Tajuk : Curtain

Penulis : Michael Korda

Tahun terbit : 1991

Sinopsis :

He is Robert Vane - the greatest actor of the English theater in a generation, dashing, handsome, clearly touched by genius.

She is Felicia Lisle - the most glamorous, beauriful and romantic of actresses, his partner onstage, his lover in life, whose career suddenly brings her new fame and an Oscar as she stars in Hollywood's most successful movie.

Together they are the greatest theater coupleof the age, their romance, onstage and off, captivating the world for nearly twenty years. But their public performances express their love and desire for each other better than they ever can in private. For behind the scenes, their lives are full of dangerous secrets and broken promises. At the moment of her greatest triumph, Felicia Lisle is overcome by her own fears and by the horrors of a past she knows she cannot keep hidden forever.

And Robert Vane, driven by his enormous ambition and haunted by the fear that he has failed to give Felicia the love she needs and demands, plunges into a close friendship with Randy Brooks, America's most beloved comedian, and into a fatal business relationship with Marty Quick, showman, vulgarian, and full-time womanizer.


Ulasan :

Nerves bagi aku masalah yang bukan main-main. Dalam cerita Agatha Christie banyak ditimbulkan bila penyakit ni menyerang. Aku rasa faktor umur buat Felicia tak stabil. Ditambah pulak dia perempuan. Aku perhati dia tak perlukan kawan (perempuan) dalam hidup dia. Mungkin sebab tu aku suka dengan watak dia.

Bukan senang nak jadi popular (gitu). Anak dia sendiri tak suka pada dia. Pakcik pun tak guna. Ayah sendiri pun tak boleh harap. Jadi, kebergantungan dia dengan Robby tu perlu bagi dia walaupun dia lebih popular dari Robby.

Tersentuh jugak bila Robby still masih sayangkan dia walaupun dia dah membunuh Marty. Aku faham kenapa watak Robby.

Aku bagi 4🌟/ 5

Tajuk : The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey

Penulis : Trenton Lee Stewart

Tahun terbit : 2008

Penerbit : Little, Brown and Company

Sinopsis :


The Mysterious Benedict Society is up against a new mission, significantly closer to home. After reuniting for a celebratory scavenger hunt, Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance are forced to go on an unexpected search--a search to find Mr. Benedict. It seems that while he was preparing the kids' adventure, he stepped right into a trap orchestrated by his evil twin Mr. Curtain.

With only one week to find a captured Mr. Benedict, the gifted foursome faces their greatest challenge of all--a challenge that will reinforce the reasons they were brought together in the first place and will require them to fight for the very namesake that united them.

Ulasan :

Pertama kali baca. Ini buku kedua siri Benedict Society. Bagus. Cuma tak cukup misteri ke? Aku baca hingga ke akhir tapi confuse dengan beberapa watak seperti Captain Noland, Mr Curtain dan Mr Benedict sendiri. Kalau Potter atau Narnia ada guna kuasa magik, dalam ni takde cuma instinct saja.

Tapi masih menyeronokkan. Aku beri 3 🌟/ 5

Tajuk : Matilda's Game

Penulis : Denis Kilcommons

Terbitan : Bantam Press

Tahun terbitan : 1992

Sinopsis:

Peter Lacey's orders seemed clear enough : go to Lisbon and get the file of secret papers known as ' The Blunt Legacy', recently offered for sale in a Personal Column ad - buy it if you have to, take it for nothing if you can. With Lacey on his mission go four million pounds and a man he's never met, called Lamont-Smith really working for? And when the Lisbon connection is murdered and the trail goes dead, what should Lacey's next move be?

'The Blunt Legacy' uncovers the sort of past history that goverments would prefer to stay hidden, but not in the way Lacey had been expecting. It takes a not-so-accidental hanging in London, a murderous pervert in Oregon, a quiet conversation in Malta and a violent shoot-out in Ireland before he discovers what the file really contains, and just how many players there are in Matilda's Game.


Ulasan :

Buku ni susah difahami kalau orangnya adalah aku. Banyak bahan tambahan yang kena dibaca contohnya karya Peter Wright's. Ya, ada di rak buku dekat rumah aku tuuu.

Tapi aku seronok je baca. Sebab ia melibatkan salah guna kuasa. Bila kau baca, rasa macam diri kau hero tu pulak. Ada cerita pasal JFK dan kroninya, Marilyn, Hitler, Duke of Winsor dan macam-macam lagi. Haha.

Ia berdasarkan cerita sebenar yang ditambah ajinomoto sikit.

Aku bagi 4 🌟/ 5

Tajuk : The Burning Wire

Penulis : Jeffery Deaver

Tahun terbit : 2010

Sinopsis :

The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and victims are set afire.

When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, reducing a city bus to a pile of molten, shrapnel-riddled metal, officials fear terrorism. Rhyme, a world class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation. Long a quadriplegic, he assembles NYPD detective Amelia Sachs and Rin Pulaski as his eyes, ears and legs on crime sites, and FBI agent Fred Dellray as his undercover man on the street.

