Tag: mystery thriller

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Review: Troubled Blood (Strike And Robin #5)

Rating: 4 Stars

This book confused the hell out of me! So many characters, so much information, and Strike and Robin going round in circles! I had to go back and forth to keep everything straight, which, with a book this size, is sheer madness!

But oh the mystery, and the action! Robert Galbraith is like P.D James in my opinion. The descriptions are long, the characters have a habit of sprouting rubbish meant to be deep and profound, and important things get lost in the meandrings of the author’s mind. Yet, the story is so powerful that you don’t want to give up.

I would like to make it clear that I couldn’t care less what the writer is like in real life. If I started caring about authors and their real life problems, I’d have no books to read! I like reviewing books, not the personal lives of other human beings.

Troubled Blood starts off with Strike back in Cornwall to see his sick aunt. He meets a woman who wants to hire him to find out what happened to her mother who vanished 40 years ago. Strike and Robin agree to take the case. They set a limit of a year to get a breakthrough or give up. There are a few other cases, and both Strike and Robin are going through their own personal struggles, like always. On top of this, the initial investigations in the missing woman case are a mess.

The police detective originally investigating the crime was having a mental breakdown, and his notes reflect that deterioration of mind. But of course, all this happens after you have read so many pages that you might as well have read a whole book!

It is always fun to go on an adventure with Strike and Robin, but it is becoming harder with every new book. Galbraith needs to tighten the writing or no one is going to read these never-ending stories! I feel that a lot of focus is lost because of so many other cases on the side. A detective agency can take on multiple cases at one time, but it is not necessary to go into the details of each and every one of them.

Then there is the personal angle that bothers me so much! I have said it before, and I say it again, there is no need for Strike and Robin to be involved romantically. Their personal lives are like train wrecks, you can only feel sorry for them. It is one of the things that I dislike the most about this series.

Troubled Blood is a really good book, but I hesitate in recommending it. Because it is too long and confusing, only real fans of Strike and Robin can truly enjoy this one.

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Review: The Guest List

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Finally, a good book after so many mediocre ones! I didn’t have many expectations from The Guest List by Lucy Foley. I hadread The Hunting Party and didn’t find it too impressive. My opinion was reinforced when I realised that this book followed the same format, going back and forth in time, and with multiple perspectives. However, it hooked me from the start. I managed to finish it in two sittings, even with all the interruptions.

The story is nothing new. We have all read murder mysteries where the characters are all stuck in a place and the killer is one of them. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and Murder On The Orient Express, Shari Lapena’s An Unwanted Guest, and Lucy Foley’s own The Hunting Party are all based on this same premise. Still The Guest List manages to hold its own and tells a pretty engagung tale.

A remote Irish island is the site for a high-profile wedding. People say that this island brings bad luck. The bride is a force of nature who doesn’t let anything come in her way; the groom is a handsome heartthrob who has never set a foot wrong. As their friends and families gather to celebrate their nuptials, it becomes apparent that some of them are not as happy for them as they seem.

It turns out that everyone is harbouring secrets that can have explosive consequences. Yet, the bride is in no mood to let anything come in the way of her perfect wedding. The groom, while not too keen on gathering everyone together, goes along with the flow to keep the peace. As the story progresses, it is evident that it really wasn’t a good idea to invite some of the guests!

The identity of the deceased is not revealed till the last quarter of the book. As you read on, every single person seems to have a motive to kill the other. The setting is bleak and gloomy, with a bog and a cemetery thrown in for effect. There are so many similarities to The Hunting Party here that you can’t help but think of this book as a better version of the previous one.

The climax is satisfying, and for once, not dragged unnecessarily. Sometimes it is best to leave things be and not spoil them with epilogues. The only thing that bothers me about the book is all the coincidences that seem to have been written so that the reader will have no sympathy with the dead person. Even a couple of instances were enough to let us know that the deceased was no angel, there was hardly any need to make them into a movie villian!

Over all, The Guest List is a good thriller that keeps you glued till the end.

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Review: Lock Every Door

Rating: 3 Stars

Riley Sager is an author whose books are a must-buy for me. I enjoyed his first two books so much that even the weak links in the books didn’t really matter. To say that I was looking forward to reading Lock Every Door, is an understatement; which is why I was so very disappointed with it! Even though there are some stellar reviews and this is a highly rated book, it failed to impress.

The book starts off spectacularly with Jules Larsen finding an apartment sitting job that seems too good to be true. She is unemployed and has been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend. The address is the prestigious Bartholomew, a New York landmark, exclusive and secretive. The apartment is everything that she has ever dreamed of, and more. Except that it gives her the creeps and she can feel something sinister within its walls. Shrugging off the feeling as a residue of her past experiences, and ignoring the warnings of her best friend, Jules decides to spend the next 3 months living in luxury and earning the easiest money ever.

