Fatal by Michael Palmer

Synopsis :

In Chicago, a pregnant cafeteria worker suffering nothing more malevolent than flulike symptoms begins hemorrhaging from every part of her body. In Boston, a brilliant musician, her face disfigured by an unknown disease, rapidly descends into a lethal paranoia. In Belinda, West Virginia, a miner suddenly goes berserk, causing a cave-in that kills two of his co-workers. Finding the link between these events could prove FATAL.

Five years ago, internist and emergency specialist Matt Rutledge returned to his West Virginia home to marry his high-school sweetheart and open a practice. He also had a score to settle. His father died while working for the Belinda Coal and Coke Company, and Matt swore to expose the mine's health and safety violations.

When his beloved Ginny succumbed to an unusual cancer, his campaign became even more bitterly personal. Now Matt has identified two bizarre cases of what he has dubbed the Belinda Syndrome--caused, he is certain, by the mine's careless disposal of toxic chemicals. All he needs is proof.


This is what I say :

I actually am not able to recall reading anything by Michael Palmer but I found out that I actually did.  It was about three years ago that I read A Heartbeat Away but honestly I am not able to remember much of it.

Anyway, Fatal is quite a nice thriller that started off extremely well and for about two hundred pages, I was really enjoying the book.  However......yes, it's the big 'however'.  However, the author again did not managed to keep the momentum of the story and it kinda went downhill thereafter.

I am still very much interested to see how the story goes but I was reading it quite fast towards the end, skipping chapters here and there which I seldom do but in this case it works too as I did not miss anything major and able to say that I completed the book, while not extremely satisfied, pretty satisfied.

With the many other titles that I have with me, I will not be actively seeking out titles by this author but if I do come across his other titles, I might consider giving them another go. 

The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg

Synopsis :

During an unusually hot July, detective Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck are enjoying a rare week at home together, nervous and excited about the imminent birth of their first baby. Across town, however, a six-year-old boy makes a gruesome discovery that will ravage their little tourist community and catapult Patrik into the center of a terrifying murder case.

The boy has stumbled upon the brutally murdered body of a young woman, and Patrik is immediately called to lead the investigation. Things get even worse when his team uncovers, buried beneath the victim, the skeletons of two campers whose disappearance had baffled police for decades. The three victims’ injuries seem to be the work of the same killer, but that is impossible: the main suspect in the original kidnappings committed suicide twenty-four years ago. 

When yet another young girl disappears and panic begins to spread, Patrik leads a desperate manhunt to track down a ruthless serial killer before he strikes again.


This is what I say :

Hot on the heel of The Ice Princess, I was quick to dive int the world of The Preacher.  The Preacher would be the second title in the series that feature some rather interesting but down to earth characters like Patrik and Erica who has since gotten married after The Ice Princess.

Timeline wise, The Preacher took place about a year or so after The Ice Princess.  It's a totally new storyline so if this is the first book that you are reading, it's fine.  It wouldn't lessen your enjoyment of this investigative thriller.

There's some family relations that was pretty complicating for me which I need to map out in my mind which you can map out on a piece of paper if you choose to to help you follow the story.
   There's also a couple of funny moments that lighten up the story especially about visiting relatives who overstayed their welcome which perhaps could be the author's way of trying to inject a bit of humour into the otherwise dark murder title or perhaps it's also her way of 'humanizing' the characters.

All in all, I loved it and even though it's the third book by this author that I have read, I am still enjoying this series and actually looking forward to the forth book.

However, I think I should stop here for the time being and explore other authors for variety sake instead of yet another title by Camilla Lackberg but no promises.  Let's see how it goes!  

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

Synopsis :

Returning to her hometown of Fjallbacka after the funeral of her parents, writer Erica Falck finds a community on the brink of tragedy. The death of her childhood friend, Alex, is just the beginning. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice-cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life.

Erica conceives a book about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about their own shared past. While her interest grows into an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case. But it is only when they start working together that the truth begins to emerge about a small town with a deeply disturbing past.


This is what I say :

This is the first title in the Fjalbacka Series by Camilla Lackberg.  However, it is the second book that I read as I started off with The Lost Boy first which turns out to be the sixth title in the series.  While this has no implication on the storyline, it does have an implication on the regular characters like Erica's sister and best freinds and other members of her family.  I know what that character A who doesn't know character D in the first book ended up marrying each other and character E married character F and so on.  However, it doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the story.

The Ice Princess is indeed an interesting 'who-done-it' thriller.   From the first chapter right to the final, it managed to hold on to my interest for the 1 week plus that I spent my time on this title.  There's also something unexpected on something that happened years ago (hope this is not a spoiler for you) that has a direct bearing on what's happening now and although the link is rather weak (in my opinion) it was quite well executed.

With so many things on my plate, I derive a new method in reading.  My target was to read 50 pages per day and if I didn't achieve my target, it would accumulate to the next day. It's actually not difficult to read 50 pages per day.  With a book that is 450 pages, it would just take me one week plus to complete a book and if I keep this momentum, I should be able to accomplish four books at the minimum per month which works out to 48 books in a year. Yeah! target achieved for the year! *haha*  We'll see how it goes.

Camilla Lackberg is my favourite author for the time being.  I also have accumulated quite a lot (if not all) of her titles and I intend to read each and every one of them.  You can be sure that I am slowing but surely plowing my way through the titles.  Next title would be The Preacher.  Keep an eye for my review!

Salam Adilfitri 2019

It's the time of the year again....

a happy time for those celebrating with friends and families...

perhaps a time of reflection and forgiveness and 

extension of grace.

Taking this opportunity to extend 

my warm and heartfelt wishes 

to those celebrating 

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2019

The Lost Boy by Camilla Lackberg

Synopsis :

Detective Patrik Hedström is no stranger to tragedy. A murder case concerning Fjällbacka’s dead financial director, Mats Sverin, is a grim but useful distraction from his recent family misfortunes.

It seems Sverin was a man who everybody liked yet nobody really knew—a man with something to hide.

His high school sweetheart, Nathalie, has just returned to Fjällbacka with her five-year-old son—perhaps can she shed some light on who Sverin really was?

However, Nathalie has her own secret. If it’s discovered, she will lose her only child. As the investigation stalls, the police have many questions. But there is only one that matters: Is there anything a mother would not do to protect her child? 


This is what I say :

This author is new to me.  I have heard of her and especially I have heard of this title - The Lost Boy but I never had a chance to get my hands on her titles...until a few months back when I was blessed with a collection of her books.  There about eight books altogether and because I have heard of The Lost Boy and not the others, I decided to start with this title first.

I love it.

It was quite difficult to start during the first ten pages of so but slowly and surely I got the 'hang' of the author's way of story telling and it wasn't long before I am totally engrossed into this book.

They are two stories...the main one which is set in current timeline and a secondary story which was set more than one hundred and fifty years ago but in the same island where Nathalie is.  It was a brief story which would make it's appearance every few other chapters but it was captivating enough for me to want to know what happen to the characters from 150 years ago and how it impacted the current story line.

Camilia Lackberg is a Swedish author and is known as Europe's Queen of Crime.  She's really good at hinting and teasing readers until pages just seems to turn on their own in order to catch up with her hinting and teasing.

For a translated version, her story is surprisingly quite international and easy to read.  The one difference I encounter was just the names of the characters which I am not used to but doesn't really impact the story much.

I read it during the mother's day weekend and the week thereafter and after I completed it, I can't wait to start on the other titles that I have and I should start with her first title The Ice Princess. Keep an eye on this blog for the review!