Review #601: The Breakdown by B.A. Paris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”

----Voltaire

B.A. Paris, an English bestselling author, pens a mind blowing psychological thriller in her new book, The Breakdown that revolves around a female recently married teacher returning back from a party, one rainy night, through a short cut road, when she suddenly stops her car to help another woman sitting motionlessly inside her car parked by the lane of the road, but she decides against helping that woman and drives by, and the next morning, she is shocked to find that particular woman has been found murdered, followed by her dementia and her immense guilt and fear about the murder of someone she could have saved.

Read More

Review #24: The Good Life by Susan Kietzman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


An Albanian born, American author, Besa Kosova has quoted about money as:

“Money can't buy happiness, but it certainly is a stress reliever.”

Certainly for 40-something, Ann Barons, "money" was a stress-reliever, but was not an object for gaining happiness in her life. But for Ann Barons "money" acted as a cushion to all her problems and sadness. In Susan Kietzman, an American author's, debut novel, The Good Life, the author has put the limelight on the having a good life with or without money and material possessions, where, Ann Barons, her protagonist is put on a position where she has to choose between money and love.


Synopsis:
Ann Barons has everything- a wealthy and good-looking husband, Mike, two teenagers, Nate and Lauren, who can literally take care of themselves without involving Ann, a 24*7 house help, a million dollar house in the upscale location of the town. And among Ann's many talents, Ann loved redecorating her million dollar house most of the time by hiring some celebrity decorators and throwing charity events and charity dinners at her home and loved wasting her time and body by working out. She was a work-out freak, even at 40-something age, Ann had an unbelievable figure of size 2. It definitely sounds like Ann had indeed a good life, until her Alzheimer-stricken father and mother comes to live with the Barons. Everything falls apart for Ann. Ann's mother; Eileen takes over the control of Ann's very own kitchen to winning away the hearts of Ann's kids in an instant with her talent of cooking exotic and mouth-watering dishes. Ann was beginning to feel left out from the small cocoon of happiness that was starting to bloom in the very core of her house. To drown her sorrows, Ann started drinking and made herself more shut out from her very own family. But will Ann be successful in getting back the life she is most fond of? Will Eileen be successful in getting some sense into Ann's head?

Read More

Review #1: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An old woman, whose memory is fading away slowly, is caught in the web of a mystery surrounding her missing best friend and her missing sister. Elizabeth is Missing written by Emma Healey is a thoroughly intriguing and a highly compelling novel.


 Synopsis:
Maud is a 82years old woman, suffering from dementia. She is getting forgetful hence she writes notes to remind herself of petty things and to keep up with her own life. She couldn't reach her best friend Elizabeth, so she assumes something terrible has happened to her and keeps repeating that Elizabeth is missing. She chants those words to everybody around her, to her daughter, Elizabeth's sons, police-men, but nobody pays heed to her. She tangles the present situation of Elizabeth with her own sister, Sukey, who disappeared after the end of the war in London. 


The author has woven the story in a very beautiful way by giving two angles to the plot, one is the mystery with the right elements of twists and turns and the other is the old age, memory-loss. Her story-telling is wonderful; it's more like she manages to bring this drama into our rooms, as if every detail is unfolding right in front of her eyes. The story is so gripping that it'll completely hook you from its very first pages. Maud's character totally justifies and fits perfectly with the plot, a woman whom no one pays attention to, as it’s getting harder for her to remember things. We can feel her frustration and pain and the author gives us a thorough insight into the life of an old woman suffering from dementia and how she manages to unravel a mystery surrounding her best friend and her sister.

Read More