Petaka Bakteria by Mohd Kasim Mahmud

Babak suspen dimulakan dengan beberapa pesawat telah menggugurkan kotak-kotak kayu berisi pakaian dan patung mainan di sekitar kawasan kampung yang baru saja dilanda peperangan. Penduduk kampung yang kelaparan dan trauma berebut-rebut, menyangka itu hadiah daripada pemerintah. Namun, di situlah permulaan malapetaka yang tidak mereka duga. 

Novel ini menyingkap sisi kelam dunia sains dan teknologi melalui watak Profesor Gerago dan pembantunya, Dr. Yana. Berkhidmat di makmal senjata biologi, Dr. Yana mula dihantui rasa bersalah apabila bakteria ciptaannya, yang berbahaya setanding antraks, digugurkan ke perkampungan musuh. Kegelisahan moral dan keagamaannya berperang dengan hakikat bahawa projek itu adalah misi besar negara yang dipersetujui pemimpin tertinggi. 

Apa yang dia tidak tahu ialah, eksperimen demi eksperimen itu akhirnya melahirkan spesies tikus baru. Tikus-tikus tersebut membesar dengan saiz luar biasa selepas menjadikan tawanan perang sebagai makanan mereka.

Inilah antara babak yang ada dalam Petaka Bakteria karya Mohd Kasim Mahmud, pemenang Sayembara Fiksyen Sains dan Teknologi UTM-KUMPULAN UTUSAN.

Penulis berjaya menyuntik elemen sains, perang, dan konflik dalaman dengan adunan yang menegangkan. Petaka Bakteria membuatkan kita tertanya-tanya sejauh mana sains boleh dimanipulasi demi kuasa, dan batas moral seorang saintis.

Namun, ada satu kemusykilan bagi aku tentang kemunculan lelaki misteri sebanyak tiga kali, yang tidak memberi impak besar pada jalan cerita. Entah siapa agaknya dia.😅 Keseluruhannya, Petaka Bakteria ialah sebuah fiksyen sains tempatan yang mendebarkan, dengan premis berani dan latar peperangan yang sangat dekat dengan realiti dunia hari ini.

The Cut by Richard Armitage

The story begins in the quiet village of Baron Mallet, where a group of so-called friends, Annabel Maddock, Ben Knot, David Patel, Chris and Lynette Davis, Catherine Maddock, and Mark Cherry, spent their youth together. But behind the facade of friendship lay cruelty. Mark was the constant target of their bullying, and no one ever stood up for him.

Then tragedy struck. Annabel was found dead at the abandoned mill. The investigation dragged on for nearly a year, but the truth was never fully uncovered. David Patel was convicted. Annie’s blood on his clothes sealed his fate. Yet the murder weapon was never found.

Thirty years later, “The Mill Killer” is finally released on parole. At the same time, a Hollywood director arrives in Baron Mallet to film The Cut, a movie meant to dig into the town’s buried secrets. But this isn’t just another horror flick. Instead of cheap scares, the film reimagines the tropes of the eighties slasher, turning them into something far more unsettling and layered. And someone behind the production seems to know exactly what happened all those years ago.

The past refuses to stay buried. Ben, who once dated Annabel, now finds his career, his family, and his secrets under threat as the cameras roll. Revenge, guilt, and the scars of bullying intertwine in a story that blurs the line between fiction and reality.

The Cut is not a neat revenge tale, it’s messier. At times the pacing drags, but the novel lingers because it reminds us of a chilling truth: bullies don’t change. They thrive on arrogance and power, not conscience. The only way to stop them is to stand up, say no, and refuse to let them define you.

Emma On Fire by James Patterson & Emily Raymond

I started Emma on Fire with completely the wrong impression of what I was about to read. While I’ve never read any of James Patterson’s YA collaborations before, I was curious and somehow, despite my mixed feelings, I finished it.

Emma Blake, seventeen, is the model student at Ridgemont Academy, straight-A grades and community leadership. But behind the privilege lies deep tragedy. Her mother died when she was young, and the grief she once shared with her sister, Claire, became even heavier after Claire’s sudden death, an apparent suicide after years of therapy and instability.

With a distant father who prefers to throw money at problems rather than talk, Emma’s grief becomes tangled with anger, blame, and the need to be acknowledged. Then comes a shocking twist, she pledges to self-immolate in protest of the state of the world. Her recorded confession goes viral, drawing national attention and unsettling everyone around her.

