On the lookout for some British crime fiction, I picked up The Stranger Diaries from the library. This is the first of a series with Inspector Harbinder Kaur, and it tickled my curiosity seeing a book series about an Indian detective solving crimes in UK.
About The Stranger Diaries
Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, The Stranger, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature.
To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. Then one day, she notices something odd. Writing that isn’t hers, left on the page of an old diary: “Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me.”
Clare becomes more certain than ever: The Stranger has come to terrifying life. But can the ending be rewritten in time?
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
This is one of those books that’s heavy on the atmosphere and light on the actual plot. I went into the book loving the whole atmosphere – the writing and descriptions are lovely.
The story takes place in a school that is rumored to be haunted; there’s a strange horror story written by a dead guy who used to live at the school; some of the students learn to do white magic from their professor; oh, and the English department is being killed off one by one.
There are plenty of red herrings and sketchy characters; there is also a real sense of menace.
Another thing I loved was the back and forth between Clare and Harbinder. They start off disliking and distrusting each other, but over time, it evolves into a kind of mutual respect, even if the distrust doesn’t entirely go away.
However, there were quite a few aspects of the book that didn’t sit well with me.
The story is narrated by three characters, and they pretty much tell the same story. The repetition slowed the pace of the book, and didn’t add all that much to the story. It doesn’t help that two were main suspects, and being in their heads for so much of the time reduced the impact of the book. It became quite easy then for me to guess the killer.
So, yeah, not great on the suspense. I do admire what Griffiths was trying to do with the book, though – it’s a decent modern Gothic, even if she couldn’t quite sell the supernatural angle and the motivations of the killer, that just did not make much sense.
It was initially enjoyable, and I generally enjoyed the writing, but there was a bit too much repetition and no real plot twists when it came to the conclusion.
