Tag: spooky

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Review: Last Time I Lied

Rating: 4 Stars

Another good thriller by Riley Sager. Last Time I Lied is the story of Emma, whose first stay at summer camp was cut tragically short 15 years ago. After dreaming of going to the exclusive Camp Nightingale for the longest time, Emma finally got a chance when she was 13 years old. Unfortunately, all three of her much older roommates disappeared without trace after just 2 weeks.

Fifteen years later, still traumatized by the events of that long ago summer, Emma is unable to move on, and keeps painting the three missing girls and hiding them in her paintings. It is evident that she has some unresolved issues that are hindering her creative process and making it impossible for her to move on in life.

When the owner of Camp Nightingale decides to reopen the camp, and invites Emma as an instructor, Emma sees the opportunity to find out what happened to her friends and lay the matter to rest once and for all. But there might be other motives attached in both the owner’s invitation, and Emma’s acceptance of it. For Emma is not as truthful as she seems, and her guilt makes her suspicious of everyone else around her.

The camp is a spooky place, haunted by its past, and things are not made easy with all the rumors and scary stories going around about the land surrounding the camp. The instructors and the family of the owner are all suspicious of Emma and her intentions. In these circumstances, the air is fraught with tension and each page brings a new twist to the tale.

Like all good thrillers, most of the action in this book takes place at night when everything seems more sinister and scary. When Emma fails in every attempt to solve the mystery of the disappearance, the reader also runs out of possible scenarios. As both the past and the present become clearer, it’s difficult to decide whether to trust Emma’s narrative or not.

I liked the end because it was unexpected, yet it made sense. Though in all fairness, it is hard to swallow so many red herrings and dead ends. I had fun reading this book. It is not true psychological thriller, nor is it a mystery in the strictest sense. It is a pleasing mixture of both which makes it a good read for fans of thrillers.

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Review: The Graveyard Book

Rating: 5 Stars

The Graveyard Book follows the adventures of “Bod” Nobody Owens, as he tries to lead a normal life, like all boys his age. Except, Bod lives in a graveyard, with his ghost parents, mad teachers, and a guardian who is neither alive nor dead. Bod is happy with his life; he is free to roam around the graveyard, discovering new things every day, playing with friends who never grow old, and having a good time in general.

This contentment with life doesn’t stop Bod from wanting to venture outside the gates of the graveyard and experience the real world. But he is not allowed to do that. The outside world is where the man Jack lives. The man Jack, who killed Bod’s real family, and who is searching for Bod to finish his task once and for all.

It seems to me that every book that I read by Neil Gaiman is better than the last, though Neverwhere has been a favourite since I first read it. The Graveyard Book seems to have taken over that place in my heart.

As always, the main character is so likable that you want to go on adventures with him and help him find his way in the world. All the other characters, from Bod’s adoptive parents, to Miss Lupescu, to Liza Hempstock (yes, there’s a Hempstock in every Gaiman book!) to all the other residents of the graveyard, are so well written that you cannot help but be amused by their antics. It is, however, Bod’s guardian, Silas, who stands out like a typical strong, silent hero from romantic movies. There is nothing romantic about Silas, except that he agreed to be the guardian of a small boy who had nowhere to go. Yet, his love for Bod is evident in everything he says and does. He is perhaps my favourite character from this awesome book.

The strength of Neil Gaiman is his ability to paint such vivid pictures with his words that it all materializes in front of your eyes. The Indigo Man, the Sleer, the ghouls, all come alive in the mind’s eye. The Lady on the Grey also makes a couple of appearances, and the Danse Macabre becomes almost real. As is evident, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

As soon as I finished, I gave it to my 11-year-old, and he loved it too. So, this is one book that everyone in the family can read if they like fantasy and dark humor.

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Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Rating: 3.75 Stars

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton was not an easy book to read for me. I think I have aged a lot since reading The Time Traveller’s Wife, because the concept of time travel and changing bodies kept confusing me! I had to turn back every time and look for a particular character or incident in order to keep things straight in my head. In the end, I just decided to let things be, and maybe I would be able to make sense of it all in the final pages.

The book starts off with a man waking up in the forest, calling for a woman he’s sure has been murdered. He has no recollection of who he is or what he is doing in that particular place. When he reaches the house he is staying in, Blackheath, he is told that his name is Sebastian Bell. Yet he has no memories at all except the name “Anna” who he believes dead.

