“Death rarely changes how we feel about someone. Heightens it, more often than not.”   ☘      Opinião em Português      ☘   This was a book that caught my attention by its popularity. In fact, it’s a difficult for a thriller to have a high rating. High expectations are a constant in a thriller reader, when it comes to creativity and its ability to make the heart race and the throat twisted in a knot. The Dry is Jane Harper’s first novel, an Australian author. Despite being her first novel, she won at least 10 literary awards. Aaron Falk returns to his hometown, after being chased out, to go to the funeral of his best friend from his teens, Luke Adler, and his family. It’s suspected that Luke murdered his family, killing himself after. Aaron, as a plea from Luke’s parents, starts his investigation on it, to prove Luke’s innocence.  While investigation, Aaron seems himself forced to confront his past with Luke, whatever led him to be chase...

“I don’t like to dwell on regrets. They tell you that you have not come to terms with what you’ve done.”   ☘      Opinião em Português      ☘   I’ve received several opinions that this book was addictive and brilliantly written. However, to me, it wasn’t neither. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is a thriller with a smidge of detective/crime novel, that won several literary awards, all of them well deserved. Something that you have to have in mind, while reading this book, is the situation revolving a romance that involves a 35-year-old man with a 15-year-old girl, where we need to make an informed and clear opinion on that. I strongly suggest read the book to the end, and then form an opinion. This leads to the question that divides worlds: how far is acceptable a relationship between an adult and a teenager (w/ 16/18 yo) with a conscious critical mind (young adult)? Well, here we meet Marcus Goldman, a writer that reach success with...

"Solitude sharpens your perception of things"   ☘      Opinião em Português      ☘   This is the third book of the Mila Vasquez’s series, preceded by The Whisperer and The Vanished Ones . We enter Mila’s world from Bruno Genko’s point of view. Genko is a private detective that investigated Samantha Andretti’s disappearance 15 years ago. Samantha was help captive in a sort of maze where she had to go along the captor’s trials. The chapters are intertwined with Genko’s investigation and Samantha’s testimony. Samantha tell her accounts to Dr. Green, a psychotherapist who works for the Federal Police, in an effort to try to catch the captor that left her injured near a swamp. This isn’t a typical Carrisi thriller where there are full of forensic technics. Genko doesn’t have the know how therefore, the author couldn’t out that in Genko’s work. However, Carrisi explores the everyday persuasion techniques: clothing, mannerisms, etc. – and that is w...

“Some people’s good always coincides with other people’s evil, but the opposite is also true.”   ☘      Opinião em Português      ☘   The Vanished Ones is the second book of the Mila Vasquez series, preceded by The Whis perer ,  Carrisi’s first work. The Vanished Ones is the third work. We can see an evolution of his writing, especially on human interactions. Carrisi received a fan’s email explaining that he was exasperated and tired with the life we were having, so he simply vanished from the face of the earth. In this book, Mila, and Missing People’s detective, is called to solve a murder committed by a man, who disappeared without leaving a trace 17 years before. After what happened with the Whisperer’s case, Mila tries to struggle to move on as darkness keeps pulling her back. So, she decides to stay in Limbo (Missing People’s Department). It’s a slow start and a bit confusing with all the information and twists but we have to keep i...

“Evil generates only more evil. That has always been its chief characteristic.” ☘      Opinião em Português       ☘   Donato Carrisi is an Italian author, with a degree on Law and specialized on Behavioural Sciences and Criminology. The man knows that he’s talking (writing?) about! The Whisperer was his first work and it was published in 2009.  Six arms were found in the middle of the woods and five of them are from five missing girls. Violent Crimes Unit from the Federal Police get help from Mila Vasquez, the best detective on Missing People department, to find the sixth girl alive. This thriller is a complex web of murder masterfully combined by Carrisi. Essentially, the book makes us wonder how far will evil go and our choice to do it – the Good is silent, is witnessed, and Evil is always present and is alluring, it’s up to us to choose and take the leap towards the Light or Darkness. Carrisi makes several references to psychological trait...

“A morte raramente altera o que sentimos em relação a alguém. Acentua-o, na maior parte das vezes.”   ☘      Review in english       ☘   Este foi um livro que me chamou a atenção pela popularidade. De facto, é difícil um thriller estar num patamar de cotações alto. As expectativas altas fazem parte de um leitor assíduo de thrillers, no que diz respeito à criatividade e na capacidade de instigar o coração a ficar acelerado e a garganta a ficar com um nó. A Seca, ou The Dry em inglês, é o primeiro trabalho publicado por Jane Harper, uma escritora australiana. Apesar de ser o seu primeiro livro, este ganhou pelo menos 10 prémios literários, entre eles o 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards para Melhor Thriller de Mistério e para Melhor Estreia. Aaron Falk volta à terra natal, depois de ter sido escorraçado dela, para ir ao funeral do seu melhor amigo da sua adolescência, Luke Adler, e de sua família. Suspeita-se que Luke tenha morto a sua família...