Kombo Ngeri by Gina Yap Lai Yoong

1. Ngeri (2011)
Joanne, Samuel dan Rehan merupakan pelajar Universiti Filem Masyhur. Mereka ditugaskan menghasilkan sebuah filem pendek. Namun idea mereka ditolak mentah-mentah oleh Profesor Bazri. Dalam masa yang sama, negara dikejutkan dengan penemuan mayat seorang kanak-kanak di dalam peti sejuk beku, kes pembunuhan yang langsung tidak masuk akal dan lebih mengejutkan, ia meniru bulat-bulat idea asal Samuel.

Setiap kali Samuel mengusulkan idea baharu, insiden serupa akan berlaku di dunia nyata. Samuel akhirnya ditahan. Walaupun modus pembunuhan agak luar batas logik, twist yang diselitkan memang menghiburkan dan buat aku teruskan baca.

2. Mangsa (2012)
Pasukan Orang Hilang telah ditubuhkan selepas kes remaja hilang meningkat mendadak. Namun begitu, apabila anaknya Rosmah dipercayai hilang semasa membuat liputan rencana tentang remaja dengan haiwan peliharaannya, ular sawa, di sebuah homestay di Pahang, Inspektor Rashid selaku ketua operasi mula panik dan mencari anaknya bersama team.

Agak kelam kabut plotnya tapi aku suka bab di gelanggang Lodge tu. Elemen suspen melibatkan ular memang menyeramkan.

3. Obsesi (2015)
Kali ini Hema Chandran yang pernah mengendalikan kes Ngeri dan Mangsa, bukan detektif lagi selepas dia meletakkan jawatan polis tapi fokusnya masih kepada pelaku kes Ngeri dan Mangsa yang berjaya mengaburkan diri. Dia bergerak solo sebagai penyiasat persendirian.

Apabila terdapat dua kes pembunuhan dan suspeknya kali ini Samuel lagi, dia tidak dapat lari bila semua bukti menuju ke arahnya. Pada aku part ni lebih kurang macam Ngeri cumanya ending berbeza. Protaganist agak all-out dalam cerita kali ini sesuai dengan tajuk.

Overall, aku suka penerbit compilekan ketiga-tiga novel ni. Kombo Ngeri ialah satu perjalanan gelap yang saling berkait dengan pace yang laju, misteri yang sengaja mengelirukan, dan twist yang cukup untuk buat pembaca tak senang duduk. Vibe Fixi memang terasa: gelap, urban, sinis, dan addictive. 

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Who else can describe human nature better than Mr. King? Mr. Mercedes proves once again how sharp he is at exploring darkness and desire. Getting used to retirement has been hard for Bill Hodges, who drifts through his days without purpose until a letter arrives. A self-confessed message from someone claiming to be the notorious Mercedes Killer. Instead of fear, it sparks a reason to live, and to hunt, in Hodges.

Before retirement, Hodges faced the horrific City Center Massacre, where a man plowed a stolen Mercedes into a Job Fair crowd, killing and injuring innocent people. No DNA, no real evidence, just a clown mask and a ghost who slipped away. It became his final unsolved case, the one that never stopped haunting him.

The killer, hungry for attention in a twisted way, taunts Hodges and leaves a trail through Debbie's Blue Umbrella, an online chat site. Even Mrs. Olivia Trelawney, the owner of the stolen Mercedes, received a letter before her tragic suicide. Hodges knows he owes it to her, and to himself, to chase the truth one last time.

With help from Jerome Robinson and the unforgettable Holly Gibney, the investigation gains new life. Here, we see the roots of Holly's fragile brilliance, and it made me appreciate her character even more.

I don’t have a single critical note. King delivers gripping storytelling from the start, and Mr. Mercedes makes me want to continue exploring more of his earlier masterpieces. I give it 5 stars. I might be biased, because Stephen King is my auto buy author. 😅

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

OMG. This is one of those books you must read before you die. Ngl, I bought it a couple of years ago at BBW, only picked it up three days ago, and now I'm completely obsessed. 5 ⭐s from me.

The story begins with the narrator, who struggles with insomnia. His doctor suggests he attend support groups to see what real pain looks like. So he goes, finding himself surrounded by people seeking treatment or living with life threatening illnesses. He keeps going almost religiously. Then two people enter his life: Tyler Durden and Marla Singer.

