Random Things Tours: The Island by Catherine Cooper

 

As in one of my previous professional lives I used to be a fancy travel writer and influencer, I love books featuring such characters. In general, the world of social media is a permanent fascination for me and I am trying to read as many books as possible inspired by this contemporary fragment of everyday reality.

The Island, the fourth book by bestseller author Catherine Cooper, an author I´ve previously reviewed on the blog, it is based on a story set among travel influencers, invited to report from a fancy island in Maldives. Suddenly, there are murders and it is very difficult to figure out why and how did it happen. Crimes, in general, are hard to grasp, they are a violent reality encounter that denies the human logic. Is the escape about to turn into a nightmare?

Written mostly through diary entry, The Island is an enigmatic thriller, hard to guess at the very beginning, but once you are advancing through the end of the story things are becoming less unclear, although not easy to read and understand. Actually, I enjoyed the slow immersion into the story, as it helps to create an ambiance as well as to understand more about the protagonists.

I´ve read it one half weekend, and really enjoyed entering the skin of some of the characters and trying to understand what are they up to. I would have love maybe a faster pace, but if you think about the ending, it makes sense to get to know the characters and their motivations first.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Penthouse by Catherine Cooper

 

Catherine Cooper is an author I´ve featured before on my blog and I am always happy to discover her intelligent twists. A luxury travel writer, her books always have an unique approach to human psychology. The Penthouse, her latest, is following the same complex narrative. However, this time was even more intense, which makes this book one of my favorites so far.

Enola, a rich and famous singer, disappeared suddenly 15 years ago. Now, the members of her band are back to Las Vegas for some concerts, but unfortunate events do affect their schedule and everyday lives. Suddenly, they may think that it has to do at a certain extent with Enola, but they are not prepared to the truth to be revealed to them.

The mystery regarding the case is permanently maintained, as there is an unnamed character who will add a perspective to the story during the coming and going of points of view shared by the different characters. The characters themselves seem to be plagued by deep inimities and jealousy, something to expect in the world of showbiz, but the extent of this is hard to estimate.

I may confess that I´ve found the book pretty addictive, keeping me focused for a long amount of time, playing the crime detective and trying to understand what exactly is happening and if there will be any follow-up regarding Enola´s fate.

The Penthouse is a recommended read to anyong in love with good thrillers, with a hint of mystery and deep insights into human nature. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Cruise by Catherine Cooper

I haven´t been on a cruise yet and I don´t have this in my travel cards for the next years, but nevertheless I feel that from the mystery thriller point of view, the claustrophobic perspective of being caught on a huge boat, in the middle of the sea, is a great choice. There could be so many things happening on a cruise and crime is one of the things that come to mind the fastest. 

Catherine Cooper´s The Cruise is using this motive in order to create a crime story which is hard to leave down before the riddle is solved. 

During a New Year´s Party on a glamorous large cruise ship in the Carribean, the dancer Lola disappears without trace. There is no corpse but no other way to find her either. The mystery is well built around this important event, and although the pace may not be very fast, it allows the unfolding of additional events as well as to focus on the cast of characters.

Who is/was Lola actually? What it is known about her ? As the main character in the book, who is weaving the rest of the story, she remains mostly mysterious. However, there is another timeline which takes shape, about a 15 years old girl named Laura, reclusely growing up with her father.

Personally, most of the twists of the story took me by surprise. As the suspicions of murder are becoming more and more real, there are other characters randomly involved in the investigation, but no matter on whom I placed my bets, I didn´t succeed to guess right, not even in percentage of 75%. Which is also perfectly fine, because surprise mystery solutions is one of the reasons I keep reading mystery thrillers anyway.

The Cruise is an eventful and unexpected story, hard to put down and captivating, a must read by any crime and thriller lover.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own