and whilst pulling this off in real life might not be plausible, it is one hell of a ride! Whilst throughout Untouchable it is fairly clear to gain an idea as to what has sent Grace Thomas fleeing her old life and the corruption at the centre of Elisa's murder, it is altogether less clear cut how Stella will respond!! The gloves are off, Stella is fighting back from her own past and there is a wonderful sense that with this closure, Stella can return to some version of her former life. A well thought structured and all consuming read.. Now for Exposure.. A four star crime plot delivered with a five star gut wrenching thrill which had me hooked.I would hope that Untouchable is not the last appearance that Stella will make in a novel as her character has endless potential and is a very strong leading lady. I am lobbying for Stella to feature in another story, perhaps a short story catching up with her life in five years time? Hands up those in agreement?!Review written by Rachel Hall (@hallrachel)

Untouchable is the story of escort Stella... aka Grace... and how her services end up embroiling her in a scandalous murder. The story also looks back to how she ended up in prostitution.It is an ok read. It has a potentially good story, short, easy to read chapters, fast paced and punchy in parts. Unfortunately, it wasn't consistently like that. Most of the action comes together in the last 10-15% of the story, the rest of the time I was left wishing something would happen, other than sex. The story often refers to Grace's past life but not enough to get my interest, I just kept thinking 'get on with it'.Unfortunately but honestly, I found reading the majority of this book boring and ended up scanning over pages.Some parts of the story didn't click together for me either and given that a lot of the story didn't feel necessary and I skipped it, there was easy opportunity to delve into these questions more. Like why Alex is so enamoured with Stella/Grace, why go against his very nature for someone he really doesn't know? Because he finds her interesting, really??? And why did Grace destroy her past life, her personal relationships, her career on an empty liaison. Her character and intelligence throughout the rest of the story is at odds with this scenario.A potentially good story that sadly didn't deliver for me.

I enjoy reading novels with an unusual setting or protagonist. Untouchable appealed to me as it has both. It is the story of Stella who works for herself as a popular and successful escort. She isn’t a stereotypical junkie hooker with a pimp. She is educated, well read and intelligent, has chosen this profession for her own reasons and clearly enjoys many aspects of it. The reader quickly learns that Stella’s real name is Grace, and that something happened to Grace a few years earlier from which she hasn’t recovered. When one of her escort friends, Elisa, is found dead, and the death gets hushed up, Grace decides that she has to find out what happened. The book switches between the two mysteries: what has happened to Grace and how did Elisa die?I love the title of this book with its multiple interpretations and connotations of power and shame. I thought that Grace was a brilliant character: empathic and human, determined and caring, but also damaged and self-destructive. I really wanted to know what had happened to her and to understand how it might have resulted in her becoming an escort. The whole way through I was asking myself what I wanted for Grace, and what I thought she wanted and needed. I enjoy plots in which a character’s 'situation' compromises them when they discover dubious goings on, as this sort of set-up enables an exploration of the murky waters of agency, choice, responsibility and morality. The intrigue surrounding Elisa’s death is altogether credible and interesting, and provides an element of social realism to the novel.In the first half of the book there is a lot of sex. Given Stella’s job I expected this. I felt that Marsh handled these sections extremely skilfully (and I’m not a fan of sex in books): sometimes she glossed over the sex and when it was an important part of the plot or character development, she showed us what was going on. The storytelling is well paced, and the two plot strands complement each other. The characters are superb and shown as multi-dimensional. I didn’t once get confused between the girls or their customers and with quite a big ‘cast’, this is a risk.If you’re looking for something a bit ‘different’, I highly recommend Untouchable. My copy was purchased through Amazon and read on kindle.