A modern day Agatha Christie-sque setting and an unwanted guest to sleuth – was The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley be as good as her previous books. I loved Foley’s other two books, what about her third? Read my book review of The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley to find out.
When Jess invites herself to her brother Ben’s luxurious apartment, Ben is missing. She was sure he would help her as he did when they were younger, but sure he wouldn’t disappear, would he?
Jess doesn’t know about the adult Ben’s life, nor how he is able to afford this apartment itself. 12 Rue des Amants, a beautiful 5 storey building with a tenant on each floor, is a character by itself.
A nice guy, a socialite, an alcoholic, a reserved student and the concierge – who is a friend and who is lying? Where is Ben and what happened to him? Read The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley to find out.
Book review of The Paris Apartment
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is a classic whodunnit with a bunch of questionable characters and a motivated sleuth on the trail. The setting of the house was intriguing and added a sense of doom and eerie to it. It reminded me a lot of “Only Murders in the Building” (which absolutely loved it).
I have read Foley’s previous books and I really had big hopes for this one, as a big fan of closed-room mysteries. I enjoyed how the layers unraveled, even though some elements were unnecessary to the story and were added just to create a distraction.
While the slow pace put me off in places, I think it worked out well. I was not particularly enthused by Jess and her attempt to solve the mystery. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, often. It felt a little more of thriller than a mystery to me, especially when she was getting any better at solving anything.
I found the multiple person narrative with 6 people tiresome at places, and the book could have been shorter by at least 20 pages. Maybe it was just me, I was getting restless after big twist for the book to end.
What worked for me
I loved the setting and the unlikable cast of tenants. It was eerie and sinister.
While I didn’t like any of the characters, they were well developed and intriguing.
The multiple
What may have been better
I felt it was more of a thriller than a mystery.
The pace dragged a bit, compared to what is usual for the genre.
Content warning
Murder, Suicide, Alcoholism, Cheating, Domestic violence, Sex work, Sexual harassment (mentioned), Self-harm (mentioned)
Bottom line
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is a slow paced, claustrophobic whodunnit. It is different from Foley’s other books in terms of writing and narrative style, but it mostly works. If you like “Only Murders in the Building” you might enjoy The Paris Apartment.
Have you read The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley? What other contemporary murder mysteries worked well for you? Have you read anything else from Foley? Let us talk.
Do you trust blurbs that compare book titles? Do they work for you? Lies We Bury by Elle Marr was recommended for the readers of “Room”. Read my book review of Lies We Bury to Elle Marr to know if it worked for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and Megan Beatie Communications for the free e-copy.
Plot Summary of Lies We Bury
It has been twenty years since Marissa escaped the only place she had known – a basement prison. She reinvented herself a couple of times and now with a new name, a new city and a job as a freelance photographer she moves back to Portland. She decides she has moved on from the trauma, finally.
But it is all happening again.
When she has to cover a series murders in the underground tunnels of Portland, it is too close to home. And to make matters worse, she keeps finding small trinkets from her distant past all over the crime scene.
Is someone trying to frame her as the murderer? Or is it a weird copycat who is commemorating the release of her imprisoner? Read Lies We Bury by Elle Marr to know more.
Book review of Lies We Bury
I started reading Lies We Bury by Elle Marr without much expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
With two alternating timelines (present day and from twenty years ago), Lies We Bury follows Claire trying to navigate her adult life while completely ignoring her past trauma.
Claire is not particularly likeable. Her actions were not well thought through, especially when it is apparent that she is wrong. Well, that could be off putting and annoying after a while.
I am a sucker for books with psycho/serial killers, Lies We Bury seems to have it all. It made me guess and then second guess every person. Trust me, there were many out there. Though the ending may have been duller than what I had in my mind, it made sense. No complaints there.
What worked for me
Reading the past based on a seven year old’s version made it all the more real.
I liked the broken and dysfunctional relationship that Claire has with each of her sisters and the love for all the mothers.
What may have been better
The main lead may get on the nerves with her bad decisions and may be off putting for a few.
Content warning
Physical and sexual abuse, imprisonment,
Bottom line
Lies We Bury by Elle Marr is fast paced thriller that will keep you hooked till the end. Yes, it is similar to “Room” but with a darker future. I will definitely be on the look out for the author’s other books.
I had been meaning to pick up My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite for a long time now, having seen the countless reviews and posts on bookstagram. But after hearing Ms Braithwaite speak (virtually) at the Emirates Litfest this year, I grabbed it immediately. Read my book review of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite to know more.
Set in the modern day Lagos, Nigeria, My Sister, the Serial Killer opens with Korede helping her younger sister Ayoola get rid of her latest victim’s body. Ayoola tells her it was a self defense, but Korede is not convinced entirely.
Korede, a sincere nurse with a crush on her coworker, the handsome doctor Tade. Her only “friend” is a patient in comatose, to whom she confides about her suspicions about her self absorbed sister, who might be a serial killer.
What happens when Ayoola and Tade fall for each other, and her friend who knows all her deep and dark secrets, is no longer in a comatose? You have to read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite to know more.
Book review of My Sister, the Serial Killer
I loved the plot and while not being original, I wanted to know more about the sisters and what happens to them. There are some flashbacks that talk about their childhood and their late father.
The chapters are quite short and you can race through the book in a sitting, like I did. But the short chapters made it seem like it was rushed and underdeveloped at places.
