The Truth About Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell

The Truth About Melody Browne 

Lisa Jewell  

2009

3/5 stars

When Melody was nine-years-old, she lost everything in a house fire -- including her memory.  Now, in her thirties, she is having flashbacks to a childhood that doesn't fit with what she knows of her life.  She begins a search to find the truth of her past, which leads to a new journey for her future self.

This was listed as suspense, but should in fact be called "women's fiction".  Not quite chick lit, but most certainly not a thriller of any sort, it focuses on relationships, healing, and self-improvement.  Jewell generally writes well, or I would never have continued reading about Melody's dismal early years.  However, she credits Melody was an amount of maturity and perspicacity that is unbelievable for a six-year-old, and includes several coincidences that also did not ring true.  Overall, it was a moderately intriguing plot, but not what I had expected and, while I didn't hate it, it's not one that I would recommend.

The Beetle by Richard Marsh

The Beetle: a Mystery

Richard Marsh

1897

4/5 stars

The plot of this Victorian horror-sensational-thriller, which was wildly popular in it's time, is difficult to explain without spoilers.  It (obviously) is about a beetle of a shocking, dreadful kind.  This beetle is seeking revenge on a young Member of Parliament, Paul Lessingham, and doesn't hesitate to crush any life that stands in it's way.  Lessingham, his acquaintance Sydney Atherton, and a private detective Augustus Champnell, frantically try to stop this creature from destroying Lessingham's fiancé, Marjorie Lindon, and Robert Holt, a clerk who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The story is told in four sections, from the points-of-view of Holt, Atherton, Miss Lindon, and Champnell.  It begins with a level of creepy suspense that hints at an intensity like that of it's contemporary, Dracula.  It doesn't maintain this, though, which was a disappointment.  However, the writing is excellent, the pace perfect, and the plot itself gripping -- combining into a novel that is enjoyable enough that the lightening of the story didn't matter in the end.  I would certainly recommend this to fellow lovers of the genre.

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

Sparkling Cyanide

(alternate title: Remembered Death)

Agatha Christie 

1944 

4/5 stars

After a woman dies of cyanide poisoning at a small dinner party, her husband becomes convinced that it was murder, not suicide.  He gathers the group of witnesses to a repeat of the situation, in hopes of surprising the truth out of the killer, but instead, another death occurs. 

Christie does a fantastic job of introducing the characters, chapter by chapter, while slowly revealing both the past and the present of the story.  One of her especial talents is the ability to make all characters appear guilty, and she does that to near perfection here.  The romance is rather cringe-worthy, hence the four stars instead of five, but otherwise, this character driven mystery is an example of Christie at her best.