Tag: thriller

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl


Another historical thriller (am such a sucker for these!)

The Dante Club is about a series of grisly murders committed at the same time Dante Alighieri’s Inferno was being translated into English by a group of prominent New England literary figures, namely Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Washington Greene, and JT Fields (the group is known as The Dante Club, hence the title).

The murders are patterned after the different circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno, and the Dante Club must figure out who is behind the dastardly deeds or else lose the chance to introduce the writings of Dante Alighieri to America before they complete their translation.

I discovered this book a few years ago, when I interviewed Ces Drilon and she recommended it to me. The writing is old-fashioned and dragging at times, or maybe it’s because male authors focus on different (er, boring) things.

I also wish I’d waited for my schedule to free up before actually plunging into the novel because it’s the type that’s best for uninterrupted reading. Except I also had to stop reading it at night because given that the “Lucifer” (aka, serial killer) was patterning his murders after the circles of hell, it got pretty scary.

Canticle Three (it’s divided into Canticles), is particularly exciting, but I’ll have to stop now before I say anything more. Bottomline, it’s a good blend of fact and fiction, one that will keep you on your toes.

I still have to read The Poe Shadow, I have the hardback on my to-be-read shelf…

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My copy: mass market paperback bought at Powerbooks, upgraded into a trade paperback mooched from the US (or was it Canada? I forget…)

My rating: 3/5 stars

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova


A young girl exploring her father’s library chances upon an ancient book and a collection of aged letters containing secrets that connect her family’s past to Vlad the Impaler, the Prince of Wallachia, on whom the legend of Dracula is based.
Except that it turns out that it’s not just a legend…

The Historian is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. 816 pages might seem long for a novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed its wordiness as I sank my teeth into this hair-raising adventure.

The narrative is told in alternating chapters from three different timelines: the narrator, the narrator’s father (Paul), and Paul’s adviser Professor Rossi. It is interesting to note that they are, at different points of their lives, on the same quest — the quest to find Dracula and vanquish his evil.

It is an exciting chase throughout the Eastern bloc, rich Eastern European history, and a lot of sleepless nights for the reader.

I don’t know what interrupted my reading more — endless things to do at work, or the fact that I couldn’t stay up alone at night reading it because it gave me the creeps.

On my first reading, I was at Starbucks, sipping my latte and reading, sitting on the counter against the glass wall of the store. Suddenly a rap comes through the window and I nearly jump out of my skin in fright… It turned out it was my thesis adviser — hehe, Sir Brion lang pala, phew! — but man, I was terrified!

When I first got The Historian, I was really looking for a good historical thriller and I seriously thought I’d be sorely disappointed, after having read The Rule of Four, The Secret Supper, and The Dante Club in succession. With all the historical thrillers out, I was really cautious of buying another one because it might turn out to be a dud. I’m glad I was wrong. The Historian was definitely a satisfying read.

The second time I read it was in September, when a bunch of The Historian fans from Flips Flipping Pages decided to get together to discuss the book and eventually turned it into an official discussion. I thought rereading it wouldn’t be as scary, but I spoke too soon, as I was home alone and couldn’t sleep without the light on! I kept seeing Vlad Tepes’ face every time I closed my eyes that week…

The Historian isn’t for everyone — some balk at length, some (*cough Twilight fans cough*) prefer four volumes of sap disguised as vampire novels, and some just plain don’t like it — but for those into historical thrillers, I’d say it’s a must read!

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My copy: originally a mass market paperback, upgraded into a trade paperback, upgraded into a hardcover with a missing dust jacket, and now (permanently) a hardcover with a dust jacket!

My rating: 5/5 stars!

book photo courtesy: http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/litchick/uploaded_images/historian-799672.jpg