Emma’s voice in the novel is intense, though at times repetitive, and her motivations remain partially in shadow, an unresolved thread that left me questioning what truly drove her. This isn’t the straightforward YA drama I expected. It’s darker, heavier, and raises difficult questions about grief, protest, and how far someone will go to be heard.

Korban by Crystal Anabella

Sekumpulan content creator, berjaya melepasi sesi temuduga untuk mengikuti program Lucky 7, yang syarat pertamanya ialah tak takut hantu. Dengan tawaran gaji lumayan untuk seminggu, ala-ala survival show ini memang sesuai untuk mereka yang berhati kental. Tambahan pula, mereka terdesak mahu mendapatkan hadiah utama.

Program ini dikatakan dianjurkan oleh seorang influencer popular dari Indonesia, Mr. Roberto, pengasas konten video extreme stunt. Ini membuatkan ramai yang awalnya menganggap program ini scam, mula rasa tertarik. Namun, sebelum tiba di Resort Qulantis, beberapa ahli kumpulan Lucky 7 sudah berdepan kejadian pelik yang tak masuk akal.

Resort yang dikelilingi hutan tebal, rupa-rupanya berpuaka akibat sumpahan. Mengikut peraturan, semua gajet peserta akan disita dan diganti dengan peralatan tanpa wayar dari pihak produksi. Mereka diwajibkan menghasilkan video seram berdurasi 10 minit setiap hari selama seminggu, dan siapa yang gagal akan menerima hukuman. Kedengaran mudah, tapi hakikatnya penuh rintangan.

Sepanjang berada di sana, peserta diganggu entiti yang menakutkan namun gangguan itu tak dapat dirakam kamera. Keadaan bertukar tragis apabila beberapa nyawa peserta diragut, membuatkan mereka sedar bahawa program ini bukan sekadar hiburan. Cubaan untuk melarikan diri juga berdepan halangan demi halangan.

Fakta menarik tentang Korban ialah pada asalnya berjudul FYP dan pernah memenangi saguhati Sayembara FIXI 2024. Dengan tagline untuk pembaca matang, aku rasa Korban memang kena dengan vibes yang FIXI mahukan. Yang aku suka, walaupun ada elemen seram, gore, dan mistik, penulis selitkan juga momen kelakar yang menjadi selingan di tengah ketegangan.

Premisnya mungkin kedengaran klise, tapi setiap bab ada punch line dan tak kaku, tak meleret, itu buat aku sentiasa nak tahu apa yang berlaku seterusnya. Kudos!

A Murder In Paris by Matthew Blake

Recovered memories represent a complex phenomenon, with the potential for both the genuine recall of traumatic events and the construction of false memories. It’s crucial to approach this topic with sensitivity, recognizing its capacity for both healing and harm. When renowned painter and Holocaust survivor Josephine Benoit confesses to a decades-old murder, claiming she once killed a woman with her same name at the Hotel Lutetia in 1945 to steal her identity, everything fractures. Her granddaughter, Dr. Olivia Finn, insists her grandmother’s memory has been unreliable for years but the confession sets off a chain of events too disturbing to ignore.

Not long after, Josephine is murdered.

At first, it seems like a tragic coincidence. Why would anyone kill her now, so many years after the war and over a confession that might not even be real? But as Olivia begins digging, it becomes clear, this isn’t just about an old crime. Despite the pervasive distrust, Olivia embarks on a journey to uncover the truth and find clarity amidst the confusion. 

I found myself pitying both, Josephine and Olivia. They are grappling with fractured relationships, hidden agendas, and the unsettling feeling that those around them are not who they seem. 

It’s a bit draggy at times, but it almost feels intentional, pushing you to sit with the weight of what’s being unearthed. The alternating narrators and short, punchy chapters kept me hooked. The themes of memory, trauma, and the unreliability of perception, with a focus on uncovering secrets from the past, are quite similar to the author’s previous work, Anna O. 4 ⭐

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

I don’t even know how to put this into words. I’ve only read one book by Karin Slaughter before, and I wasn’t expecting this. Not this level of emotional devastation. We Are All Guilty Here grabbed me by the heart, tore it out, and made me feel every beat of these characters’ pain and I cried real tears for them like they were people I knew irl. I still can’t stop thinking about them.

Set in the small town of North Falls, where everyone’s in everyone else’s business, the nightmare begins when two fifteen-year-old girls, Madison Dalrymple and Cheyenne Baker, vanish. Their bikes are found abandoned. There’s blood at the scene, then drugs and stacks of cash are found in their room. Evidence that raises more questions than answers. The town turns savage.

