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Don't Let Go, Michel Bussi29/11/2017 - 3:33pmIt's probably not going to come as any surprise to find that DON'T LET GO jumped up the reading queue as quickly as possible, because every novel from Michel Bussi I've read now has been clever, different and intriguing. DON'T LET GO didn't disappoint, it's all of those things and more. In it we have a family on holidays on the island of La Réunion. Liane leaves her husband Martial and their daughter poolside to head back to their hotel room for a short break and vanishes. There's blood everywhere in the hotel room, but no body. Right from the outset the statements of her ... Read Review |
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Did You See Melody?, Sophie Hannah25/11/2017 - 1:28pmThere’s both highs and dips with this novel. Some of the dialogue is quite fun and the main character Cara is comically harried with all that is going on in her life. We’ve all been there. Mother and teen daughter relationships based on sarcasm are very relatable, as is the faux cheeriness you often encounter from hotel staff when all you want to do is be left alone to enjoy your holiday. Author Sophie Hannah contrives to balance all of the mayhem of hotel goers joining forces for a holiday adventure with the darker depiction of a child’s murder. As the abduction/ ... Read Review |
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An Isolated Incident, Emily Maguire20/11/2017 - 2:11pmAN ISOLATED INCIDENT is one of those books I've been trying to read for a ridiculously long time now, so being able to finally get to it in the context of our f2f bookclub gathering was an added bonus. This is such a fascinating book, one that worked particularly well for our group. Normally we find the discussion is at its most vibrant when the book isn't particularly liked, or when there is a mix of opinions, but in this case there wasn't a contradictory opinion in the room. There's been an increase in "consequences' crime fiction recently. Books that ... Read Review |
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The Student, Iain Ryan17/11/2017 - 12:41pmThe Student is fast-paced, dry as dust, gritty Australian regional noir. Full Review at Newtown Review of Books.Read Review |
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Hard Labour, Bill Bateman13/11/2017 - 2:54pmIt's not a particularly easy undertaking - a book positing the idea that the Medical Board and Dr Vince Hanrahan thinking shunting someone to rural Victoria (Warrnambool in this instance) to work as a GP is "punishment", but then Hanrahan eventually does twig that the loss of your speciality is one thing, but living in a small rural city isn't the end of the world. The author of HARD LABOUR, Bill Bateman, certainly hasn't had the problem with the Medical Board, and appears to have done the opposite to his central character, moving from the Victorian south-coast to Melbourne, so the ... Read Review |
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Days Are Like Grass, Sue Younger13/11/2017 - 1:17pmA family drama / saga styled novel, with crime overtones, DAYS ARE LIKE GRASS is beautifully written. Moving, descriptive, populated by fully realised characters there is much in this novel that is thought-provoking, and profoundly affecting. Avoiding any sense of voyeurism or manipulation, Sue Younger has constructed a multi-layered story about consequences, and past and present actions. Paediatric surgeon, mother, lover, Claire is a woman with a past. She's driven to want the best for her patients - often times victims of abuse and disadvantage - her controlled nature ... Read Review |
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Dead Lemons, Finn Bell30/10/2017 - 2:07pmWhen reviewing Best Crime entrant PANCAKE MONEY, the second book from Finn Bell in the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards(link is external), I wasn't aware that DEAD LEMONS had won Best First Novel. Not even slightly surprised to be honest. These are both very good books. As ... Read Review |
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Friend Request, Laura Marshall27/10/2017 - 1:56pmFRIEND REQUEST is not a social media crime novel as expected; the platform is used instead here to spark off a chain of events. Thematically the story does not labour over the highlight reel that is social media but it is importantly touched upon, tying it neatly back into the past before Facebook etc when many of the same societal pressures existed for young people, albeit in a less technologically advanced age. Different generations facing the same age old concerns. Children being horrific to other children. The feeling of being completely alone as a teenager even though you ... Read Review |
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A Dangerous Language, Sulari Gentill26/10/2017 - 5:16pmIf anybody could point me in the direction of a good condition Chrysler Airflow I'd be very grateful. I know there was one in the 1953 Redex Trial and there were a few in Australia at the time, so surely, somewhere, in somebody's shed... frankly I'm lusting... But I digress, and that's the problem with Sulari Gentill's Rowland Sinclair series, of which A DANGEROUS LANGUAGE is book number 8. It's easy to identify with the perfectly packaged little details, as you find yourself immersed in a time and place that's beautifully described, standing out from the pages, making the things that ... Read Review |
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Holy Death, Peter Mulraney13/10/2017 - 1:30pmGrabbed a copy of this after seeing it on the list of Ned Kelly entrants for 2017 - without paying a lot of attention to the category it was entered in. (I've been cherry-picking from the list when I see a copy of the book available anywhere). I have to confess I went back and checked as I thought it was a debut novel, and was having a bit of trouble reconciling some elements. HOLY DEATH is the 3rd in the, I believe, self-published Inspector West series. I have to confess I absolutely struggled with this one. Formal in dialogue style, I couldn't get the timeframe straight ... Read Review |
