The past month I haven't read as much horror as I'm used to mainly because I was out and about watching movies at various festivals. Now if you ask, "What does watching movies have to do with that?", the answer is "A lot". I want to sit down in peace and quiet and let the dread sink in when I'm reading horror and not be quickly hopping from one cinema to the other and waiting in long queues to get a good sitting place and all the while trying to listen to some audiobook or narrowing my tired eyes in dim cinema lights to read my crumbled paperback before the next movie begins. I discovered that the best genre to go with these frenetic and restless times are thrillers and that's what I ended up reading most in February. Plus, sometimes that's just what your soul wants. Looking back, I ended up discovering lots of interesting authors and reading good books which finally ended up here. Enjoy!
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
It apparently wasn't in vain that Bret Easton Ellis waited ten plus years to release his latest, The Shards - he was obviously working on this racy mystery thriller of biblical proportions, with 600+ pages physically as well as figuratively because of the scope of what it does. Interesting fact: The Shards was first serialized as an audiobook read by Ellis through his podcast on Patreon and later published in print. I was lucky enough to listen to the audiobook read by Ellis.
We're following the 17 year old Bret - yes, Ellis follows that trend of writing meta-fiction in which you can't distinguish what is fiction and what is memoir, a trend I hate with a passion. Anyway, Bret is 17 in the year 1981 and lives in Los Angeles where an insanely brutal serial killer nicknamed The Trawler (due to some disgusting reasons) is targeting young people. In this phase of his life Bret thinks of nothing but sexual encounters, it's almost like he wants to fuck everybody in the world, the more the merrier. When he meets Robert Mallory, a handsome and charismatic new boy in town, he, for some unknown reason, becomes suspicious that Mallory is The Trawler or has something to do with him. He becomes obsessed with the idea but can't really prove nor disprove any of these ideas.
In a tale that becomes increasingly obscure and paranoid, stiffling suspense dominates every page interrupted only by frustratingly redundant dialogues. Ellis kept me guessing until the end, for this
long a novel it was surprisingly tense. I was personally frustrated by the amount of teenage
drama, but it kept me listening in a fast pace nevertheless. What I
really liked where the scary bits, like the parts about the Trawler, like
the cassette tape the main character was sent with a thrilling recording, that was seriously messed up.
Even though I usually don't enjoy this genre I liked this, so I think I will definitely read other books by the author focusing on
more horror.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel by Benjamin Stevenson
Yeah, I'm on the fence with this one...
Again, a meta-novel, self-aware, very self-aware indeed, to the degree that the narrator, Ernest Cunningham, in whose family everybody has famously killed someone, gives us an analysis of the book, debunking genre tropes, eliminating your expectations for the story you are about to read right from the start.
Ern is the least typical Cunningham in that he tries to do the right and legal thing always. Of course, that's what we're being told by him and always be ware of a narrator who assures you he is reliable. He makes a living by writing books about writing books and gives us a highly complex mystery to solve, basing his narrative on the model of the so-called Golden Age mysteries, following Ronald Knox' ten commandments on how a detective story should be built (google them, it's interesting!). That style was quite fresh and unusual to be honest.
The
problem was that I could not always follow the logic of things
happening. Ern gives us the solution of many story lines as it's so
natural and obvious but it's really a little more obscure than he makes
them out to be. Also, I can put up with the breaking of the fourth wall
for the duration of a theatre play or a movie, but if I'm to spend a
longer time than a couple of hours with it, it tires me.
Nevertheless, I had fun reading this book and it has provided for a good time.
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
A wild turn!
Throughout the whole book I
followed the biggest of red herrings, just like the main character
herself, and was blown away by the solution of this tale. A really
enthralling mystery you can grab if you like satisfying endings.
Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns
Baby was the best thing in this book and although a nice pastime, this isn't exactly my favorite cozy mystery. Maddy is super superficial (I'm aware there's going to be a character arc) and the ending doesn't really satisfy. I may or may not read the next installment, don't know.
Billy Summers by Stephen King
"Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun", says the blurb of this story of a hired killer who only ever kills truly "bad guys" but takes one last job before retiring. When he finds out that his client actually intends to get rid of him, he changes the plan and meets an unexpected ally on his way.
I don't know what to say. You know how sometimes the whole world goes crazy about something and you just can't wrap your head around what it is they find so good? That's me right now. There's barely a bad review about this book, which features one of the most bland main characters who makes choices that are a mystery to me and to whom I just couldn't warm up to. The story line is far-fetched, Billy unrelatable, nothing redeeming for me in this book. And I'm someone who normally loves the way King develops his characters but I guess even he doesn't hit the mark sometimes. I have to add that I only picked up this book from the public library because my friend Miri asked if I read it and there was a plot hole she found. Well, if she meant the whole plot being a big huge hole, then I agree. I haven't seen her after that but next time we catch up we'll be discussing this book.
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
This was GREAT! Especially the final ten percent were Game of Thrones level captivating, once you accept this is not a mystery or thriller as it is marketed, but a family saga and switch your brain to soap opera mode (I mean this in the best possible way, I love telenovelas from all over the world); treason, murder, multiple murders, prison life, tragedies, a big big love, mafia family, evil father, corruption, lavish mansions, riches, revenge... I really do hope there will be more installments.
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra
A cozy mystery for fans of historical India.
Kaveri has such a strong sense of justice and equality that it makes her instantly lovable to the reader. I enjoyed the book exploring women and women’s rights in the 20’s in addition to the mystery, which, unfortunately, was a little weak. Even I was able to predict the killer and that’s not good as I’m easy to fool. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it fine, reading books set in India is always a pleasure.
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