Marla used to work in a funeral home, just to feel something, just to feel alive. But even funerals are nothing compared to the raw, intimate intensity of support groups. She senses he is fake, and he feels exactly the same about her.

Tyler Durden, on the other hand, is presented as charming, brilliant, and problem solver. He is the creator of the fight club. He truly creates it with purpose. For Tyler, fighting is not about winning or losing. It's about stripping everything away and discovering what survives. Soon, fight clubs begin appearing in different parts of town. Through Tyler, they also make and sell soap, and the money keeps flowing in. The narrator depends on Tyler, trusts him, almost worships him.

Then comes Project Mayhem. Members gather after fight club sessions, listening to Tyler's committee like a twisted support group. They carry out assignments around the city. The mission is to teach every man involved that they have the power to shape history, to save the world, and to use chaos as a form of truth. Of course, all of this is just Tyler's dogma. Tyler cannot stop himself from wanting to burn everything down.

As someone who loves psychological thrillers, I'm impressed by how the plot unfolds. The story pulls you in, almost hypnotically, and you begin to understand why people fall under Tyler's spell.

Lelaki Januari by Hafizah Iszahanid

Delaila Azilah dan Ali Syukri berkahwin terlalu awal ketika belajar di Nottingham (bukan cawangan Semenyih). Tidak sampai beberapa bulan, rumah tangga mereka mula goyah akibat ketidakmatangan kedua-duanya, ditambah kemunculan orang ketiga. Laila melarikan diri ke New York dan menghilang selama 12 tahun. Saat dia cuba berdamai dengan masa lalu, Ali muncul kembali pada bulan Januari. Namun persoalan aku, apa relevannya tajuk Lelaki Januari itu dengan keseluruhan cerita? Ia seolah diletakkan untuk hiasan, bukan makna.

Satu lagi benda yang ketara ialah repetitive. Hampir setiap bab Laila meratib nama Ali, sampai rasa seperti wataknya tidak bergerak ke mana-mana. Ia menghakis emosi yang sepatutnya lebih mendalam dan menjadikan pembacaan sedikit melelahkan. Aku juga sengaja kekalkan nama Ali walaupun penulis menggunakan nama Syuk sebab aku tak gemar nama itu. 😂

Secara keseluruhan, novel ini lebih klise daripada jangkaan aku. Aku pilih kerana penulis, penerbit dan tajuknya yang menarik, tetapi akhirnya ia terasa seperti drama pukul 7 dengan rentetan kebetulan yang boleh dijangka. Mungkin expectation aku sendiri terlalu tinggi. Pun begitu, ada sisi informatif tentang Doctors Without Borders dan kerjaya penyelidik di UNESCO yang memberikan sedikit nafas segar. Sebagai tambahan ini sebenarnya terbitan semula naskhah daripada penerbit Jemari Seni (2014) dan pernah diadaptasi ke drama bersiri.

Circle of Days by Ken Follet

Circle of Days is set in 2500 BCE, where four distinct communities, the herders, farmers, woodlanders and the priestess, live across the Great Plain. At the heart of their world stands the Monument, a sacred gathering place where they come together every year for the Rite. People from many villages come to trade food, clothing, tools and livestock near the ring of timber pillars. The Monument is not just a holy place but a site of ritual, storytelling, feasts and sun worship. It preserves the community’s knowledge of the sky and anchors their way of life.

But harmony collapses when drought strikes. Desperation turns neighbours into enemies, violence replaces peace and the Monument burns. Priestess Joia becomes determined to rebuild it in stone, believing that pleasing the Sun God may restore order and secure her rise as High Priestess. The scale of the undertaking is immense. It takes more than two hundred people to move a single sarsen stone and the workforce is already stretched thin. Their struggle to keep the mission alive forms the core of the story.

I was excited when I picked up this book, but at times I felt disappointed. The portrayal of certain sexual orientations felt repetitive and exaggerated, which pulled me out of the narrative. At nearly seven hundred pages, the story explores the desperation of survival and the complexity of human nature, though I expected more from this author. Still, it is an easy read with a conversational style. It even left me wondering whether horses existed in that era at all. 😅