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I love a good thriller. A fast-paced suspense always has me on a chokehold. But it leaves my mind the moment I’m done reading it. Rarely does a thriller novel get me to contemplate life. I don’t annotate these books, nor do I find myself going back to certain lines and paragraphs. Which is precisely why ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ was surprising.

I wanted to race through the story but had to sit back and ponder what I’d read. Laura Dave’s writing is marvelous. She says the most obvious things in an impactful manner: they feel like the thoughts at the back of your head you had been unable to articulate.

The Last Thing He Told Me starts with a disappearance. Owen Micheals, coding genius and adoring husband to Hannah Hall, vanishes on the same day that the FBI raids his company over a fraud case. He sends Hannah a note. It says ‘Protect her’. By her, Hannah knows he means her 16-year-old stepdaughter, Bailey. Bailey, in turn, gets a note asking her to listen to Hannah. She also gets a large duffel bag full of cash stuffed in her locker at school.

Hannah wants to do as Owen says because she feels he must have a good reason for running. But Bailey has never been accepting of Hannah so that makes things difficult. However, both Hannah and Bailey want answers and together they try to find out the truth. As events unfold, you see, in flashbacks, how Hannah’s past influences her choices in the present. Owen, it seems, also has a secret that he has gone to extreme lengths to protect.

Domestic thrillers generally revolve around dysfunctional families. But The Last Thing He Told Me is about a loving family whose ties are tested by unusual circumstances. That feels so refreshing. Here, one of the characters hasn’t lost his/her mind or isn’t a malicious, conniving person who has been leading a double life. The situation might be ugly and disturbing but there is a lot of good underneath it all.

Despite the twists and turns that have you biting your nails, the book actually explores what we are capable of doing for the ones we love. It’s a stunning depiction of the lengths parents often go to in order to keep their children safe.

The plot isn’t without flaws. There are things that don’t add up. You are, however, forgiving of the little glitches as you care a lot about the characters and want them to emerge unscathed. But you know they won’t and that breaks your heart a little. The ending is perhaps the most gorgeous and touching part of the book. It’s been a while since I read The Last Thing He Told Me but I’m still haunted by it.

Four stars

Fiction

The Last Thing He Told Me

Laura Dave

Published: 2021

Publisher: Viper

Pages: 306, Paperback

I’ve been having a string of bad luck with books. I’ve read some really crappy novels and it’s put me in a bad mood. I had saved the second book in the ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series for times like these. I had enjoyed the first book, which had felt like a warm, comforting hug. So, naturally, I expected the second book to get me out of this reading rut. But I’ve only sunk in deeper. The stories in ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café’ felt forced and repetitive. It was, I feel, an unnecessary extension of a good book. As the first book was an instant bestseller upon its publication in 2015, the writer and publisher probably thought a sequel was in order. But too much of a good thing, I guess.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold tells the story of a café in Tokyo where customers are given a chance to travel back in time. But there are some conditions of time travel: They must sit in a particular seat and not get up—they will be forcibly brought back to the present if they do so. And they must also return to the present before the coffee gets cold, else they will forever be stuck in the past. There are four stories: There’s a woman who goes back in her past to confront the lover who left her, a wife who wants to get a letter her husband wrote to her before his memory started to fade, a pub owner who is estranged from her family but wants to see her sister one last time, and a mother who travels 10 years into her future to get a glimpse of the daughter she never got to meet.

Tales from the Café picks up where the first book left off. There are four more stories in this one. There is the man who has raised his best friend’s child as his own, another who missed his mother’s funeral, a lover who travels to the future to see the woman he couldn’t marry, and a detective who wants to give a birthday gift to his wife. There is a lot of potential there but the rehashed stories evoke a strong sense of déjà vu. It’s the same issue but with different characters. The appeal is lost. The repeated mentions of the café rules also take away from the stories.

I was shaking my head, saying okay, okay, I get it. The only good thing about the book is that you get to know more about the people you meet in the first book—those who run, work in, and frequent the café. So many questions that I had about the café and its people after reading the first book was answered in the second one. But apart from that, there’s nothing new in this one to make it engaging and worthwhile.

2 stars

Fiction

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café

Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot

Published: 2017

Publisher: Sunmark Publishing, Inc.

