All the Reviews

I Will Find the Key, Alex Ahndoril

I WILL FIND THE KEY is one of those random choices that a reader browsing the library's audio book selection late at night can make, with absolutely no idea what they are getting into, or even why the choice was made.

Set in Sweden, the story features a private investigator by the name of Julia Stark, who has a physical disability that, to be honest, I never really did quite get to the bottom of how or when it occurred. But she has a lot of stuff going on, not the least of which is a cop ex-husband, who happily takes time off work to help her out particularly in the case ... Read Review

The Forsaken, Matt Rogers

Sitting down to read THE FORSAKEN (late to the party as usual), wasn't at all sure what to expect. The blurb explains that for ten years, Logan Booth, served as a contract killer for the CIA, never knowing that was what he was doing. Finding out he wasn't a rogue hitman for a band of vigilantes, but rather a means by which governments of the USA furthered their own interests is .. well it's a lot. Starting out reading a book about somebody who is fine with the killing bit, but very particular about the motivation element is something to think about.

Although to be honest ... Read Review

Never Forget, Michel Bussi

THE OTHER MOTHER and NEVER FORGET are two Michel Bussi novels that I'd somehow managed to miss reading, until I was reminded recently. Luckily the library had copies of both of them, so that gap, at least, has now been closed.

NEVER FORGET (unlike THE OTHER MOTHER) is very much a return to previous thriller stylings in books like BLACK WATER LILIES, ... Read Review

17 Years Later, J.P. Pomare

J.P. Pomare is one of those authors that always, always delivers a slightly different bent on the question "What on Earth is Happening Here?". From the confusion in the reader and character's minds in CALL ME EVIE, to the preconception twisting that's going on in THE WRONG WOMAN and the masterclass in misdirection that was HOME BEFORE NIGHT he's now added the combination of hindsight, expertise and podcasting and reworded the question slightly ... Read Review

Caught in the Act, Shane Jenek aka Courtney Act

I listened to this audio book, written and then narrated by Shane Jenek mostly because it had been on my to do list for ages, and then the 2025 Eurovision broadcast reminded me how much I enjoy watching and listening to Courtney Act and I just knew there had to be more to the story of how a young boy, raised in the suburbs of Brisbane went from realising he wasn't the same as other little boys, to become the performer she is today. 

There is so much to take in from this memoir, the pain and complications of coming to terms with your difference, even though Jenek's family ... Read Review

The Deadly Dispute, Amanda Hampson

The third book in The Tea Ladies Mystery Series, sees Hazel, Betty and Irene take on one of their most dangerous challenges yet, with a real threat to Hazel's life on more than one occasion, Betty finding herself naked in front of a lot of strangers, and Irene hoicking a Molotov Cocktail straight back to where it came from.

All of which might come as a bit of a surprise, even to followers of this lovely series of books, because these three are tea ladies after all. I mean who tries to drown or truss up tea ladies and shove them in wardrobes. Or pitch Molotov Cocktails at ... Read Review

The Devil's Flute Murders, Seishi Yokomizo

This was a happenstance discovery in the libraries audio listing, which I jumped at the chance of listening to. The narrator, Akira Matsumoto, has a very easy to listen to voice, and to hear the correct pronunciation of the Japanese words an absolute pleasure and an education.

Originally published in 1951, this story is set in post-war Tokyo, with the Tsubaki family in mourning for their patriarch, a brooding, troubled composer known as Viscount Tsubaki. As the family gather for a divination ceremony to conjure the spirit of the Viscount, another death befalls the ... Read Review

Gaslight, Femi Kayode

Years (sadly) ago now I read the first book by Femi Kayode, LIGHTSEEKERS, and loved it. Partly because it was very much a whydunnit and partly because the central character, acclaimed investigative psychologist, Philip Taiwo is such an interesting take on an investigator. Having lived most of his life in the US, he's now in Nigeria, with his family, reconnecting with his families origins, and, to be frank, looking for somewhere that everyone else looks like them. 

In GASLIGHT, that project is not going so well ... Read Review

Kataraina, Becky Manawatu

Our ancestor once lived close to the
house where he was shot. She was at
the river when a man approached
her and offered her some peaches
from a can, but then he attacked her.
 

KATARAINA is the much anticipated follow up to the, frankly, gut-wrenching AUĒ, which at the time I reviewed it, and since then, whenever I return to the book I remember saying:

Understanding the

... Read Review