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review, Thriller |
Series: Book of The Eleanor Raven Series
Author: Karen Long
Characters: DI Eleanor Raven, Laurence Whitefoot, Lieutenant Eddie Myles, Dr. Seb Blackmore
Disclaimer: Thanks to the Author for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins with DI Eleanor Raven undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to she certify that she was fit enough to get back into her groove. She and her partner Laurence Whitefoot are called in to attend a domestic hostage situation that involves an army veteran, where they find a human hand. What they find in the autopsy reports is more than they bargained for, and to make matters worse for them the military is stopping them from digging deeper.
Soon the city has another weird case where dead carcasses of dogs are strung in a boiler room. And add a few more dead bodies, and the Toronto DI Raven has too many things on her plate. Are they all interconnected or is it just her mind that plays tricks on her? Her visits to her psychiatrists are becoming more and more upsetting, and she begins to be wary of him as well. As the body count keeps increasing, her ability is questioned, and it is a race against time.
The only way for to solve the murders is to do what she has been fighting against. Re-visit the demons from the past. Will she be able to conquer her inner conflicts and find the killer on time? Spoiler: she does. Read on The Cold Room
to find out more.
The Cold Room is the third part of the The Eleanor Raven Series
. I have not read the previous works, yet the book worked its charm on me even as a standalone. The writing is tight and makes sure that you would not want to skim down any line. Though there were quite a few cliches, they did not hamper my interest in the story.
I didn’t find any character likable at all, especially DI Raven. I found her too annoying and reckless for my taste. The other characters, which were too many, were not developed to their potential. But that is understandable given the pace that book was set in. And of course, they might have been already dealt with in the previous parts.
I liked that the author doesn’t dumb it down for the readers by explaining every clue and boring them to death. She understands that the readers of this genre would be able to catch up with her thread of thoughts without too many explanations. That being said, wait to be surprised at the end.
You might have read quite a number of thrillers and DI stories. While the premise of this book may not surprise you, the crisp writing and the killer storyline would. If you are looking to read a fast paced thriller that would keep you reading through the midnight, The Cold Room could be very well your choice.
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Thriller |
What do you do when you are on a fully paid vacation at the Caribbeans, especially if you are escaping the long, dreary, cold England weather? Swim a bit, enjoy the sun, meet the locales? Nah, if you are Miss Marple in A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie.
About A Caribbean Mystery
Book Name: A Caribbean Mystery
Series: Miss Marple #10
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Fiction Thriller
Characters: Miss Jane Marple, Major Palgrove, Mr Rafiel, Colonel Edward and Mrs Evelyn Hillingdon, Gregory and Mrs Lucky Dyson
Setting: Caribbeans
Plot Summary of A Caribbean Mystery
She is the elderly sleuth the local busybody of St Meads, England who is sent on a Caribbean vacation by her well meaning nephew. She is surrounded by interesting group of people consisting of old tycoons, bird watchers, secretaries and even masseurs. But all could not be that swell, can they? It so seemed, until the old Major Palgrove dies out of an innocent heart attack.
Miss Marple finds his sudden death very suspicious because just the day before he died the Major was telling her about a murderer in their presence. But of course, why would anyone believe a sweet, old lady’s imaginations? Things turn more ghastly when the body counts keep increasing and every one of the guests had something to hide from the other. Read more to find how Miss Marple solves the mystery, in her own style in A Caribbean Mystery.
Book review of A Caribbean Mystery
Very far from the bests of Agatha Christie, A Caribbean Mystery has a pleasant change of the ambiance from the cold England and the usual local bodies that Miss Marple talks about. Though it is a quick read and I normally like Christie’s book, this one was too plain to my liking. I had to stop at different places, despite the colorful characters. I did not even bother to try to guess the murderer.
As usual I loved the repartee of Miss Marple with one of the characters, here Mr Rafiel, an old business tycoon, who is simply rude and too blunt for anyone. Quite a contrast to our Miss Marple, who is genteel and soft spoken. Well, that is the only part of the story that kept me going, and unfortunately it was not long enough.
Bottom-line
Worth a quick read, if you like Miss Marple series and Agatha Christie.
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review, Thriller |
While the entire blogger fraternity is going crazy with their resolutions to read more and blog more, it has been almost a month since I have read anything, much longer since I reviewed.
Though it is unlike me to not pick a book for such a long time, especially when I have quite a backlog with the review copies, it has been somehow difficult to do just that. One can easily blame it to the fact that I have moved country just now, but the truth is I was on a reading slump. Or still I am. How does one simply get out of a reading slump?
Search inspiration from other readers? Check.
Sweet talk yourself into getting more books? Check.
Take a break? Check and (WARNING) that doesn’t work at all.
Well, an almost threatening message from the author / friend might just as well work, at least in my case it did.
About the book
Book Name: India Shining, the Novel
Author: Alcatraz Dey
Genre: Fiction Thriller
Settings: India
Disclaimer: Thanks to the author for the free copy of the book. I also had the opportunity to beta read this fast paced thriller.
The Plot
The story starts with the suicidal note of Shantanu, a lovesick 31 year old and his nostalgic thoughts about the winter morning when he fell in love with Nishi about 17 years ago, who has a frightening profession being a mercenary, who works for an organization against corruption called FUCK (you heard it right!).
