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Book review: Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten ( Irene Huss #1)

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Don't pick it up if you are looking for a fast-paced thriller but do read it for a female detective who has not been hardened by the difficult work that she does and leads a life as ordinary as you and me, yet is  gifted at her work. --------------------------------------- Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten is the first in the series of crime fiction featuring the Detective Inspector Irene Huss of the Gotenborg Police Department . Hardly the hard boiled, cynic that we know our fictional detectives to be ( From Holmes to Harry Hole almost everyone of them is fighting inner demons! ), Irene Huss is every bit wife and mother as she is a professional in a male-dominated job. Tursten began writing when she could no longer continue working in dentistry due to arthritis. The novel came out in Swedish first in the year 1998 and was translated into English in 2003. The story of this novel is both a murder mystery and a tale of a household with its share of eccentric characters

Book Review: No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

If you would want to give your system a shock or a jolt then this book is for you. If you are facing a reader's block and thrillers are your thing then read this book. Pick this book if you want to have a good time page after page. *********************************** The Plot No Time for Goodbye by the Canadian author Linwood Barclay is a nail biting thriller that is as simple and humane as it is complex. As a 14 year old Cynthia Bigge is dragged from her boyfriend's arms by her father who finds her sloshed in his car one night. Next morning Cynthia wakes up to find that her parents and brother have disappeared without leaving a single trace or note for her. The house is spic and span as her mother likes to keep it, nothing is out of place or amiss to suggest any kind of foul play and still no one can seem find anything about her family. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of this event, Cynthia agrees to feature in a documentary about this. A few days later strange things be

Book Review: When life gives you Lululemons by Laura Weisberger

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Read this book if you are looking to not tax your brain and a happy place to be in. Pick it up if female friendship and solidarity brighten your day and lift your spirit. Read it if you have or crave friends who stick with you and don't falter in calling out your self-harming (if any) games. ******************************* Sassy and charming, as well as a social commentary of sorts that the over-the-top setting of the book would allow, When Life Gives You Lululemons by Laura Weisberger of the Devil Wears Prada fame, was a 'New York Times Bestseller' and among Best Books of Summer 2018. I don't remember how I got to it but am I glad that I did. It is a light read, pacy and with a kickass heroine and co-heroines who are all set to bring down a man who has set up one of these three friends. If you have read either of the two Devil Wears Prada books or seen  the movie then you will be familiar with Emily Charlton (played by Emily Blunt in the movie), the former firs

The dilemma of reading the abridged versions

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I grew up in a small town- Palampur- in Himachal Pradesh in the 80s and 90s. I was the only child in the house for quite sometime and was surrounded by adults- my maternal grandparents and uncles and aunts as well as doting neighbours of the now dead phenomenon called the mohalla.  My grandfather who was fondly called Bauji by everyone, owned an electronics shop, the kind which sells you tube lights and fans and switches. Right next to him was a bookshop. Nothing big or glamorous by any means or standards but more like a rectangular box out of which came all sorts of stationery, chart papers and comics, some college course books  as well and ah how could I forget the copies and more copies of Rapidex English Speaking Course. I was often sent over to my grandparents' house because my parents were both working. I can't recall my age at the time, but I must have been grown up enough to read very well because when Would begin to get on my grandmother's nerves, I would be b

Book Review: I AM M-M-MUMBAI by Rishi Vohra

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I AM M-M-MUMBAI is a romantic novel written by @fishyrishi / Rishi Vohra. This is his third work of fiction. . The book revolves around a Mumbai lad Rudra Talpade who wants to become a Hindi film actor. But this wish remains deep inside his heart as he knows that it is just next to impossible to make it come true. Why? Because Rudra stammers. The story progresses and we meet other characters that make up the book among which are his parents, a sister living in the US and his  friends Shibani and Ankur. We also know that Rudra is working as an Assistant Director for a certain film where only the lead actress is kind to him. Soon Rudra meets Richa at a wedding and falls hard for her. Richa agrees to meet him on a couple of occasions and breaks off her engagement to be able to follow her heart which she has been inspired to do, by Rudra. But soon enough she realises that it was a mistake and dumps Rudra who akin to Devdas spirals down to some bar, gets sloshed, finds himself in a gut

Book Review: Chopra Sisters by Rahul Vishnoi

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The Chopra Sisters is Rahul Vishnoi's third presentation after Who Burned The Moon? and a collection of shorts called Love Littering the Lanes. I have read the debut book and one of the 4 stories featured in the collection. Then I read this and I can summarise all that I have to write by saying that he is getting better at his craft. But as a had-been editor, I won't be justifying my previous job title if I do not talk about the lacunae. The story outline first. The main cast of the story that Vishnoi presents to us here is quite apparent from the title of the book. This is about two sisters who are actually more or less disasters. Always at each other's throat, the girls are just too much to handle for their father, especiallyafter the mother dies. (Reminds one of the trailers of Patakha, a film about two forever fighting sisters.) Anyway they go their separate ways once the elder one decides that she wants to marry the boy who was chosen by their father to marr

Book Review: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

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Another book by Keigo Higashio that is simple yet complex in terms of plot development, Salvation of a Saint might have strained my nerves because of its length but was in no way a disappointment. I started the year 2018 with the Devotion of Suspect X by the acclaimed Japanese author and was blown away, and so when nothing seemed to work in terms of my reading in 2019, I went back to him, knowing whatever I might pick I will enjoy it and break the jinx that the year seemed to have started on. As soon as the book begins we know that a murder has been plotted. We are introduced to the killer and the victim in almost a single breath. You might wonder then what remains to be revealed. And this is where Higashino's expertise lies. The HOW- How was the murder committed? He presents you the settings for a perfect crime. No one seems to be able to figure out how was the deed done even if the detective at times might already know who did it. This seemingly impossible thing to figure ou