Review: The Wife Between Us

You know what? As I read more I’m beginning to refine my preferences for fiction. I discovered that I do not like psychological thrillers that involve estranged couples. That being said, it’s not to say “The Wife Between Us” is a bad book. It's just that I can't stand it when character(s) in the book did a lot of weeping and crying. I should have known to expect that with a book title like this.

Why did I read this one? It's yet another marketing success (another discovery — I am easily swayed by marketing campaigns!). I had been seeing this book and its cover in a lot of places. The synopsis at the back also helped. Who wouldn't want to read a book where “nothing is what it seems”? Who wouldn't want to have their minds twisted once or twice or thrice too many?

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is creatively written to tell the story of Nellie that's going to be married to the best man in the world and the narrator of the story who was the seemingly jealous wife. The authors tried to depict the psychological torments of a broken marriage and for the most part succeeded. All those crying scenes are located here. It can start to drag after a while but thankfully, before long, the authors give you your first jolt and Part Two begins.

If you survive Part One, the rest of the book would most likely propel you to read on until the end. However, if you can’t bring yourself to get past the first few chapters, this book will likely spend the rest of its life collecting dust on your shelves until you dump or donate it.

Who is this book for?

If you're an avid reader of the thriller genre you might catch on some of the twists early while still get caught on one or two because this book has way too many twists as though it’s written for the sole purpose of twisting. You might just like it.

If you're an amateur there is a likelihood that you might catch on as the authors drop more hints. You will like it.

If you're a beginner that’s starting on your journey of the thriller genre, this is a good start for you.

This book is NOT for:

People who doesn’t want to waste time reading fiction.

People who can’t stand characters with too much crying though you might still enjoy it if you get past the first part.

People who are looking for lots of blood and gore.

Piece of the Moon - Conclusion

Have a great Mid-Autumn! Here's the conclusion to the three parter after the break. Click here for Part One and Part Two.



Piece of the Moon - Conclusion

When Doug related his and Elle’s and Fang’s (mis)adventures to his ten year old brother, Jason, he burst out laughing. For a moment, Doug was in a state of anxiety because he could not be sure if his brother was laughing or crying. Jason’s face had turned red. Tears started to stream out of the corners of his eyes. Doug remembered the same thing happening on that one occasion when he snatched Jason’s tablet and threw it back at him, hitting him flat on the face. He didn’t want to remember what followed after that.

Jason was quick to impress his latest girlfriend with the information. His girlfriend decided it was sinful not to share such juicy gossip so she posted it on her Facebook.

The next afternoon, everyone’s favourite pudgy headmaster called Mister Liang and Miss Yuet into his office. Before both teachers could finish explaining that they were just talking about some mooncakes and how expensive they had become when Doug had dropped in on them and dynamite was one of Miss Yuet’s favourite lovey dovey expression to describe her beloved sweetie pie Mister Liang, the headmaster had cut them off. He continued rambling for another hour on professionalism.

“I don’t care if you want to get married and have kids, just make sure you two act professionally during school hours and be sure as h*** don’t do anything that I wouldn’t within the school compound!” the headmaster’s voice was rising in pitch after every sentence.

Anything that I wouldn’t. Mister Liang and Miss Yuet were trying to keep a straight face. All the teachers knew of the headmaster’s naughty and playboy days before he turned in the towel and decided to become a saintly English teacher.

Doug was eavesdropping outside the headmaster’s office. He had no idea that his silly misinterpretation could turn out to be a catastrophe for both teachers. He snapped out of his guilt and hurried off as his teachers started to leave. A step quicker and Mister Liang would have missed him.

“Douglas Chan!” Mister Liang called out just as he closed the headmaster’s door.

Doug turned pale white. Through the tears that started to well up, he saw the blurry image of his teacher. Mister Liang erupted in flames as he stepped towards him. Doug knew he had had it this time. He thought he saw a pair of horns had grown on his teacher’s head. Without warning, Miss Yuet materialised next to him with a pitch fork. Doug had to squeeze his eyes shut, bracing himself for an untoward ending.

“Douglas!” Doug flinched, eyes still closed. “Gather up Elle and Fang. We have a lot to talk about.”

When Doug opened his eyes, the devil was gone. Good old Mister Liang was smiling at him. A friendly one, he hoped.

“You little chaps need a lesson,“ Mister Liang said. “I doubt your parents taught you anything about the tradition of the Mid-Autumn festival and the things that come along with it -- mooncakes, lanterns, love and the likes.“

Doug gave no response or rather, he responded with a blank look. He couldn't remember the last time his parents had spent time with him.

“We doubt kids today know much about the good old traditions, so as a ‘punishment‘,“ no one noticed the pudgy headmaster standing next to the two teachers until he spoke, “I've tasked Mister Liang and Miss Yuet here to organise a parent-teacher gathering to celebrate and educate everyone on the traditions of the Mid-Autumn festival.“

“In particular, you and your two friends, have to make amends by helping us with the preparations...“ Miss Yuet said.

- The End -

Piece of the Moon - Part Two

And here's Part Two right after the break. You can find the previous part here.



