Showing posts with label 2013 Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013 Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge. Show all posts
The Bat by Jo Nesbo
Melody
ISBN-13: 978-0099520320
Publication: July 2013
Publisher: Vintage
Format: Trade Paperback, 432 pgs
Source: Personal Library
First of all, Happy New Year to you! I hope last year is a great reading year for many of you; as for me I've to say my reading has been slow for last year so I'm hoping that this year will be a better one. 

 Back to the subject, I'm sure many readers have heard of Jo Nesbo, especially for those who are avid readers of crime thrillers. As for me, I'm ashamed to say I've not read his books yet but it's always better to read it now than never, right? So I picked up the first Harry Hole thriller, The Bat. There are a series featuring this smart investigator and I've heard so many good things about this series so I knew I'd be in for a good (reading) ride. 

 Harry Hole is with the Norwegian police force and he is asked to investigate a murder case together with the Australian's police. The victim, Inger Holter was a Norwegian girl residing in Australia and the Australian's police thought that Harry Hole would be able to provide some assistance. Harry is being introduced and partnered to Andrew Kensington, an Australian Aborigine and homicide detective for the Sydney's Police. Despite the difference of their culture, environment and other issues, Harry acquainted with Andrew in no time and they started to share bits of their history aside from information surrounding the case. 

 Unlike my previous reviews, I'd not delve into the synopsis so this time around I'd share what I think of this book instead. From the beginning, Inger Holter's boyfriend is approached as a huge suspect, considering he was a local drug lord and it seemed that they had had a huge disagreement prior to Inger's murder. However, as the story goes, it soon delves into Australian aboriginal culture and folklore which I felt pull my attention away from the plot itself. Don't get me wrong, I think it is always interesting to learn more about other cultures and history, but I just felt the thrill of the investigation part isn't strong enough. However, I liked it that the characterization of Harry Hole isn't a perfect one; he was flawed and he has a past which makes him think twice about drinking and I think that makes him more human rather than just a fictional hero. Plus, I think a perfect hero is simply boring, ha. 

Having said all that, I will continue to read the rest of Jo Nesbo's books, since I have a few of them sitting on my shelf. And I have a few blogger friends who have raved about them so that concludes everything. 
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The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura
Melody

























ISBN-13: 9781472106957
Publisher: Corsair
Publication Date: May 2013
Format: Paperback, 224 pgs
Source: Personal Library
Translated from the Japanese by Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates


I have to say when I first saw this book, I was attracted to its bright cover and the cover quote by Natsuo Kirino (author of Out) as this book being "fascinating". Fascinated by the theme and Natsuo Kirino's quote of course, I picked up this book with high expectations, since the back cover stated that this book is taut, atmospheric and cool and will steal my breath away.

Told from a first person perspective, The Thief is a sad story about a seasoned pickpocket named Nishimura. A loner with no family, friends or any other connections, he weaves through the crowded streets of Tokyo in search of potential targets. His targets are usually the rich; and his stealing skills are so good that stealing becomes a natural to him. At times, he does it with needs; and there are other times he does it subconsciously. No matter the circumstances, he always never get caught. Just when he wonders about his pathetic life, he encounters a young boy by chance. Like him, the young boy steals stuff but that is because he is being instructed by his mother. Raised in a single-parent family, the young boy lacks the care and love by his mother and is often abused by his mother's 'boyfriends'. 

Nishimura couldn't help but feel sorry for the young boy, and since then they became friends and even teach him a few tips on stealing. It is also about this time that Nishimura's past catches up with him when his old partner-in-crime, Ishikawa reappears and offers him a job he can't refuse. The mastermind behind the job is a gang leader named Kizaki, and what he wants Ishikawa and Nishimura to do is to break into a wealthy old man's house and raid his safe. Thereafter, they would get some shares of what they have stolen and their task would be accomplished. 

