Taking on Medium-Length Suspense! - A Reading Guide for Extensive English Reading [Mystery]

This article is a spin-off from the serial column Tacho Tadoku Magazine in the English learning magazine 🥮, titled
Reading Guide for Extensive Reading.
It introduces recommended quality books (English books) selected by experts in extensive reading.

Tacho Tadoku Magazine is an English learning magazine that provides materials for extensive reading and shadowing.✨

Mystery Edition - October 2025 Issue -

Written by: Mami Kawade (Foreign Book Concierge, Umeda Tsutaya Books)

Taking on Medium-Length Suspense!

This time, I am introducing two medium-length suspense stories that are a bit long, but so gripping that you will breeze through them.

First is Blackout. The female protagonist wakes up all alone in an unfamiliar room.

She has no idea why she is there.

Even though she lives in London, she is somehow in Paris.

With no money, no phone, and no passport, how on earth is she supposed to get home?

And why did this happen in the first place? What kind of scheme was she caught up in?

Next is The Thief. Polly has had a bad habit since she was a child.

It is to steal and destroy things belonging to people she dislikes.

Hurt by Trevor, an annoying man she happened to be on the same flight with, she steals his belongings...

Polly tries to resolve the situation, but the story takes a turn for the worse.

There is no way this will have a happy ending.

Even though you know that, it is a nail-biting story that you cannot take your eyes off of until the very end.

Please watch over the protagonist's fate with bated breath. It will be over before you know it.

(1) "Blackout"

In this story, the narrative alternates between the present, where the protagonist wakes up in Paris, and events that took place in London a year ago.

And little by little, the darkness the protagonist carries in her heart is revealed.

The present-day segments, where she tries to get home while still confused, are good, but the segments from a year ago are truly terrifying.

She genuinely cannot believe that the baby she gave birth to is her own child.

The horror of a human mind being captured by delusions is captured here.

(2) "The Thief"

Stealing things from people you dislike and destroying them.

While that is certainly crossing the line, Trevor, the man who triggers these events in this work, is a walking nuisance with the absolute worst personality.

I would hate to be seated next to someone like this on a plane.

While reading, I found myself completely rooting for Polly.

It is a compelling read until the very end, featuring the skillful psychological descriptions that make you want to say, 'As expected of the great Ruth Rendell.'

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