Slowly, it is revealed that this person is not the real Dr. Bell, but a man named Aiden Bishop in the body of Sebastian Bell. He has been burdened with the task of solving the mystery surrounding the death of Evelyn Hardcastle in the middle of a party. Until he can name the real killer, the day will keep on repeating, ending with the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle.

The twist in the tale comes when Aiden realizes that he will be waking up as a different person each time. He has eight days and eight hosts to work out the solution, before the loop is reset and he has to start again with no memory of any of the previous tries. In addition to this, he also has some rivals who are working towards the same end; whoever succeeds first will be able to walk out of Blackheath, leaving the loop to play on for the rest of the contestants’ lives.

The concept and the story are well crafted, with everything having a definite purpose and place in the overall story. Except that it felt like information overload for me. It was not possible for me to read it in one go, because… life! But every time I resumed reading, I had to skim through the previous pages to remind myself of all the characters. I think it was too much work for me!

Please give this book a read if you have time to sit and read it in a day or two. You will not regret it. It is a great mystery with just the right touch of action and intrigue; and if you read it carefully, you might be able to work it all out. But that is not likely because even though all the information is there, it is just too confusing to collate!

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Review: An Unwanted Guest

Rating: 4 Stars

An old-fashioned murder mystery, set in an isolated hotel, where everyone is a suspect. What’s not to like in a book like this? An Agatha Christie fan like me can never get enough of these mysteries, and Shari Lapena delivers the goods most satisfactorily.

Ten people check into Mitchell’s Inn, a beautiful hotel in the Catskill Mountains, away from the crowded and busy life of the city. There is no wi-fi or mobile connectivity in this location to disturb the peace that the guests are looking for. On this particular weekend, however, the weather is horrible as a fierce storm rages outside, threatening to cut off the electricity and heat supplies. With only the owner and his son as the staff, the hotel is also short-staffed because of the storm.

But the weather is not the worst enemy that they have to face.

The first body is found lying down the stairs, seemingly having tripped. Everyone is skeptical when the possibility of a murder is raised. This skepticism doesn’t last long as they realize that they don’t know anything about each other, and that there is possibly a murderer among them.

Fast-paced and slick, this book reminded me of my favourite And Then There Were None, with the suspicion moving from one person to the next. However, that is where the similarity ended.

While Agatha Christie had strong back stories for all the characters, here the motive lacked that strength.

Everyone has something to hide, a secret which they don’t want others to know. While some secrets were really worth hiding, others seem to be made up just to move the story forward. In real life, there aren’t many people who will really care about something like this in someone’s past. But, like I said, something was needed to move the story forward.

The second weakness in the narrative was the sudden wrapping up of the whole case. I found it a bit abrupt, as I expected something better from the writer who gave us the brilliant ending of The Couple Next Door. Then again, I said the same thing about the last chapter of A Stranger In The House, so I think the bar was set so high with The Couple Next Door, that it is difficult to reach that level again.

Overall, I loved this book because of its typical murder mystery feel, and the suspense and terror it managed to create.

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Review: The Girl Before

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Another day, another thriller. This one, while above average, still fails where it counts the most…. the climax. It’s not a boring book, not at all. It is so interesting that once I started reading, I found it hard to put it down, and finished it in one day only. It was in the last 50 or so pages that I was disappointed.

Jane is going through a tragic phase in her life, and she needs change. In her search for an affordable house, she comes across an opportunity that is hard to resist. The house is extremely minimalist, and comes with a long list of rules that are almost impossible to follow. Yet, Jane feels like the house is calling out to her, and decides to apply for a chance to live there.

As she settles down in the house, she comes to know that one of the previous tenants, Emma, died in the house. Her death was ruled as an accident, but her ex-boyfriend is convinced that it’s a murder. As Jane embarks on an affair with an enigmatic man, she becomes more and more determined to find out the truth of what happened to Emma three years ago.

The book alternates between the voices of Emma and Jane, the past and the present. There are quite a few surprises in store, and every chapter leaves you confused and thinking about what actually happened.

The build up is great, and even though I was not really surprised by the turn in the story, I thought it would make for an interesting climax. Except that for me, the last few chapters fell flat on their face. I found the ending to be okay, nothing spectacular. I wish there had been something more shocking or disturbing to end it with.

Overall, it is a good book with quite a sinister feel to it. So, if you don’t mind a mediocre ending, it will be an enjoyable and spooky read.

