Tag: Mystery / Thriller Book Review

I need to admit something here before we start this review. I hate reality shows, and “The Traitors” is the only reality shows I actually enjoyed and watched front to back. And when I saw that this book being released in knew I had to buy and read this book. With that being said, lets review this book.

I had a a fair share of fun with this book, even thou I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. Because the reality that I’m the type of person who hates reality shows really quickly caught up to me when I was reading this book. And I would get bored and uninterested with this book as I was reading it. Which of course didn’t surprised me because I don’t know what I was expecting getting into this book knowing my hate towards anything involving reality shows. 

This book is very faithful to the main reality show, but I personally had hard time following which who the characters were and remembering who was who in this book. Because I really didn’t give a shit about the other characters in this book which more or less made this book less fun in a way. 

In this book we get those generic reality shows characters, the old retired lady, the jock, the plastic barbie with no brain cells, the smart girl, the introvert girl, the motorcycle guy, the freelance guy, you know the rest pretty much. As I’ve said above I had a hard time remember who was who in this book because I didn’t remember the names but rather used the nicknames I had for them. 

I had a really hard time remembering who I had conversions with in this book, and who did what in this book. Because this book didn’t gives us the big suspense or the bond to other players which the show did, which was the main disappointment I had about this book.

However this book gives the psychological warfare which I really liked, because you have to think what to need to chose to not get kicked out off the game or not bet murdered by the traitors or not get suspected by the faithful if you are the traitor. I personally love the psychological aspect of mystery / horror of novels / shows / movies which of course made me like this book more for that aspect of this book. 

But I need to admit that it took a awhile to finish this book because I would take those long breaks from it since there were many times where I would get bored of this book. And I really didn’t want to DNF it so I just waited a few days before getting back to the book to continue reading it.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

Harry Hole returns in the eleventh installment of the author’s best-selling, electrifying crime fiction series—published in 48 languages, more than 30 million copies sold worldwide. In Police—the last novel featuring Jo Nesbø’s hard-bitten, maverick Oslo detective—a killer wreaking revenge on the police had Harry Hole fighting for the safety of the people closest to him. Now, in The Thirst, the story continues as Harry is inextricably drawn back into the Oslo police force. A serial murderer has begun targeting Tinder daters—a murderer whose MO reignites Harry’s hunt for a nemesis of his past.

This book is the 11th book in the “Harry Hole” series, and at the time of the writing this review there are 2 more books in this series I need to read before I am officially or temporarily finished with this series. 

This book was a real disappointment for me, because as I was reading this book it felt like it would never end. In my opinion this book way too long then it needed to be, and it has a lot of moments where they don’t lead the plot anywhere.

I don’t know if it is just me being too harsh about the latest books in this series book I think that at least the 2 previous book are about the same thing as this one. Here I mean that Harry is the edge of demise, on the edge of losing his job but then he miraculously find the solution who the killer is and doest meet his demise at the end of the book. I don’t know if Jo Nesbø meant for Harry Hole to be find himself in a corner and make him grasp for outrageous solutions to dig him out of the trouble. Or if it its Jo Nesbø who is tried of the series and doesn’t have any more ideas of unique plots for the new books and instead uses the themes and solutions which worked in previous Harry Hole books.

The plot in this book isn’t the best and it isn’t unique because I have read a books or watch a movies / shows with identical plot. Which really pissed me of because I really started to think that this series is starting to go down heal. At the same time, there is too much happening in this book in my opinion. Which really makes it hard and confusing to follow everything which happens in this book. The author could easily split this book in 2 shorter books which would only make the story better. 

The characters in this book aren’t the great as they were in the previous books in this series. Ever since the first book I’ve read in this series, I always loved Harry Hole as the main character. But in this book he doesn’t feel like the same character from earlier in this series. In this book Harry feels very wrong and he makes the worst and most stupid decisions ever. Its like he is actively trying to fuck up his life just for shit and giggles.

The writing style in this book was very good, which was the best thing about this book in my opinion. Because in a way it is much better than what it was in the previous books in this series.

I don’t know if it is just me, but I felt like women in this book was shitty described. Since this book makes it seem like what defines a women’s worth is her looks and nothing else. Which really didn’t sit well with me because you can use the same argument against men too which this book didn’t.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden.

I gotta admit that this book had surprised me a lot because I didn’t think it would have been as good as it is. I need to say that this book is easily the best book I’ve read last year.

However dont buy into the fact on Goodreads that this book has a huge ghost story in it. Yes there are a few moments where the ghosts comes into the plot. But those moments are very rare and the majority of this book is a investigation about what happened to the main character’s aunt a few decades before.

