About the Whodunit Book Club

Whodunit Book Club has met in its present location for almost seventeen years! If you would like to join us, our meetings are held on the last Tuesday of every month (except December).
We meet at the Chapters Store located at 41 MicMac Blvd., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Phone (902) 466-1640

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Whodunit Book Club - October 25, 2016

We welcomed two new faces to our bookclub at October's meeting.  Twelve members were present as we discussed "The Trap" by Melanie Raabe.
As usual, we went around the circle and asked members to give the novel a score out of a possible ten points.  The average score for "The Trap" was 6.7 with only half of the members saying they would read another novel by this author.
Comments by members included:
  • interesting premise (reclusive author who sets a trap for her sister's killer)
  • story within the story was well done and not confusing to the reader
  • description was well rendered
  • chapter endings were sometimes cliff-hangers which added to readability and suspense
  • smooth translation from the German
  • everyone liked the character of the dog, Bukowski
  • the 'twists' were well done and appreciated by readers




  • story was far-fetched causing the reader to suspend belief
  • translation done by British person as the narrative included British jargon
  • poorly researched as regards the protagonists anxiety disorder
  • predictable ending
  • lacking in emotion
  • murderer not included in plot so as to make it impossible for reader to surmise/guess who it was


  • It was interesting to note that Melanie Raabe writing style was subtly different from Linda Conrad's writing style (Linda Conrad being the protagonist of the novel) causing the 'book within a book' to be different in tone.
    The book displayed what seems to be a new trend in thriller writing - the unreliable narrator.   This book won the Stuttgart Crime Prize for best crime debut of the year
    Melanie Raabe grew up in Thuringia, Germany, and attended the Ruhr University Bochum, where she specialized in literature and media studies. After graduating, she moved to Cologne to work as a journalist by day and secretly write books by night.

    There were five lucky winners of free books this evening!
    1. Margaret
    2. Nancy
    3. Marilyn
    4. Cathy
    5. Carmella

    On Tuesday, November 29th (the last Whodunit meeting of 2016) we will discuss the novel "Gone" by Randy Wayne White.  Whodunit members get a 10% discount off the price of the book.

    No comments: