Thrillers & Whodunits

Happily, the manuscript for my third novel is now in the hands of the publisher so I have had an opportunity to return to reading my thrillers and whodunits.  Last week I was full of praise for those two books that I finally had the time to read. This week I was disappointed in one of my two reads – the thriller – and I would love your take on it.

But first, the whodunit“Caught” by Harlan Coben. This book has no romance – something I usually appreciate as part of my well-balanced reading exercise.  And for the first time, I didn’t miss it.  I hope it isn’t a part of the aging process.

The plot is not uncommon – a newspaper reporter (Wendy Tynes) sets up a guy in an empty house – the guy  (Dan Mercer) thinks he is going to be helping a young girl in distress – the reporter has created an underage girl scenario – and when Mercer arrives at the house, all the bells, whistles, cameras, lights go off – and the story continues from there.  Mercer says he is innocent – and soon into the story, Wendy begins to have some concerns that he might be.  So we follow her down the winding road until the explosive end.  No, I am not going to tell you anything more – it is a great read – I actually read it all in one day – BUT – the matter of “set-ups” by media, and on occasion by the police, begs the question.   When does it get out of hand?  Should there be any controls?  Are mistakes in these scenarios ever fixed? Or overcome? I am still thinking about it.  What do you think?

And now let me tell you about my second read – Iris Johansen’s, “Quinn”.  She writes exciting, scary, romantic thrillers. I have read almost all of her books and for those of you who are also fans, you know that in the last four years, her books have always had the undercurrent of the heroine Eve’s missing, and presumed dead daughter, Bonnie. She was seven years old when she disappeared without a trace ten years earlier and Eve keeps hoping that she will eventually find her burial spot. As I was reading this latest novel  I kept wondering why there was so much of the’ Bonnie’ story in this particular plot when it had been written about so often before.  As a writer, my interest was probably a bit more in depth because the story seemed to be a synopsis of past scenarios rather than a new plot line.  And for a writer, that is a definite no no!

Anyhow, I kept on reading and when I reached the last ten pages, it really got ‘hot’.  I was sure that finally, once and for all, I would know who did it to Bonnie and where her body might be buried.  But – you will not believe what the last line of this book was… “Come and get me”.

That was it?  Why had I spent hours reading in order to find out who was the shadowy figure being chased? It was like a serial movie from the old days that cuts off just when…

Ah, ha, gotcha hooked!  See you next week, or in this case, buy the next book and maybe you’ll find out.

I actually slammed the book down and it flipped over and there it was – the promotion on the back cover that I had missed when I bought the book – it clearly said that there will be two more books to make a trilogy.  Too bad for me.

I hate a story that has no ending.  So, on principle when the next books are published, I will go into the bookstore and simply lift them off the shelf and read the last few pages to find out who did it and whether Bonnie is still alive.  I think she probably is. So to one of my favourite authors, Iris Johansen, I say, “come back to your old thriller ways!”

But there is a positive side to all of this.  It reinforces my commitment to all of you that when you read the last page of my books, you will never slam it down in frustration.  Whether you like the story or not, it will always have a beginning, an interesting middle, and a definitive end.