However, that is not what Kizaki has in mind from the start. After Ishikawa and Nishimura have done their job, they are shocked to find that the old man they had robbed is no ordinary man and most of all, he is eventually killed by Kizaki's men. 

Nishimura soon finds himself caught in a web when Kizaki offers him another three tasks and that he couldn't say no. What's worse, should he fail the tasks, Nishimura would be a dead man. 

As a noir thriller, I would say that The Thief has great characterisations and readers could feel the cynicism and the moral ambiguity about today's society. As much as I find the plot tense and engaging, what disappointed me is the ambiguous ending which I feel is somewhat anti-climactic. Still, it is a thought-provoking read and it had allowed me to get a glimpse of how a pickpocket's life is. 
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The Never List by Koethi Zan
Melody

























ISBN-13: 9781846556562
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Publication Date: August 2013
Format: Trade Paperback, 303 pgs
Source: Personal Library


Wow. It seems like a long time since I have updated this blog. I hope everyone is doing well, and not to mention reading lots of good books. My reading has been slow; but that doesn't mean that I have stopped reading altogether. 

The latest book I read, The Never List by Koethi Zan, is a  psychological thriller and I have to say it is a good read for a debut. 

This story is about four girls who were held captive by a sadistic psychopath and how they decided to seek and unveil the truth after Professor Jack Derber, their captor who abducted them is up for parole and their testimony is a crucial decision if he is to be released from the prison or not. 

Sarah and Jennifer are best friends and they took their freedom and life seriously so much so that they would spend years methodically studying and documenting every danger that could possibly ever touch them - avalanches, disease, earthquakes, car crashes, sociopaths and wild animals. They believed their paranoia would protect them and at least prevent them from happening. They don't believe in fate and think that it is a word used when one is not prepared; fate is a weak man's crutch in their opinions. Not only that, they also made a Never List which they would jot down and remind themselves never to do this or that; such as never park more than six spaces from your destination, never trust a stranger with a flat tire . . . stuff like that. 

However, bad things do happen no matter how careful one is and that happened to Sarah and Jennifer when they thought they are safe enough to attend a private party off campus since they had called for a transportation service to bring them back. Unfortunately, they had somewhat let their guards down and hopped into a black sedan when it arrived. After all, they had called for the service and everything would be fine, right? 

Their nightmares began when they realised they were kept in a dark cellar and they weren't alone. There were two other girls who were there before them and they were chained to the walls. The four of them were locked down there for more than three years, and Jennifer's fate still remains a mystery to Sarah even though the three of them had escaped from the devil's grasp. 

Sarah, one of the survivors and the leading heroine of this book, wants to find out what had happened to Jennifer after all those years and she planned to work with the other two survivors who had shared her nightmare. What Sarah had discovered along her journey would shock and remains an unforgettable memory for the rest of her life, but that wouldn't stopped her from exploring no matter how bad or shocking the truth is; even if it meant she has to enter into that dark cellar, again. 

Though The Never List is never a pleasant read in regards to the unfortunate events that happened to the victims, but what made this a good read is the author's attempt in keeping this reader captivated through her writing style as well as the intense plot which entitled me to question the captor's motive in the end. After all, he was a respected professor teaching at a college campus. Certainly there must be some reason for him to commit such hideous crimes, and this is where part of this story is about. . . for Sarah and the readers to find out the captor's motive and the other part about Sarah's frightening experience of being a captive and finding out the truth. All in all a great read for a debut author, and I would definitely look out for her next releases. 
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Poppet by Mo Hayder
Melody
ISBN-13: 978-0593068168
Publisher: Bantam Press
Publication Date: March 2013
Format: Tradesize paperback, 384 pgs
Source: Personal Library

poppet  / [ˈpɒp.ɪt] 
 
— n
1. a term of affection for a small child or sweetheart.
2. a small human figure used in sorcery or witchcraft.



Anyone who follow my blog would know that I am a huge fan of Mo Hayder. Whenever she has a new release, I'd rush out to get it and read it the moment I receive it. No kidding. So when I knew her latest Jack Caffery thriller, Poppet, is out, I was so excited that I don't even mind the image of the cover, no matter how creepy it looks. 