In this book we get to follow 2 perspectives, one perspective takes place in 1982 and we follow Vivian (aunt) and the second perspective takes place in 2017 and we follow Carly (niece). Both of the perspective takes place in Sun Down motel and the town where the sun down motel is located in.

I think the two perspectives helped me to like this book as much as I did. Because it makes it more interesting because we get two see the story through 2 different perspectives and we can learn the story through Vivian and Carly.

The characters in this book are very good. Because all the characters have a lot of personality to them and they are very unique in their own way. All the characters have they own quirks and something which makes them really relatable.

The writing style in this book is very good, because its like the author knew what words to use to completely grab my attention and to not let it go until the very end of this book. 

I need to admit that there were some moments in this book which dragged for too long, which made the book boring at times. 

The ending of this book has huge twist to it, but the twist in my opinion wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. Of course I cant say what the twist is but it really killed of the mood a little bit. I don’t know if it was me but I could see the the plot twist at the end coming from chapters away.

I Give This Book 4 / 5

‘Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.’ It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

Ive heard a lot of good about this book, and after reading this book I gotta say that this book doesn’t live up to my expectation I had for this book.

The plot in this book has good and unique premise. The plot in this book reminded me of the movie “Happy Death Day” if it was written by Agatha Christie. I wanted so badly to love this book but after reading it, I just couldn’t even like this book because of how bad it was. I know my opinion might be very unpopular but hey we all are different and the books which you love some other people might hate. 

There are too may characters in this book which really makes impossible to keep track of who is who in this book. And to really get a picture of all the characters because there are way too many characters in this book. And all of the characters feels like the same person which doesn’t make it easier to tell who the killer is and who is innocent. Every character in this book also seems like they could be the killer because each character in this book has like 50 red flags about them which makes you sure that this character is the killer until you meet the next character. 

My second problem about this book is that this book keeps going back and forward in time without giving us any heads up which really makes you so very confused. And it doesn’t help me liking this book more if it keeps making me more and more confused as I continue to read this book.

My third problem with this book is that the more I read of this book the more and more I felt like vital information wasn’t withheld from us on purpose so that the so called “tension” in this book would build up until the “plot twist” at the end of this book. But let me tell you neither tension or plot twist exist in this book because of how poorly this book was written.

The writing style in this book is bad. It felt like it was written by a grade school kid who wanted to be the next Stephen King or Agatha Christie. Which of course is far from the author intention I guess. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

When a police officer is found murdered at the scene of an old unsolved murder case that he was involved in investigating, it can hardly be a coincidence. When the same thing happens to two other officers in a matter of months the pattern is as clear as it is terrifying. None of the old cases were ever solved. The killings are extremely brutal and the police have no leads. What’s more, they’re missing their best investigator.

This book is the 10th book in the “Harry Hole” book series created by no other than Jo Nesbø himself. One of the best crime novel authors I come across so far in my book journey. 

I gotta be honest, this book and the 2 previous once were a big misses for me personally. Because I didn’t like them as much as I liked the book in this series up to book 7. And then after book 7 the whole series started going very downhill for me.

This book has a very generic plot for any police deceptive book in existence. The plot in this book is about a serial killer going solely after cops and the only person who can catch the serial killer is lone main character. 

There are a lot of moments in this book where it foes to hell and just becomes very boring and uninteresting and the situations drag for way too long than they needed to be. I personally think that at least 50 pages could have been removed from this book and it only would have made it better.

The characters in this book all over the place, and even Harry Hole doesn’t feel like Harry Hole in this book. He feels more like a imposter than the Harry Hole we spend 9 books getting to know. But at the same time all the female characters in this book are very manipulative. Like one female character falsely accuses a male character of rape. And the rest of the female characters aren’t better than that.

The writing style is the worst it have been this entire series so far. The writing style didn’t even feel like it was written by Jo Nesbø but rather written by a very newbie ghost writer.

The ending in this book is ridiculous. When you read the end you are left thinking “this cant be the end, my copy must be missing a few pages”. Or at least it was what I was thinking when I read the ending of this book. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men.

So this book was my first book by Thomas Harris and I cant say anything good about it since for me personally this book was bad, so bad that I DNFed it 70 pages into the book.

The plot in this book is very slowly and very boring. The book starts at a mansion owner years ago Pablo Escobar, and now its abandoned full of horror movie stuff, mannequins etc. And after that the plot went a lot of different directions, there was talking about ““sex furniture” which really got me thinking “WTF is sex furniture?”. The plot in this book was all over the map, and I never knew what was happening in this book so thats probably the main reason why I DNF-ed this book.