But for Officer Emmy Clifton, this case is personal. Madison is the stepdaughter of her best friend, Hannah. Emmy carries the guilt like a second skin and it only deepens when the girls are found dead, brutally bruised. The killer vanishes without a trace. No evidence. No DNA. Just a red herring. The case is also known as the Broken Angels.

Twelve years later, North Falls is dragged back into its darkest memories when another teenage girl vanishes. With history repeating itself, Emmy is forced to reopen wounds she never truly healed. She must face the trauma she buried, the secrets the town tried to forget, and the haunting possibility that the killer never left.

This book isn’t just a psychological thriller it’s a deep dive into the fractures of human nature. Slaughter masterfully pulls apart each character’s layers, exposing raw emotion, deep flaws, and the domino effect of every choice.

And the ending is twisted, gut-punching, and utterly unforgettable. We Are All Guilty Here is an emotional roller coaster wrapped in a murder mystery, which is dark, gritty, and so well-crafted it hurts. Karin Slaughter nailed it. 5⭐

Pengabdian by Hasrudi Jawawi

Setelah lama menyepi akibat pandemik dan kebuntuan idea, Fuadi kembali dengan novel terbaru tentang sebuah kisah seram yang diinspirasikan daripada kejadian sebenar. 

Semuanya bermula dengan satu panggilan. Rozi menerima berita tentang kemalangan yang meragut nyawa kakaknya, Rosmi, dan abang iparnya, Hisham. Mereka meninggalkan seorang anak kecil bernama Dani. Walaupun hubungan mereka renggang sejak Rosmi berkahwin, Rozi tahu dia tiada pilihan selain hadir sekurang-kurangnya untuk melihat mereka buat kali terakhir.

Tapi sejak dia jejakkan kaki ke rumah mereka, ada sesuatu yang tidak kena. Dinding yang seakan bernafas. Dan gangguan-gangguan kecil yang lama-lama menjadi bayangan menyesakkan. Rozi yakin semuanya ada kaitan dengan latar belakang abang iparnya, anak kepada seorang dukun bernama Pak Pandak. Dia mula percaya bahawa ‘sesuatu’ sedang mencari waris. Dan Dani adalah sasarannya.

Namun, apa yang membuat Pengabdian lain daripada cerita seram biasa adalah cara ia diceritakan. Pak Pandak dan Sufian ialah unreliable narator. Apa yang Rozi alami...adakah benar-benar berlaku, atau cuma bayangan yang dicipta oleh rasa bersalah, trauma, atau sesuatu yang lebih gelap?

Ada bahagian dalam buku ini yang mungkin aku rasa klise pada awalnya kematian misteri, saka turun-temurun, rumah berhantu tapi, penulis membawanya ke tahap lain dengan bab demi bab, kita akan meragui sama ada ini cerita rekaan atau satu pengakuan.

Pengabdian bukan hanya tentang warisan ilmu hitam. Ia tentang dendam, keturunan, dan kebenaran yang ingin disembunyikan. 

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Even though I haven’t read the first two books in Susan Ryeland’s series, The Marble Hall Murders reads like a masterfully layered standalone. Everything you need to know is threaded so cleverly into the narrative that you never feel lost only drawn deeper into its web.

It all begins with Marble Hall, the eerie, imposing family estate where the cracks in a legacy first began to show. It was there that Miriam Crace, one of the UK’s most celebrated children’s authors, died under what was officially ruled as natural causes. But her grandson Eliot Crace didn’t believe that story. He was convinced she’d been murdered by someone in the family.

Just like Alan Conway before him, Eliot was crafting a murder mystery that mirrored real life. A continuation of the Atticus Pünd detective novels, and also a symbolic confession, a ticking time bomb of truth wrapped in fiction. He planned to reveal his grandmother’s killer through the pages of his book.

But he never got to finish it. He got killed in a hit-and-run on the night of her twentieth death anniversary.

The layers here are extraordinary, a book within a book where the inner mystery bleeds ominously into the real world. And once again, Susan Ryeland now Eliot's editor, finds herself entangled in a deadly puzzle. She’s already paid the price for Alan Conway’s twisted tales: she’s lost her career, her reputation, even her peace of mind. Now, with Eliot’s death, she’s not just involved - she’s the prime suspect!

I am obsessed with this book. The premise is pure genius. Atticus Pünd is a deliciously Poirot-esque detective, every clue and line of deduction gripping. But it's Susan's struggle, the betrayals, the danger, the desperate search for truth that gives the story its heart.

This is what a murder mystery should be, smart, bold, twisty, and always one step ahead of the reader. The Marble Hall Murders is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. 5⭐