If you have read Mo Hayder's Jack Caffery's series, you'd know that Jack is a brilliant detective of the Bristol Major Crime Investigation Team. What I like about him is his overwhelmed determination in solving the crimes, even though he can be stubborn and don't play by the rules at times. He has his flaws and he knew it but that doesn't diminish my admiration of him; as I feel this has made him to appear more real and human rather than a perfect superhero. 

In this latest 6th Jack Caffery Series, Mo Hayder brings her readers to Beechway High Secure Unit, a psychiatric hospital. One of the things I like about reading settings that took place in an asylum is one could never expect what would happen in there. The patients are not reliable and plus the high secured and confidentiality state of the place, you just wouldn't know who to believe. Back to Beechway, a hallucination spread like a virus as some of the patients believe The Maude is back. The Maude is believed to be a little figure which dressed in a nightgown and it'd straddle on one's chest. The terror then heightened to a point when a series of unexplained episodes of self-harm among the ward's patients and especially after the death of a patient. Overnight shift staff began to call in sick and this made AJ LeGrande, the senior nursing coordinator at Beechway very perplexed and not to mention curious. 

On the other end, Jack Caffery is looking at a missing person case. Jacqui Kitson is pressing the police to search for her daughter, Misty, a model who disappeared some time ago. It is not that Jack is incompetent, in fact he knew some of the facts about Misty's disappearance but he has chose to keep it silent as he is trying to protect someone. However, that feeling has slowly gnawed at his conscience and now he wants to convince that person to own up. 

Jack later is assigned to the Beechway's case after the psychiatric hospital had released a patient in error. According to the records, Isaac Handel brutally killed his parents when he was younger and they are worried what he would do outside given his unstable (and murderous) condition. Suddenly, the hysteria at the hospital doesn't seem to be simple any more and they are wondering if it is supernatural or simply a person's deed. 

Mo Hayder is a master in crafting chilling and well-plotted thrillers and I'm glad to say Poppet is no exceptional. In this thriller, she continues her trademark in creating an intense and haunting story of what happened in Beechway's asylum and how Jack resolved the case as well as his struggles in dealing with the case of Misty's disappearance. Though the asylum case is closed, I can't wait to find out what happens to Misty's disappearance case as there is a hint of something is going to happen at the ending. I hope Mo Hayder will write quickly and have her next book release soon! 
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Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
Melody

























ISBN-13: 9780062197269
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: January 2013
Format: Trade paperback, 410 pgs
Source: Personal Library


When Catherine Bailey first met Lee Brightman in a bar in 2003, he gave her the impression that he was a handsome and charming man. Never mind that he was a bit mysterious, as Catherine herself liked meeting people and she liked having fun. She was flattered and couldn't believe her luck when Lee expressed his interest in her. All her girlfriends are envious of her and they think that Lee is too perfect to be true, but nevertheless they are all happy for her. 

However, things began to turn ugly the more Catherine got to know Lee. He was no longer the charismatic man she knew when she first met him, instead he had begun to show his ugly side - jealousy, controlling and worst of all, abusive. He isolated her and controlled every aspect of her life; Catherine tried to escape from him but he always seemed to be a step in front of her. After all, he was a police officer and who would believe what she said? 

Despite her hopelessness, Catherine did manage to escape from Lee eventually and he was given a three-year sentence in jail. Still, Cathy Bailey has always lived in fear and she has turned from a fun loving woman to a frightened obsessive-compulsive woman. She couldn't trust people and she always has this urge to check on her apartment and ensures that all the windows and doors are locked, six times. She has been doing these for three years since Lee had been put to jail. Then, her life changes when an attractive psychologist, Stuart Richardson, moves into the apartment. Her new tenant not only befriends her and encourages her to confront her fears but he has also fallen in love with her. Through him, Cathy slowly recovers from all the trauma but what she fears most has turned to reality when she learnt that Lee is released from jail and he is going to re-enter her life, again. 

