Thriller – Carol's Notebook

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

January 15, 2024April 10, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

The blurb for The Fury grabbed my attention. A famous former movie star and her friends trapped on a Greek Island and someone is murdered - sign me up. Elliott Chase is our narrator and listening to the audio worked perfectly for the writing style. Elliott constantly addresses the reader, tells us the events but only from the angle he wants us to see, and acknowledges his flaws as a narrator. It was interesting how he goes back over scenes, each time adding new details, but how he could have known some piece is unclear. Jennings does a good job of hitting Elliot's tone and moods. Honestly, the fact that it was an audiobook is what allowed me to finish it. The setup was so promising, but the book never lived up to it. The narrative style came across as trying too hard to be clever. I didn't care about any of the characters and while the island should have been gorgeous,...

The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre

October 7, 2023September 8, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Six women travel to Clachan Geal, a remote Scottish island, for a bachelorette party. The women, some old friends, some new acquaintances, are renting out the luxurious mansion on the private island, where it will be just them, a personal chef, and the property manager. The whole thing goes awry quickly. Before dinner but after drinking several cocktails, the chef is discovered dead in the kitchen, clearly murdered, and one of the women is taken, threatened with death by The Reaper. The Reaper claims one of the woman is not who she appears to be, and if she doesn't tell her secret and unless she tells her secret, the hostage will die. The beginning is a bit slow as we get to know all the women and see the situation from each perspective. I'm not sure if listening to the audio helped keep everything straight or hindered it. It took me a while to really figure out who was who and...

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023 by Carol1 Comment

I confess I have never seen the movie version of The Boys from Brazil. Honestly, I only picked it up because I was looking for a book set in Brazil and this one is a classic thriller. It's set in the world of the Nazi hunters of the mid and later twentieth century. It's conspiracy mixed with historical facts. The story begins with a top-secret meeting in a Japanese restaurant to initiate a mysterious project by 'the comrade organization'. Six hitmen are assigned to kill 94 older civil servants scattered throughout the world, and they must die on the designated dates set forth by the still-hunted Josef Mengele. Renowned Nazi-hunter, Yakov Liebermann learns about the plot via a mysterious phone call from a twenty-something American who went down Brazil to investigate. The young man is killed while on the phone call. The novel is gripping and while the plot is maybe a bit far-fetched, it was fascinating. It was easy to...

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

March 27, 2023March 28, 2023 by Carol4 Comments

It's not often that I pick audiobooks based on the narrator, but Simon Vance and Neil Patrick Harris, and the title is Murder Your Employer - I was sold. The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts is an exclusive institution of higher education for aspiring murderers, referred to by the school as deletists. The classes cover a large range of subjects from "Herbicide" to forgery to croquet (mallets can be deadly weapons). Murder Your Employer details the experiences of three students from the graduating class – aeronautics engineer Cliff Iverson (whose anonymous sponsor remains a mystery revealed at the end of the story), hospital employee Gemma Lindley, and Dulcie Mown (alias for Hollywood diva Doria Maye) - each of whom wants to kill their respective employer/boss. We follow all three candidates through their orientation, training, and ultimately their “thesis” or how well they apply what they learn and execute their plan. The 1950s setting gave it a nostalgic air and the campus...

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

December 14, 2022November 15, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

I don't know where to start with The Villa. We have two storylines and the narrative jumps back and forth. In 1974, five people stayed at the villa. Two women came out of it with career-defining works. One man was killed. In the present day, Chess and Emily are spending the summer at the villa, each working on her next book. Emily becomes interested in the events from 1974 and starts researching and piecing together that story. The parallels between the 70s and the present day become clearer as the novel progresses. Friendships are tested. Tempers boil over. Secrets are revealed. Both storylines grabbed my attention. The book slowly leads up to the defining moments, moments that are both inevitable and shocking. I honestly didn't like any of the characters though, in either time. While the women especially, were strong and bold, they were also manipulative and did more damage to each other than the men in their lives did. I...

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

October 18, 2022October 17, 2022 by Carol3 Comments

The setting of Daisy Darker is amazing. The family is gathered at Seaglass, a lovely (spooky) old Victorian on a tidal island, to celebrate Nana's birthday. The house is isolated at high tide and there is no cell phone service. It's a dark, stormy night, of course, and when the 80 clocks in the hall strike midnight, Nana is found dead in the kitchen, with a creepy poem written in chalk on the wall. The reader is sure it's murder, even if the family isn't. The setting was the high point though. The family, while definitely eccentric, is not likeable. The story is narrated by granddaughter, Daisy Darker, Nana’s favorite, who was born with a heart condition. The narrator does a great job of telling us the story through Daisy's voice. Events unfold hour by hour, in the wee hours of Halloween morning, with chapters from Daisy’s childhood interspersed throughout. The Darker family is hiding secrets and they are all...