Tag: creepy

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The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Rating: 4 Stars

The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a curveball that comes and hits out of nowhere! I was not ready for the impact of this story at all. This book is considered a classic, and it is rare to find a bad review for this book. All the reviews that I have ever read of Donna Tartt’s books have cemented her as a critic’s darling in my eyes. This to me, means that her books are difficult to read and full of verbose philosophy. The Secret History is exactly that, and so much more.

The book starts off with a vibe similar to that of Dead Poet’s Society. You are tricked into thinking that this is a story about a teacher’s influence on his students. It’s not. Maybe there’s some shade of Lord of The Flies here. No, not really. As I read on (with much difficulty in the beginning), I thought maybe later books like We Were Liars were based on this book. Again, there’s no similarity except in the most superficial sense. It is useless to compare it to any book. It is original and shocking in its coldness and lack of feeling. This is Dark Academia at its best.

From the beginning, the characters cause conflict within the reader. They are odd, unemotional, and leave you feeling cold. None of these people elicit any sympathy in the the heart of the reader; not even the murder victim whose murder is the central theme of the book.

Richard Papen is nineteen years old when he comes to Hampden College in Vermont. He is from a small town in California, and all he wants in life is to get away from his roots. He becomes obsessed with a teacher and his exclusive group of students studying ancient Greek, and wants to join the class by any means.

However, once inside the clique, he realizes that these four boys and one girl are not as golden as he thought. Instead of becoming disillusioned, Richard becomes even more enamored of his new friends. Finally, he starts to feel like he belongs. Still, he cannot shake the feeling that his new friends are hiding something from him.

The truth, when it hits him, is wild and gruesome. Yet, Richard is by no means repelled or disgusted by it all. He is ready to do whatever is needed to get rid of all irritants and threats to his friends. What follows is something bound to end in disaster.

For a debut novel, this has to be one of the greatest that I have read. No wonder this book inspired a whole new genre of Dark Academia. Donna Tartt draws such a vivid picture of Vermont in fall and winter, that you cannot help but give a real shudder. The cold feels real, the darkness feels menacing, and at times, you can even smell the cigarette smoke! The mood is oppressive and heavy on the heart. There are no comic reprieves, just more coldness and cruelty.

It is no mean feat to write a book where you feel no sympathy for any of the characters, yet are unable to stop reading. You feel the need to read what happens next because something like this can never end well. And it doesn’t, but not in the way you expect it to. The climax is sudden and unexpected; it comes out of nowhere. But once you read it, you realize that it makes a twisted sort of sense. However, there were a couple of things that I was uncomfortable with. The hint of racism and Islamophobia was one. The other was the fact that Henry emerges as a hero when he was anything but!

It is definitely not easy to read The Secret History. It requires concentration and attention; and a little bit of heartlessness. But if you’re capable of all this, the book will not disappoint. I love the way Donna Tartt writes, and have become a fan. Still, I don’t think I will recommend this book to everyone. Certainly not for the sensitive and easily offended audience.

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Review: The Perfect Wife

Rating: 4 Stars

JP Delaney has done it again! The Perfect Wife is the perfect thriller. It keeps you on the edge and waiting to see how it all concludes. Technically, this book can be classified as a sci-fi thriller, but only because it revolves around Artificial Intelligence.

The blurb of the book is so misleading that you think that you’re in for a murder mystery. Actually, The Perfect Wife is about Artificial Intelligence and human failings. Whoever wrote the blurb probably didn’t read the book. Abbie finds out in the first chapter that she was declared dead five years ago.

Abbie Cullen-Scott wakes up after a vivid dream to find herself in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. She assumes she was in an accident, and wants to know what happened. When she sees her husband, Tim, she wants to know what happened, and whether their autistic son is all right.

Tim is a genius. He is the founder of Scott Robotics, a tech company that has made revolutionary strides in AI technology. What Tim tells Abbie is so unbelievable that she is unable to grasp the implications of it all. Abbie’s memories are of 5 years ago, when she disappeared. What follows is the chilling and thrilling story of Abbie trying to figure out the truth while looking out for her son and her own welfare.

Delaney goes back to the theme that he first used in The Girl Before, and tweaks it into something that is so much better. It is guaranteed to create conflict within the reader about right and wrong. After all, how far is far enough when it comes to technology?

There is an ambiguity about who the narrator of the story is. Seemingly two different people are telling the same story, but from different perspectives, which makes it more engaging.

A word of warning though: This book talks a lot about Autism and its challenges, and the different approaches to understanding it. The author has an autistic son himself and he has tried to be as real about it as possible. For many people, it might be painful to read about the treatments and attitudes regarding Autism that are very common in real life.

A superb thriller that makes me look forward to Delaney’s next.

