A rather unusual combination of humour and horror makes this book an interesting read
Having a pig watch him while he ate his breakfast was the antithesis of a digestion aid, Joe reflected as he sat at his kitchen table, downing a plate of bacon and eggs while the possible kin of half his meal stared at him through the glass window in back door.?
Superstition! Nothing superstitious about it, you grin and look at me. Yeah, that?s right, I chuckle and it is this very facet that makes the book simply riveting. It is this humour that distinguishes this book from the thousands of novels bracketed under the whodunit genre. Horror and humour ? an unlikely combination, one may feel.
And it is this unique blend, which adds the much-needed zing to the eerie world of supernatural.
What I quoted at the start of the piece is just an appetiser, there are very many such fine passages that you would encounter if you dip into the main course of reading the novel.
Sample this: Her mother ? otherwise known as Leonora James, famed psychic medium, once star of her own short-lived television show, author of countless books on communicating with the Other Side, prized consultant to police departments and private clients, recipient of dozens of fan letters a month ? gave a desparing wave of her perfectly manicured pair of hands.
?Oh Nicky, I think I have ... I have psychic?s block!? she wailed, her heavily mascared lashes batting like hummingbird wings as Nicky reached her side.
Karen Roberts, a prolific writer, is the author of 33 books and one novella. Newsweek has proclaimed her as ?one of the most popular voices in women?s fiction.? In an interview she mentions that what she does is tell stories to herself and the fact that others enjoy it too is a wonderful bonus.
She shot to limelight when her book The Senator?s Wife was released at the same time as the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke out. More than the timing, what surprised the nation was that her book?s plot was similar to that which unfolded in the White House.
Maybe a wonderful intuition or may be pure luck but she does believe in premonitions and it is on this that Superstition is based.
In tune with the times, even the locales of her novels throbs with realism. She has been quoted saying that she and her family vacationed in Powley?s Island and what she saw and breathed in there became the setting for Superstition.
All things said and done, some descriptions in the novel bring about a feeling of deja vu.
The hero, Joe, is a cop and is said to have the kind of lean, hard-featured face that the harsh lighting sharpened and filled with shadows. The heroine, Nicky, is a reporter and a good looking one with a mop of red hair, high cheekbones, a porcelain skin and full pouty red lips.
Heard that before! You sure would have if you were living on a staple diet of Mills and Boons. A rugged cop, a red haired reporter and some ghosts thrown in well ? the dish is a sure lethal combination and before long the sparks begin to fly. And it even includes the current rage, head butts, between the protagonists!
Anticipating a big break in her career, Nicky decides to recreate the murder of three girls which had taken place 15 years ago. For this she ropes in her mother who is a s?ance. As the camera begins to roll for the ?Twentyfour hours investigates? segment, the horror begins to unfold.
All the necessary masala needed to keep the flames of suspense burning is right there. The icy gust of wind that heralds the arrival of the spirit, the eerie silence when one can hear one?s heart go thump! thump! the howling dog and the apparitions, which just disappear round the corner. There are even threatening emails and sms-es to add spice (ghosts too have to become tech savvy to survive!).
But this heady mix seems to overwhelm the author near the end of the book. Suddenly, she seems to wake up from the world of the unknown and scrambles to tie up all the loose ends. This haste cramps up the last few chapters and the reader finds no time to bid the ghost adieu.
But overall a good read as it takes the reader on a jaunty ride to the unknown and beyond.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full ... _id=136408
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