Thrillers

Death At The Sign Of The Rook

Plot Summary
Two highly valued paintings (possibly Renaissance period) go missing from two different places – one from the Padgett’s, belonging to Dorothy Padgett who has just passed. And the other from Burton Makepeace, home to Lady Milton & her family. With stark similarities & the clues left behind, you are bound to ask – are the two thefts related? Is it the same person? What was the reason behind the thefts? All this promises for a brilliant read, sprinkled with humor thanks to a shambolic Murder Mystery Weekend being hosted at Burton Makepeace.

Verdict
This is exactly my kind of a book. Art, Renaissance portraits & their thefts makes you feel you are reading a Jeffrey Archer book. Except that, …

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The Bluff: Bonnie Traymore

The Bluff | Bonnie Traymore | Book Review

Plot Summary
The Bluff by Bonnie Traymore bases it’s plot in the town of Crest Lake on Lake Michigan. The shoreline houses are facing a threat from the crumbling bluff on which they are situated. And the owners are divided in their opinion on how to save their houses.

The main characters of the book are Kate Breslow (Sullivan), Claudia Mitchell, Ryan Breslow, Dough Mitchell, Margaret Brenner, Daisy Parker and the investigating team – Travis Whittaker, Sloane Davis & Chief Thompson. Kate & Claudia live two houses apart and have opposing views on the issue. While Kate lost her husband Ryan a year ago under mysterious circumstances, Dough Mitchell is killed right before the vote on the issue. And there begins the whodunnit case (actually …

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The Heiress

Plot Summary

Ruby McTavish, the infamous heiress of the Ashby House, Tavistock, leaves behind her inheritance to her adopted son Camden who is least interested in the money, estate or any of the McTavishes left and decides to stay away. 10 years later, a sequence of events draws Cam & has wife Jules back to Ashby House. And as they do so, there are revealed dark secrets that each of them had been guarding from the others. Ruby herself had her past – a kidnapping & 4 times widowed with an air of mystery surrounding it all. What was the truth behind her kidnapping, the truth about her husbands’ deaths, why did she adopt Camden, the reason for Cam & Jules returning are few …

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First Lie Wins

First Lie Wins | Book Review

Plot Summary

Lucca Marino lives with her mother in a trailer sewing dresses for wealthy women. When her mother falls ill, she picks up odd jobs to support her ailing mother and survive. She starts pilfering the wealthy clients and is spotted by a mysterious Mr. Smith who picks her for his devious, criminal activities. For each job that she is assigned by Mr. Smith, she is given a new identity and a mark with instructions on what is to be carried out. As she chances upon the mysterious deaths of others working for Mr. Smith, there starts a twisty tale of uncovering the real identity of Mr. Smith and to set herself free from Mr. Smith’s unassailable grip.

Pluses
* Enthralling plot & uncommon …

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Alex Cross Must Die

Plot Summary
A mystery man shoots down American Airlines flight 839 at Reagan Airport. Alex Cross & his associate John Sampson – who are working on another case of Dead Hour Killings – are summoned to investigate the shooting. There are other parallel stories where Cross’s wife Bree is working on the mysterious disappearance of her boss’s friend and business woman Leigh Anne Asher.

Pluses
* Interesting initial premise of a passenger jet being brought down
* Ali. The star of the book! The little detective who actually helps crack the Dead Hour Killings

Minuses
* Too many simultaneous cases (I counted them to be 5) – makes it a hotch-potch book with too many stories stuffed in
* Suspense in all these …

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The Secret (Jack Reacher)

The Secret | Jack Reacher Book | Lee Child

Plot Summary
A group of 7 scientists having worked on a secret project in 1969, Mason Chemical in India are getting killed one by one. Behind the killings are 2 sisters Roberta & Veronica Sanson, avenging the false implication & killing of their father who was also working at Mason Chemical. There however is an 8th name that only one person is aware of. And the sisters are desperately seeking that name, as well as setting records straight. A team is set up by secretary of Defense, Charles Stamoran. Jack Reacher amongst 3 others are on this team to stop these killings and identify the killers.

Pluses
* Engulfing plot (despite not being totally original)
* Fast paced & action packed…

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