Crazy Rich Asians, the hotly anticipated big screen adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel of the same name, is set to hit the screen on Aug. 17, 2018, about five years after the book was first published.  I thoroughly enjoyed that book as well as its two sequels China Rich Girlfriends and Rich People Problems so I look forward to ...

Maria Weston wants to be friends with you on Facebook. But you know Maria has been dead for more than 25 years. What would you do? That is what Louise Williams is faced with in the opening chapter of Friend Request by Laura Marshall. With that simple Facebook friend request, Lousie’s life is irrevocably changed. She is tortured by her ...

Seventeen bills itself as “an investigative thriller” but in my opinion, it is not. It is more of an intriguing story of a local Japanese newspaper, the North Kanto Times, using the backdrop of the real air crash of Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 123 in 1985 to present a fascinating insight into the workings of a daily newspaper, laying bare ...

Lately I have been reading novels by Japanese authors. Quite a number of the novels have been dark and twisted tales but I award the crown for the darkest revenge novel to The Confessions by Kanae Minato. Confessions is a literary phenomenon in Japan. Published in 2008 to critical acclaim, it became a runaway hit and won a slew of ...

I devoured The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino in a day as it was an engrossing read. Compared to the other books by Higashino, this novel is shorter at 238 pages. It is definitely not Higashino’s best but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. When it comes to twists, Keigo Higashino is second to none. It ...

The Dry, the critically acclaimed debut novel by Jane Harper, has garnered so much rave reviews that I just could not resist buying it. It has become a runaway bestseller and Reese Witherspoon’s production company has optioned the film rights. The Dry opens with an apparent open-shut case of murder-suicide in Kiewarra: Luke Hadler snaps after being tortured by years ...

The road to justice was a long one for Reena Virk. On the night of November 14, 1997, the 14-year-old Indian girl was badly bashed up by a group of young teens comprising of almost all girls and then beaten again by one of the girls and a boy and forcibly drowned under a waterway bridge. Her death in the ...

I have never heard of Linwood Barclay until I came across his novel No Time For Goodbye while browsing the books on sale at Popular Bookstore recently. After reading the reviews on the back cover, I decided to buy it as it was only selling at RM8. And I am so glad I did! The premise is excellent: 14 year ...

Out by Natsuo Kirino is a lurid, shocking and bloody thriller which takes an audacious look at lives marginalized by society and the desperation that drives ordinary people to commit acts of unthinkable violence. Kirino has been hailed as the queen of Japanese crime fiction. Out is the first of her novels to be translated into English. What do you ...

99 Months by Ram Tiwary is based on the true case of the Sydney double murders with the author being initially found guilty of the murders for which he spent 99 months in jail. On September 15, 2003, Singaporean Tay Chow Lyang, 26, was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in his Sydney flat and a couple of hours later, his ...