In the past two weeks, I read three crime-thriller novels. No spoilers.


The first one was,

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The book is under 350 pages, which for a crime thriller, I consider is fast-paced. And it is fast-paced indeed. I did not find it dragging at any place and the other characters besides the main ones were well written.  

The mystery surrounding the story and the final reveal is pretty incredible. It took me by surprise, tbh.  

Although, there are some points that you will ponder after reading it. The one which I did was the carelessness of Theo( the main character) at the final part of the book which resulted in him being caught. I think it was easily preventable, but then again, the reveal had to be there to wrap up the story.  

I recommend it if you want to read a fast-moving crime thriller novel.


The second was,

The Maidens also by Alex Michaelides

This is the second novel by Alex.

In terms of writing, this one is better than 'The Silent patient'. It is written more articulately.

Story-wise I rank it lower than his first book. It builds up the suspense really well throughout, however, the reveal here is a bit out of hand for me. It aims for the big omg moment by targeting the character least expected but, I strongly wished that it would have been better if the culprit was the one we had been suspecting all along.

Also, the justice given to the character we had been misdirected with was abrupt and kept sideline at the end which I didn't like.

Overall, it was a delight up until the end.


The third one was,

The Kind Worth Killing by peter Swanson   [like the title]

I have mixed feelings about this. This was some kind of a stylized take on killer/stalker drama, imo.

The characters were amazing and the idea behind the story was also amazing. But, the execution with the twists and turns(one, in particular, is really good) here did not settle well with me. Especially, the effect it leaves on the ending. Also, the part that irked me the most was when the authorities caught the killer, and for a laughable reason let the killer go.

I just wished it had been more dark and gritty in its approach. Even, a sad, depressing ending would have worked here, imho.

Did anyone of you guys read any of these? Do share your thoughts if you did.

I read The Silent Patient earlier this year. It was pretty good, but I guess not enough to stick in my memory. I had to do a quick re-cap to remember it. Not bad though, just not great, IMHO.

I love edge of your seat thrillers, so I will recommend No Exit by Taylor Adams.  

Quoted from Grandma Bear I read The Silent Patient earlier this year. It was pretty good, but I guess not enough to stick in my memory. I had to do a quick re-cap to remember it. Not bad though, just not great, IMHO. I love edge-of-your-seat thrillers, so I will recommend No Exit by Taylor Adams.

Yeah, I heard a lot about NO EXIT. I will give it shot soon.

Looked these up on Fantastic Fiction and they sound interesting. Especially the first one.

Ever read anything by Tyler Dilts?

Quoted from Arundel Looked these up on Fantastic Fiction and they sound interesting. Especially the first one. Ever read anything by Tyler Dilts?

Yeah, The Silent Patient is amazing. Simple, lucid, and fast-paced, and yet effective.

Never heard of Tyler Dilts. But thanks for the recommendation. I'll try one of his books in the future.

Going through my books, I came across A Tap On The Window by Linwood Barclay. It is a crime-mystery novel.

The only thing I remembered about it from my first and only read was, I enjoyed it a lot. So, I read it again to find out how it holds up the second time. And also coz I didn't remember much of it.

Tbh, I found it much more entertaining than earlier. And surprisingly, I liked the ending even more.

Check it out if you are not familiar with Barclay. A good starting point, imo.

And if you have read it, do care to share your thoughts.