Time to share with you a couple of books I read last month. I decided to include some mystery/suspense to my reading challenge this year. Rarely do I read books from this genre, because I usually get confused towards the middle, and then find myself backing up and rereading a couple of chapters so I could continue on with the story. It took me a couple of days to finish these. I picked two of the most famous and best-selling authors in this category, and also from two very different time periods: James Patterson and Agatha Christie.
Along Came a Spider is the First in Patterson’s Alex Cross series. I’ve already watched the movie starring Morgan Freeman a couple of years ago (sometimes, it’s shown on HBO), so his image is what was in my brain the whole time I was reading the book. The movie’s take only slightly differ from the book, but the main culprit is the same.
I liked this book because it’s engrossing. Towards, the second half, I already had an idea who the mastermind was (well, because I already watched the movie). But this is really good writing, so I think I’ll read a couple more in the series, at least the ones that haven’t been brought to the big screen.
And Then There Were None is Agatha Christie’s best-selling novel ever. This was published around 1939, I imagined Downton Abbey-like characters and settings. Ten people are invited to a secluded island for different reasons. One by one, they all die, the method of their death follows the lines of a popular children’s rhyme at that time:
“ten little indian boys went out to dine;
one choked his little self and then there were nine.
nine little indian boys sat up very late;
one overslept himself and then there were eight.
eight little indian boys travelling in devon;
one said he’s stay there and then there were seven.
seven little indians boys chopping sticks;
one chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
six little indian boys playing with a hive;
a bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
five little indian boys going in for law;
one got in chancery and then there were four.
four little indian boys going out to sea;
a red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
three little indian boys walking in the zoo;
a big bear hugged one and then there were two.
two little indian boys sitting in the sun;
one got frizzled up and then there was one.
one little indian boy left all alone;
he went and hanged himself and then there were none.”
I didn’t know an innocent sounding rhyme could be so violent. This is such a smart story, it kept me guessing, and backtracking on a couple of chapters. I even wrote down a profile of each character, to try to see who the killer could be. The culprit was so unexpected, and the ending was so twisted, but I liked it. Plus point that it’s a female writer who made the story.
I have to say that both books are very good. I can’t really say which one is better, because each author had a different style of working out the story and developing the characters. For a “sort of newbie” like me to the genre, these are good books to start with. I’ll probably include more mysteries in next year’s reading challenge.
Do you read mystery/suspense books? What’s your favorite?
