*NEW BOOK REVIEW* Maestra by L.S.Hilton

Judith Rashleigh works as an assistant in a prestigious London auction house, but her dreams of breaking into the art world have been gradually dulled by the blunt forces of snobbery and corruption. To make ends meet she moonlights as a hostess in one of the West End's less salubrious bars - although her work there pales against her activities on nights off.

When Judith stumbles across a conspiracy at her auction house, she is fired before she can expose the fraud. In desperation, she accepts an offer from one of the bar's clients to accompany him to the French Riviera. But when an ill-advised attempt to slip him sedatives has momentous consequences, Judith finds herself fleeing for her life. 

Now alone and in danger, all Judith has to rely on is her consummate ability to fake it amongst the rich and famous - and the inside track on the hugely lucrative art fraud that triggered her dismissal...

Where do you go when you've gone too far?

I'm a bit funny about books that come with a lot of hype surrounding them. Not in a snobbish way. More in a I read them and feel let down kinda way (I think I may be one of the only people not to have enjoyed Girl on The Train...)

So when Maestra landed on my desk with its 'the most shocking thriller you'll read this year' claims and movie rights already being signed up, I have to admit I put it to one side and marked it as 'not one for me.' 

But then I started reading reviews and began to get FOMO. And I felt that if I was really going to be able to say 'it wasn't for me' then I had to least read a few pages. 

So I took it home - and five hours later I'd finished it. Yep. I went from not thinking I'd enjoy it to not wanting to put it down. Gripped from the very first 'c' bomb dropped on page two.  

Packed full of action I think i gave myself RSI from turning the pages so quickly. 

I had been warned it was slightly filthy - and it was (I won't be passing it on to my mum that's for sure.) But it's not filth in a 'we have to put a sex scene on every single page' way that some books (which shall not be named) do, which becomes incredibly tedious, very quickly. 

Judith is a sassy, smart and very dangerous heroine and I couldn't help but really like her. 

So read it before everyone else does because I do think it will be the most talked abut book this year - and with reason. 

My only complaint? That the second instalment isn't coming quick enough…

Try it for yourself