Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Notwithstanding the huge, huge weight of expectation which rests on her slender shoulders, bestselling author Paula Hawkins who rose to instant fame with her monstrous psychological debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, returns with a tousled thriller which may or may not receive the same adulation as her first outing but will still be lapped up by her millions of fans worldwide. In The Girl on the Train, the focus of the plot was on three women, with a dysfunctional protagonist taking centre-stage. Whittling down the number to two, but not necessarily the pace and suspense of the plot, Paula Hawkins’ Into the Water focuses on two sisters who have not seen each other for many years now. If the emotional turmoil of the characters are at the heart of her first novel, then expect her second novel to flow on a similar plane albeit in a very different direction.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins is set in the fictional small town of Beckford, Northumberland, through which runs a river. There is a spot in the river called the Drowning Pool, which the folks of the town described as "infected by the blood and bile of persecuted women." Over the years, this bend in the river has become the graveyard for considerable number of women. And this sleepy town is home to a celebrated writer, photographer and single mom, Danielle “Nel” Abbott, and her fifteen-year-old daughter Lena. Under disturbing circumstances, Lena’s friend Katie killed herself by jumping into the pool. A few weeks after the death of Katie, Nel’s dead body was also found in the river. At the time of her death, Nel was working on a book about the Drowning Pool and had done extensive research on its history and the victims it claimed. She was convinced that something more sinister than a suicidal tendency was at work in the death of so many women in the pool. In another part of England Jules Abbot swore she'd never set foot in Beckford again, but the death of her sister, Nel, compelled her to return to the home town she fled years earlier and take charge of the niece she had never met before and find out the truth behind the mysterious death of her older sister. Jules find it difficult to believe that her sister who was writing a book on the pool and its victims would purposely kill herself there. An investigation headed by Det. Insp. Sean Townsend was also underway to probe the death of Nel. The author sets up the story nicely, pregnant with possibilities.

Unlike The Girl on the Train, Into the Water is mounted on a gigantic scale with an impressive cast. Readers who are familiar with The Girl on the Train will easily recall that the story was thinly populated, whereas, Into the Water is flooded with an eclectic cast of characters too numerous to mention. If The Girl on the Train was told from the perspective of a dishevelled and unstable narrator, Into the Water is told from a myriad of eleven perspectives. While it is certainly ambitious and extraordinary, there is every chance of the reader getting lost in confusion trying to make sense of the story in the labyrinth of narratives which constantly shifts from the first to third person. But this elaborate narration through different viewpoints with each chapter devoted to a different character will be most certainly appreciated by many readers as it added depth to the characters involved and lends credence to their roles in the story. While it would be too harsh to judge Into the Water on the scale of The Girl on the Train, this story of a small town with big secrets which explores the psychology of relationships and the unreliability of memory leaves me with the gut feeling that memory is just simply a storehouse of imagination and, sometimes, things do not appear as they really are.

If you expect another The Girl on the Train or The Girl on the Train II, you’ll be sorely disappointed. But if you read and judge Into the Water on its own merit, you’ve got yourself another winner from Paula Hawkins.

The Whistler by John Grisham

We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of justice.

But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.

REVIEW
Bestselling author John Grisham is one of the most popular novelists of our time, who first shot into prominence in 1988 with "A Time to Kill”, a story set in a small fictional town called Clanton, Mississippi. It was the story of a ten-year-old black girl who was raped and disfigured by two whites, of an incensed father who takes the law into his own hands by killing the two rapists in a courthouse shooting, and of the young but sharp defense lawyer Jake Brigance who saved him from the gas chamber.

Since then there has been no looking back for John Grisham. He has written almost thirty #1 bestsellers. As a huge fan of the author, I noticed that he had earlier shied away from female protagonists, though in 1993 he delivered a stunning and suspenseful novel, The Pelican Brief, with Darby Shaw as the female protagonist. It took the author twenty-one years to create another female protagonist in his mediocre 2014 outing Gray Mountain. With just a gap of one year and a novel, Grisham returns with a thriller about a dangerous investigation into high levels of judicial corruption featuring a female protagonist.

The Whistler by John Grisham is about two investigators, Lacy Stoltz and Hugo Hatch, who work for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, which monitors judicial misconducts. With much not happening, Lacy finds her work quite dull. But that changes soon after she is approached by Greg Myers, who represented a whistle blower. Greg is a disbarred lawyer, and he wanted Lacy to investigate a corrupt judge who was working in collusion with the mafia taking in $250,000 in cash each month. This money comes from a casino operated by Native Americans with a merciless mobster at the helm. Will the judge and the mobster who have been working together seamlessly for the past 11 years allow Lacy to blow the lid on their clandestine activities?