The rules are very strict. Jules cannot disturb any other residents; she cannot spend any nights away from the apartment; and she can not have any visitors. For Jules, these rules are just the eccentricities of the rich and famous, and not something to worry about.

There are also other apartment sitters in the building. Jules soon finds herself befriending Ingrid who lives in the apartment right beneath Jules’s. Ingrid tells Jules that she feels scared, like something is not right in their building. Jules laughs off her fears and doesn’t think much of them. Until one night she hears a scream from Ingrid’s apartment, and finds out that Ingrid has disappeared without trace. As Jules is afraid that history might repeat itself, she decides to find Ingrid and lay her own demons to rest.

The suspense and tension till here is absolutely fantastic; you can feel the sinister presence of evil within the Bartholomew. However, as Lock Every Door rushes towards the climax, everything starts spinning out of control. Jules suddenly becomes a dumb girl making poor choices, yet being smart enough or lucky enough to get away with them. Then comes the last part of the book that is one of the most unbelievable sequences that I have ever read. I understand that it is not easy to find a balance between the sinister and the real world, and sometimes writers find it hard to come up with a resolution that is good enough to justify the whole spooky scenario while being realistic at the same time. Still, this was a bit much for me, and a big let down after such an excellent rest of the book!

This brings me to the fact that all three of Riley Sager’s books have very weak climax sequences. The perpetrator is a surprise for sure, but once you look back, the whole plot starts to look shaky. This time around, more than shaky, it seems downright ridiculous and full of plot holes. If I seem too harsh, then it’s only because I expected so much from Lock Every Door, and I don’t like being disappointed.

Still, that doesn’t stop me from looking forward to Sager’s next book. I have bought it already and can’t wait to read it.

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Review: Conviction

Rating: 3 Stars

Conviction by Denise Mina follows Anna McDonald as her life unravels one fine day. She gets up early like always, relishing her “me time” before her husband and daughters wake up. She has no idea how things are going to go down on this particular morning. Engrossed in her new true crime podcast, it takes her some time to catch on with what is going on with her husband. Before long, she is alone in the house, desperate, and on the verge of doing something stupid. The only thing she can think of is to listen to the podcast, and try to forget her own troubles for a while.

As it turns out, the events of the morning are just the beginning of her troubles. As she listens to the podcast about a family murdered on board a cursed yacht, she realizes that not only does she know one of the victims, she has also come across another person mentioned in the podcast. Someone connected to the past that Anna has tried to delete from her life; a past that her husband, daughters and friends have no idea about.

Even though she is certain she knows what happened to the ill-fated family, Anna has no intention of telling anyone about it. Until Fin Cohen shows up at her door, and a nosy neighbour takes the choice out of Anna’s hands. Now Anna is on the run. She is determined to get to the bottom of the triple murders. An all-too-recognizable ex-rockstar accompanies her. He has no idea about the nest of hornets that he has stirred up.

Conviction is fast paced. The murder mystery keeps the reader hooked for a while at least. But then Anna’s past life starts intruding. While it is commendable that the writer maintains the pace, it also becomes irritating that things are left up in the air where Anna’s past is concerned. All actions and everyone’s motivations are guessed at by Anna, and that too with a superficiality that leaves you thinking, why would anyone do that?

Conviction concludes with the same speed with which it started, leaving behind a lot of unanswered questions. For me, this open ended conclusion is not a negative point. I like books that leave things unsaid and unexplained; in other words I like things to be left to the reader’s imagination. Not all readers are like that, though. So if you like books that tie up all ends and solve all of life’s little mysteries, this book might not be for you. For people like me, pick it up, give it a read.

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Review: The Girls Weekend

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman starts off with the usual story that you expect from a book with this title. Some old friends get together for a weekend. One of them is reluctant because of the tension with another, yet things conspire to make her go last minute. So far, so average. Things don’t become much better story wise, since there is nothing new about this trope. However, the reader does get a bit more invested in the story after a while when things start happening.

A weekend reunion with her college friends doesn’t interest June Moody. Even though the five of them were inseparable during their college years, the intervening years have made her drift apart from all except one of them. She has always had a difficult friendship with the hostess of this get together, Sadie MacTavish. It doesn’t help that Sadie married June’s ex-boyfriend, and seems to be living a charmed life.

