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The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan09/03/2019 - 3:53pmIn the past six months I’ve been catching up with a number of authors and novels which I’ve let slip past in the last few years. Included amongst these authors is Dervla McTiernan who’s debut novel, The Rūin, was released last year. Set in Galway, Ireland it’s the story of two possible murders, one in the present day, the other twenty years in the past. Directly linking the two events are Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly, who as a fresh Garda attended the latter scene, and is now stationed in Galway where the second possible murder takes place, and Maud and Jack Blake who were 15 and ... Read Review |
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Palm Beach Finland, Antti Tuomainen05/03/2019 - 12:24pmAfter finishing THE MAN WHO DIED in almost record time, PALM BEACH FINLAND was recommended in the highest possible terms, so the audio version of it was obtained and listened to with haste. Another one that should have come with a warning about driving and listening, because I don't know how I've managed to survive these books whilst dodging kangaroos and dust storms on the roads recently. Needless to say PALM BEACH FINLAND is funny and a bit mad (in a good way), but it's a different sort of funny/mad to THE MAN WHO DIED. The entire scenario here is dry as the ... Read Review |
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The Empty Coffin, Gary Moore01/03/2019 - 2:30pmThe blurb on this debut novel calls THE EMPTY COFFIN a high-octane thriller with cracking dialogue, sly humour and a sense of justice. There's also a hefty dose of real and paranormal combined in an interesting idea, with slightly creepy styling that feels like it comes from the Paul Cleave school of construction. Creepy and intriguing are the two words that stay with me when trying to define THE EMPTY COFFIN, although that was buried under an avalanche of general busy plot that seemed to be trying to tackle an awful lot of sub-threads in a very short time. This mean ... Read Review |
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Call Me Evie, J.P. Pomare01/03/2019 - 2:19pmWith a growing awareness of her isolation and of how complete her removal has been from her old world of the ‘before’, Evie has few tools at hand with which to dig out the truth of what happened back in Australia. All she really knows is what Jim has selectively been telling her. It was something bad, it was something that they needed to jump on plane to get away from. As Evie’s patchy memory serves up greater pieces of her past with the passage of time, it is not reassuring to being to recall what was done by Evie, or to Evie. Now living in a remote New Zealand coastal town, Evie ... Read Review |
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The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides28/02/2019 - 4:47pmAlicia and Gabriel were once that sparkling young couple who appeared to be dazzlingly in love with life and totally bedazzled by each other. The envy of all who knew them, the darlings of the art world to boot. Such charmed lives some couples seem to lead. It is often said that with romantic entanglements there is always one who loves more than the other; that it is a good thing to have a partner who is just that little bit more obsessed with you than you are with them. Or perhaps all of that focus on one person never actually results in happy endings for anyone. ... Read Review |
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Made in Scotland, Billy Connolly28/02/2019 - 4:32pmThere's something about Billy Connolly that's always made him a leading light in how to cope with the highs and lows of life. Whether it's pointed instruction on learning how to swear at those awful people who knock on your door flogging their brand of religion, through to assurances that nobody, anywhere needs to wear beige, Billy is older than us, he's lived a hell of a life and he's learnt a few things along the way. Thanks to Billy's advice, ever since hitting my 50's I've never let a loo stop go by, I've always been a fan of the correct clothes when it's cold (the ... Read Review |
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Rippling Red, Brigid George28/02/2019 - 4:23pmThe third novel in the Dusty Kent series, these books are built around investigative journalist Kent and her Irish assistant and IT expert Sean O’Kelly. IN RIPPLING RED they are in Darwin looking into the alleged suicide of Cody Bongiorno. Cody’s parents are convinced that their compassionate and kind teenager had been coerced into committing suicide, and they want Dusty to look into the verdict, something that she's more than willing to do especially given the strange death of Cody's close friend, school teacher Jerry Lucas. Dusty's from the wise-cracking, Australian ... Read Review |
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Country of the Blind (audio), Christopher Brookmyre28/02/2019 - 2:49pmBit spoiled for audio choice at the moment, having decided to really concentrate on back to favourite series. This is the second Jack Parlabane book from Scottish writer, and world class pointer out of the idiocy of some aspects of life, Christopher Brookmyre (I was particularly pleased to find Gordon Duncan also reading / listening to this as it is another of my all time favourite Brookmyre books). Gordon's advice re listening to the opening ... Read Review |
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Gone by Midnight, Candice Fox26/02/2019 - 3:14pmWhen Candice Fox opened up GONE BY MIDNIGHT with a missing child and a sick goose I wasn't sure if I could go on. I mean a missing child is one thing, but a sick, possibly life-threateningly ill goose felt like one blow too many. (Don't @ me - they are both fictional and I'm very fond of my geese...). If for any reason any of this is worrying any other readers then I would counsel trust this author, read on. Read on through the bullying stand over cops who arrive and take Ted Conkaffey into custody (arrest of choice with anything to do with kids it seems); through to his ... Read Review |
