Can you get scared reading a book ???

I can !


And the book is : 'And then there were none' by Agatha Christie.
Well ..I always thought I was a moderately brave person - have watched the movie 'evil dead', been to crematory during nights and so I believed I was not timid.
This one book scared the hell out of me and I realised what ppl mean when they 'its all in
the mind'.

Ppl who have read it will have a knowing smile by now, as to what I'm saying.
For those who haven't read this one or any of Agatha Christie's novels, Let me tell you a little about her novels and her characters.
To begin with; her novels- mysteries might be a little slow when compared to the speed of Dan Brown's thrillers (Actually it’s a sin to compare both. Its like comparing Yoga and shopping, they are both pleasurable but just are not comparable)
Every detail about a character she gives out, is a clue to know the character, a step towards the mystery. So at the end when the mystery is revealed you feel like a stupid ..God I knew all this why the hell couldn't I deduce??
But that’s the greatness of Agatha Christie's novels. She tells you everything yet you never process the data (I guess being scared just muddles up the brain) unlike some of the mysteries where an unknown third person comes at the end and is the murderer.
Without spoiling the suspense for ppl who might read the novel after reading this blog, this novel is the among the first ones which inspired many Holly/Bolly wood movies that start off on a lonely island with an unknown killer ...may be the Hindi classic Gumnaam was one of them and not to mention many of RGV's terrifying (or terrible) terror tales
When I was reading this book, I was alone on the first floor at my parents place and my mom was in her room at the ground floor. By the time I was half way done through the book i was scared even to look outside the room, let alone go out and check if there was any killer lurking outside.
Needless to say, going down to the safety of my mom's bedroom was totally ruled out.
So there I was buried in my own miseries, only thing to do was to go on reading more and revealing more.

Mind you, madam Christi had achieved all this without shedding a drop of blood.
Some where towards the end of the book, I was nervous enough not to trust any-one.
Even my mom was a suspect now !!

And I was on that island battling for life ..left alone in the merciless hand of fate (or was it Christie’s ??)
God .. my only aim in life was to finish the novel and get to know the source of my fear ..
Uffff ...to say I was relieved when the book ended - is an understatement.

I am amazed, the way the author could play with my mind and get me to that state.Hats off, Mrs Christie is really the queen of mysteries.

So thats the time a book scared me !


I have purposefully not talked more of the book, for I don't want to unwittingly give out any details

Some more books of Agatha Christie that had me baffled were :

1. Murder of Roger Ackroyd
2. The crooked house
3. The Unexpected Guest
4. Murder on the Orient Express


And if you are more of the Dan Brown kind of books, check out author David Baldacci's thrillers.