As soon as June arrives at the MacTavish estate with her friend Em, she starts feeling uncomfortable. Soon she realizes that Sadie’s relationship with the other three women is also tense and troubled. On top of that, Sadie and her husband are facing problems in their marriage. He even tries to make a pass at June.

All this changes when the women wake up one morning with no recollection of the night before. There are some clear signs of violence, and Sadie missing from the house. Everyone knows it is not long before a body turns up. No one knows what actually happened. As things heat up, friendships start crumbling, and everyone becomes a suspect, no one more so than June. It is only a matter of time till she gets arrested for a crime that even she is not sure she is innocent of.

When I started reading The Girls Weekend, I was sure that June was another one of those typical heroines. The ones who are flawed and psychotic, and who keep making poor choices throughout the book. Thankfully, June was better behaved than most such characters. Despite making a few questionable decisions, she acted like a woman her age. I fail to understand how writers can create successful women with stellar careers and make them behave like imbeciles where men are concerned.

The murder itself was not that much of a mystery, but everything leading up to the climax was gripping and the suspense held for a long time. I don’t know if people like Sadie exist in the world, but if they do, then there couldn’t have been a better victim for this murder. Not one of the best books that I have read but a good one nonetheless.

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Review: Someone We Know

Rating: 4 Stars

Shari Lapena is an author I can always rely on to deliver the goods. Her book, The Couple Next Door, is one that I recommend to anyone who wants to read thrillers. While her other books are not as highly recommended, Someone We Know comes quite close. The twists and turns leave the reader breathless, and the ending makes them gasp. Just the way it always does with good thrillers.

The story starts with a teenager who has been breaking and entering into several homes in his suburban neighborhood in upstate New York. His intention is not of stealing or causing harm. All he wants is to hack a few computers and boast about it to one of his friends. However, things start to go downhill once his parents find out what he has been up to.

At the same time, a woman down his street is murdered quite gruesomely. The ensuing investigation is causing all sorts of problems in the neighborhood. When a couple of homeowners receive anonymous letters telling them that their houses have been broken into, the whole neighborhood becomes a hotbed of intrigue and secrets. Now the police is having trouble trying to separate facts from lies and omissions.

Lapena weaves a complicated web of truths, half-truths and outright lies, that make it difficult to guess who is guilty of what. It seems that in this neighborhood, no one is innocent.

I will also admit that having a teenager and a tween myself, I couldn’t help but empathize with Olivia Sharpe. There really is no manual on how to raise kids. Once they enter their teens, you can only hope that what you have given them is enough for them to come out unscathed on the other side.

I can also sympathize with Raleigh. It’s not easy to walk the boring path when everyone around you is having fun falling off it. Peer pressure has made kids do worse in real life. Also, you have to give the poor kid some leeway. After all, he has to live with that name all his life!

Overall, Someone We Know is a good thriller that made me glad I took out the time to read it.

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Sunday Dispute: Is It Mid-Life Crisis?

I have been facing a dilemma. That of changing tastes and choices. I have always been proud of primarily being a detective at heart; a thrill seeker and a mystery solver, with a streak of adventure and a love for the unknown. There were a few years when this love was shared by another genre: Romance. Alas, that love affair only lasted for the duration of my teenage years. There were a few other friendships, but none as permanent and everlasting as the one between mystery thrillers and me.

This year, as I enter into my forties, I fear that my reading habits might be going through a mid-life crisis. The previously much-loved and adored friend no longer seems to hold my interest. Infact, I can hardly get myself to even look at a thriller any more. There are stacks and stacks of books staring at me, silently willing me to pick them up, their attractive covers screaming from Instagram accounts, their stellar reviews whispering sweet nothings into my ears, yet I feel nothing.

I have not found another favorite genre yet, but I’m looking around. All of a sudden I seem to have become more bold and daring, willing to venture into unknown worlds, rather than remaining a one-genre woman. It’s not easy. I would say it’s a lot of hard work. I keep thinking that if I read enough crap I might find something that will hold my interest for a longer period of time. Something with whom I can enjoy a long-term relationship.

But when you have been married for as long as mysteries/ thrillers and I, anything new just seems like a short-lived affair brought on by the advent of middle age. You have to give me one thing though. I haven’t stopped spending money on the darned genre. I still buy more thrillers than is good for my bank account, more than I can possibly read in this lifetime at least! It’s like a disease in my blood.

The more I write about it, the more it seems like the tale of a marriage going through a bad time. Maybe that’s what it is. We have been together for so long that we need a break from each other. Yeah, that’s what we should do.

Though we need to define the boundaries of this break. I don’t want to be left alone later on in life, telling anyone who would listen, “…but we were on a break!”

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