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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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Review: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

Rating: 4 Stars

In The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Neil Gaiman shows us the world as seen by a 7-year-old boy. The world that children live in is not the same as our adult world. Their realities are different from our realities, and it is a fact that as they grow older, they forget the perspective their childhood gave to their world.

An older man comes back to his hometown to attend a funeral and decides to take a walk down memory lane. Something seems to pull him towards the home where he lived for seven years, from age 5 till age 12. He knows that the house had been demolished a long time back, and that he has no fond memories with that place.

As he passes the house, he realizes that his destination is actually the farmhouse at the end of the lane, where he had become friends with a girl when he was 7 years old. Lettie Hempstock was 11, and the two had become best friends immediately. When he reaches the house he starts remembering things that he has forgotten a long time ago. He is met by Lettie’s mother (or grandmother, he’s not sure) who tells him that she remember him. He asks if he can sit by their pond and reminisce about the past.

As soon as he sits down by the pond, he remembers that Lettie used to call the pond an ocean, and this recollection opens the floodgates of memory long forgotten. Here begins the story of how a 7-year-old boy was saved by an 11-year-old girl, in more ways than one.

Gaiman’s stories are always fairy tales, with elements of magic and surreal settings, but at the same time everything can also be a metaphor for something real. This book is no different. Told from a child’s perspective, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is mostly about magic and other-worldly creatures. But it is also about how children are always aware of what is going on around them, even if adults choose to think otherwise.

A child’s mind can imagine great things, and at the same time it is capable of accepting truths that adults might dismiss as being fanciful or imaginary. This book leaves the differentiation of real from imaginary on the reader, and takes you on a ride into the mind of a child as remembered by an old man. In the end, memory is fleeting and what we once thought was unforgettable becomes a figment of our imagination as we age.

Once again, I find myself lost in Neil Gaiman’s brilliant imagery, and cannot help but think of him as one of the best writers of our time.

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Review: The Broken Girls

Rating: 3.75 Stars

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is a chilling thriller with a paranormal twist. The central character is a boarding school for girls that used to take in troubled girls who no one wanted, but that has now become an abandoned, decrepit building after being shut down in 1979

In 1950, four roommates became each other’s friends and secret keepers at Idlewild Hall, a depressing boarding school, rumoured to be haunted. All four of them came from different backgrounds, but they formed strong bonds, helping each other survive in a hopeless place. Then one night, it all changes as one of them vanishes and is presumed to have run away.

In 1994, a girl was murdered, her dead body left on the hockey field of the deteriorating ruins of Idlewild Hall. The murder sent a shock through the small Vermont town, resulting in the conviction of the girl’s boyfriend.

Twenty years later, the dead girl’s sister, Fiona, now a journalist, still feels the echoes of the crime that destroyed her family. Try as she might, she is unable to let go of a feeling that something was not right with the investigation at the time of her sister’s murder. This obsession with the past has made it impossible for her to hold on to relationships or lead a normal life.

When Fiona finds out that someone is planning to restore Idlewild Hall and reopen it as a boarding school for girls, she thinks it is the perfect opportunity to write a story about the place, and maybe it will help exorcise her ghosts. But an unexpected discovery leads her to a strange case from the past, and things become more and more entangled as she tries to find out about the history of Idlewild Hall.

The tone of this novel is dark from the beginning. There is nothing light-hearted about this story. From the first page, you know that something dark and sinister is afoot. The scenes from the narrative of the past are deliciously eery, and you can feel a chill while reading about the school in 1950. The four girls are as different from each other as can be, and you can feel their frustration at what is predominantly a patriarchal society where they have to work towards the ultimate goal of acquiring a husband.

The parts about the present are not so impressive. Though Fiona’s character is interesting, and you feel her pain and unease, her interactions with others are rushed, the various other characters seeming one-dimensional and bland. The information that Fiona acquires seems to easy to get, and one thinks that why did it take her 20 years to get to this place.

The climax too was a bit disappointing, and over too quickly. With 300 plus pages, this is by no means a small book, but it is St. James’s gripping writing that made me want more details. The scenes where there is an element of the paranormal are quite spooky and scary, and I just wanted more of the same. The main female characters are all strong and real. I just wish the male characters were the same.

This book is more for fans of spooky books than those of mysteries and crime solving. Still, I had a good time reading it and would rate it higher than average.

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