Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, what to say about this marvelous piece. This was my first ever Agatha book(if passenger to Frankfurt isn't counted) and trust me, this book is JUST what you need to blow up your mind. The way she has designed the characters. And the way she architect-ed the plot is beyond the capacity of a normal person's brain. This murder mystery is a page-turner. Once you begin reading, you may not want to leave in between. Also, you'll make several assumptions. But the climax will be totally out of your reach. It's a perfect mind-gripper. Definitely recommended!!

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Passenger To Frankfurt

Sir Stafford Nye, a middle-aged, extraordinary diplomat is on his way back home from Malaya to London. But the journey takes an unexpected  turn when he meets an anonymous girl who’s seeking his help as her life is in danger.

Passenger to Frankfurt is one of the latest works by Agatha Christie. It was published in 1970.

Agatha Christie

It’s quite well-known a fact that Agatha Christie has won this epithet of ‘The greatest genre-fiction writer of all time’ and I definitely agree. Her crime and mystery novels can never be overshone. So, I thought of giving her books a try. But to begin with a book like this was completely a blunder indeed.

In this book, Stafford meets a girl who confides in him that her life’s in danger. She asks him to give his passport, cloak and ticket to her so she could safely reach her destination. Out of weakness, Stafford gets ready to help. After a few days, she couriers his possessions back to him that makes Stafford curious. He begins searching for that mysterious girl, to know more about her. Their paths cross a number of times but Stafford is left confused after every meeting. So, this way, the book is till now, on track and keeps you somewhat intrigued. But then, suddenly it derails, as now you’ll find Agatha only speaking of youth riot and Neo-Nazi drama. And you might want to say, ‘Hey!! You are really wasting time, let’s not forget what we’re here for’ But, oops! she never listens and it’s over. And yes, the end…well I was so bored of this whole ‘Hitler’ thing going on that I realized in the end, I was reading it merely for finishing it. Because I don’t  remember how it ended. Honestly, from the mid part,  this book is so off-track and has so many characters that all the interest which had been aroused out of finding that girl, eventually evaporated.

I ADMIT THAT I MADE A TERRIBLE CHOICE FOR MY FIRST AGATHA-READ. I DON’T RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE(especially not if you are willing to read her works for the first time).

Stay tuned because I’m definitely going to read another book of Agatha Christie and I’m positive, that will be fun.

RATING: 1/5

HAPPY READING!!!

The Girl in Room 105

      “This is not a love story. It is an unlove story.”

The Girl in Room 105 is an Indian novel written by Chetan Bhagat which was published in 2018. So, this is all about a girl, named Zara Lone and his ex, who is also the protagonist, Keshav Rajpurohit. They are not together anymore(not even in the book) but one night, on her birthday, Zara calls him over, to her room 105 and then, everything changes. But, honestly, whatever change Chetan wanted us to feel, wasn’t delivered appreciatively. Chetan Bhagat, the author of 8 best selling novels(including this), attempted this genre for the very first time and I really appreciate the change. Though, one thing that remains common in each of his books is the links of his protagonists with IITs and JEE, which hasn’t changed this time as well, yet, it was nice to get a crime story from him.

Plot(SPOILER ALERT !!!!!)

Keshav, an IITian, works as a teacher in a coaching centre. His life sucks. He broke up with his girlfriend, Zara, who he was madly in love with. So, you’ll see him all drunk and insane in the first few pages. But, one night, when he gets texts from Zara, calling her over, he gets all his senses back(even in the drunk stage!!)and he takes no time to reach her hostel. He feels everything will get fine once he meets her but when he does, his life turns upside down because he finds her murdered. And this is where the story begins. From now on, we just see the spy Keshav trying to be the next ‘007’,  trying to find out the real killer. I don’t know how some normal guy teaching in "Chandan Classes" suddenly gets a spy mind!! Maybe because Chetan wanted him to get one!

Why to read this?

• It's fast paced(I only took a day to finish)
• Story line and characters are moderately engaging
• If you are Chetan Bhagat's fan,you mustn’t skip this
• Appropriate for light reading

What was upsetting?

• Old, simple and amateurish way of expression
• Mention of 'more than required' Kashmir politics
• Lacks complexity here and there which could maintain absolute suspense
• Twists in the plot are not well presented
• Easily predictable climax and ending
• If you have a thing for Agatha Christie or Paula Hawkins, you might not want to try this

Another awful thing is, the same old way of authoring, transformed the novel into a story book . I must say, he needs to work on this part if he really wants to win hearts in this genre. Apart from this, one thing that was an utter disappointment was this ‘unlove’ thing. What was the need of Keshav saying ‘I unlove you’,  has remained the only suspense, for me, from the book that hasn’t yet unfurled. I think, it was merely a buzzword, created to establish all sort of murmurs around this book.

Conclusion

If you are bored, or if you have read some really mind-twisting books recently and want some relaxation, this novel can be a good recommendation.

RATE: 3/5

To hear from the writer: Chetan Bhagat

Happy Reading!!

The Girl On The Train

"Life is not a paragraph and death is no parenthesis" 
-The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins

 

Rachel, a young lady, distorted by some heart wrenching circumstances of her life, watches her survival steadily becoming a mere train journey from Ashbury to Euston and conversely.  Her train judders past a few houses everyday and she has this habit of watching them roll past, from her window but,her favourite is house number fifteen. She adores the couple who owns it. She lives their life for a few seconds or minutes every day ,when she crosses them. They are everything she wanted in her life,everything she almost had but lost. She assumes them to be a perfect, golden couple. But, sometimes, appearances can be deceptive. Little did she know that their lives will get intertwined,  that the upcoming stages of that couple’s life would affect her the worst.

