Most of the stuff that is really popular turns out to be bland and boring and just stuff that has mass appeal but isn’t really good. I’m tired of reading 1-2 star books and I REALLY need a 4/5 or a 5/5.
I love mysteries/murder mysteries. I love time travel. I love spooky/horror mysteries. I like fantasy but not all of them (Love HP, PJO, The Witcher)
I need a good story that necessarily doesn’t have to BLOW MY MIND away or have an end that I JUST CAN’T IMAGINE. No try hard endings the whole purpose of which is to blow my mind. If it’s something genuine like “The Silent Patient” then I’m all for it. Not the stuff like Freida Mcfadden where the whole reason that she writes a story is to try and write an ending that we just can’t believe.
Here are some of my recent (Last few years) books that I’ve really liked and given 4 or 5 stars:
Project Hail Mary (4/5)
The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman (4/5)
The broken Girls (5/5)
The Sun Down Motel (4/5)
Bullet Train (5/5)
The Silent Patient (5/5)
Here are some that I ABSOLUTELY HATED and gave 1 or 2 stars out of 5:
All Our Wrong Todays (1/5)
That’s Not My Name (2/5)
The Winter People (2/5)
Recursion (1/5)
Love, Mom (2/5)
And finally here are some 3 stars that I was fine with but didn’t think were great:
Dark Matter
Julie Chan is Dead
Nothing To See Here
Murder Road
The Housemaid’s Secret
The Housemaid
I need something that hooks me to it straight away and I don’t have to read 200 pages for it to get started. I’d love some emotional depth to the story even if the story itself has some spooky or time travel elements to it. I want to finish the book and sir with it for 4 days just thinking about it. I haven’t had that feeling in AGES.
TIA!
by ArgumentRetired