Book Review: 'The Mirror Man' by Lars Kepler

Jenny Lind, a high schooler, is kidnapped when she is walking home from school. Initially, the public is very helpful with tips to help find her, but everyone eventually loses any hope of her being alive. Around the same time, Pamela and Martin lose their daughter in an accident. Five years later, Jenny is found hanging from a grotesque metal contraption in the jungle gym of a playground, freshly murdered. And the footage shows that Martin was there the entire time. He is immediately arrested as the key suspect. Detective Joona Linna has been warned by his boss to stay off the case, but he has his doubts, and he eventually uncovers evidence that they have the wrong man, and that this is not an isolated murder. They have a potential serial killer on their hands. It is only a matter of time before more girls are kidnapped and meet the same fate. 

The book shuttles from Joona's work in the case, to Pamela and Martin's lives and the danger they face as they try to adopt another daughter, to the state of the many girls who have been kidnapped. Initially, we have no idea why they are being held, and what the killer's motive is. The author keeps us in the dark about the bigger picture, but the conditions those girls live in, and the cruel ways the kidnapper punishes them for something as simple as being thirsty, are described in vivid detail. Escape is impossible, they only have to wait until they make a tiny mistake and are killed, or just die there. My stomach was constantly turning as I read the book, and almost all of the books I had previously thought were scary now seem like cute bedtime stories in comparison. I am not new to crime fiction, but it was my first time reading a book which was purely noir. The dark atmosphere created by the writers sucks even the most optimistic readers into the bottomless pits of cynicism and despair. It is easy enough to believe that no one is ever really safe while reading this book. 

The story moves at a breakneck pace. The suspense is at the perfect level; as readers, we do not know much, but we know enough to want to read more. As the plot moves forward, the story only becomes more and more macabre and terrifying. At times, I wondered whether I should abandon this book because it would be too disturbing for me, but I found myself reading on against my own will, watching fearfully through my fingers. That is just proof of how flawless the plot and pace are; they are everything anyone could ever ask for from a thriller. 

Of course, the plot is the most important element in this genre, and has been superbly executed by the authors (yes, a husband and wife called Alexander and Alexandra wrote these books under the pseudonym Lars Kepler), but they also spend a fair amount of time establishing every character. Sometimes, I felt like the descriptions of the characters disobeyed the rule of show-don't-tell a little too much for my liking. As a result, although I was not entirely apathetic about the characters, I could care a lot more. The detective had a backstory too, one I did not find myself interested in at all. There were way too many gaps in the information and a lot of the sentiment felt unnecessary. However, I looked up this book after I finished reading and realised it was the eighth book in a series of books featuring Joona Linna. Reading the other books would have added more context to help everything make sense. Apart from the part about Joona, this book can easily be read as a standalone novel. My final thoughts about the characters is that while they were not defined enough to care about a lot, the descriptions were still enough to make the story convincing, and to make the readers want the good characters to succeed. That is all that is really needed from a thriller, in my opinion. Anything more is a bonus.  

While the motive was completely unexpected, I was disappointed when I was able to correctly guess who the killer was about seventy or eighty percent into the book. This does not really reflect on the predictability or unpredictability of the writing; I strongly suspect that I have read way too many mysteries to not be able to predict the end after a while, and this certainly is not the first time it's happened. This did not deter me from reading on, though; I had a suspicion, and I could be right or wrong. I was hoping to be wrong, because who doesn't love a good surprise? Unfortunately, I was right, but it was interesting to see how the book reached its conclusion anyway.

The story was also much more thought-provoking than I initially expected. Seeing the way the girls who were kidnapped were treated reminded me again and again how fortunate I am to live the life I have, and how lucky I have been to have lived a sheltered and safe life so far. Fiction is not just entertainment or a way to pass time, after all; it forces us to reflect on ourselves and teaches us to be better people. 

For readers who are hardcore crime fiction fans, this book is a must-read. For those who get scared or disturbed more easily, maybe this book is best avoided. I will be coming back for more books in this series, but not right away; recently, I have read more horror and gory thriller books than are good for me. I'm always looking over my shoulder and flinching at every little sound these days ;P Maybe it's time to take a break and read some rom-coms. 

