Thrillers

The Botanist: Washington Poe Book #5

The Botanist | M.W. Craven | Book Review

So, yet another thriller. And yet another thriller series. The Botanist is the 5th in the DS Washington Poe series of books. But it is my first. There were quite a few deterrents as I picked this book up. First, with so many thrillers one after another, I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to read another. And second, at 500 odd pages, this was threatening to test my patience for sure! But whoa! Am I not glad I read this. I would have missed such an enjoyable & engaging read.

The plot in a nutshell – some well known people of the city are mysteriously dying, each receiving a weird poem & a dried flower as a warning (or threat). And despite the most stringent of security measures in place, the security forces are failing to save them. So, this basically forms the case that DS Poe and his team …

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Dream Town: Aloysius Archer (Book 3)

Dream Town | David Baldacci | Aloysius Archer

The 3rd book in the Aloysius Archer Series, Dream Town carries forward the adventurous & lethally dangerous journey of PI Archer as he continues to strive towards making this world a better place, notwithstanding the threats to his own life, miraculously escaping death on more than one occasion.

The story picks up from where The Gambling Man ended, except that 3 years have passed since. And Archer is now on his way to LA to meet his friend and aspiring actress from the previous book – Liberty Callahan. And as he does so, he finds himself unwittingly a part of a complex and dangerous ploy with it’s roots running deep. The story thus makes it’s transition from the dark undertone of Bay Town from the previous book to a bright & glittering LA – the city of dreams.

It was revelling to see the old characters return! The …

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The Last Party: Introducing DC Ffion Morgan

The Last Party | Clare Mackintosh | Book Review

A new detective series from the much acclaimed Clare Mackintosh. A new line of novels always manages to garner interest for the sheer excitement and expectation from a new set of recurring characters. Likewise, The Last Party has already succeeded in creating a buzz about itself, introducing the promising character of DC Ffion Morgan.

The book starts with an enchanting setting at the Welsh-English border, at the center of which is Llyn Drych – the serpent shaped mirror lake – the focal point of all the happenings that follow. The discovery of a body in this lake on New Year’s Day sets things rolling. The search for the murderer, many sub plots and intertwined stories leading to it. With it’s mystic setting accentuated by a lonely, witchy cottage in the woods, a boathouse, some mysterious lodge owners on the far end – it makes for an intriguing whodunnit

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The 6:20 Man: Trademark Baldacci

The 6:20 Man | David Baldacci

One of my preferred authors – David Baldacci. There is something very likable about his books that wants me to read. Maybe not always perfect, yet something I always keenly await and look forward to. I had read A Gambling Man last year. Being based in the old fashioned 1940s, I didn’t quite enjoy the setting. The 6:20 Man reverses just that with a fresh, contemporary setting in a bright, scorching New York summer. So, that was the first ‘yes’ for me.

The story bases around Travis Devine, a former army recruit – having left under mysterious circumstances (which later get revealed). Seeking a redemption of sorts, he takes up a job he absolutely loathes at Cowl and Comely. He soon finds himself dragged into a series of murders, beginning with a colleague he had had a relationship with. And it sets the ball rolling for a fast paced, …

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The Match by Harlan Coben

The Match | Harlen Coben | Book Review

This was my first book by Harlan Coben, an author I had long been wanting to read. And The Match seemed a good book to start with. A thriller hovering around the puzzles of ancestral origins, DNA matches, some murders in between and how it all is eventually linked.

Wilde, a boy left abandoned in the woods – with no memory of his parents or family – is dubbed as a modern day Tarzan, rescued aged around 6 by the police. Having grown up in foster care, some 35 years later now he finds a DNA match on a site in a bid to find his biological parents. And as he is doing so, there start running many side stories in parallel. We have the reality TV star Peter Bennet, we have a Richard Levine trial going on, there is the suspense dangling about the supposed birth father Daniel Carter …

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Ashton Hall: A Haunting Historical Thriller

Ashton Hall | Book Review | Lauren Belfer

There are some usual suspects. Ones you foresee impressing you, backed by past reputation. And then, there are some you call unexpected winners. Low profile, no hype, very less talked about. They come and floor you as a big pleasant surprise, just out of nowhere. And that is what Ashton Hall was!

I was in the midst of a mental block so to say, just being unable to settle on a book. I read and rejected samples of at least 8 books, loosing interest or just not having the patience to carry on for some reason. And then I chanced upon Lauren Belfer’s Ashton Hall. And lucky I was to do so.

Ashton Hall is historical fiction in the form that I like best. Fictional characters and their lives set in the past – centuries back. And our protagonist from the present day deducing links and putting them together …

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