Mystery

I’ve tried to start this book thrice before and everytime I’ve stopped short of moving past the first chapterfor reasons I cannot remember anymore because this time, I crossed the first 20% within minutes of picking the book up. The rest of it built up in excitement and intensity with each….milestone and the crescendo culminated in a loud bang at one point (in my mind ;) ). A childhood poem “Ten Little Indians” is used as the template around which the plot is woven, but just when it seems like things could be predictable, the story takes a turn. Now, generally, towards the 80% mark, one is able to atleast guess what the ending might be like. But this book gave away nothing till the very end and That was the most satisfying part of all, to me. There are ten characters that are of importance in this story and while none of them is memorable, all of them were extremely interesting in their presence whenever they appear. I’ve been told that this is “the Best Christie”. The description leaves a sour taste in my mouth because it makes me wonder if it’s all downhill from here, given that I’ve only read 4 other Christie novels.We’ll see! :) ...

Author : Agatha Christie It was okay, you know? I’ve read 3 Agatha Christies so far and this was my 4th. I’ve gotten used to the way Poirot starts getting involved in a case by now and I’ve begun to welcome it. Unfortunately, I’ve also begun to welcome a plot in which I cannot pinpoint the ending with much confidence. I have become comfortable in the role of Captain Hastings accompanying Poirot as he muses, reasons and solves a crime. So when I found myself at the 60% mark hitting upon a revelation that I found to be the very way things unfolded, I was disappointed. Yet, I did complete it and it was a good tale overall. Nevertheless, it is the charm of the crime genre and more so of an author/authoress who has multiple such books to their name that you can safely continue to look forward with confidence to finding yourself enthralled in a lovely mystery once again. And so do I. ...

I normally write my-version-of-reviews after I’m done reading a book, but this time I thought I’d do things differently because of the nature of the book I’m reading, which is, Guards! Guards! by Sir Terry Pratchett. It is the 8th book in the publishing order and the 1st in the City Watch series. Initially, it seemed as though the book was following the Hero’s Journey …well…not so much a Hero but the journey of a dwarf who is not quite a dwarf - Carrot. He’s sent to the City of Ankh-Morpokh to do that which is the highest calling of a human - “join the City Watch”. Quite voluntarily as opposed to how people normally join the Watch. It is here that he meets his reporting officer Captain Vimes, Corporal “Nobby” Nobbs and Seargent Colon. They’d been quite content in their lack of a purpose for quite a while, allowing crime to thrive and all that. But Carrot’s arrival has coincided with a genuine need for the Watch to well…watch. And act. A dragon has been sighted flying and razing the city and it’s the Watch’s duty (among other aspirational, self-proclaimed Dragon Hunters) to take it down, so to speak. ...

AUTHOR : AGATHA CHRISTIE *No spoilers * The 23rd Hercule Poirot story, but only the fourth Christie I’ve ever read. Perhaps I should have started in sequence of publication, I don’t know, but no matter. The story here begins with pain. Dental pain that Hercule Poirot faces, like every man and is eyeing his fellow patients as he waits at a dentist’s’, with great suspicion. It is true and AC displays some brilliant observational skills of the human psyche when she relates personal pain as being projected onto the world, giving one a negative view of everyone while in that state. Shortly after being freed of said pain, Poirot is given news of the passing of his dentist, Dr. Morley and this is really where our story begins. An innocent dentist is dead; did he kill himself or was he killed? The see-saw of this question keeps shifting sides throughout the story till the very end and every co-patient of Poirot’s or co-inhabitant of Dr.Morley’s establishment at the time of the death is understandably a piece of the puzzle. There aren’t many remarkable characters in this book, save Poirot himself. Inspector Japp (who I’ve not seen in any of the other books I’ve read) and Poirot share a something of a cross between a Sherlock-Lestrade-and-Sherlock-Watson-ish bond, chiefly because of Poirot’s more amiable personality and that is nice to see. The story is fast paced for a while but towards the 60% mark, it seems to start dragging a little. I haven’t felt this in the other 3 works of hers I’ve read. But towards the end, it accelerates again to the point of impossibility of putting the book down because “you Just Have to Know”. ...

Author : Brandon Sanderson Preceded by : Alloys of Law Succeeded by : Bands of Mourning The second book in the Wax and Wayne trilogy (Not sure if there’s a fourth book to come?) is titled “Shadows of Self” and is titled so, in my opinion, because there’s some heavy introspection that goes on in this book - both on Wax and Wayne’s part. We get some deeper insights into what makes these characters tick in this book. The plot revolves around a rogue murderer that’s going around creating all sorts of mayhem in the city, shaking its very political pillars in the process, starting with the killing of the governor’s brother and it’s upto Wax, Wayne and Marasi to get to the bottom of it. Brandon Sanderson’s magic system itself is somewhat diminished in its use here and the book seems to revolve more around the characters’ interpersonal relationships and how they grow in the process. ...

Tracking the Agatha Christie books I’ve completed because it looks like I’m invested now. How many have you read? Which ones are your favorites? Summary : ★ - Currently reading, ✅ - Completed reading Hercule Poirot Books read : 4/47 Miss Marple Books read : 0/12 Tommy and Tuppence Books read : 0/5 Hercule Poirot collection - Short story collections listed as “ss” The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) The Murder on the Links (1923) Poirot Investigates (1924, ss) ★ The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) ✅ The Big Four (1927) The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) Black Coffee (1930 play - novel published in 1998) ✅ Peril at End House (1932) Lord Edgware Dies (1933) Murder on the Orient Express (1934) ✅ Three Act Tragedy (1935) Death in the Clouds (1935) The A.B.C. Murders (1936) Murder in Mesopotamia (1936) Cards on the Table (1936) Murder in the Mews (1937, ss) Dumb Witness (1937) ✅ Death on the Nile (1937) Appointment with Death (1938) Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (1938) The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939, ss) Sad Cypress (1940) One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) ✅ Evil Under the Sun (1941) Five Little Pigs (1942) The Hollow (1946) The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss) The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948, ss) Taken at the Flood (1948) Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950, ss) The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951, ss) Mrs McGinty’s Dead (1952) After the Funeral (1953) Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) Dead Man’s Folly (1956) Cat Among the Pigeons (1959) The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, ss) Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, ss) The Clocks (1963) Third Girl (1966) Hallowe’en Party (1969) Elephants Can Remember (1972) Poirot’s Early Cases (1974, ss) Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975) Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991, ss) The Harlequin Tea Set (1997, ss) While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997, ss) Miss Marple Collection ...

Author : Keigo Higashino The first time I heard about the existence of this title was on a train ride on the way home from work. I saw someone reading a book and brushing courtesy aside, poked this person and asked him what he was reading. He showed me the cover and I went “Aaah”, not knowing what to make of it. His brief displeasure at being disturbed seemed to have vanished, because he went on to tell me that a then-popular Malayalam movie “Dhrishyam” had been inspired by that book. I had watched the movie and its translations in other movies, so I was intrigued. But the train journey ended and so did my thoughts about the book. Then, recently there was an offer on Flipkart on a bunch of books of which this was one too. So I bought it and I’m glad I did. I started reading it the very day I received it. ...