Book Review: 'The Cousins' by Karen M. McManus

Twenty years after their parents were disowned by their wealthy mother, three cousins are invited to the island where their grandmother lives to work for a summer. Their parents have no idea why they were disowned; they only received a note from their mother's lawyer, saying "You know what you did." The blurb of this book was extremely compelling to me. What could turn a mother's love into such hate that she never wanted to see her children again? That was enough to make me pick up this book and read it. 

The author keeps on switching between the perspectives of the three cousins, giving us a glimpse into their troubled inner lives, and how everything ties up to their parents, the Story siblings, each with a characteristic flaw. The Story family is indeed flawed, secretive, mysterious, everything the author wanted us to believe. The cousins are very well written as characters too, but unfortunately, this lovely character development failed to keep me interested in the plot. 

In the beginning, there was one plot twist that surprised me, but I found the rest of the story simply underwhelming. Although the plot twists were unpredictable and yet credible, which are marks of good plot twists, the shock factor was nonexistent for me. Once everything was revealed at the end, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Sometimes it felt like there wasn't much of a substantial story to be told in terms of the main plot. I am not trying to imply that you need a lot of gore, or a very fast-moving plot to write an engaging mystery; I have read several very skilfully written thrillers which were relatively slow, but I thought this story left a lot to be desired. Some of the subplots felt gratuitous to me. They were entertaining to read and were relevant and linked into the main plot, but I often felt that the story could have easily proceeded without them. 

Despite all my criticism towards this book, I thought that Karen M. McManus has a lovely style of writing. Despite not liking the way the book ended, at no point did I feel like I wanted to stop reading; I wanted to read right to the end to know everything. The author has a lot of potential, and I certainly want to read her other books, because I am almost entirely convinced that I might like the other ones better.

Everything being said, I would recommend this book if you are a fan of suspense but do not want to deal with gore. One reason why I didn't enjoy this book a lot is probably because I have been reading too many, extremely graphic thrillers lately, and they might have reduced my attention span for slightly slower books. But who knows? This book may just be your cup of tea. 

Book Review: 'Rose Madder' by Stephen King

Rose Daniels has put up with her abusive husband for fourteen years, despite the things he has done to her, which are too disturbing to mention here. Until one day, when she realises she will not survive if she stays, and decides to sneak out and take a bus to a city 800 miles away. With her freedom, she adopts her maiden name: Rosie McClendon. Initially scared because of her lack of experience in worldly matters, the readers watch her slowly become braver and more independent, rooting for her at every success. But there is one very scary caveat: she is never really free from Norman. He is not just going to let her go. He is a shrewd and talented cop, and unfortunately for Rosie, he will use his talents and abuse his power to do everything he physically can to track Rosie down. And when he has found her, he is going to talk to her. Up close. 

Of course, what is a Stephen King book without supernatural aspects? The book goes in a direction I wouldn't have expected, but it is entirely credible and leaves me completely in awe of Stephen King's imagination. While saying more wouldn't exactly be giving a spoiler, I would like to leave the element of surprise untainted for anyone who does decide to read this book.   

Throughout the book, readers will end up anxiously watching Norman get closer and closer to Rosie. Stephen King's style in this book is one of cat-and-mouse, or should I say mouse-and-cat? The narrative style here is a sort-of third person omniscient; he only sticks to one character's thoughts in each chapter, switching between Rosie and Norman. The way the author can equally do justice to two such different perspectives is both scary and brilliant. Overall, it feels like he is subtly on Rosie's side, but when he gets into Norman's mind, he effortlessly sells Norman's violent predisposition. 

Norman is very talented in some aspects of being a cop. His ability to think like the person he is trying to arrest makes him very successful at his job. Even then, he isn't really good at being a cop. This is because he has no sense of right and wrong, and no conscience whatsoever. He successfully busts a drug ring, but he also brutally murders good people casually. Even with petty criminals, he uses a lot more force than is necessary or would be approved of. Judging by the names he calls her in his mind, and the way he thinks about her, it is evident that he doesn't love Rosie. In fact, he doesn't have a good word to say about anyone he thinks about. He murders people in a way which is unconventional, but much more disturbing and graphic than conventional murders. Norman is, although figuratively, a monster, and several times during the book, I found myself wondering what made him like this. About this, Stephen King drops information here and there in single sentences. These sentences say a lot, but they are so subtle that a less careful reader might miss them. A lot of Stephen King's books are long, but he does not waste words. 