In The Whistler, you can expect John Grisham to deliver what he has always delivered – a superb plot with the kind of legal drama only he can deliver. It is an engrossing look at judicial corruption which will make readers think twice in future. As always, he has created finely etched characters who are easily relatable. Lacy Stoltz’s character has been imaginatively conceived. She is attractive but at the wrong side of her thirties, and is still single. This is not merely another legal thriller from the ace writer but one with elements of romance, mystery and suspense. If you’re disappointed by Sebastian Rudd in Rogue Lawyer (2015), author John Grisham will make it up with Lacy Stoltz in The Whistler.

Home by Harlan Coben

Myron Bolitar, an imperfect but tender-hearted sports agent and one of the most captivating and multifaceted fictional heroes, returns in a suspense-filled mystery thriller, Home. Coben brought to life this flawed but humane protagonist in his 1995 bestseller, Deal Breaker. After a long hiatus I’m extremely excited to read about the exploits of one of my favourite characters, though not with guns blazing, but with an ever-twisting storyline and the right mix of humor, romance, drama, intrigue, action and mystery. This eleventh book in the Myron Bolitar series, Home by bestselling author Harlan Coben, is one entertaining read which will keep you in suspense from beginning to end.

When Windsor Horne Lockwood III (Win) received a mysterious untraceable email concerning two boys, Patrick Moore and Rhys Baldwin, who have been kidnapped from Baldwin’s suburban New Jersey house ten years earlier when they were six, he comes out of hiding to follow up on the lead provided. It led him to London’s King’s Cross Station, where he spotted someone who resembles Patrick but it soon becomes messy, and he calls up Myron Bolitar for help. To cut a long story short, Myron and Win soon found Patrick again, and brings him home but Rhys was nowhere to be found. Their hope of ferreting out details about Rhys was short-lived as they are unable to get anything out of Patrick. Their hope of finding Rhys dimmed but the duo rummaged through the smallest leads in the fondest hope of rescuing Rhys. Myron and Win returned to where it all started, trying to piece together the jigsaw puzzle, and unearthed new leads and evidences as they try to solve the mystery.

Home by Harlan Coben is full of the author’s trademark twists and turns, fast-paced, absorbing, fun and exciting. The two main characters perfectly jell, and they are ably supported by secondary characters like, Mickey Bolitar, Ema Wyatt, Esperenza, Big Cindy and Spoon. I find them exciting and believable. The master storyteller that he is, Coben has a way of tying you up in knots until the last page. His sense of humor shines through his characters, especially Myron. Though I was a little sceptical about Win sharing almost the same space and of equal importance as Myron in the book, in the end it has worked perfectly for me. While the story revolves around two kidnapped boys and the efforts to trace and rescue them, it has a deeper emotional, psychological and social issues ingrained in it – about friendship and family.

AMAZON LINK

The Trespasser by Tana French

The Trespasser by Tana French, the sixth instalment in the Dublin Murder Squad series, is about a female detective with a strong personality. She is no ordinary detective. She is rough, tough and dangerous but there is a streak running in her that is soft and sentimental. Yet, our protagonist is unable to maintain a semblance of working relationship with other members of the squad. I’m sure most of them would scream in delight if she is forced out of it. And readers who are familiar to the Dublin Murder Squad series will remember her as the only female member of the squad, who first made her appearance in Tana French’s last novel, The Secret Place.

Detective Antoinette Conway and her partner Stephen Moran who are the newest members of the squad are assigned dull and routine domestic cases, not exactly something you look forward to in a squad such as Dublin Murder Squad. When they are assigned what appeared to be another case that looks a straight forward domestic fall-out in the murder of Aislinn Murray, Conway and Moran are not swayed by circumstantial evidences and decided to dig deeper. They uncovered secrets, with twists that will keep the reader turning the pages of the book. Conway also has to deal with the issues squad members have with her. Then there is the interesting thread involving her father which author Tana French pulled off superbly.

The Trespasser by Tana French is a finely crafted police procedural full of suspense and mystery. With a squad full of members who would make better enemies than friends, and who are only too willing to sabotage her cases Antoinette Conway, with the exception of her partner Stephen Moran, stands a lonely figure. Fans of the author will undoubtedly enjoy this absorbing and amazing story written in true Tana French signature style. You’ll encounter some incredible characters, likeable or not, stunning pieces of dialogue and equally fantastic scenes. The Trespasser is a murder mystery that will be enjoyed by all who love a tense and compelling read.

Exhume by Danielle Girard

Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman has finally found a place to belong. As the medical examiner for the San Francisco Police Department, working alongside homicide detective Hal Harris, she uncovers the tales the dead can’t tell about their final moments. It is a job that gives her purpose—and a safe haven from her former life at the hands of an abusive husband. Although it’s been seven years since she escaped that ordeal, she still checks over her shoulder to make sure no one is behind her.

