1408 Cold Winters

I finished Charles Todd's A Cold Treachery yesterday, and I figured I'd at least try and discuss it. I can't recall whether this is the first of Todd's books I've read. There was a murder mystery I read back in March, that also involved a British detective still haunted by World War 1. But that Inspector didn't have the ghost of a Scottish corporal that served under him constantly harassing him, so I think that was a different author.

I should say that as far as we know, Inspector Ian Rutledge isn't actually being haunted by a ghost, more just by a construct of his mind. Hamish can be annoying, often acting as a voice of derision towards Rutledge, chiding him for not seeing the truth, or employing a plan to trap the murderer that fails miserably. Back to the story.

Rutledge arrives in a small town in North England to solve a case involving a murdered family. Only the 10 year old son is missing. While people in the area search for him, Rutledge tries to tease together what's going on, even though he's being hampered by potential suspects left and right. Each suspect - from the husband's brother, to the wife's sister, to the wife's previous husband, who she had thought died in the war, leading to her marrying the husband that was dead - is pointing at someone else, and there are strong arguments to be made for each.

I'll freely admit I'm a lousy detective, and so I didn't have any idea how it all worked out until the end. It does seem like there was some information missing that would have helped, but the information was laid out so that the Inspector is as much in the dark as you, which I generally prefer to the mysteries where the detective knows whodunit based on some little thing that was either not mentioned during the story, or utterly dismissed at the time.

But guess what? We're not done yet, because I went to seem 1408 today, so I've got to talk about that now don't I?

Mike Enslin writes books about alleged haunted places. He gets a postcard from a Dolphin Hotel, telling him not to stay in 1408. So naturally he wants to. After some stonewalling by the hotel, he gets his wish, and everything goes to Hell.

I like Samuel L. Jackson in the flick. I generally prefer when he plays a calmer character, as opposed to his always loud and profane characters. The calm makes the outbursts more effective, such as when he expresses frustration that Enslin won't let go of the idea of staying in a hotel room where, several, people have died.

Some of the frights are well done, though it took me a long time to understand why the weird looking guy with the hook kept abruptly appearing. The little parts are the ones I like best, him calling the the desk to try and check out, only to get a lady talking about a sandwich he ordered, the guy they send to fix the air conditioner, the part where Cusack examines the map on the door (you know, the one that shows where the fire exits are relative to your room?), and makes a rather interesting discovery about where he is. And for some reason, the continued fascination with the ceiling vent made me think of the vent Martin Blank hid his weapons and briefcase in in Grosse Point Blank.

Near the end, there's a point where our erstwhile protagonist thinks one thing has happened, but it hasn't. I think they dragged that on a beat too long, because I actually thought it had happened, that the movie was about to end, so I guess if it fooled me, then it was really just right. Go figure.

I still have some unresolved questions (which I will keep to myself to avoid spoiling things any further), but on the whole it's a good movie. I spent that same on this as I did on Ghost Rider, and I'd say this was a better value, though it would probably be a better experience on DVD, where you can stop and rewind, since he gets a little hard to understand at points (when voices and times start overlapping).