Book Review: Shadow Play by Barbara Ismail

I'm a huge fan of mystery and thriller. I have quite a collection of James Patterson, use to finish Agatha Christie's when I was in colleage and a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. This time, however, I ventured somewhere closer home. It's Shadow Play from Barbara Ismail.

Set in 70's Kelantan, the story was about how a quiet Tawang was disturbed by the death of one of a wayang kulit musician. The death shocked everybody and ruffled a few feathers. The rivalry between several Wayang Kulit troops got in the way of the investigation, which was greatly helped by a songket trader. Although the case was assigned to the Chief Police Officer, the case still needs a local.

I didn't really browse through the book when I bought it; I just want a book that tells me stories here rather than abroad and I've never been so right before. The story, albeit being written by a foreigner (Barbara hailed from the US), has managed to put me to shame. I learnt so much of peribahasa Melayu that have long been forgotten. These peribahasa were included in the story with an English and its own translation. I'm very honored to have come across this book.

With the setting in Kelantan, Barbara has managed to paint the pictures beautifully about the people there. Although the Pasar Besar that I know might be a bit modern compared to the one in the book, but it managed to capture the feeling of it.

The flashbacks are nice flowing, the mystery is kept interesting towards the end and the kampung feeling is preserved as nicely as possible. I particularly liked the fact that the modern and traditional themes are tackled nicely like when a bomoh is summoned to a house but turned out the disease was caused by science.

I strongly recommend this book for someone who wants to read something closer to hope; to at least capture some part of our wonderful Malaysia. The Bahasa Malaysia spelling might be a bit old, but that actually added to the charm of the book. I have nothing more to say, but praises for this book.

Read up more on the author Barbara Ismail.