Last week, acknowledging my lack of things to do, my friend considerately brought me a book she had found lying in her basement. It was called Transgressions, featuring two short stories, one by Stephen King and the other by a John Farris.

I had never read a Stephen King before, and thought it was a good chance to see what all the hype was about. His story was called The Things They Left Behind. To start off with, it was about a topic which I was not expecting. I never read the back of the book to know what a story is about. So I didn't know that this was about the post 9/11 period and survivor guilt. It was built around the only man at an insurance firm in the World Trade Centre who survived the attacks because the 'voice in his head' told him to stay home that day. Mysteriously, objects from his late colleagues begin appearing at his apartment. The story is an interesting one, and gets the reader thinking whether it is all real or a figmetnt of Scott Staley's imagination. However, I was not impressed with Stephen King's haphazard style of writing. The book made me rethink all my friends who had read and recommended him as a child. Maybe I was just expecting a spookier tale. Overall, an average read.

The second book, The Ransome Women, was written by yet another New York Times Bestselling author. However, John Farris is much unheard of and uncelebrated for his endevours. Thus my initial enthusiasm when starting his story was next to none. But he has done a brilliant job as a writer in the thriller/horror genre and kept my heart in my throat the whole time. The story is about a mysterious painter, who's work is admired my millions, but no one has ever seen him or the women he paints. He only completes five paintings of the one model every three years. His sudden interest in painting student, Echo Halloran leaves her and her detective boy friend, Peter O'Neill baffled. However, Echo decides to take up the offer and stay with the painter for a whole year without any distractions from anyone she knew, leaving email as her only mode of contact with the outside world, on a deserted island where wi-fi signals weren't always at their best. The aura around this painter is almost irresistable in a strange way, almost mesmerising. In the meantime, her boy friend discovers a similar but horrifying pattern amongs the other women John Ransome painted previously. A cut throat novel all the way, which cannot be put down until it is over. Overall, 5 stars and a must read.