Told in Cathy's perspective and alternated between Year 2003 and 2007, author Elizabeth Haynes gave her readers the detailed and harrowing account of Cathy Bailey's encounter with Lee Brightman and how she strived to escape from his grasp, both before and after his sentence. 

Although the plot may not be new, I find the success and the best part of this book is the writing style and how cleverly the story is being crafted. There was never a dull moment as I found myself being sucked into Catherine/Cathy's world of horrors. I felt the emotions she experienced through Elizabeth Haynes' skilful writing, from her fear in Lee to the love she receives from Stuart. Just when you thought there is nothing but fear and horror in this story, Stuart is like a breath of fresh air as he offers not only encouragement and hope to Cathy but he also allows us to trust that there are such kind and helpful people like him around us. 

Into the Darkest Corner is Elizabeth Haynes' first novel and I am very excited to learn that her next novel, Dark Tide, is already released this month. Needless to say, I have already added that title to my To-buy list and I can't wait to find out what is in store in that story. 
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Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino
Melody
ISBN-13: 9781408704196
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication Date: February 2013
Format: Trade paperback, 384 pgs
Source: Personal Library
Translated by: Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander




After reading Keigo Higashino's phenomenon The Devotion of Suspect X last year, I was very impressed with the author's writing style and the complexity of the plot and of course, not to mention the introduction of his two main characters, Detective Kusanagi and the physics professor Manabu Yukawa ("Detective Galileo"), whom the latter plays an important role in solving the mysteries. 

In Salvation of a Saint, the author had took on a different approach and instead of a whodunit crime thriller, he had crafted a brilliant howdunit in which he challenged the detectives as well as his readers on how the crime was committed by the clever killer.   

Yoshitaka Mashiba is a CEO of an information technology company. Aside from knowing how to run a business, he also knows he wants a child. He had told himself that if his wife, Ayane, couldn't give him a child after a year of marriage, he would divorce her and move on to other women who could give him a child. Ayane knew about this 'agreement' but she didn't expect that her husband would fulfill this agreement one day. 

Hiromi Wakayama is Ayane's apprentice quilter and both of them teach tapestry classes conducted by Ayane. Ayane suspects her husband and Hiromi have an affair but she chose to remain silent. She told her husband she would go to Sapporo to visit her parents, and Yoshitaka didn't think much of her decision to visit, after all his mind is all on Hiromi and how they would spend the weekend together. However, their happiness is cut short when Hiromi discovered that Yoshitaka is dead in his house after he didn't turn up on a date as arranged. Ayane had given Hiromi the house key and that is how Hiromi could get into their house; that is how she trusts Hiromi but does she? 

After inspection, the Tokyo police determined that Yoshitaka is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee. Ayane immediately becomes their prime suspect, but how could she when she is hundred of miles away in Sapporo during Yoshitaka's death? Would it be Hiromi then? After all, she seems to be the last person to be with Yoshitaka but how could it be when she is in love with Yoshitaka, and to top if off she is pregnant with his child.

Detective Kusanagi tries very hard to solve the puzzling pieces, but he also finds himself being smitten by Ayane and he refuses to think that Ayane is connected with the crime. With his superior's judgement slightly clouded, Kaoru Utsumi, the junior detective is convinced that Ayane is the murderer and she will try every means to unravel this mystery, including calling upon Professor Manabu Yukawa, the brilliant physicist who would analyst every point and angle through his scientific mind. But Professor Yukawa is stumped with this case too, and he vows to unravel this mystery no matter how absurd or impossible the deed of the murder deems to be.  

