Ah, so you’ve read The Fever, wonderful. I haven’t read that one yet and frankly, I’ve just read one of her novels, which I finished earlier today, but she is a pretty good writer and writes in a very intense manner, that’s why I recommend her. I’ve only read The End of Everything, an earlier novel of hers, but pretty good too. Well, more like just good, rather than very good, I suppose. I mean, it is very enjoyable and has a lot of twists and turns, but it mostly focuses on the themes that it explores rather than the mystery, which is not really too meticulous or complicated, so that’s why I may have enjoyed it less. It’s about two 13 year old girls, Lizzie and Evie, who have been best friends for as long as they can remember, they live next to one another, their families know each other and everything. They’re also both in awe of Evie’s older glamourous sister, Dusty. Then one day, after school, Evie disappears and is soon declared missing. Later, it’s speculated that she might have gotten into the car of Mr. Shaw, an older married man she has no apparent connection with. Lizzie searches for the truth and always has this uncanny feeling that she knows more than she thinks she does and the answer is in her memories. It explores themes of maturing and how some people romanticize the wrong things at times. The setting is a bit boring, I know, but it is an interesting piece of work. I hear The Fever is her best work yet though and I’m very much looking forward to reading that.
I read And There was None recently. It was interesting to see the similarities to Umineko. I actually did suspect the culprit at first, though not quite for the right reasons… and in the end, I wasn’t sure if anyone was faking their death or not, so I suppose the mystery still defeated me. Sigh. I’m definitely taking more of an interest in classic mysteries. Got the entire Sherlock Holmes on my e-reader now so I’ll read that soon (I’ve only read the Hound of the Baskervilles before. It was pretty good.)
I have never read "And There Were None"but I am not going to lie, I didn’t like my first experience with Agatha Christie (I read “Murder in the Orient Express” and as far as I remember, I thought that Hercule Poirot’s logic was quite flawed, but I think I should try again, because it has been many years since I read it). Well, about Sherlock Holmes…you should just read them all lol I have a special place for The Hound of the Baskerville’s, but “A Study in Red” and “Valley of Fear” are excellent too!
Hmm, while I am and have always been interested in reading Sherlock Holmes, and I probably will read a novel or two of his at some point, I hear that Arthur Conan Doyle’s structure of his mysteries is a bit… well, simple. Don’t get me wrong, I think in his day it must have been quite something, since his novels are among the pioneering ones of the Golden Age of Detection Fiction or whatever it’s called, but nowadays, they may feel a little simplistic and the mysteries may feel easy to solve. So, would you say that they are that? Or does just the overall feel and tension of the novel he creates make the simplicity irrelevant?
They are definitely way simpler than Umineko haha I was able to keep track of Connan Doyle’s narrative when I was about 12-14 years old, so, in terms of structure they aren’t the most complex thing in the world. But the writing is really good and the fact that Conan Doyle was a medical examiner/coroner at his time exposes a quite scientific and logical approach of a crime Scene, that I find really appealing.
Oh, that certainly must be interesting, to lay out the scientific and logical evidence, it does convey the process of solving a mystery well. I’ll definitely read one of his novels at some point, maybe one of the ones you say are your favourites too, so I definitely look forward to this aspect of them.
Man, it’s been a while since I read any mystery stories, much less normal books. I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the choices out there though, not sure where to even begin. I haven’t read any of Agatha Christie’s works, and seeing as how it inspired Ryukishi, I’m quite interested in trying out those. Personally I’m in the mood for bizarre, surreal mysteries which actually have logical explanations behind them despite how unrealistic they seem.
Oh can you give some examples? I got interested by your description (