Meanwhile Nishi is stuck at the prison for 10 years for a murder she didn’t commit and loathing Shantanu for he was the reason for all her troubles latest of which is being taken out on parole (I assume) for seeing her dying husband. They unravel that Nishi’s father was a scientist on a top secret a mission before he disappeared and the key to it laid somewhere amidst Nishi, her trident tattoo and her very few memories related to her dad.
Throw in to the pile are attempts to save Delhi, a scientist admitted in an mental asylum, depletion of ozone layer and of course corrupt bureaucrats at many levels and you get a blockbuster novel in your hand.
My thoughts
The pace of the story and writing is racy enough to hold the attention of the reader, despite the length of the novel and complex twists in the story. The plot never sags at any point and keeps the grip on the reader until the very last moment. The beginning of the novel intrigued, especially the Kolkatta stadium débâcle and Shantanu trying to kill himself too soon into the story.
The novel as such is event based and all the characters are as equally treated as the main protagonists. In fact I ended up falling in love with a non protagonist, John. For example, John’s support to different players at different times was much more likeable because his plight and decisions were understandable even though there were not too many explicit dialogues about them. That is what is missing with the protagonists.
The story alternates between several time-lines and causes confusion at many places, especially at the beginning. A mention of the time period at the beginning of the chapters might have helped. There are too many characters and too many story lines that ran parallel but without a time-line it is difficult to be sure if they were indeed running parallel.
There are places where the novel might seem to be single dimensional in terms of character building. There are a few emotions and traits of the characters being repeated too often (she was strong, she was the rock of Gibraltar, Shantanu is staring at Nishi’s eyes) but their other attributes are ignored (relevant ones).
It is quite hard to believe that the guy who kills for a profession could or would kill himself for a girl whose existence he is not sure about. His reason to die is not very strong, for lack of show of his remorse towards his profession or despair on losing his girl or mixture of both. He is portrayed to be a veteran at his job but he behaves like a headless chicken when William is killed.
Despite there being so many characters, and a twist at every chapter end (sometimes, too many for my taste) to lead on the reader, the fact that the whole story stayed put together in one piece speaks loud about the clarity of the theme in the author’s mind.
He knows to keep the suspense till the end, despite a very filmy finish and epilogue, which might work for the target audience. There are very few loopholes in the story, and those maybe only due to the aforementioned time line confusion.
Bottom line
It is not an easy read but surely will reach the targeted YA and movie lovers alike. You must catch it if you are into racy action packed thrillers.
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review, Thriller |
If you had been following my blog for a while now, you would know how excited I become when I get my hands on a serial killer, erm I mean a book on serial killers. The blurb of the book was so intriguing promising me tale with ‘a serial killer, an execution and an after life with a dosage on morality’, how could I pass it up?
If death is all you can sentence a killer of 28 women to, especially when he feels no remorse towards his deeds, would you be satisfied if one of the victims was your family? What could be a worse punishment than death itself?
If every child with a bad home doesn’t turn into a killer, what makes the notorious few to turn into one? Rather, how much does a broken family and abused childhood affect a killer’s mindBook Name: Hellbound: The Tally Man
Author: David McCaffrey
Characters: Obadiah Stark, Joe O Connell, Eva, Eve
The story begins with The Tally Man, Stark being executed by lethal injection at the high security prison at ADX Absolom in front of his victim’s families and the media. He feels no regrets, even till the last moment of his life, rather looks forward to whatever that may lay ahead for him. Joe O Connell, a reporter and follower of Obdiah Stark’s life, investigates the execution when he hears that there might be a foul play.
Stark ‘awakes’ after his execution and is shocked to find he lives at his hometown with a loving wife and affectionate daughter. Being true to his evil self, he goes around the town on murder spree only to be shot down by the cops. Much to his and the reader’s surprise, he wakes up the next day only to realize that the previous day wasn’t real after all. While his family seem to have reasoned his mood swings and confusions to the effects of his medications, he continues to feed his ego by rampaging around killing people only to find that the days to be restored.
There are three Point of Views (PoV) in the story; the afterlife of Stark with his family, Joe’s investigation about the irregularities related to Stark’s death in real time and the fact sheet based on the Dr. John Franklin’s psychological profiling of Stark right from his childhood. Though there were places I felt the shift among the PoVs little abrupt and disturbing the flow of the narration, they bring together the past, the present and the future of Stark side by side.
I am not sure what to feel about Stark. Should I say he was intriguing but that would be saying too little. I don’t relate to him per se, but how can I not feel awed at someone who knocks off people in such a gory fashion then walks into a bar and asks a mug of beer. Wow, now that is style. He preys on other’s lives not because he hates them nor for other petty reasons like vengeance, money or lust, he kills because he can.
He loves to feel the power over the victim, it gives him a high. And even after the job done he doesn’t feel a remorse, rather just moves on with his life. To say he was the evil personified would be closer to truth, and that is why I like him. In short, the best serial killer I have read. Did I mention he had a tattoo of his tally of 28 murders? Sigh, what is wrong with me. I would love to read more about him. Oh wait there is more to the series? I am picking them up for sure.
I should start with I am in love with the author’s writing style, dictum and everything that I could think of. I have been raving about the book and its author to everyone who would listen to, from the day I started reading the novel. I can not believe that Hellbound
is the debut of the author David McCaffrey, I am sure to follow his other works.
I clearly was hooked from the right beginning and the plot twists kept my pulse rising right till the last page. And the final twist made me go ‘Woah, did I read that right?’ Well played, David! For someone who reads too much about killers for her own good, Hellbound: The Tally Man 
has been the best read in 2016 (yet).