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A Dark So Deadly, Stuart MacBride10/10/2017 - 10:46pmIf the universe wants to be particularly nice to us, it will make sure that A DARK SO DEADLY is the start of a new series from Stuart MacBride. There are echoes here of his long running Logan McRae series, but it's delivered with a slightly straighter bat (you'd have to be dead set in front to pick it though), and lots and lots of potential for places for the Misfit Mob to go and crims for them to annoy. A haphazard grouping of cops who have been in trouble in the force, one who is most definitely not going gently into any sort of night - good or otherwise, and a female ... Read Review |
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A Dark So Deadly, Stuart MacBride08/10/2017 - 10:45pmThe beauty of a standalone is the tantalizing possibility of it being a series starter. A DARK SO DEADLY introduces an irresistible new cast of characters (that this reviewer absolutely wants to see again) with the ‘Misfit Mob’. This ragtag collection of police officers is pure reading gold and it is a testament to the authors skill that he is able to create (again) a fresh set of police officers who are all complex, rich with backstory, and let’s not forget, hilarious. You can’t help but feel for Callum who has the whole world either badgering him for something or actively ... Read Review |
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And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic24/09/2017 - 8:53pmAustralian author Emma Viskic depicts a community well used to living with constant tension, disappointment and outright hostility. It’s a unforgiving world for sure, and we are reading of people who are not living their best lives by a long shot. The summer heat and the threat of bushfire are tangible creatures in AND FIRE CAME DOWN, adding another possibility of potential hurt for the residents who are already tense with the anticipation of more destruction and violence to come. Lead character Caleb is adrift and somewhat frustrating; you want to take him out of harm’ ... Read Review |
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Bay of Martyrs, Tony Black & Matt Neal21/09/2017 - 1:24pmWhenever you're confronted by a jointly authored novel it's very hard to dampen the temptation to constantly look for hints on who contributed what components. Which was the case for around the first 20 pages of BAY OF MARTYRS and then I totally forgot to look. Set in the South East of Victoria around the town of Warrnambool in particular, this is a great novel featuring a cynical local newspaper reporter, a new in town photographer, a dodgy local developer and an even dodgier politician. Nothing particularly surprising in the later I hear you say, and it's a very sad ... Read Review |
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And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic06/09/2017 - 8:55pmEmma Viskic explores difference, and its consequences, in this sequel to Resurrection Bay. Reviewed at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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After I've Gone, Linda Green04/09/2017 - 2:43pmYou'll need to clear a little time in your schedule to read AFTER I'VE GONE as it is quite likely that you will not want to put it down once you've dived in. This novel battles between hope and hopelessness in that the stakes are so very high; Jess has seen the face of her child and she desperately wants that little life to come into the world. Thinking a little too pragmatically, it would definitely be easier for Jess to let the fantasy go and to seek out safety for herself, letting go of the possibility of a phantom future child. AFTER I'VE GONE soon becomes ridiculously ... Read Review |
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Pancake Money, Finn Bell02/09/2017 - 2:13pm Finn Bell made quite an impact on the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards with two shortlistings - his first novel DEAD LEMONS in Best First Novel, and PANCAKE MONEY in Best Crime Novel. Grouped together as The Far South Series, these aren't series books as such, so you can read them in any order, but read them you most definitely should. PANCAKE MONEY features police detective Bobby Ress, who did have a cameo appearance in DEAD LEMONS. He's a straight-forward sort of cop, loves his wife and daughter, has a successful marriage even though they married young and ... Read Review |
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Six Tudor Queens - Anne Boleyn the Kings Obsession, Alison Weir18/08/2017 - 5:23pmThe charm with having also read the first "Queen" book in this series (about Katharine of Aragon) is that the timelines do cross over. Each Queen has knowledge of the next so we will be receiving their own individual viewpoints in each subsequent book; the events that lead to their downfalls are relayed via their own interactions and also via those of their supporters. It is fascinating to see what each Queen might have thought of the other, and also of the various affairs that King Henry VIII carried on with whilst married to each of them. Of course there seems to be a ... Read Review |
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Good Cop Bad Cop, Gus Mitchell18/08/2017 - 3:20pmA take on a noir romp with stylised good cop / bad cop characters, humour is a huge part of GOOD COP BAD COP. Therein lies probably the biggest problem - find it funny and it's going to work really well. Find it somewhat forced and the misogyny and objectification comes across as a bit creepy. Tackling a range of current day issues - from meth addiction to sex trafficking, there's a lot of sexual politics at the heart of GOOD COP BAD COP into the bargain. Whilst there's an interesting dynamic going on between the Good and the Bad cop of the title, you will need to deploy a hefty ... Read Review |
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A Confidential Agreement, Rita Ryan18/08/2017 - 11:56amA CONFIDENTIAL AGREEMENT is one of those books that you really want to work. Populated with some really engaging characters, built around a strong central premise, it's let down in the end by a lack of firm editing and direction. Overly wordy, there's a tendency to disappear off on tangents and down rabbit holes of diversion which detract too often, and too overwhelmingly from the main plot lines, hampering the reader's ability to connect with that central premise.Read Review |