Bulaklak sa City Jail ni Lualhati Bautista

Ang Bulaklak sa City Jail ay tungkol kay Angela Guttierez, isang waitress sa isang beer garden, nang siya’y makulong sa salang nabigong pagpatay nang kanyang masugatan ang may-bahay ng kanyang kalaguyo. Sentrong paksa sa kuwento ang katiwaliang nagaganap sa loob ng kulungan (ng mga panahong iyon), mali at minamadaling paghawak sa kaso ng mga bilanggo, at ang mabagal na sistema ng pambansang hukuman.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

If there is there is a book to make you laugh hysterically, cry anguish tears, devour you with suspense, recoil in horror, root for your heroes until the final pages, it is most definitely The Woman in White. This is a wonderful beast of novel. It has an electrifying power within and beyond it to make anyone instantly become a passionate devotee of Wilkie Collins’s works.

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

Three Blind Mice begins at the newly opened guest house of Molly and Giles Davis. As the lodgers arrive at Monkswell Manor, and the place cut off by a snow storm, a baffling murder takes place before long, where all the characters have a seeming motive to kill the “blind mice”.

Nine Supernatural Stories edited by April Timbol Yap and Lara Saguisag

Breaking Supernatural ( A Book Review of Nine Supernatural Stories edited by April Timbol Yap and Lara Saguisag ) Pushing the cobwebs aside and giving an old-timer a modern spin, Nine Supernatural Stories, published by The University of the Philippines …

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

My First Affair with Hercule Poirot (A Book Review of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affairs at Styles) Written as an outcome of a bet in which “the reader would not be able to spot the criminal”, Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious …

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Millennium Sleuths (A Book Review of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) To call Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo an explosive read is an understatement in my case as I finished the book amid the noise of …

Then I Come to the End

And so four months and three days have come to pass when I have concluded my reading of the singular adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend and chronicler Dr John H. Watson in the world of crime. It …

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

There Were None To Equal It (A Book Review of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None) For want of something different other from the traditional fare of Christmas season’s readings during the previous year did I venture forth with …

Paper Money by Ken Follett

You Win Some, You Lose Some (A Book Review of Paper Money by Ken Follett) What links the lives of a ruthless gangster, a sneaky businessman, an adulterous minister, and a young journalist — each a stranger to another — …

Blue Angel, White Shadow by Charlson Ong

Crimes of Passion (A Book Review of Charlson Ong’s Blue Angel, White Shadow) Admittedly, I have had my meager share of crime fiction in my brief experience as a reader; however, this recent read feels like hitting two birds with …

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

In the Grip of Evil (A Book Review of William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist) Inspired by a reported case of exorcism of a child in 1949, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, published in 1971, is a novel about demonic …

Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco

Blurring Realities (A Book Review of Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado) Ilustrado is the ambitious and exceptionally complicated debut novel by Miguel Syjuco that won the Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel Category in 2008 and the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize …

Night Shift by Stephen King

Short Tale Excursions to Horror and Dread (A Book Review of Stephen King’s Night Shift) The short story is a literary form I rarely read, appreciate and enjoy. A handful of writers, O. Henry, Ernest Hemingway and — in light …

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

Through a Needle Darkly (A Book Review of Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle) At the young age of twenty seven, Ken Follett met with instant success — both critical and financial — with his first international bestseller Eye of …