Official Review: Frozen Summer & Columbina (A Psy...
Posted: 22 Apr 2015, 11:13
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Frozen Summer & Columbina (A Psychological Thriller)" by Geetha Madhuri and Cynthia Vincent Daniel.]
2 out of 4 stars
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Frozen Summer-Columbina by Geetha Madhuri and Cynthia Vincent Daniel is India’s first ever double header book. While Frozen Summer is a suspense thriller, Columbina is a detective mystery. In total the book comes out to be 168 pages long, and you can order a copy off of Amazon.
Frozen Summer begins with a woman who is on her way to be interviewed for her dream job, and while she is on the train she begins to contemplate the horrific events of the past week involving her best friend Pooja. Pooja is an environmentalist who, while trying to make a deal with a large corporation, meets a guy and begins to fall for him. However, while she is blissfully falling in love with one guy she is being terrorized by another. As things quickly escalate, Pooja is no longer convinced that she can trust those around her. The main protagonist in the story does everything she can to protect and comfort Pooja, but quickly learns that somethings are beyond our control.
In Columbina, LAPD’s star detective Martin Herd is called to the scene of a murder that took place on the shores of Alcatraz. Helping him solve the case is his partner Thomas, and San Francisco’s own detective Annabelle Elliot. While Martin is a man who fears the unknown, Annabelle is a woman who fears getting close to a man. However, in order to sort through the cryptic clues that will lead them to the killer they must both face their fears. Throughout the case, Martin and Annabelle both realize that in order to fully solve this mystery they must dig up the buried secrets in Alcatraz’s past, but they were not prepared to have to dig up their own pasts as well.
When I began reading Frozen Summer I was immediately drawn into the plot, and it managed to keep me interested in what the outcome would be throughout the book. However, while the plot was intriguing, this book did have a few downfalls in my opinion. For instance, I never really connected to the characters because of how under developed the author left them. The little bit of backstory I did receive about the main protagonist revolved around her little sister, but her sister has pretty much nothing to do with the actual events in the book. Also, while I enjoyed the writing style of the author and found the story line easy to follow, there were times when the author would switch between characters mid-page and I would become confused about whose perspective I was reading from.
While reading Columbina, I found that I had the opposite problem. I was not immediately drawn into the plot in this book. In fact, for me the plot started off slow, and didn’t really start to pick up until I was almost to the big reveal at the end. Also, while the ending does turn out to be a wonderfully fascinating twist, the author tried just a bit too hard to drag out the mystery which caused the ending to become jumbled and highly confusing at times. It was by no means clear and concise, but instead a mystery inside of a mystery that you had to solve. However, from the very start of this book the author paints you a very detailed picture of who the main characters are, and provides you with interesting back stories for them that explains their individual personalities. I found that learning about the characters and watching how their interactions forced them to grow as people was the hidden gem in this book.
While both of the books could have used some work in certain areas, no one can take away the fact that they were both highly creative and contained ending that you will not see coming. In all, I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys unique conclusions, and is looking to read something slightly unconventional.
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Frozen Summer & Columbina (A Psychological Thriller)
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble
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2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Frozen Summer-Columbina by Geetha Madhuri and Cynthia Vincent Daniel is India’s first ever double header book. While Frozen Summer is a suspense thriller, Columbina is a detective mystery. In total the book comes out to be 168 pages long, and you can order a copy off of Amazon.
Frozen Summer begins with a woman who is on her way to be interviewed for her dream job, and while she is on the train she begins to contemplate the horrific events of the past week involving her best friend Pooja. Pooja is an environmentalist who, while trying to make a deal with a large corporation, meets a guy and begins to fall for him. However, while she is blissfully falling in love with one guy she is being terrorized by another. As things quickly escalate, Pooja is no longer convinced that she can trust those around her. The main protagonist in the story does everything she can to protect and comfort Pooja, but quickly learns that somethings are beyond our control.
In Columbina, LAPD’s star detective Martin Herd is called to the scene of a murder that took place on the shores of Alcatraz. Helping him solve the case is his partner Thomas, and San Francisco’s own detective Annabelle Elliot. While Martin is a man who fears the unknown, Annabelle is a woman who fears getting close to a man. However, in order to sort through the cryptic clues that will lead them to the killer they must both face their fears. Throughout the case, Martin and Annabelle both realize that in order to fully solve this mystery they must dig up the buried secrets in Alcatraz’s past, but they were not prepared to have to dig up their own pasts as well.
When I began reading Frozen Summer I was immediately drawn into the plot, and it managed to keep me interested in what the outcome would be throughout the book. However, while the plot was intriguing, this book did have a few downfalls in my opinion. For instance, I never really connected to the characters because of how under developed the author left them. The little bit of backstory I did receive about the main protagonist revolved around her little sister, but her sister has pretty much nothing to do with the actual events in the book. Also, while I enjoyed the writing style of the author and found the story line easy to follow, there were times when the author would switch between characters mid-page and I would become confused about whose perspective I was reading from.
While reading Columbina, I found that I had the opposite problem. I was not immediately drawn into the plot in this book. In fact, for me the plot started off slow, and didn’t really start to pick up until I was almost to the big reveal at the end. Also, while the ending does turn out to be a wonderfully fascinating twist, the author tried just a bit too hard to drag out the mystery which caused the ending to become jumbled and highly confusing at times. It was by no means clear and concise, but instead a mystery inside of a mystery that you had to solve. However, from the very start of this book the author paints you a very detailed picture of who the main characters are, and provides you with interesting back stories for them that explains their individual personalities. I found that learning about the characters and watching how their interactions forced them to grow as people was the hidden gem in this book.
While both of the books could have used some work in certain areas, no one can take away the fact that they were both highly creative and contained ending that you will not see coming. In all, I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys unique conclusions, and is looking to read something slightly unconventional.
******
Frozen Summer & Columbina (A Psychological Thriller)
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble
Like tiffanynettles's review? Post a comment saying so!