Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Mini Review: Dial H for Hitchcock

Time for this month's What's On Your Nightstand.

Okay, so I'm doing these mini review slightly out of order at the moment. But since Dial H for Hitchcock actually comes out today officially, I thought I would start with it.

This series, written by Susan Kandel, features Cece Caruso, biographer of dead mystery authors. Somehow, as she works on each book, she finds herself in a case that is similar to their style.

In this book, Cece is struggling to finish her book on Hitchcock, so she goes to see a showing of Vertigo at a revival theater. The next morning, she finds a stranger's cell phone in her purse. Trying to return it, she witnesses a murder. Then the killer calls her on that phone and threatens her to keep quiet. As she begins to trying to unravel the plot, she finds herself in a classic wrong man conspiracy. Can she get out of it?

I've known Hitchcock would be the subject of this entry in the series for a couple of years now, so I've watched about 6 of his films in preparation. I have a feeling it really helped me enjoy the film and spot the parallels, not that you'd need it to enjoy the book.

There were very minimal pacing issues in the first third of the book, but after that it took off and never looked back. There weren't any suspense moments like Hitchcock had, but those are kind of hard to do in first person narration.

All in all, I really enjoyed this entry in the series. I'm sorry I've finished it already. I'd love to keep savoring it.

3 comments:

morninglight mama said...

I'm not familiar with this, but it certainly sounds like you enjoyed it!

Mark Baker said...

If you enjoy mysteries, you should give them a try. I bet you'd like them, too.

Tif Sweeney said...

This one looks interesting! I'm always on the lookout for a new mystery book! In fact, I am going to mention this one to a friend of mine. He's the first one I thought of when I read this review!!

Thanks for participating in Literary Locals this month!!