The Secret Adversary (d) 8% completed
Whose Body? (half way)
Beyond the Bayou (d) (just started)
The Pit and the Pendulum (d) (71% completed)
To-Read (in the immediate future):
Hippolytus
The Chinese Parrot
Mysteries and Manners: Occasional Prose
(Tentatively) To-Read (eventually):
The Turn of the Screw
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
Seven Keys to Baldpate
Nocturnes
The Excursion Train
The Railway Detective
...and everything else on my DailyLit "To-Read" list.
I just finished The Diamond Master and Oroonoko. I read the Diamond Master through DailyLit and I'm not sure if I liked it or not...
(STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS!)
It started out interestingly enough with a compelling mystery wherein fantastic diamonds have been sent anonymously to several high profile (and fictitious) diamond merchants. From there the plot plods along at an affable pace and the story remains just interesting enough to hold the reader's interest until about the half way mark. From there, the plot quickens, interesting and unexpected developments arise and the mystery deepens. It was around this point in the story that I really got sucked in. Then things start to go down hill during the last quarter of the story. Mr. Kellner (an important character) is murdered and this added mystery does little more than to muddle the main mystery of the diamonds. It seems like Futrelle is lost from this point on as he tries and ties up all the loose ends and give an explanation for all the mysteries going on. Eventually, the mystery surrounding the diamonds is solved (in an awkward to say the least way) and in the VERY LAST paragraph the author mentions who killed Mr. Kellner in passing (as if the only reason he mentions who the killer is at all is out of obligation to the reader). It was such a promising story and about 50% rewarding. If only the last half had been handled better...
I give it ***
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