Although Norman is cruel, the author shows most other characters in the book as good people, although they may be imperfect. This serves two purposes: it makes Norman's character stand out more starkly, and while monsters like this do exist, this book is not a cynical one that leaves readers without hope at the end. It also brings out Stephen King's nuanced understanding of human nature. All the characters are very well developed. Although Rosie is the main character, it was Norman who really grabbed my attention, and is the main focus of this review. If I were to cover all the themes of this book, I'd have to write a book about it myself.

Norman is hard to understand; he is cold and calculating and usually covers his tracks, but when it comes to finding Rosie, he eventually becomes desperate and more and more careless. It becomes evident over time that Norman isn't sane, and it is hard to understand why he thinks the way he does. But at the same time, like I said earlier, we have an inkling of why he is the way he is. While we cannot justify his actions, we can and yet cannot understand him at the same time, which is very clever on Stephen King's part.

After reading a few Stephen King books, I am starting to realise that at least some of them are interconnected in a larger universe. For example, the book mentions the concept of 'ka', which is a much more important theme in 'Insomnia'. Quite a few of his books feature domestic violence, and while it probably does not signify anything, I find this pattern slightly concerning. 

This book is extremely well-written, focusing on the darker side of human nature, and ultimate justice. The book is worth reading for its suspense; as readers, we kind of already know what is going to happen, but we will be reading fearfully through our fingers anyway. If you like reading thrillers and horror, I would recommend this book. But if you can't stomach crude (although not gratuitous) profanities and extremely gory and sickening descriptions, I would suggest that you look for another book to read. 

Book Review: 'Beach Read' by Emily Henry

January Andrews is an author who writes women's fiction. She believes in true love and happy endings, both for her characters and in real life. That is, until her life turns upside down. She lands up broke, in a beach house that she loathes, with just three months to write a new book. A beach house sounds pretty pleasant, right? Why would she hate it? Read the book to find out! To make things worse, she is stuck with a stubborn case of writer's block. The cherry on top is that her neighbour is none other than her college rival, Augustus Everett, who always dismissed her work as too cheerful to resemble anything remotely real-worldly. They challenge each other to swap genres, both for different reasons. As readers, we watch them doing research for their books, and as you can predict, falling in love. 

Emily Henry's portrayal of January is lovely. Even though during the span of the book, January is going through a difficult time, the author hints at January's otherwise usually sunny personality, and does a very convincing job. I cannot deny that I cringed a lot at some of the descriptions of Gus, which I felt were a bit over-done, but maybe that is because I have been conditioned to be skeptical of certain aspects of rom-coms. I picked up this book with the intention of enjoying a light, quick read, and I was not disappointed. However, this book had a lot more food for thought than I had initially expected. 

An important theme in this book is writer's block, and as an aspiring writer, this resonated very deeply with me. When you don't believe in what you write, or the concept you are trying to write about, it can be nearly impossible to move forward. It is alright to not typecast yourself only into writing a certain genre. Sometimes you change, and it also affects your writing. January's thought process while struggling to write was so well-written that I was often convinced that I was struggling with writer's block while reading. The way the characters built stories out of tropes, starting with the skeleton and then filling in more details, rather than picking up a spontaneous idea and just letting it flow, was an intriguing process to follow. This book was also a reminder of how bits of the author are wrapped into the stories they write, and how, if you piece together those bits from the different works of an author, you still won't figure out the entire person. This book is a testimony to how complex we all are. 

Another smaller theme that fascinated me was the fictional cult Gus is researching for his book, called New Eden. It is a very morbid aspect of the book considering its genre, but not surprising for the kinds of books Gus usually writes. To stay consistent with the overall rom-com theme, the author does not go into the gory details about the cult, and instead focuses on its overall significance. As a mystery and triller fan, however, I am positively dying to know more. 

There are many more aspects to this book, but these are the ones I found the most interesting. A book about authors? Emily Henry has taken the advice 'Write what you know' very seriously, and has done a fantastic job. In the unlikely chance that she reads this review, I would like to leave her a request: I would love to see you try a new genre someday, just like January and Gus. Maybe a book exclusively about New Eden? :)