As the attacks continue across the city at a sickening pace, and terrifying demand letters begin appearing, the team works desperately against time and with maddeningly little forensic evidence to try to find the killer. Or is it killers..?

Meanwhile, Rhyme is consulting on high-profile investigation in Mexico with a coveted quarry in his crosshairs: the hired killer known as the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have eluded Rhyme's net.

Juggling two massive investigations against a cruel ticking clock takes a toll on Rhyme's health. Soon Rhyme is fighting on yet another front-and his determination to work despite his physical limitations threatens to drive away his closest allies he needs them most.

Ulasan :

Kali pertama aku baca buku Deaver. Aku tahu dia penulis yang tulisannya seperti 'Alex Cross' dan sewaktu dengannya. Yang bagusnya jenis tulisan yang banyak bab ialah kita baca tak mengantuk sangat.

Tapi entah kenapa aku mengantuk aje. Permulaan bab macam boring. Ini buku yang ke sembilan watak Rhyme memang patutlah aku blur sikit. Topik electricity. Apa yang aku ingat zaman aku study dulu ia berkadar terus. Apa benda yang berkadar terus tu aku dah tak ingat. Apa yang penting jangan gatal tangan basahkan tangan lepas tu pegang suis dan sewaktu dengannya.

Gilalah memang nasib Rhyme hebat sangat dapat setelkan 2 kes dalam satu masa. Gila tak hebat. Cuma dia kena duduk dekat kerusi roda di ofis je lah. Mungkin aku nak kena cari first volume cerita Rhyme. Aku nak tahu kehebatan dia. Tapi sempat jugak aku scroll dekat goodreads yang cara Rhyme selesaikan masalah sama je.

Seperti yang aku cakap tadi, lepas separuh buku tu barulah aku hilang mengantuk kejap. Memang aku rasa pelik jugak mula-mula dia dah terus boleh tahu suspek. Terima kasih kepada teknologi. Dan lepas daripada itu mulalah insiden yang meragukan.

3.5🌟/ 5

Tajuk : Angel of the Dark

Penulis : Tilly Bagshawe

Tahun terbit : 2012

Sinopsis :

When an elderly mult-milionaire is found brutally murdered in Hollywood, and his young wife raped and beaten, the police assume the motive is robbery. Unable to find the perpetrators, the case is soon closed.

A decade later, in different cities around the globe, three almost identical killings take place. In all cases the victim is an elderly male, wealthy, and newly married. Again his wife is found severely injured at the scene.

At first it is thought they might be copycat killings, but it soon becomes clear that this is one deadly female killer. Code named the Angel of Death by the police, is sehe avenging some long-forgotten misdeed, or does she have other motives?

Ulasan :

Aku sorang yang bagi 5 🌟 dalam goodreads. Haha. Nampak sangat ke? Entah kenapa aku minat sangat mungkin aku terbayangkan Criminal Mind + Law and Order.

Aku bagi 5 bintang bukan sebab cerita ni perfect sangat. Ada je kecacatan sana sini sikit. Tapi boleh dikatakan ia page-turner. Kenapa Tilly menggunakan Sidney Sheldon? Aku tak tahu. Adakah ini buku yang tak dapat disiapkan oleh Sheldon? Tapi pada aku, kalau dia imitating penulis asal dan tak hilangkan suspen pada aku ok saja.

Mana nak cari crime yang perfect sangatkan. Ada juga beberapa scene yang aku confuse sikit macam scene Matt di drug dan tinggal di rumah adik perempuannya. Dia boleh pulak seludup laptop Sophie? Begitu mudah pulak tanpa diketahui oleh Detektif Liu dan Sophie sendiri.

Overall buku Bagshawe boleh dibaca lagi.

Tajuk : The Gates of Ivory

Penulis : Margaret Drabble

Sinopsis :

In London, psychiatrist Liz Headleand receives an unexpexcted package. Included in its contents are old newspaper clippings, postcards, a human finger bone, and scraps of manuscript and notebooks. She recognizes the handwriting as that of her friend, the Booker Prize-winning novelist, Stephen Cox, who has been travelling in the East. Initially alarmed by the suggestion of Stephen's death, then intrigued, Liz attempts to piece together some meaning from the parcel's random and ominous contents.

She gradually enlists the help of other friends, including: Stephen's literary executor, the high-powered, hard-edged Hattie Osborne; teacher Alix Bowen, concerned with her husband's illness and still involved in her friendship with a man behind bars; art historian Esther Breuer, who has recently come back from Italy and found, as Hattie eventually does, a surprising new love. This is Drabble calls it, 'The Good Time.'

'The Bad Time' lurks across the Cambodian border, waiting for Stephen Cox, a restless, idealistic traveller from the prosperous West. We gradually learn of Stephen's difficult pilgrimage, first to Bangkok, where he meets the decadent Miss Porntip and a charismatic photographer from England, Konstantin Vassiliou. From Bangkok through the horrific refugee camps, then Saigon, Hanoi, and closer to the terrible world of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge, at last into Cambodia.

