Bullet Reviews: The Trespasser, The Accident, The Revanant
This week's books are The Trespasser, The Revanant, and The Accident. My loose theme for them is that they are all mystery/suspense novels, and I read them all in October. They're actually very different; Trespasser is a character-focused and psychological mystery, The Revanant is not a mystery but it is very suspenseful and intense historical fiction, and The Accident is more of a fluffy, fun mystery.
The Trespasser by Tana French
Genre: Mystery, psychological thriller
Rating: 5/5 stars
What I liked:
- this is yet another winner from Tana French! She's my favorite mystery author because of her books are character-centric instead of plot-twisty (but there are still awesome revelations!)
- I loved getting to see the other perspective of the Conway-Moran duo that we got to know in Secret Place
- Stephen is so adorable <3
- Tana French takes on sexism in the workplace, and she keeps it real. She isn't shy about portraying harassment and the double standard for men and women doing the same job. At the same time, we also see how Conway interprets her colleague's actions in a certain light, and sometimes she's mistaken
What I didn't like:
- honestly, I can't remember anything I didn't like! The mystery and its resolution were compelling, as were the detectives and their character arcs
Recommended for...
anyone who loves character-focused mysteries. I can't say this enough, Tana French writes them so well.
The Accident by Chris Pavone
Genre: Mystery, suspense, contemporary
Rating: 3/5 stars
What I liked:
- I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator is awesome! Honestly the narrator was the only reason I decided to read this in the first place :)
- It was cool seeing cameos of characters from The Expats and seeing what they're up to now
- The humor was pretty good, it wasn't too over-the-top-cheesy and it got me to crack a smile every so often
What I didn't like:
- This book was kind of a mess! It tries to combine the publishing industry with espionage/government agencies and politics. At times it was just hard to believe a manuscript could have such damaging information that people were being killed if they read it (sorry if that's too spoilery, but that's the basic premise of the book and is revealed early on).
- The ending was really abrupt and didn't really seem to fit
- I think the previous book, The Expats, did a better job of balancing suspense, humor, and believability; this one was just too much
Recommended for: people looking for a suspenseful story with a large cast of characters and globe-trotting. I would actually recommend The Expats over this book though!
The Revenant by Michael Punke
Genre: Historical fiction, suspense
Rating: 3/5 stars
What I liked:
- The book was very well-researched and you could tell that the author really cared about staying true to history as much as possible
- This story is intense and not for the faint of heart! Revenge is the main motivating factor for the main characters, but most of the suspense comes from whether a character will be able to survive what mother nature decides to throw at them
What I didn't like:
- This is a rare case where I liked the movie better than the book. I watched it the night before I started reading, and the gorgeous cinematography made the visceral, brutal pain even more emotional for me. The contrast of the beautiful landscape and a bloodbath was so unsettling and made me more invested in the story. I just had a hard time getting invested in the book because it was written in a more dry style
Recommended for... fans of historical fiction and man vs wild survival stories
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