Schwartzman’s latest case is deeply troubling: the victim bears an eerie resemblance to herself. What’s more, a shocking piece of evidence suggests that the killer’s business is far from over—and that Schwartzman may be in danger. In this pulse-pounding thriller from award-winning writer Danielle Girard, a woman must face her worst nightmare to catch a killer.

ABOUT DANIELLE: It started on a winter night in 1977 near San Francisco. The rain had drizzled on and off for three days, and the constant patter on the windows had finally stopped. Lying in pink flannel sheets, Danielle pulled herself into a ball, curls falling across her face as she squeezed her eyes against the dark. Every noise reverberated in her brain and sent her pulse drumming. She tossed and turned with each creak, every whisper. When she heard the groan of the floor in her own room, she bolted upright. Heart pounding, she squinted into the dark. A scream stopped cold in her throat when she saw him.

He stood almost as tall as the door. A dark hood covered his face, allowing her to only make out the shadows of his deep-set eye sockets. Long sleeves draped past his hands, hiding what she was sure were his long, sharp claws. The metal bed dug into her spine as she clenched the covers in damp fists. He stepped forward. A tiny whimper escaped her lips where she had tried to scream. She buried her face in the covers and cried. The room grew silent. She forced herself to look back, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. He melted into a robe hanging on the back of her closet door--his head the hood of her green terrycloth bathrobe, his eyes nothing more than shadows in the fabric’s folds, his arms the robe’s sleeves. 

Wiping her eyes, she turned on the porcelain fairy lamp that sat on her bedside table. The room was cast in a pale amber glow. There was no man. Instead, the room was just as she'd seen it in daylight--the small desk under the window, stuffed animals and scattered toys left from that day's play.

Danielle went back to sleep, but for many nights afterwards, she saw that man return. Now, Danielle spends her days (and some nights, too) in an office where she stares at the blinking cursor, dreaming of that man and others far creepier.

She lives with her husband, who is careful never to lurk in dark corners of the bedroom, and their two children. They split their time between San Francisco and the northern Rockies.

Danielle is currently working on the first book in a new series, featuring Medical Examiner Annabelle Schwartzman.

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The Black Widow by Daniel Silva

When our key operative in secret Israeli-intelligence, Gabriel Allon, was first introduced by bestselling author Daniel Silva in The Kill Artist in 2004, I never expected the protagonist to outlast his contemporaries. He easily did that and not only outlived them but is getting toug her and better. In the space of just twelve years, Daniel Silva churned out Gabriel Allon thrillers at a frenetic pace, taking the total to sixteen exciting novels – one every nine months - leaving the readers breathless with the pleasure of reading and anticipation. With each new installment, Gabriel Allon is growing stronger and there’s no stopping him. The latest - The Black Widow - the sixteenth in the Gabriel Allon series is one of the best thrillers I have read in recent months.

The Black Widow by Daniel Silva takes the series to a new level as Gabriel Allon stands at a crossroad. He is no longer the same person. With the cycle of life catching up on him, he is happily married to Chiara, who recently gave birth to twins - Raphael, and Irene - he seems the average normal husband-dad next door. His field days are almost and he is set to take over as the new director in the Office. But when massive bombings ripped through a Jewish neighborhood in Paris, he is called upon to render field service one more time. With the same steely determination and strength, one is transported to Paris, Jerusalem, England, and the United States and back again as Gabriel Allon planned and executed a manhunt for the perpetrators. As the setting crisscrossed cities, countries and continents, Daniel Silva raised the tempo with each unfolding scene, taking the reader on a thrill ride that never relents. Several new characters are also introduced. Gabriel Allon recruited a young female called Natalie Mizrahi to infiltrate the ISIS network. While the bad guys play a crucial role in much of Silva’s novels, The Black Widow has a villain who’s a class apart from the rest, a character that many readers will love to hate.

I’m a huge fan of author Daniel Silva and his fictional character Gabriel Allon. I have read all the books in the series. While some of them are truly outstanding, there have been some mediocre ones as well, though their capacity to entertain remained. Yet, of all the books in the series, The Black Widow is definitely the best. The characters are as formidable as ever. The plot is mounted on a lavish scale and author Daniel Silva’s writing is as sharp as ever, if not better. What makes the book so special is not just the twists and turns and the suspense and thrills but the refinement with which the story is told. There are no grey areas to doubt the authenticity of his description and setting. Marked by political trickery and driven by his passion to avenge, there is no dull moment reading The Black Widow by Daniel Silva.