Colleen Hoover’s books are sensations. Apparently, they are hugely popular on TikTok. I haven’t read her other works (and there are plenty) but I recently bought ‘Verity’ upon the insistence of a friend who was on a Hoover marathon of sorts. Most of her books are romances but Verity is a thriller, which is why I thought it would be a good place to start. But I want my money back. Well, that might not be possible because I have literally hurled the book so many times that it’s quite battered now but I won’t be spending any more of my precious money on her books from now on.

Verity Crawford is a bestselling writer. She has written six books in a series and there are three more to go. Unfortunately, Verity is injured in a car accident following the tragic death of her twin daughters—she is paralyzed but the fact is kept under wraps—and her publisher ropes in another writer to complete her work. Enter Lowen Ashleigh. She is divorced, has spent a year taking care of her ailing mother and has recently been evicted from her apartment after defaulting on her rent. So, when she’s offered this job that pays really well, she takes it up.

Lowen moves into Crawford’s home, to go through Verity’s office and get the notes or whatever else it is that she might need to start. There, she discovers an autobiographical manuscript that exposes Verity’s sinister side. Is Verity responsible for the family’s ill fate? If so, how does she tell Verity’s husband, Jeremy (who she is falling in love with), the truth? And, how does she save herself from this mess?

The plot is predictable from the start. With only a handful of characters, there isn’t much to the story. The writing is bad with much of the book just being elaborate descriptions of kinky sex. Early on in the story, Jeremy says Lowen and Verity have similar writing styles, which is why Lowen was chosen for the job. That’s convenient given how the book shuffles between Verity’s and Lowen’s thoughts and the two sound the same. Isn’t it a writer’s job to make her characters’ voices unique, to flesh them out enough so that they don’t resemble another character in the book?

Hoover’s technique is to rely on jump scares to keep things interesting. But they don’t do the story any good. Rather, they make the narrative forced and unnatural. The only good thing about the book is that the chapters are short and, thanks to bad writing, you never want to pause and consider what you just read. That way, you don’t have to put up with it for long. I’m shoving this book far back into my bookshelf so that I don’t ever have to look at it again. I won’t give it away because that means someone will have to read it and I don’t want to inflict that kind of pain on anyone.

One star

Fiction

Verity

Colleen Hoover

Published: 2018

Publisher: Sphere

Pages: 321, Paperback

I read ‘They Never Learn’ by Layne Fargo on Kindle after fruitlessly waiting to get my hands on a physical copy for months. I couldn’t wait anymore. The anticipation was too much. And the book lived up to the hype. It’s a solid story, one you find yourself rushing through (you want to know what happens) and simultaneously slowing down (you want the story to never end). Centered on a university professor who kills ‘bad’ men, They Never Learn, unlike most other suspense novels, is a thriller that poses a moral dilemma. The social drama aspect of it plays out beautifully and you struggle to decide what morality means in an increasingly hostile world.

Scarlett Clark is an English professor at Gorman University. She is also a serial killer. Scarlett only targets those who she believes “deserve to be murdered”, mostly men who have a reputation of harassing women or haven’t been punished for their crimes. She studies her victims in advance, plots elaborate plans, and stages the perfect deaths. So much so that, though she has been killing since college, she has never been caught.

In Scarlett’s mind, she’s doing the world a favor by getting rid of these abhorrent personalities. But then she gets a little too personal and murders someone she has a grudge against. At the same time, the university puts together a task force to look into all the mysterious deaths on campus. Dr. Mina Pierce who heads the committee sort of figures out that many of the suicides and accidental deaths are actually murders and carried out by the same person. (Curiously, Mina is the ex-wife of Scarlett’s most recent kill.)

There’s also a parallel narrative of a student, Carly Schiller, who comes to Gorman after escaping a suffocating and abusive household. All she wants is to be invisible and survive college. Then she gets to know her roommate, Ashley Hadley, and the two become close. When Ashley is assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay.

The dual stories of Scarlett and Carly play out in alternating chapters, and the similarities between them make it starkly clear that deep-rooted misogyny is the harbinger of violence against women. They Never Learn isn’t bone-chilling. But it’s intense. The feminist rage is palpable. And at times, even if you don’t believe in the idea of revenge, it feels strangely cathartic.

