Book Review(s): The Chain, The Island, The Secret of Cold Hill, The Silent Patient & When You See Me

I have been reading quite a lot of books, only I don't get the time to write about them. So, here's a quick roundup of some of the books I enjoyed reading the last few weeks...

The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides) - The Silent Patient is what happens when Gone Girl meets Shutter Island. But the result is exciting all the same. Written by first-time author Alex Michaelides, the novel seemingly starts off as your garden-variety domestic tragedy about a famous painter, Alicia, married to a celebrated fashion photographer. Their life is perfect, as you're led to believe. But she also ended up shooting her husband on a fateful night five times in the face and deciding to never speak a word of it... until criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber enters the picture, who, obssessed with the turn of events in Alicia's life, wants to work with her and get to the root of the mystery of why she shot her man. Cleverly depicting Alicia as an unreliable narrator, Michaelides lays various versions of the truth on the table, swinging from one perplexing perspective to another, pushing the thriller towards a series of reveals, big and small, that delves deep into the mind of a disturbed mind who's lost it all.

When You See Me (Lisa Gardner) - When FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren join hands to form a task force to investigate the skeletal remains of Lilah Abenito, who went missing 15 years ago, little do they realise they've stumbled into a complex web of murders and small-town secrets in the Georgia hills. As the cold case is revived and the body count keeps piling up, Gardner pulls off an accomplished page-turner packed with twists and turns galore (the involvement of civilians in a major investigation such as this is a bit hard to stomach though), while simultaneously juggling a busy plot, deftly switching back and forth between multiple strands, before bringing it all to a close in an emotional and thrilling finish.

The Chain (Adrian McKinty) - The central conceit of The Chain is simply incredible — an ingenious spin on the kidnap dramas that fill the pages of most mysteries and crime thrillers. Told in two parts, McKinty kicks things off with a bang when the protagonist, a single mother, Rachel O'Neill, is forced to kidnap a new victim in order to save her abducted daughter Kylie. When push comes to shove, what would you do to save your child's life? Of course she has to do it, because only then her daughter will be freed and Kylie's kidnappers will get their child back, too. That's how The Chain propagates. No cops. No press. But if anyone messes it up, needless to say, there'll be blood. Only, it's not that simple. It's quite unfortunate, then, this kicker of an opening is wasted in an amateurish game of cat-and-mouse once Rachel sets out to bring down the criminal masterminds behind the horrifyingly effective ransom scheme (she's the hero, remember?). The inherent breakneck quality aside, that reading The Chain requires a hefty suspension of disbelief is an understatement.

The Island (Ragnar Jónasson) - Now, here's an atmospheric thriller that I would recommend without skipping a beat. Jónasson takes what at first appears to be a meeting of old friends and imbues it with all the terror, stress, trauma, and messiness of reality. Told from rotating perspectives, secrets lurking among the friends slowly spill out, as tempers flare and tensions rise. Essentially a closed door mystery — although the "death" occurs on the isolated island of Elliðaey — The Island is the kind of thriller that employs suspense as more of a ruse than a device to explore themes of grief and loss, that, coupled with the backdrop's natural beauty, adds to its compelling atmosphere. It isn't so much a nail-biting tension-ridden tale as it is a suspense-soaked whodunit, but one that builds up a fine amount of anticipation which later paves the way for an explosive denouement.

The Secret of Cold Hill (Peter James) - A spiritual sequel to the titular happenings at Cold Hill House, The Secret of Cold Hill revisits the scene of crime and death after a new couple, the Danes, move into a luxury home that's been built on top of the very place where the Georgian mansion once stood. Predictably enough, strange unexplained occurrences begin to unravel and it becomes apparent to them that they aren't the only residents of the house, even as the haunting turns increasingly malevolent and things go quickly south, not to mention taking on a very unsettling turn. At times repetitive, but nonetheless very creepy and effective, Peter James mounts a spine-tingling tale, while subtly reworking the original plot in ways that's both eerie and a wry commentary on the current real estate market.