Nemesis

 

Nemesis is one of my Agatha Christie favourites. Miss Marple is the sleuth so that's a winner to start with for me. But the whole story is intriguing and atmospheric with both historic murders and a new one with the potential for more. 

Miss Marple receives a letter from a firm of solicitors notifying her of the death of Mr Rafiel whom she briefly met in the Caribbean and who has a quest for justice for her. Despite minimal information, she takes up the challenge and sets off on a coach trip which leads her to key people who can help her solve the quest, including three weird sisters.

Verity Hunt who was about to married to the disreputable Michael, son of Mr Rafiel, is brutally murdered. Who did it and why? Was it Michael? Or someone else?

The characters are fascinating. The three sisters who live together in the Old Manor House provide most of the atmosphere in the book. There is a sense of danger and strangeness as well as deep sorrow about them. 

Who are Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow? Are they who they seem to be? 

And Elizabeth Temple: murdered or was it just a tragic accident?

Even the two solicitors are full of character and give a sense of the time in which the book was written.

I love this book and give it 5*.

A Stranger on the Beach

Once again, I loved Michele Campbell's (third) psychological thriller.

It is written in two narratives: alternating the points of view of characters Caroline Stark and Aidan Callahan. One narrative can be trusted, the other is lies. But which is which?

Caroline is a rich woman with a beautiful showy mansion on the beach. Her husband Jason is successful and well-respected in a good job. They have a daughter in college. Their lives appear perfect.

But then Jason turns up at Caroline's big house-warming party with an attractive younger woman. Everyone, including Caroline, presumes she is his mistress.

Divorce proceedings begin.

Caroline is heartbroken and seeks solace in the arms of handsome young stranger Aidan who is a bartender. But after one night of passion, Caroline becomes convinced that Aidan is stalking her and her family.

Aidan, however, is trying to convince Caroline that it is Jason who is dangerous and that he is simply trying to protect her and her daughter.

Everything comes to a head one night at the beach mansion during a category four storm. Terror in the dark, a knife, gun shots, lots of blood and an arrest for murder.

Another 5* from me. I can't wait to read more from Michele Campbell.

The Reckoning

In The Reckoning, John Grisham returns to Clanton immediately after WWII, so for regular readers of his books it feels like returning home.

Pete Banning is a WWII local hero. He was captured by the Japanese and tortured but escaped and turned guerrilla. Although his family believed him to be dead, they are thrilled when he finally returns home.

But less than a year later, Pete deliberately and cold-bloodedly shoots and kills Clanton's Methodist pastor.

Why? Is the question on everyone's lips. But Pete is refusing to talk.

The book is divided into three parts: the killing, the boneyard, and the betrayal.

In the boneyard, we learn a lot about the Bataan Death March and Japanese cruelty toward their POWs.

This book - to me - feels totally different to John Grisham's other novels. The law is mentioned but it's an earlier time and culture in the late 1940s in rural Mississippi is very different to today. But a large part of the book is focused on the bravery of American and Filipino POWs and guerrillas in the Philippine jungles and Japanese prison camps during WWII.

For me it is easily on a par with his earlier novels such as A Time to Kill or The Chamber in that it's a meaty book with a gripping storyline and issues to be considered. There is no feeling of the writing being a bit rushed as with some of his shorter, later books. This is full of good stuff and I anticipate it giving more each time I read it.

This is an easy 5* to award.