3.5 stars

Fiction

They Never Learn

Layne Fargo

Published: 2020

Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press

Pages: 352, Hardcover

Some books are just great. The story is good, the writing witty and smooth, and the characters loveable. You wish for everyone to read them, and you talk about them every chance you get. ‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ by T J Klune is one of those books I find myself thinking about with wistful longing every now and then.

The writer has created a magical world I wish were real. But it isn’t just a fantasy story either. It’s rather a stunning depiction of how we fear what we don’t understand and our inability to accept our differences and exist in harmony. A queer himself, the author has also weaved in a nuanced queer love story.

The House in the Cerulean Sea describes a world with magical creatures. And just like there are ministries to govern our world, there is a ministry to monitor those beings as well. Forty-year-old Linus Baker is a caseworker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youths who lives alone in a tiny house with a wily cat for company. He is assigned to go to an orphanage on a remote island where there are six magical children.

Linus has to determine whether these children are as dangerous as the ministry deems them to be, especially as one of them is supposed to be the son of Satan. But as Linus gets to know these mysterious children and the person who runs the orphanage, Arthur Parnassus, he is forced to consider that this strange place might be the one he can finally call home. What follows is a wonderful story of finding family and friendship in the unlikeliest of places, and love when you least expect it.

Klune is a fabulous writer. I found myself rereading several passages and laughing out loud a lot. Linus is a fun narrator. He is rigid in his ways but also aware of his flaws. The ensuing mental tussle makes him an endearing character. We all know someone like him, who we want to shake and hug at the same time. Arthur reminds you of that favorite professor in college whom you could turn to for all your problems. He is a comforting presence throughout the novel and you are charmed by his calm demeanor.

The children are all fascinating: Lucy, believed to be the ‘anti-Christ’, keeps threatening everybody about how he can and will use his powers to end the world. Sal is a shapeshifter and turns into a Pomeranian whenever he is scared. There’s Chaucey, an amorphous blob with tentacles, who wants to become a bellhop. Talia is a female gnome, Phee is a forest sprite and Theodore, a wyvern. It’s rare to find character-driven stories where you can’t decide on a favorite.

Even Linus’s cat, Calliope, has more personality that most people I know. In The House in the Cerulean Sea, every character has gotten their due and no one outshines the other. The result is a heartwarming and gripping story that you want to reread immediately after finishing it.

Three stars 

Fiction

Radio Silence

Alice Oseman

Published: 2016

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 401, Paperback

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25322449-radio-silence

Alice Oseman signed her first book deal when she was 17. Her debut novel ‘Solitaire’ was published in 2014 when she was 19. ‘Radio Silence’ is her second book and she has meanwhile published a few other works including a web comic series titled ‘Heartstopper’. She has received some awards too and her stories are often praised for their realistic portrayal of contemporary teenage life. I read Radio Silence because a booktuber I’m fond of (@paperbackdreams) raves about this book every chance she gets. Even when the book doesn’t fit any of the prompts for recommendations, she will find a way to talk about it, often plucking it from her shelf and going, “Hey guys, read Radio Silence”. So, you could say I read it for her. 

Radio Silence would have hit differently if I were in middle or high school. As an adult, it didn’t resonate much but the plot is quite enjoyable and uplifting. The story is about an academically-driven teen named Frances whose only goal is to get good grades and secure a seat at a good university. But that’s ‘school-Frances’, the person everyone sees. At home, she’s obsessed with a science-fiction podcast and makes fan art for it. Then she meets the creator of the podcast, Aled, and the two strike up a friendship that changes the course of things for both of them.

 The book has strong themes of friendship, identity, and parental neglect. I liked the fact that Radio Silence isn’t your typical boy-meets-girl-and-romance-ensues narrative. Oseman doesn’t focus on romantic relationships as much as she does on friendship. When every other YA novel revolves around a love story, this new direction feels refreshing and lends a different perspective to what coming-of-age can feel like. And many times, that has nothing to do with raging hormones. 

