One of my favourite things about the winter break is the ability to catch up on some long awaiting books, movies, and games that I've been meaning to get around to for a long time.
Case in Point, Heavy Rain a thriller designed for the Playstation 3 and released in 2010, which follows multiple leads over the course of a week in the search for a missing boy and the serial killer who has captured him.
Throughout the game you play the boys father, a journalist, an FBI agent, and a Private Detective, all racing to solve the crime before the young boy dies.
What I loved about the game was the whole "choices have consequences" aspect, wherein main characters can die or make decisions that dramatically effect the later chapters of the game.
What I actively disliked about the game was the way that Madison Paige (the jounralist), the games only female protagonist, was largely involved to nurse the other characters or act simply as a sex object. I'm all for sexuality in games and stories, but it would have been great if she had had anything more to do than the very basic traditional female roles given to her in the story.
Of course my favourite aspect of the game was the fact that the main character, Ethan Mars (the missing boy's father) spends much of the game solving horrible Saw-style puzzles to get clues as to where his son might be, and each successful trial gives him more letters in a hangman-style game which he has on his phone, spelling out the final address. After one trial, I'm pretty sure he could have taking the partial clue to his local library and solved everything on day two (of seven).
Overall a fun game, but the follow up Beyond: Two Souls was much better, and I won't be keeping this one having finished it.
Years ago I picked up the novel Magic by William Goldman for two simple reasons: 1) I'm a big fan of his films (Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Princess Bride, Marathon Man, etc.), and 2) I can never say no to a well received horror or thriller novel.
The story follows a young magician named Corky Withers who just can't seem to catch a break (Hey! I just got the pun on his name :) ) He's a technical pro at card-based illusion, but for some reason his audience presence is just no good; his patter isn't up to snuff, and his discomfort at the showmanship aspect of magic shines through much brighter than his skill set.
Just as he's about to give it up, he figures out a pretty creative new angle, and things start to look up for him.
Or do they?
First of all, what I really like about the book is how well it plays with expectations; everything from the narrative voice to the the shifting of time from past to present and future, really work as analogue for how a well-done card trick works. Just as you begin to piece together what's going on, the story shifts and you realize the author has just been distracting you.
A really fun read, and as I have never seen it, an excellent excuse to someday check out the 1978 film adaption starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret.
Lauren Beukes 2013 novel The Shining Girls is a little tricky to peg down in terms of genre. The story works as a thriller, a time travel story, as well as a mystery, and showcases the city of Chicago over a sixty-year span.
To describe the book I'm going to have to get into the twists and turns a little, so sorry for the four-year-old spoiler, but if you want to read the book cold here is my short review.
A fast read, really intriguing, included large sections where I simply could not put the book down.
Back to the longer review; the story focuses on Harper Curtis, a drifter in depression-era Chicago who finds his way into a house that allows him to travel throughout sixty years of time, starting in 1931 when he finds the house and ending in 1993. Inside the house Harper finds trophies of the Shining Girls, women he has/will kill to continue to power the unique abilities of the house. The story involves Harper bouncing back and forward through time on his murder spree and equally focuses on one of the shining girls, Kirby Mazrachi, who survives her attack and then begins to work to track down this terrifying killer who she first saw as a child and next years later when he attempted to kill her.
As a character, I was pretty impressed with Kirby, you see her at three distinct ages in her life and I found I was really rooting for her as she attempts to make sense of the nonsensical.
A pretty great read and an author I'm definitely looking forward to following.
Late last week I read the new Stephen King novel Mr. Mercedes and really enjoyed it. The novel, more a thriller than a horror (although to be fair the opening chapter is pretty horrific), focused on a retired police detective named Bill Hodges who finds himself being literally taunted by the perpetrator of an unsolved crime from years ago.
The novel quickly introduces the criminal and alternating chapters show the cat and mouse game being played between retired detective Hodges and Mr. Mercedes (the name given to the criminal by the press due to his use of a mercedes in a spree killing he committed years ago).
What I liked best about the novel was both the fast pace at which it moved (I read the book in little over a day and a half), and the great characters introduced throughout. Hodges comes across as a really interesting character and the villain is one of the most disturbed individuals I've read about in a long time (and I tend to average at least one horror novel a month, so that's saying something).
Definitely worth the read, and on June 10 the Author mentioned on his twitter feed that this is intended to be the first book in a trilogy.