The Girl on the Train is a spectacularly written 2015 psychological thriller authored by Paula Hawkins. The book was a big shocker for the world that it became the New York Times Best Selling Fiction of 2015. A movie, too, was released with same name in 2016.

This utterly astonishing book is a complete page-turner. It has got three narrations from three different characters which is amusing because it lets you see the story from different perspectives.The main protagonist is Rachel Watson, a divorcee and an unstable, unreliable protagonist. The book succeeds in keeping you engaged thoroughly. The Language is simple and appealing. The writer is talented enough to compel the readers for a sneak reading. The book is a crime thriller based upon binge drinking, drug abuse and domestic violence. The story line is so unanticipated and unforeseen that you’ll keep guessing all the way till the end and still get it wrong(bet you ;) ).

The book is a must read. I certainly suggest this to all those thrill lovers out there.  Rate:  5/5 stars. 

Wanna know more about the author and her works??? 
Visit:  Paula Hawkins

Happy Reading!!

An Anonymous Girl

A Book Review

  
Here comes another psychological thriller from the ‘writing duo’ of the #1 bestseller ‘The wife between us’ :  Greer Hendricks and Sarah Peckkanen.   This book is the second from them and it became the instant New York Times bestseller (January 2019).    The book is a composition of chapters alternatively written by Jessica Farris and Dr. Shields, the two leading characters of this story. 

The story begins with Jessica’s P.O.V.   She’s a make-up artist. She’s young, elegant,  and a punctual girl.    Her life already carries so many  problems but the most dangerous one begins right after she falsely enters a study,  conducted by none other than Dr. Lydia Shields,  because it offered money.   Dr. Lydia Shields is a therapist.   She is described to be a breathtaking,  enticing beauty who wears expensive ensemble,  drinks luxury liquors and lives in a multi-million dollar town house.  She seems to dwell on morality and ethics. But it looks like something is really fishy about her principles. In the beginning, Jessica didn’t feel that the study is harmful but soon she watches everything gradually unfolding in front of her eyes and finds herself in a completely tangled situation.  The interesting fact about the way of writing in this book is that Dr. Shields P.O.V is in passive voice  that speaks about the complexity of her character but Jessica’s version is a normal one that we usually find in novels.  Dr. Shields chapters contain study on morality,  ethics,  analysis of human brain, especially Jessica’s  which were too intricate for me to comprehend.

The book has a very slow start. I didn’t, honestly, like it in the beginning. But as you go further into the chapters, you’ll find that the book keeps up with the plot and gradually creates uneasiness in the mind due to so much going on. The middle chapters are dramatic and compel you to question every instance. The problem I faced in the book was with the chapters with Dr. Shields’ P.O.V. It needs a lot of concentration while reading due to the complicated theories about the human brain.  Apart from the convoluted plot, the characters themselves are quite knotty as they hold a lot of secrets within, but they can be fascinating sometimes. Another aspect that I didn’t like much is the manner in which the book concluded itself. It was a rather obvious climax. It could’ve been satisfying but it left several questions (not major) unanswered.

Greer and Sarah is an amazing ‘writing duo’. I love their split narration and profound thriller plots. The way they stun us readers with their out-of-the-way stories is more than appreciative. So, I’ll suggest you should read all their novels if you have a thing for thrillers.  Though, this novel isn't as appealing, intriguing and page-turning as the previous one,  yet the plot is worth reading for. So, you must go for this book.

Wanna know more about the authors?

Here are their sites:

http://greerhendricks.com/

http://www.sarahpekkanen.com/

Rating : 3/5  

Happy Reading!!

The Wife Between Us

 Book Review

     

A deliciously thrilling story that will blow up your senses. The Wife Between Us is a fiction and debut work of Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks. This book was a big hit in the year 2017-18 and New York Times Best Seller.

The story is based on a very basic plot that you may find as a normal problem being faced by every second woman of the society. But, the work is so beautifully written such that it concludes the plot as a special one. The specialty of this story is that all your expectations and guessing will go wrong or right, you may never know.The book unrolls a story of a love triangle among a dapper and rich man,his ex-wife and his would-be wife.The secrets and mysteries of this engrossing book gets unfurled more and more as you get deeper into the book.

           

When I began to read it,I didn’t read any review or anything beforehand. So ,I didn’t have any idea regarding what this book was all about. I just got this book from random picking .So, I began reading without any prejudices. Eventually, as an ordinary reader, I started assuming things (like we do normally)and automatically drove away with the magic of the situations it upholds. The book was a huge lot of a shocker for me after a few chapters.It looks too simple to hold such a mystery.That is the point which keeps the reader bounded to the book.Very entertaining,engrossing,thrilling and full of suspense.Though,at certain points you may feel that some situations and scenes were not necessary as such.They just added to the length of the novel and did nothing more.

The book throws light upon toxic relationships with women as their victims,how women are tormented and devastated by them,how, even if they know deep inside that something’s wrong,they don’t pull out because of the charismatic attraction towards the male partner. So,this is not only for individuals suffering from relationship trauma  but also for the mass to learn from it.The book teaches us to always trust upon our own intuitions and senses before trusting any other.And teaches further,to hold on to your essence even if you’re under some other influence.

Apart from a few moments of the book,it is full of thrill and mystery. Rating goes: 3.8/5

I would suggest readers to go ahead with this book. It’s a simple airport novel most of you will cherish.

Happy Reading!!