March Reading – Part 3

 

Continued from previous post …

 

22. 3I Crimebusters Novella: Murder to Go by Megan Stine & William Stine

There is no murder in this novella … only the threat of the murder of millions by slow and gradual food poisoning. As I have mentioned earlier, this new series of 3I is not as exciting as the original although the authors have tried to make it.

A girl meets an accident and loses her accident-day memory. She speaks in her sleep/unconsciousness about millions dying and food being poisoned. She is the daughter of the owner of the hugely famous fast food chain which makes the 'poisoning' bit very interesting for the three investigators who begin to investigate. Soon they start getting threats and they have a host of suspects. The climax did not hold too much surprise but was adventurous nonetheless.

An incident in the story gave me a feeling that either I have seen the incident being used in some English TV series or I might have actually seen an episode of televised version of this novel. The scene is pretty vivid in some corner of my otherwise volatile memory.

 

23. Prof. Shonku Short: Gorillas by Satyajit Ray

Yet another scientist friend of Prof. Shonku goes missing and he sets out to investigate him in the jungles of Africa along with another friend and his neighbor. The scientist was investigating and studying Gorillas and the trio succeeds in locating some strange gorillas in the forest. They investigate further. Prof. Shonku and his scientist friend even get abducted by the Gorillas and it is now up to the neighbor and their local guide to find them, free them from the Gorillas and unravel the mystery behind the whole thing.

 

24. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: The Happenstance Snatch by Fletcher Flora

A perennially unlucky man gambles away his possessions and owes money to someone who would readily kill. He gets help from a friend and decides to run away. A chance encounter brings a young girl into their car and a plan hatches in our man's mind to get some quick money. The plan is to 'kidnap' the girl, who is already with them, and claim ransom money from her father. Alas … his bad luck streak continues to haunt him.

 

25. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: The Dream-Destruction Syndrome by James Holding

A man destroys stuff he dreams about. It begins with an umbrella, continues with his office bag and stretches to his wife. Yes, he dreams of his wife and in this state of dream, tries to kill her. He is genuinely afraid of himself and has been seeking professional help and is now ready to give his wife whatever compensation/alimony she is demanding.

The investigating inspector feels an itch about this very simple open-shut case and uncovers the true picture behind the man's dream-destruction syndrome. A very interesting climax

 

26. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: The Super Salesman by Charles Mcintosh

Our protagonist engages himself in shop lifting … only to encounter an over-zealous salesman who tries to sell him several things. In a bid to get the salesman off his back (so as to not risk exposure) he continues to buy stuff from him and shake him off … spending quite a lot of money before escaping from the store. Once outside the store, he goes to a blind alley to check out his 'loot' and receives the surprise of his life.

 

27. Novel: The Sign by Raymond Khoury

A heavenly sign appears over the Antarctic region where a major ice shelf is breaking apart.  The world witnesses this rare event by chance on TV and several people across the globe react to this event in different ways. The sign appears again over the Arctic region and then … for a change ... appears right in the middle of the desert over the head of a revered man.

The famous TV / press reporter who brings this event to the world goes about her own investigation. A man, a failure in life, gets some indication that his dead brother was involved in some way and may not be dead after all. His attempt to find some information leads to people dying around him with several attempts on his own life. The heavenly event begins to seem to be more of a man-made phenomenon than a divine one. People involved with a scientific research project have died or disappeared – a project which now seems like a top secret mission with covert and overt objectives.

Several parallel tracks in the story create an interesting story to read and weave through. The climax is about shelving the whole situation without causing mass rioting across the globe and preventing a global economic and social meltdown.

 

28. Hitchcock – Most Wanted: China trader by James Holding

A fisherman with a medium sized boat gets attracted to the 'easy money' path and becomes a trader (read: smuggler). Unfortunately, in his first heist itself, he gets shot in the leg and loses a finger. He then takes another path of earning and flourishes … with some efficient partners in crime.

 

29. Hitchcock – Most Wanted: Going to Meet Terry by Rick Hills

A teenager goes out to meet his friend but meets with some horrors instead. He finds his friend hurt and in a bad shape deep inside a tunnel. A story which almost seems to be becoming a 'horror' story.

 

30. Hitchcock – Most Wanted: The Blushing Bride by Barbara Ninde Byfield  

This one was a very interesting story of a voyage with just 4 passengers on a cargo vessel and a strangely obnoxious captain. One of the passengers (an old lady) hardly came out of her room during the entire journey and the other lady kept wondering about it and about the freezer and its contents. Quite a few surprises in the story.

 

 

To be continued …