Finally Liz decides to go properly in search of the man who might once have been her lover, leading to the novel's powerful conclusion.

Ulasan :

Kali pertama aku baca tulisan Drabble. Memang berbaloi. 461 muka surat saja tapi aku habiskan dalam seminggu lebih. Bukan sebab tak bagus tapi sebaliknya.

Bila tengok review dekat Goodreads baru tahu ini adalah karya trilogi. Emmm...tapi tak payah gelisah sebab Drabble akan bagi hint seimbas lalu jadi takdelah rasa ketinggalan kereta api.

Setiap helai adalah naratif watak utama. Ramai jugak. Liz, Stephen, Hattie, Alix, Esther, Konstantin. Tapi tidak meleret.

Maknanya memang sesuai dengan jiwa aku. Cuma aku kena cari bacaan ringkas tentang Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge dan sewaktu dengannya. Kalau sekadar tengok cerita Rambo dengan Chuck Norris tak boleh pakai sangat. Ada juga terselit Malaysia tapi hanya catatan yang tak penting.

4.5 🌟/ 5

Tajuk : When The Monster Dies

Penulis : Kate Pullinger

Tahun terbit : 1990

Sinopsis :

By the end of the afternoon, Mary Rose has dug up enough garden to reveal the remains of a Roman bath lurking in her back yard. But, because of her precariousp position as squatter in her home, Mary covers up the remains of history in order to maintain her stability in the present.

In modern day London, Mary and her friends struggle to survive in a gigantic city where housing is impossible and traditional industry has declined almost to extinction. But as life around them dwindles, this add group manages to eke out a viable, albeit strange, existence isolated by race, class and politics.

They are all outsiders attempting to see what is changing beneath the terse exteriors of Britain - living in London where the past is always present an the future is uncertain.

Ulasan :

Aku tercari-cari juga di mana pengakhiran Mary's discovery. Tapi dia cuma timbuskan semula tanpa apa-apa yang perlu dibuat.

Selain dari itu, kisah ini berkisar tentang kawan-kawannya yang lain mengharungi sikap racist penduduk sekitar London.

Penceritaannya menarik. Tapi macam ada sesuatu yang tak kena. Ruth Randall kata breathless. Biar betul?

Aku beri 2🌟/ 5

Tajuk : Rintihan Terpendam (The Silent Cry)

Penulis : Kenzaburo Oe

Penerbit : Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia Berhad

Tahun terbit : 2006

Sinopsis :

Novel ini menelusuri gelora hubungan antara dua beradik yang kembali ke tanah leluhur mereka di sebuah desa di barat Jepun. Tatkala si abang cuba menyelami maksud tragedi yang menimpa rakannya yang membunuh diri dan bayinya yang dilahirkan cacat, si adik pula berusaha melancarkan pemberontakan yang membabitkan belia desa.

Gambaran penulis tentang perjuangan dua beradik ini dalam usaha menyelamatkan budaya dan ekonomi setempat yang kian kucar-kacir akibat penjarahan usahawan Korea yang digelar 'Maharaja Pasar Raya'  begitu terkesan sehingga ke hari ini, sama seperti ketika novel ini diterbitkan buat kali pertama pada 1967.

Ulasan :

Entah kenapa bila aku baca Oe, aku teringatkan Murakami. Sepatutnya aku baca Oe dulu kan. Tulisan Oe boleh saja kita baca sekali lalu. Tapi kalau kita fahamkan apa permasalahan dan emosi watak memang cerita ini berat. Seminggu juga aku habiskan.

Aku tak ada masalah dengan watak Mitsu. Dia tertekan. Kawan dia mati. Anak dia cacat. Tapi kalau kita tengok keseluruhannya penyakit mental ini boleh diwarisi. Macam kalau kita berdiri di bangunan tinggi, rasa gayat dalam diri tu buat kita jatuh kan? Macam tu lah Mitsu, dia hampir jadi gila dan bila dia ingat dengan balik ke daerah asalnya dia dapat release tension, dia silap.

Adik dia, Takashi, selepas menyertai road tour pementasan di Amerika dan selepas mengalami mild siflis (adake?), dia pun cuba berjinak-jinak menyemai semangat penduduk kampung untuk memberontak menghapuskan seorang Korea yang kebetulannya adalah pengusaha pasar raya.

Aku rasa scene ini adalah sindiran Jepun-Korea. Mungkin aku kena cari bahan bacaan tahun 1860. Gitu. Gigih tak? Rasa macam buat tesis tak?

Taka merasakan yang dia perlu menjadi pemimpin kepada anak muda mula diserang rasa insecure. Klimaks cerita tepat. Matinya watak Taka selepas bunuh diri, Mitsu pula menemui kebenaran tentang perjuangan moyangnya tapi dengan cara slow motionnya.

Aku beri 4 🌟/ 5