Once again, I found myself sucked into Keigo Higashino's novel and I have to say Salvation of a Saint is one stunning and a brilliant crime thriller. During my reading journey, I not only got intrigued by the case but I questioned myself too on the crime and how it happened. In the story, the author has somewhat made his readers believe that Ayane is the suspect, but how to solve this mystery when she is absent during the crime and that she has an alibi to boot? Salvation of a Saint is more of a howdunit than a whodunit thriller, and I am glad to say Keigo Higashino has once again impressed me with this compelling and not to mention a beautifully plotted crime story. Professor Yukawa in this story said that the murderer has committed a perfect crime, this I agree with him; and I have to add in that this is a perfect read for fans of crime fiction, especially for those who like reading procedurals along the story.  
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The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon
Melody

























ISBN-13: 9780062122551
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: January 2013
Format: Trade paperback, 422 pgs
Source: Publisher


I have seen a few books by Jennifer McMahon but just never got around to reading them, thus when HarperCollins gave me the opportunity to review her latest book, The One I Left Behind, I know I wouldn't want to miss it. 

Architect Reggie Dufrane may be successful in her works but truth be told, her childhood wasn't at all bed of roses. Raised by her Aunt Lorraine, Reggie's mother isn't always around when she needs her and the worst of all is, she doesn't even know who her father is and Reggie's mother seems content enough to have her life be revolved around with men and drinks. 

In 1985, back in Reggie's hometown in Brighton Falls, there was a notorious serial killer known as 'Neptune' and his killing technique is to cut off the female victims' right hand (severed neatly at the wrist) and kept them alive for four days before strangling them, leaving their bodies displayed in public places. There wasn't any clues leading to Neptune and unfortunately, Reggie's mother appeared to be his last victim as there wasn't any similar cases all these twenty five years. Reggie's mother's body was never found and Reggie and her two friends, Tara and Charlie, had went to seedy bars and motels hoping to find her. The three of them are an odd trio back then - Reggie being the quiet girl, Tara has a dark gothic streak in her while Charlie is the shy son of a local detective. As the years flown by and just as the community and the police force think they would never unravel this mystery, Reggie is shocked to learn that her mother has turned up alive in a homeless shelter. 

However, Reggie's mother isn't in a position to tell Reggie what had happened as her mind is in a confused state and her days are numbered due to cancer. Reggie fears for her mother's safety and when the horrible truth strike that Neptune has found a new victim, Reggie has to confront the ghosts of her past and unravel her mother's riddles before all is too late. 

Gripping and intensely plotted, The One I Left Behind is a great suspense thriller in terms of both characterisation as well as the story development. Through alternating chapters between the Year 1985 and 2010, author Jennifer McMahon tells a frightening tale of a killer's motive and his reason for killing those women he chosen. The story revolves a lot on Reggie's family and Reggie's relationship between Tara and Charlie especially during their teen-aged years so you can say this is very much of a story about friends and family aside from the suspense. 

Speaking of suspense, it is so well crafted that I often find myself racing together with Reggie as we tried to unveil the identity of Neptune and to decipher his purpose of killings. And the more I read about Reggie, the more I liked her for her fierce determination and the way she is able to see things and objects beyond when architecture is concerned (you see, I have great respect and admiration for architects since young; and that feelings still persist till present). I couldn't tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book and you can be sure that I would be reading more of Jennifer McMahon's releases. 
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2013 Reading Challenges Which I'm Participating
Melody
Another new year has arrived and that means participating in new reading challenges. Like last year, I'm going to commit myself to three reading challenges; and the genres I chose will remain the same (Romance, Young Adult and Mystery/Crime) since I tend to read them the most.

January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013
Romance Reading Challenge is hosted by Naida of the Bookworm (click here for more details). Participants are requested to read at least five novels and since I have no idea what books to read for the upcoming months I will keep the list open. 
January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013

Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge is hosted by Amy of The Crafty Book Nerd (click here for more details). 

January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013

The Young Adult Reading Challenge is hosted by Amy of The Overstuffed Bookshelf (click here for more details).

 I'll be participating in the Mini YA Reading Challenge, which is to read 12 Young Adult novels. 
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