The characters in this book are I don’t know. I don’t have any strong feelings towards the characters in this book, probably because I didn’t care enough about them to actually form a opinion about them.

The main character in this book was okay for the most part as long as you don’t start thing over all the questionable things he is doing. 

The writing style in this book was bad, of course it could be just me being very picky as normally. But I didn’t like it, my thoughts about are that it was very weak and very poorly done. Almost as if the author cared more about the paycheck he will get from publishing this book than rather give us a good book. 

I Give This Book 1 / 5

When Harry left Oslo again for Hong Kong—fleeing the traumas of life as a cop—he thought he was there for good. But then the unthinkable happened. The son of the woman he loved, lost, and still loves is arrested for murder: Oleg, the boy Harry helped raise but couldn’t help deserting when he fled. Harry has come back to prove that Oleg is not a killer. Barred from rejoining the police force, he sets out on a solitary, increasingly dangerous investigation that takes him deep into the world of the most virulent drug to ever hit the streets of Oslo (and the careers of some of the city’s highest officials), and into the maze of his own past, where he will find the wrenching truth that finally matters to Oleg, and to himself.

This book is the 9th book of the “Harry Hole” series by Jo Nesbø. And I gotta say that this book isn’t the greatest in the series in fact it is very far from being it.

My main issue with this book is that this book pushes the boundaries way too far, and because of this this book makes Harry feel like a superhero rather than a police detective. 

This book is a wild ride because it has a tone of twists, unexpected turns in the plot, action and surely way too many characters than it needed to have. Which really made me in a way dislike this book. Because this book is very hard too follow because of all those things I mentioned.

The writing style in this book is meh, to be very honest I feel like the writing style has been worse since “The Snowman” which is the 7th book in this series. In my opinion Jo Nesbø has stopped trying to give us actually a good series and rather focus on the cash he will get after publishing the next book.

The plot is way too much for my liking. Because there is so much happening that you can process it before something new happens in the plot. I personally feel like there was just filed with action just to keep readers not DNF this series because after book 7 this series is going down hill or at least it is doing so for me. 

Characters in this book, there are just too many of them for me and because of this it is hard to keep track of the characters. And because of the quantity of the characters I feel like none of the characters were good it even involves harry which of course is the main character in this whole series.

At the same time in this book Harry starts to become the biggest asshole I have ever heard of which really made me pissed of becomes I love Harry Hole.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

Inspector Harry Hole has retreated to Hong Kong, escaping the trauma of his last case in squalid opium dens, when two young women are found dead in Oslo, both drowned in their own blood. Media coverage quickly reaches a fever pitch. There are no clues, the police investigation is stalled, and Harry—the one man who might be able to help—can’t be found. After he returns to Oslo, the killer strikes again, Harry’s instincts take over, and nothing can keep him from the investigation, though there is little to go on. Worse, he will soon come to understand that he is dealing with a psychopath who will put him to the test, both professionally and personally, as never before.

This book is the 8th book in the “Harry Hole” book series by Jo Nesbø. Even thou I loved a lot the previous book in this series I have to say that this book is much more less impressive and much less fun than the previous book in this series.

To be very honest here this book goes more under it being a noir category book rather than crime. Because in this book Harry sort of goes on his own and completely leaves behind his police work and any help he could have gotten from his colleges in the police force.

In my opinion this book is very slow and there is not a lot of moments I liked in this book but there were a few. It easily could have been 100 pages shorter and it would have made this book better without all the side quests Harry undertakes in this book.

The writing style in this book is okay, but it wasn’t as good is in the previous books in this series. Which really disappointed me a lot. Because I was expecting this very good writing style in this book which didn’t really happen. 

I personally thing after reading this book that the series is going down hill since book 7. But hopefully the rest of the series isn’t what I’m expecting it to be.

Plot here was very very slow at the beginning, but then the plot had good increase in the plot actually being interesting but then when you come closer and closer to the end the plot again starts to be very slow and not as good as the previous books in this series.

At the same time this book reuses the exactly same plot as the previous book in this series. Which means that it contains the exactly same aspects which are a serial killer on the lose, a woman is found dead and only Harry Hole is able to catch the serial killer and solve the mystery. Like come on Jo Nesbø is it so hard to write something unique and not reuse the same plot ? 

The thing which surprised me the most in this book was that Harry complete forgets about his alcohol problem and just stops drinking Jim beam in this book. If you have read the previous 7 books in this series then you will know that Harry has a huge problem with alcohol but in this book its like the author completely forgets about this aspect and you are left wondering what the fuck happened to Harry which got him to stop drinking. And the author doesn’t give a you anything.

I Give This Book 2 / 5