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Review: Home Before Dark

Rating: 4 Stars

Finally, Riley Sager gets it right! After complaining many times about the ending of his books, I feel like this time he has finally managed to get the right mix. Home Before Dark combines horror, thriller and twists, while keeping it this side of believable. I want to give an extra star for that climax. I had been waiting for something like this from Sager for the longest time.

Home Before Dark sees Maggie Holt return to the house of her childhood. She had spent only 20 days with her parents in this house before they all ran away leaving everything behind. It is famously known as the House of Horrors. There are ghosts in this house. Or so the book says, and Maggie’s parents insist. Maggie herself has very different views about the book that ruined her life.

When her father dies, leaving Maggie the sole owner of a haunted house that she didn’t even know he still owned, Maggie decides to go back to the house. She needs to find out herself what actually happened there. The notoriety of the book has made the whole town suffer. There are people who are not happy that a Holt is back in residence in the cursed house.

As soon as Maggie steps foot on the grounds of the property, strange things start happening. It looks like history is repeating itself. Soon, Maggie starts doubting her own convictions as the house seems to come alive just like it says in the book. It is as if her father wrote the truth, and not a fabrication that Maggie has always believed it to be. And suddenly Maggie is afraid that the truth might be worse than fiction, just like her father warned her.

I like the whole premise and the setting of this book, with the big spooky house surrounded by rambling woods, waiting to devour people. What I can never get behind, is a stupid protagonist taking unnecessary risks. It was hard for me to like Maggie, even if I loved the book overall. She comes across as quite stupid and willing to walk into danger knowingly.

Still, dumb protagonist notwithstanding, Home Before Dark is interesting, if a bit boring and slow in the middle. The climax packs a real punch and rounds off the book nicely, though I did guess the culprit as soon as they came to the house!

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Review: The Hiding Place (The Taking of Annie Thorne)

Rating: 3 Stars

Ever since I read The Chalk Man last year, I had been waiting for C. J. Tudor’s next. I love thrillers that combine suspense with just the right kind of creepiness. The Chalk Man reminded me of Stephen King, but with less horror and more suspense. The Hiding Place (or The Taking of Annie Thorne) didn’t quite manage to live up to my expectations.

I realize that it is quite unfair to compare two books, as each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Even with that in mind, The Hiding Place turned out to be quite average as far as thrillers go.

There is no doubt that C. J. Tudor is a master storyteller. Her words have the power to transport you into the setting of the story, and actually feel the characters. The problem occurs when the characters are not strong enough to arouse any feelings inside the reader. The worst thing for a character to do is to inspire indifference. This book, while written well, fails to deliver in the give-a-damn department.

Joe Thorne never thought he’d be back in Arnhill. He thought he had left it all far behind; the toxic friendships, the incident at the abandoned mine, the suicide, and most of all, the disappearance of his sister. But he finds himself not only going back, but also lying his way into a teaching position at his former school. He has his own reasons for returning, and trying to stay low-key, one of which is a strange e-mail that he has received.

As soon as he sets foot in his hometown, Joe encounters hostility from old friends as well as new acquaintances. He is not surprised, nor is he deterred from his objective. For he knows what actually happened at the old mine the night that his beloved sister went missing. He was devastated by her disappearance, and thought that there couldn’t be anything worse than that. But he was wrong, because there was something worse that could happen, and it did. His sister came back.

The plot and characters are somewhat reminiscent of Stephen King’s It, which remains to date, the scariest book that I have ever read. But other than the most superficial similarity, The Hiding Place fails to scare and creep out. Even the most horrific scenes felt one-dimensional and just not scary enough. It was like watching a movie where the actors fail to deliver the required emotions and expressions.

It is an average thriller that while interesting will most probably fail to impress the hardcore horror/ thriller fans. However, C. J. Tudor is one writer who I will never hesitate to read, so I’m looking forward to her future endeavors. Hopefully, I will find my next favourite book then.

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Review: Lying In Wait

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Warning: Spoilers

Lying In Wait, by Liz Nugent, introduces us to Lydia Fitzsimons, a woman with the perfect life. She lives in a beautiful mansion with her husband and son, both of whom love her unconditionally. Yet Lydia is not satisfied. She wants something more, and her husband will do anything to get it for her, even commit murder. However, it is the consequences of that murder that make it difficult to get up every morning and look in the mirror. Not so for Lydia though. She will go to any length to rise above the unfortunate event.

There are very few characters that inspire the hatred that Lydia does. Her character is one of the most twisted and cold characters that you will ever come across. You don’t want to kill her, you want to run far away from her. She is a dangerous and manipulative woman, incapable of comprehending anything beyond her own wishes and desires. Reading her parts of the story always left me with a chill running through my spine, not wanting to read more, yet compelled to do so.

Laurence, the overweight son of Lydia and Andrew, who is over protected and smothered with motherly love, is the second narrator of this tale. It is difficult to decide whether to give him sympathy or a slap across his face. Clearly, he is a normal person with a guilty conscience at war with his love for his mother. Yet, we also see traces of meanness and cruelty that make him his mother’s son. Throughout the book, he was one person I really did feel sorry for, even with his moronic obedience and love for his crazy mother.

