They skillfully lead the reader by the nose, luring him into a web of cleverly placed traps, false clues, deceptive moves, and subtle hints.
In such books, it is unclear until the very end where the truth is and where the lies are, who to believe and who not. The plot is dynamic, incredibly exciting, you want to find out the answers to all the questions as soon as possible, which makes the pages fly one after another. And the denouement turns out to be the most unexpected, because it was almost impossible to guess.
Today I will tell you about books that made me think, tested my willpower, because curiosity made me look at the last pages to learn everything as quickly as possible.
Stuart Turton “The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle”
“The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” is a puzzle novel with many mysteries, but nothing indicates what the ending will be. The main character needs to solve the mystery of the death of the beautiful Evelyn. She dies on her birthday at a gala ball, where our main character, Aidan Sloane, is one of the invited guests. But who said that she will die only once? The day of her death will be repeated until the hero can solve the mystery of her death. But not everything is so simple! In addition to the fact that it is Groundhog Day, the main character starts every day in a new guise and cannot influence who he will turn out to be this time. The only way to break this vicious circle is to establish the identity of the murderer.
Michel Bussy “Black Water Lily”
The action of Michel Bussy's novel “Black Water Lilies” takes place in the real village of Giverny, the descriptions of which are as realistic as possible.
The plot centers around three completely different main characters: a ten-year-old very talented girl with a great future, an amazingly beautiful thirty-six-year-old school teacher, and an old woman who watches everyone and keeps many secrets. They are united only by the desire to forever leave the village of Giverny, where people from all over the world strive to get to at least for a day. For all three, this place has become a prison. The youngest dreams of becoming a famous artist and finding her father, the teacher wants to leave her husband and meet her love. And the oldest heroine knows everything about the first and second and is clearly hiding something.
But one day the heroines had a chance to escape from their imprisonment. On May 13, 2010, the “gates” opened for thirteen days just for them, but with a rather ruthless condition: only one of them could escape.
It all started with a murder. On May 13, 2010, the body of a local resident, a famous and successful ophthalmologist, Jerome Morval, was found on the riverbank. The police are in a stupor, there are too many details that do not intersect and make the investigation more and more confusing. The mosaic does not fit into a complete picture. And, as it turns out, this is not the first and not the last murder committed in the village.
Until the very end, it is not clear what the three heroines' relationship to the murder is, what connects them, except for the desire to escape from Giverny? All the author's hints only further complicate the plot. And the ending turns out to be one that you don't expect at all, you didn't even have such thoughts.
Arthur Conan Doyle “The Speckled Ribbon”
The most famous detective in the world, Sherlock Holmes, needs no introduction. Of course, I recommend reading all the collections of stories dedicated to this hero. But I still want to highlight the story “The Spotted Ribbon”, because even Conan Doyle himself considered it the best.
This is one of the darkest and most terrifying stories about Sherlock Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson. It all begins with a strange story by a certain Ellen Stoner: her twin sister died under mysterious circumstances two weeks before her wedding. Before her death, Julia complained that for several nights she had been hearing a strange whistling sound in the house at night, which prevented her from sleeping. And now Ellen fears that the same terrible fate awaits her, because she also began to hear this sound.
Gillian Flynn “Lost”
A novel in which you can't trust any of the characters.
Amy Dunn disappeared just before her fifth wedding anniversary. Traces of a struggle in the house, blood that had clearly been wiped away, indicate a kidnapping. Also found in the house were “keys” that the beautiful, intelligent and resourceful Amy had placed for a game called a “treasure hunt” that she organized every year for her adoring husband Nick.
And it seems that these “keys” – strange notes and no less strange trinkets – provide the only chance to shed light on the fate of the missing woman. When Amy's diary falls into the hands of the police, the main suspect becomes Nick himself. He does not give up and begins his own investigation. But will the hero have to reveal to the world a few of his own unsavory secrets in the process of searching?
Frank Tillier “Puzzle”
The main characters, Ilan and Chloe, professional treasure hunters, decide to take part in the mysterious game “Paranoia”, for which a creepy location has been chosen – an abandoned psychiatric hospital.
Eight participants will compete for the main prize – three hundred thousand euros. They have to collect ten black crystal swans and get the keys to the safe, where the reward lies. The rules are unknown. But to win, the participants must challenge their secret fears. And the price for an unfulfilled task is death. Tillier does not spare his heroes – an ordinary detective story at first glance gradually turns into a real book about survival.
Riley Sager Thrillers
This selection could not have been complete without them.
“Close all the doors”
“Close All Doors” is a gripping and tense thriller about a girl who gets a job in an old luxury building overlooking Central Park. Her duties include guarding the premises. The rules for employees are simple: do not bring guests, spend the night in the apartment under guard, and be invisible to other residents.
But gradually the heroine begins to realize that the walls of this building hold dark and eerie secrets. After her new friend disappears, she realizes that the rumors about girls disappearing there are not just gossip.
“My last lie”
“Two Truths and a Lie” is a game played by girls at the “Nightingale” summer camp. Emma was the youngest and shared a small wooden cottage with Natalie, Allison, and Vivian. The heroine looked at her neighbors with undisguised admiration. But one morning, early in the morning, the three older girls left the cottage, and no one saw them again. More than a hundred people took part in the search, but it did not lead to a result.
Fifteen years have passed since the tragedy, and Emma is now a promising artist. She paints large-scale canvases, where dark leaves and gnarled branches form gloomy patterns. But only Emma knows the secret meaning of her paintings: in each of them, three white figures hide under the branches and leaves – three girls who have disappeared forever.
Emma cannot erase the past from her memory, which one day catches up with her. The girl is invited to the same camp as an art teacher. Fearing and hoping at the same time to reveal old secrets, Emma accepts the invitation.
Will she be able to solve the mystery that the police have been unable to solve? What will she learn about the girls' disappearance and about herself?
“House on the Edge of Darkness”
Maggie Holt hates being asked about her childhood and the book her father wrote. It has haunted her for 25 years, ever since Maggie's family moved into the Victorian estate of Bainberry Hall and then hurriedly left it in the middle of the night.
In his novel, Maggie's father described all the dark and mystical events that took place on the estate, and the book made the Holt family famous. But Maggie does not remember anything from her childhood and does not believe a word of the novel.
After her father's death, Maggie inherits the same estate and wants to prepare it for sale. Now, ghosts from the past are ready to come out of the shadows and tell her the secrets of the estate. But is she ready to face the secrets that await her within the walls of the old house? And what if human actions turn out to be more terrible than any ghosts?
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