The small snippets about their abusive tyrannical father, which offer some glimpse into why Ayoola might be doing whatever she does. And the fact that we may never know the full story made it more interesting for me.
I wanted to like Korede, but unfortunately she seemed too passive about her situation and life in general. On the other hand, I loved reading the social commentary about the modern day Lagos and their inept and corrupt police force.
[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”cl9hemzmnn” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”0″]My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is my first book set in Nigeria, is there any other Nigerian books that I should be reading?[/wpdiscuz-feedback]
What worked for me
I loved the premise and it had me hooked from the first sentence.
The short chapters with cliffhangers got me reading the entire book in a single sitting. My Sister, the Serial Killer is a perfect popcorn fun read!
I loved reading about Lagos and Nigerian lifestyle and I will definitely watch out for the author as well.
What may have been better
The short chapters made it seem like there was more to the story and it was rushed through.
I wanted to like characters but sadly none of them had any character development to start with.
Content warning
Parental abuse
Bottom line
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is a short fun read that may have not lived up to the hype for me. Nevertheless, it is still a good thrilling read that you can breeze through in an afternoon.
Have you read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite? How did you like it? Do share me your book review if you have written one. Also recommend other African literature that I should be reading.
It has been a while since I posted a review of a book as soon as I finished reading it. But today is one of those days! I finished reading The Big Four by Agatha Christie just yesterday and I spent more than half a day today talking about it and here I am ready to write a review.
Is that a good thing or not? Read ahead to know more.
We are used to reading and loving the various murder mysteries set in London or other British cities and suburban towns. But with The Big Four, Christie sets us for a crime thriller with not one but four international super villains aiming at world domination against the grey cells of our Poirot and his dear friend Hastings.
A random guy dies in Poirot’s apartment, which ends to be a foul play. This sets the duo on wild goose chase against The Big Four – A Chinese mastermind, a French woman, an American and a mysterious number four, who always seem to be a step ahead of our dear detective.
How does he stop them from reaching their evil goal forms the rest of the story in The Big Four!
Book review of the Big Four
The Classics N Christie has been reading Agatha Christie’s books based on the publication dates. This has been very helpful for me to understand the different writing and story telling styles that the author has been trying. I wish I could The Big Four is one of those attempts, that kinda bombed for me.
Earlier in the Murder on the Links, Dame Christie tried her hand at romance in mystery novels which I didn’t enjoy much. I enjoyed her take on spy thriller even lesser. I just can’t wait to get back to cozy little town mysteries from her.
Things that worked for me
The Big Four reminded me a lot of Sherlock vs Moriarty (I love that).
It may work better if you pick the book when you are in the mood to read a spy thriller.
Things that didn’t work for me
The Big Four seemed like a bundle of short mysteries badly woven together, which I found out to be true later. The Big Four was indeed published as a twelve short mysteries during a particularly bad time of Christie personally.
There are too many named characters and most of them do not even reappear after a scene or two.
I don’t like how Poirot somehow turned into James Bond at the end of the book. That is so not our Belgian detective.
Bottom-line
If you are looking to read a typical Christie or Poirot’s mystery you will be disappointed. I never thought I would read Christie’s book that would disappoint me as much, but here it is.
Have you read this one? What is the best murder mystery you have read till date? How do you handle disappointment about your favorite author’s work? Let us talk.
The Woman in the Window is a book that everyone I know has read and reviewed already. So when my book club chose this one as our March BOTM I knew I had to read it. And having been focusing on the classics until now this year, I loved the chance of reading a contemporary thriller. So let us check how that turned out shall we?
Dr. Anna Fox, a child psychologist suffering from agoraphobia, has not left her house for almost a year now. Her daily routine includes drinking a lot of wine while being highly medicated, watching retro movies and peeking into her neighbours’ house through their respective windows. Her life is fairly “usual” until the Russells move into her neighbourhood.
Soon they become her new obsession, especially their young son, Ethan. But when she sees something untoward happening at her nieghbours’ she has no grounds to report about it. How she proves that she did not hallucinate and finds out the culprit form the rest of the story in The Woman in the Window.
My initial thoughts
Though a little long winded in the first half of the book, The Woman in the Window kept me fully entertained. The author takes a lot of time to get us into her world but once you get past the draggy first 100 pages, the pace fastens and the book turns unputdownable.
If you have read as many thrillers as I have done or more, you will find the twists coming a mile away. Anna is not a protagonist that I liked or related to, but I think that is what the author was going for – an unreliable narrator with ‘the whole should I believe or not’ vibe. And maybe that is why there are a lot of comparison with the Girl on the Train, and rightly so.
Things that worked for me
Despite the predictability, The Woman in the Window kept me hooked with its short chapters and fast pace (the second part).
There are quite a number of twists to keep the readers on their toes sprinkled all through the book.
Things that didn’t work for me
As I already mentioned, The Woman in the Window is totally predictable and it takes quite a while for something to actually happen.
I didn’t relate to any of the characters in the story, and the narrator was borderline annoying.
Bottom-line
The Woman in the Window might be old wine in a new bottle but will keep you occupied in a pinch, and might even turn to be unputdownable. With the movie version coming before the end of the year, you might wanna read it already.
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Let us chat
Have you read this one? Does predictability spoil the fun for you in a thriller? If not, what turns you off in a thriller? Let us talk.