The third narrator, Karen, is the person I liked the least in this book. Her character was as dull as Lydia’s is evil. I would have given this book a higher rating if it hadn’t been for Karen. Other than being beautiful, there isn’t much to recommend her to the reader. Her choices and decisions are so contradictory that you become as confused about her character as she herself is in her life. Somehow, I found it very hard to sympathize with Karen.

The book becomes a bit boring and repetitive halfway through, with things seemingly going round and round in circles. The side characters are somewhat stereotypical, especially Bridget and her family who are shown to be lackluster just to contrast with Karen’s beauty. Yet, Karen is the one who comes out as the bad guy in this whole scenario. It wouldn’t have hurt to make Bridget a bit better looking, and not make her do what she did in the end because it all went against her character. It was unnecessary to turn Bridget into a vindictive bitch just to absolve Andrew and Karen from their selfishness.

The end is chilling and satisfying, though I saw it coming. Lydia’s character stays true to form till the end, and Andrew remains as clueless as ever. Karen’s character remains confused like always. She was so irritating for me that I really thought she got what she deserved.

Overall, a satisfying book for lovers of creepy stories.

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Review: Final Girls

Rating: 4 Stars

Like all hyped books, I thought Final Girls by Riley Sager would be another average read, another book being compared to Gone Girl, another thriller with predictable twists. Thankfully, this time I was wrong. And to be fair, Stephen King didn’t say it was like Gone Girl, he said that if you liked Gone Girl, you will like this book. Which turned out to be pretty accurate as far as I am concerned.

Lisa, Sam and Quincy are popularly known as the Final Girls. It doesn’t matter that they have never met, or that they lead completely different lives, all three of them have one thing in common. They are all the only survivors of different incidents of mass killings; the last ones standing, the girls who lived.

Quincy, the youngest of the Final Girls, has seemingly moved on from the trauma. She lives with her attorney boyfriend, and runs a baking blog. There are things that she keeps hidden from everyone, and a secret dependence on Xanax, but overall, she thinks she is doing fine.

Then comes the news of Lisa’s death in an apparent suicide, and Quincy’s world starts unraveling. She is upset at the way Lisa decided to end her life, and wishes she had tried to meet her at least once. As she struggles with her guilt and grief, Sam turns up on her doorstep unexpectedly, and Quincy is torn between trusting the only other person capable of understanding her demons, or being suspicious of a woman who had previously disappeared from the face of the earth.

When Lisa’s death is ruled a homicide, Quincy is left questioning everything she has ever believed in. Sam’s hold on her life has become stronger, and Quincy can feel herself becoming more and more addicted to her drug of choice. It doesn’t help that she cannot remember what actually happened during the massacre of her friends at Pine Cottage.

Full of twists and surprises, the book also benefits from the unreliability of the narrator. The reader is left guessing, and I for one was completely taken by surprise as the climax was nothing like I imagined. I kept veering from one theory to another all through the book, and couldn’t guess where it was going at all. This, in my eyes, is the best thing about this book.

Definitely a must read for all fans of thrillers.

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Review: Sometimes I Lie

Rating: 4.5 Stars

One of the most engaging and thrilling books that I have read in recent times, Sometimes I lie is the story of Amber Reynolds, who is in a coma, and who has a story to tell.

I started this book on a four-hour flight, thinking I will read for a while and then try to sleep, like I always do. I find it impossible to read on board a plane. It gives me headache and nausea. Well, this time around, as the plane was landing, I was on the last chapter of this book! It was impossible to put it down without knowing what happened and how twisted is the truth. To say that it is plenty twisted, is an understatement.

The book starts off with Amber Reynolds, brought into the hospital in critical condition, who has slipped into a coma. She is aware of what is happening around her, yet unable to wake up or move. At first, she cannot remember how she has gotten into this situation. The only thing she is sure of, is that her husband is not what he seems, and that he doesn’t love her anymore.

As she begins to piece her memories together while lying comatose on the hospital bed, we also begin to realize one thing about her. She likes to lie. She twists the truth to suit her narrative, but her lying in a coma also points towards the fact that something very sinister has happened to her.

From the beginning, we know that Amber has some anxiety problems, and soon enough it starts to emerge that she has some sort of OCD. The roots of her behaviour obviously lie in her past which, as we find out from some diary entries, was quite traumatic. But as we keep discovering all through the book, the truth is not so easily discernable from the lies, and one thing that Alice has already told us from the beginning, is that sometimes she lies.

I wish I could write somehting more without giving out any spoilers, but even the little that I have written is kind of a spoiler. This book kept me hooked right till the end. It is the kind of book that is deliciously creepy and addictive. I loved everything about this one!

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