Two Thriller Mini Reviews
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer, Translated by K.L. Seegers
Genre: Mystery
Published 2009; 560 pages
First Sentence: "05:36: a girl runs up the steep slope of Lion's Head. The sound of her running shoes urgent on the broad footpath's gravel."
As the lead detective, Benny is still a great character and more strong characters were introduced. BUT, I didn't like the mystery in this one as much as the first book. It was a confusing book and hard to follow the plot line. There are 2 crimes - a teenage American girl running for her life but afraid to go to the police and the murder of a music mogul. Benny is involved in both and being pulled a thousand directions and trying to manage a huge manhunt for the girl while also trying to mentor new detectives, etc., which actually feels like a realistic situation for a detective. However, the story jumped from case to case, from cop to cop, from current to past all within a single chapter and without any notice - no marks or extra spaces or anything. I wonder if that is a Kindle formatting thing, a translation thing, or if it was intentionally written that way. Whatever the reason, I found it extremely irritating and hard to follow.
But, I'm not giving up on the series because I do generally like the writing style and the main character of Benny. I'll read another before giving up.
Challenges tagged:
Cloak & Dagger: 6/36+
Storygraph Mysteries: 3/26
Translated: 1/9
Literary Escape - countries bonus: 2/51- 3 bonus
Library Love: 6/70+
COYER 1st semester: 10 books read
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Genre: Thriller
Published 2019; 371 pages
First Sentence: "Jenny gazed up at the building. Her feet planted firmly on the sidewalk but her heart as wide and churning as the sea."
I listened to this book and the narration was very good - emotions and even age of the character was well represented. It's the story of a down-on-her-luck young woman who takes a job as an apartment sitter in a ritzy building. She discovers strange goings on and realizes that other apartment sitters have disappeared over the years. The plotting builds suspense over a long stretch - pretty amazing how Sager was able to keep the tension fairly high throughout.
The story is told in first person by Jules (jewels?) and I could feel her uneasiness build to fear, then to terror. I liked how all the clues seem to lead to one answer about the disappearing people until the end and I realized I had it all wrong. The story wraps with sort of an epilogue telling each character's outcome which is always a pretty easy way to end a book, but helpful in this case. A strong read and I really enjoyed it.
Challenges tagged:
Cloak & Dagger: 7/36+
Literary Escape -countries bonus: 3/51 - 3 bonus
Library Love: 7/70+
COYER 1st semester: 11 books read