The book has powerful messages for teenagers and those who are stressed about life after high school. Oseman’s writing is simple. You can hear the characters talk and their thoughts too. At times it feels like you are one of them as you get caught up in what’s happening. I would have given the book four or five stars if I were younger. I still give it three stars because I think it’s a book you couldn’t go wrong with. There are interesting bits that put you in a contemplative mood. And there is an element of suspense. She tells a good story and I will definitely be reading her other books.

(Dear ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, on paper I’m forced to give you only five stars. I want you to know that if I could, I’d give you all the stars in the sky.) If you haven’t read Delia Owens’ debut novel, I suggest you drop everything you are doing and curl up with the book. I’m saying this because I regret not doing so when my friend recommended it almost a year ago. He told me it was perhaps the most beautiful book he’d read. And he is a voracious reader.

 I wanted to kick myself for buying the book and letting it sit on the shelf for so long before eventually picking it up. I should have gotten around to it sooner; I berated myself over and over again. Everything about the book is gorgeous—the writing, the setting, the characters, the descriptions of nature and the marsh, and the way the author has woven suspense into the story.

A coming-of-age story of a girl named Kya Clark who lives alone in a shack in the swamplands of North Carolina after being abandoned by her family, Where the Crawdads Sing is a captivating read. Owens is a retired wildlife biologist and she intersperses the story with a lot of information about nature’s various elements, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction in places. But at no point does it seem like she’s lecturing; nor do the descriptions take away from the story.

Instead, she enthralls and educates you at the same time. Apparently, the book has been criticized for being too trope-heavy. Some say that a courtroom drama can’t exist alongside life in the marshes. But it sold more than four million copies in a little over a year since its publication, foreign rights were sold in 41 countries, and it’s also being adapted into a film being produced by Reese Witherspoon.

Kya is a fascinating and lovable character. She teaches herself to survive in a hostile world and manages to get by just fine. There are some kind people who help her along the way—like a shopkeeper who buys the fish she catches and a boy named Tate who teaches her to read—who reinforce your belief in humanity.

Set in the 1950s and 60s, the book also deals heavily with racism, with a few uplifting scenes like a judge declaring people can sit wherever they want in his courtroom and that those who have a problem with it can leave. It opens with a body being discovered in the swamp and then jumps back and forth between the past and the present to tell a story of loneliness and courage. You will be rooting for Kya all the way through and the end will leave you happy and heartbroken at the same time.

Two stars

Fiction

Scythe

Neal Schusterman

Published: 2016

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd

Pages: 440, Paperback

‘Scythe’ by Neal Schusterman is set in a utopian world where humans have conquered poverty, various social ills, and even death. There are no diseases, people don’t die of old age—they can reset their age when they feel like it, and if they get into accidents or such, they are taken to revival centers where they are brought back to life in a few days.

However, the only habitable planet is the earth. Missions to the moon and mars have failed. And so, the population needs to be curtailed, which is why there are these groups of people known as the scythes who have the power to ‘glean’ (meaning kill) people at their own discretion. Each scythe has a quota of people whose lives they have to end within a certain time. So scythes are equally revered and feared in this world where everything is seemingly perfect.

However, though scythes are supposed to glean without bias and killing people isn’t supposed to be enjoyable, there are some corrupt ones who treat it like a hunting sport, choosing to glean in mass and loving the bloodbath. Teenagers Citra and Rowan are taken in as scythe apprentices. Following their year-long training, they are told one of them will become a scythe and the other will go back to his/her old life. But halfway into their training, it’s decided that the winner will have to glean the other.

The two, who are mutually attracted, don’t know how to deal with this new development but each is determined to save the other. They also discover that some scythes are breaking the rules, terrorizing people and killing mercilessly. The two apprentices suddenly find themselves thrust into a world where nothing is as it seems and the future of humanity is at stake.

The writing is good. The story is okay. Scythe isn’t boring but it’s not as fascinating as it could have been. I didn’t want to give up on it as I wanted to know if and how Citra and Rowan would escape their doomed fate. Things do happen that make you gasp and shudder but these are few and far between, making it a slow read.

There are all these interesting ideas about how life would be if you had everything you ever wanted and there was no conflict whatsoever. It gets you thinking but it’s not enough to keep you hooked. All in all, Scythe is forgettable but good enough for a leisurely read.