READING. RANTING. RAVING.
“I have lived a thousand lives and I’ve loved a thousand loves. I’ve walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read.”
- George R.R. Martin
- George R.R. Martin
- = Buddy read with @aprilisbooked, @lei_reads and @readsandwanders Start Date : June 24, 2020 End Date: June 26, 2020 "Books are time travel. True readers all know this. But books don’t just take you back to the time in which they were written; they can take you back to different versions of yourself." - Peter Swanson Actual Rating : 4/5 Malcolm Kershaw (Mal) owns a specialty bookshop. He is surrounded with murder day in and day out. Solving crime and guessing who the culprit is was only in the pages of the books but that changed with a call from FBI agent Gwen Mulvey. Gwen believes that some of unsolved murders with different MO are actually done by a serial killer and he is basing it on a blog post Mal created years ago, "Eight Perfect Murders". Now Mal, re-reads these books and tries to catch the killer before the killer catches him. I have created a new disclaimer cause I feel my rating is highly affected by the buddy read. If you are interested in my take for On Buddy Reading, please check my post about it.
This book have a lot to offer. For someone who loves the Mystery genre, Eight Perfect Murders offers more than just a story. It contains tons of references to other books of the same genre that the reader would also enjoy. The reference to A.B.C. Murders and Red House Mystery made me a little bit giddy cause I have read this and I do agree that this are great examples of the genre. In my opinion though, if we are talking about perfect murder and the great Agatha Christie, I would have to say And Then There Were None is the perfect murder mystery. Just the number of books that are being recommended is enough to make this a keeper in my bookshelf. Throughout the book, I didn't feel that Mal is the hero of the story. He felt as if someone I had to follow to know the story. I couldn't fully root for him. Mal is also a frustrating character to follow. You know those characters in the chick lit genre that keeps putting their foot in their mouth or keeps doing something stupid that puts them into an embarrassing situations, that is how Mal is. We had two or more nights wherein we are just bashing the decisions that Mal has done. Throughout the book, I was teetering between thinking he is a killer or just an innocent bookshop owner that got swept up in this murder spree. Although I cannot feel for Mal, I appreciate him as a narrator. His thought process as well as his memories were well laid out that the narration felt natural and highly engaging and easy to follow. It was easy to delve into his life and be invested in his story. The story also contains a lot of interesting characters that could have been fleshed out more. I certainly found Brian Murray, co-owner of Old Devils as well as his wife Tess interesting and see a lot of potential for their characters. Another character is Gwen Mulvey who was really visible during the first half of the book yet suddenly disappears on the later. I really thought she had a bigger role to play but she kinda sputters out at the end. This is a quick read that any mystery lover can thoroughly enjoy. If you enjoy Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle then this is also up your alley. If you have read this book, please leave in the comments what you think of the ending and how this is Book 1 of a series.
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January 2017
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