The flu has been ravaging my body this past week, and I could barely do anything more than sleep, watch old Turkish series and read a couple of pages at a time... All on a bare minimum level. Luckily, I'm getting slowly better, and I'm much better now compared to a couple of days ago. Because it's been so long that I last discussed my latest thriller reads, there is quite a lot to review now and I hope you can find something that may interest you. Enjoy!
Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang
Yoohee made her dream of a peaceful small plant shop in an unassuming part of town reality and with a little help of social media luck she did well.
But plants don't only help her make a living. Through their plant requests (easy to take care of, spectacularly looking etc.) and the way they treat plants, she can also see the real soul of her clients and make judgments as to who they really are. Especially men are on the receiving end of her scathing judgment and some of her encounters escalate into unpleasant endings for said men.
Gradually Yoohee begins her "search&destroy" era and brings method to her madness; she actively seeks those she deems unworthy- extreme bullies, life wreckers, animal torturers- by day and at night she and them vanish into her moonlit garden.
I have to say I really enjoyed this, and even though I don't advocate killing people just because you dislike them, the book makes a point. The urge to stop people who hurt others from doing so is understandable. Also, although I would love to make an extensive travel to Asia some day and South Korea is on my bucket list, I'm surprised with every new Korean book I read at how grave misogyny is over there, and how difficult life is for women.
Gaslight: The second Philip Taiwo Investigation by Femi Kayode
Investigative psychologist Philip Taiwo and his family recently moved from the US to Nigeria in search of a better life. For his first case here, his sister drags him to her church, a megachurch with a prominent bishop, because Bishop Jeremiah Dawodu has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Folasade. Taiwo is supposed to find out what happened to Folasade and clear the bishop's name as the scandalous arrest has shaken all of Lagos.
The more he advances in the case the less he believes that he can clear Dawodu's name, though, and of course, there will be those trying to stop and manipulate him. Plus, there's problems within the Taiwo family too.
I LOVED reading this! It was a Hammett recommendation, as the author Femi Kayode apparently visited our little shop a couple of years ago and had a little drink with Christian. It seems that Christian still remembers this fondly. As to the book, I thought the characters are very vivid and colorful, frankly. Like, from the very first page you really feel the presence of each of the characters and want to know about their fate.
Smile for the Cameras: A Novel by Miranda Smith
Ella Winters, the aging final girl of the cult-classic slasher film Grad Night, is looking for ways to get back into the film industry. She sees a chance in a reunion documentary project which will take place at the original film set in a cabin in rural Tennessee. As her colleagues start dying one after the other in exactly the same way the original characters died, we explore a secret about something that happened back in the day. Something that traumatized Ella and that they never talked about again.
There are lots of current themes here concerning power dynamics between crew members and the sexual exploitation of female actors by filmmakers on set that the entertainment industry had to (justly) confront in the past decade or so. And that's a commendable thing. It is a fast and somewhat interesting read, but nothing to write home about, really.
Strange Houses by Uketsu
The enigmatic Japanese YouTuber and author Uketsu is back with a second book in his signature style of puzzle-mysteries and this time it's all about house plans, and the secrets houses keep. Because some houses are built to hide certain things and to facilitate others. When our protagonist is asked about his opinion of a house by a friend, everything seems fine at first but the longer he looks, the more strange things he discovers.
I was able to spot some of the inconsistencies, but never in my life would I be able to guess the whole story behind two houses built for murder. The story takes you far into the history of a rich dynasty, a betrayal and a curse. It's always fun to read these Uketsu stories though I really wished that at some point I too could solve at least one of the mysteries. I haven't been able yet, but who knows... As long as Uketsu writes these books, I can keep on trying and guessing.
Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo
The second book of the Detective Kosuke Kindaichi series depicts a Japan marked by WWII, which is devastating in itself, but Gokumon Island is even more complicated as a place. An isolated fisher island which is not very open to strangers, it is now subjected to the antics of everybody’s favorite shabby and stuttering private detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who ends up here undercover after a wartime friend asks him to protect his three sisters from death. Will he fail spectacularly?
The entirety of the story is nicely complex, intense, and features a myriad of intrigues and manipulations, which is always fun. I personally was very impressed by the descriptions and placements of the found dead bodies, it was weirdly impressive, as if time got slower while reading those scenes, a heaviness settles. Maybe living in post-war times had an effect on the author? Not to say that war improved his writing, but Yokomizo’s characters (of which there is a whole list in the first pages of the book, dramatis personae-style) feel so much better-written than in the first book.
I’m definitely keeping on continuing the series in the future.
The Doorman by Chris Pavone
Chicky Diaz is the huge, but ever smiling and gentle doorman at the high brow apartment building Bohemia, home of the elite.
The streets of New York City are teeming with protests after the shooting of an unarmed Black man and counter protestors are on their way too. As the conflict escalates, Chicky finds himself stuck between two worlds - the one down below, Chicky's own world as the single Latino father of two girls, and his role of serving the ultra rich residents of this luxurious place.
The Doorman deals with lots of current issues and questions that have been on the rise in the last four years, especially the gap between the privileged billionaire class and the rest of us, but some other division points too. You don't have to be a New Yorker to recognize some of the things happening in this book, but I guess it helps. Pavone maybe too much locks in on societal issues and character building, so much so that the mystery somewhat falls behind. The last dozen of pages were fire though.
Comments
Post a Comment