Piece of the Moon - Part Two

As Mister Liang moved towards his student, Doug thought he saw his PE teacher’s eyes turn red and fangs emerged through his thin lips. Miss Yuet started to back away, slowly sinking into a web of darkness that was spreading outwards from Mister Liang.

Doug’s eyes were still fixed at the direction where Mister Liang and Miss Yuet had been, but his PE teacher was already behind him, moving towards the field.

“Doug!” Mister Liang’s voice startled him from his trance. He was amazed at how his teacher was one moment walking towards him in a demonic form and the next so far ahead. He shook his head in astonishment and ran after Mister Liang. He was midway when he remembered about Miss Yuet so he turned back to look for her. She was nowhere to be seen. She had disappeared into the darkness, Doug thought as he rejoined his classmates.

Back in class during the interval before the next subject began, Doug could not resist but to tell his closest friends what had transpired earlier.

“They were meeting secretly, I tell you. They never would have thought I’d stumble on them. I bet they have a conspiracy going on,” Doug whispered, eyes darting from Elle to Fang.

“I could feel something bad is about to happen!” Elle confirmed her suspicions. Whenever she was not doing anything, she lived in a dystopian fantasy that had conjured up from too much young adult fiction stories which her elder sister tended to read to her as bedtime stories.

“Then it’s up to us to find out what are they up to,” Doug said, mimicking Horatio, his father’s favourite character from a crime-cum-forensic television series.

With the burden of humanity’s future upon them, the trio of six year olds set out to scrutinise and tail the two teachers whenever they could, mostly between classes and breaks. They always met and discussed their previous day’s findings early in the morning before school started.

“Yesterday, after school, I followed Mister Liang. I was lucky that I let myself trail him almost a dozen paces behind because Miss Yuet appeared out of nowhere from a classroom and pulled him in,” Fang said. .

“What did they do?” said Doug.

“Did you see anything?” Elle was eager to know.

“I was scared out of my skin when she popped up like that. I am sure they would kill me if they had spotted me so I ran for my life!” Fang said, to his friends’ disappointment.

Very quickly they worked out that Elle should solely be the one to shadow Miss Yuet because the other two boys always lost her trail whenever she went to the ladies. Elle was sharing one such experience to the toilet, “I was following Miss Yuet to the washroom. She took quite some time in the cubicle and I had to pee. I wasn’t quite done when she hurriedly left. I tried to go after her as soon as I can. By the time I found her, she was already talking to Mister Liang at a dark corner. They were acting suspicious. I couldn’t hear anything they said except for the word dynamite! I bet they are planning to blow something up!”

“You guys know what? I think someone is paying them to destroy the moon!” Doug suddenly remembered the snippet of conversation between Mister Liang and Miss Yuet that had started it all many days ago. “Or they are paying someone to do it.”

To be continued...

Piece of the Moon - Part One

Today marks the first day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. In another fifteen days, the mid-autumn festival begins. I've written a short story which I will publish over the next fifteen days in three parts for this event. It's a silly mishmash of two teachers in love that involved kids who misinterpreted their adult behaviour. Without further ado, here's the first part after the break:

Piece of the Moon - Part One

It was a fine morning with clear blue skies. The kind of blue which made any photographs stood out nicely, which also meant that the sun was in full blast. Despite that, the temperature was pretty mild. Maybe it had something to do with the heavy downpour late last night. Little Doug and his friends were playing mini soccer in the mini school field. Their physical education teacher had given them a free rein today “while I go settle some urgent matters.” The game had only just began but half of their bodies were already covered in mud. Someone did a sliding tackle and managed to turn himself into a terrifying mud boy.

The game seemed like it would end with neither side scoring. If any hope was to come by, it was in the last five minutes when Doug got hold of the ball and lobbed it across the field to mud boy. As soon as he got his foot on the ball, mud boy kicked it towards the goal. Everyone held their breath because it looked like it was going to be a goal. Or not. The goalkeeper jumped, stretched his right hand as far as he could to deflect the ball. His fingers barely touched the ball but it was enough to cause it to swerve upwards and ricochet off the top post into some shrubs in the distance.

Squish, squish… Doug jogged towards the shrubs to retrieve the ball. When he reached the undergrowth, he thought he heard a familiar voice. Beyond the shrubs he saw his PE teacher, Mister Liang having a conversation with his brother’s Mathematics teacher, Miss Yuet. They were holding hands. Mister Liang leaned forward to say something to Miss Yuet that caused her to giggle.

“... moon… pieces...” Doug managed to pick up some of the words that Mister Liang was saying to Miss Yuet. “… right price…”.

“... dynamite!” she replied enthusiastically.

Doug found the ball lodged between some branches. He managed to pry the ball loose but not without causing a ruckus. Both teachers looked apprehensive, their eyes darting left and right as if caught in the act of committing a crime. When Miss Yuet saw Doug, she reflexively pushed Mister Liang’s hand away.

“Ahem,” Mister Liang cleared his throat and stood, “Doug, it’s time to wrap things up. Let’s go get the rest.” He said, unconvincingly. He had the word guilt written all over his face.

To be continued...

Part Two, Part Three (Conclusion)