Memory Man by David Baldacci

"Memory Man" by David Baldacci. This book is published by Pan McMillan India in 2015 and has 352 pages.

Amis Decker's (a detective) life is devastated one day when he finds his brother-in-law, wife and daughter killed brutally. He looses his house, job, life and starts living life of a homeless private investigator. One fine day a person walks in police station and confesses murders of his family. There is a shooting in local school on same day.

Amis has hyperthymesia. Hyperthymesia is the condition of possessing an extremely detailed autobiographical memory. Such a person can recall almost every day of his life in near perfect detail.

Will Amis avenge the killings? Is confessor the murderer? Are the two incidents related? Will he go back to normal life, ever? Can he solve this?

The book is nicely paced. Hyperthymesia, a very rare disorder, makes the book interesting. It's good to see that the protagonist, though having hyperthymesia, is tall, fat and overweight person and has characteristics of a common man. David is a master story teller and he does not disappoint. Characterization is unusual.

The book starts with triple murder but then the mystery thickens with school shooting, another murder, another one and then a double murder. However when the mystery is unraveled and the reason behind murders becomes clear, one can not help but think 'is that possible?'

Book ends with definite seeds of a sequel.

Read it for a change.

Crooked house by Agatha Christie

"Crooked house" by Agatha Christie. This book is published by Harper in 2002 and has 416 pages. This is a Agatha Christie murder mystery not featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.

A rich old man is murdered by poisoning. He has a big family, all living in the same house. Sofia, his grand daughter is the fiancee of the narrator of the story and his father is assistant commissioner if police. A little girl knows something. Murder victim's young wife is roumored to have an affair with little girl's teacher. Company of victim's son is on the verge of bankruptcy. Other soon of victim is jealous of this son. Sister of victims first wife hates victim.

Is the murder in the family? Or is the murderer an outsider? Will there be another murder? Whodunit?

This is a typical Agatha novel. Rich man, big family, murder, many suspects, an outsider, clues scattered intelligently & revelation towards the end.

This is a relatively short novel. As a result it's decently paced making it crisp, instead of usual slow pace of Agatha novels. As I read the book, I realized that I had read it a few years ago. Since I knew the murderer, the suspense was lost on me.

This is another mystery, based on a nursery rhyme, by Agatha Christie (Others include Ten little Indians, Hickory dikory dock, Pocket full of rye etc.). The characterization is good and story is also good. Actually, for a change, there is no detective in this novel.

A good book. Recommend reading.

Awara (आवारा) by Suhas Shirvalkar (सुहास शिरवळकर)

"Awara (आवारा)" a Marathi book by Suhas Shirvalkar (सुहास शिरवळकर). This book is published by Amol Prakashan (अमोल प्रकाशन). This edition was published in 2012 and has 240 pages.

This book contain three stories, all of them mysteries. Two murder mysteries and a bank robbery. The detective who solves them is Mandar Patwardhan, famous protagonist (मानसपुत्र) of Suhas Shirvalkar.

First story is 'Awara (आवारा)'. Helen Spylane (हेलन स्पायलेन), a scantly clad wet beautiful American girl, gets a lift by a handsome young man on a rainy night. They go to a lodge on Mumbai-Pune highway.  A man is murdered in her suit but he is not the one who gave lift to Helen. Two more murders are committed. Whodunnit?

In second story titled 'Gahan (गहन)'; Satlaj Mayawi (सतलज मायावी), a 21 year beautiful young girl, is about to inherit her father's fortune from the trustees. She loves a poor boy, Shailesh (शैलेश), and wants to marry him upon receiving the inheritance. But her father's will has a condition that she can't fulfill. Shailesh is murdered. Whodunnit?

In the story 'Watch-eye (वॉच-आय)', branch manager of a bank makes a plan to rob his bank with his beautiful lover. The bank is robbed. Whodunnit?

Writing murder mysteries is a work of patience. You have to introduce the characters, build the background, set the murder, scatter the clues, build the momentum, detail out the investigation, show either everyone or no one under suspicion and finally reveal the murderer. Doing all of it in a story of few pages is very difficult. There is a possibility to miss out on more than one things or risk sounding like a bulletin rather than a story.

Suhas has managed to avoid both, but the short length has put a few limitations that readers have to live with. All the stories are good and interesting.

I was a fan of Suhas Shirvalkar in my teens. All his stories sounded awesome. His characters appeared larger than life. His characters had interesting and innovative names. Did I feel the same while reading this book? Not really. It may be because I have read a lot in quantity and variety since then or it may be because the literature that was published after him improved a lot. Any way, what I felt was pure nostalgia. I remembered hours spent buried in Suhas Shirvalkar books. His characters Mandar (मंदार पटवर्धन), Ramy (रमी), Dr. Bankim (डॉ. बंकीम), Inspector Saigal (इ. दिनेश सायगल), Danny (डँनी), Firoz Irani (फिराेझ ईराणी), Barrister Amar Vishwas (अमर विश्वास) etc. I met some of them in this book after a long time. Had a good time.

An OK book. Read it for nostalgia.