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Cardinal, Louise Milligan26/02/2019 - 12:33pmAnybody who knows me will probably be aware my family are from the Ballarat region, and I grew up outside the town during part of the worst of the excesses of the Catholic Church priests and bishops. We heard gossip, whether you were involved in the Catholic community or not. Very fortunately we weren't subjected to junior Catholic schools (one year only as a much older teenager at a secondary school run by the Loreto Nuns) or the church system probably because my father was educated at St Pats for a very short period before he left, never to discuss the place, loathing everything ... Read Review |
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The Amnesiac's Guide to Espionage, Dave Sinclair25/02/2019 - 4:34pmI certainly hope that anybody coming to this series isn't expecting serious. I mean "Eva Destruction"... You should, however, be expecting all the thrills, spills, banter and high energy action that you'd get with any top notch thriller series of novels. In this second full-sized outing (there's a 1.5 novella out as well - THE ROOKIE'S GUIDE TO ESPIONAGE) Eva Destruction, barista extraordinare, coffee shop owner and MI6 agent is up to her elbows in blokes ("on her side", "definitely not on her side", and "it's complicated"), gun battles and assassinations, all without the ... Read Review |
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The Mother-in-Law, Sally Hepworth25/02/2019 - 12:53pmLucy, like most women on the precipice of marriage, has spent some time considering not only what her new life might be like when she becomes a wife, but also how it might be to become someone’s daughter-in-law. In order to achieve her happy-ever-after with the lovely Oliver, Lucy must first win over the formidable Diana. Diana is one of those cool, calm and collected types who has the security of a long successful marriage and enjoys the high regard of her peers. Diana is assured in her opinions, confirmed in her altruistic endeavours, and to Lucy, determinedly ... Read Review |
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Back Door to Hell, Paul Gadsby24/02/2019 - 5:22pm“Walking back through the littered streets to his flat a few minutes later, the temperature dipping fast, Nate tried to stack his thoughts. To weigh up what he was doing, what he was potentially being pushed into. Jen was crazy, of course she was…” Fahrenheit Press is an independent crime fiction publisher based in the United Kingdom. Apart from traditional crime fiction they also publish hard-boiled noir and experimental crime fiction under the banner of Fahrenheit 13. Paul Gadsby’s Back Door To Hellis published by Fahrenheit 13 and the story of boy meets girl, boy is ... Read Review |
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A Greater God, Brian Stoddart22/02/2019 - 6:10pmBook 4 and we're now probably at the point that A GREATER GOD will require some effort to catch up if you're new to the Chris Le Fanu series. Set in early 20th century India, around the tensions leading to Indian Independence from Britain, Chris Le Fanu is a member of the English police force, and an outsider in both the local and ex-pat community. You'll also find yourself catching up with a complicated personal life that involves an old-love who is now very unwell and hospitalised a long way away in Hyderabad. There's also an off-screen new love interest, Straits Chinese woman ... Read Review |
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The Arsonist, Chloe Hooper22/02/2019 - 4:49pmChloe Hooper has, yet again, taken on difficult terrain and a complex subject matter in THE ARSONIST. As in THE TALL MAN, there are victims, family members, affected communities and people still trying to get on with their lives, Black Saturday being ten years ago this month / year in the one of the most fire prone areas on the planet. As rural dwellers the potential of fire is never far from mind. We live for long, hot, draining months in each year sniffing the air, watching the horizons, analysing weather forecasts and planning actions and survival. We do that knowing that fires can ... Read Review |
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The Echo of Others, S.D. Rowell21/02/2019 - 4:23pmOpening up with a duck hunting scene that will stay with readers for a while, THE ECHO OF OTHERS is a debut novel set in my part of the world - Central and parts of Western Victoria. There's a heap of potential here - from a good solid, cleverly structured plot; some excellent characters - including Detective Rachael Schlank who finds herself working on old cases, leading her back to her early days in Vic Police and a particular fellow officer who she worked with out of the main Bendigo police station. The plot revolves around a series of what appears to be vigilante ... Read Review |
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Greenlight, Benjamin Stevenson21/02/2019 - 11:29amThere's a something about GREENLIGHT that feels like a non-too-subtle dig at the commercialisation of true crime. There's always been a sub-set of true crime writing that's been about the crims, their exploits, personalities and too big to be believable criminal histories. Ranging from reflective and analytical in style, to tongue in cheek, many books and programs seem to have contributed to the rise of the "celebrity criminal". It's no surprise then that the rise and rise of the true crime investigative journalist is increasingly leaking over into the crime fiction ... Read Review |
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Straight and Level, Penelope Haines20/02/2019 - 3:00pmSTRAIGHT AND LEVEL is the second in a series of novels based around central character, commercial pilot Claire Hardcastle, which fall into the crimance category. Part crime fiction, part romance, with a bit of adventure thrown in courtesy of the locations and the situations into which the author can put a pilot. In this case, the relationship aspects are high on the agenda, the adventure comes by way of a kidnapping and enforced fight, and the crime element is all about murder and corruption in developer circles. Solid plot set up, and the use of the commercial pilot aspect is well ... Read Review |
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Six Murders?: The Strange Case of the Welly Alley Strangler, Robert Philip Bolton20/02/2019 - 2:37pmA comedic styled novel tending almost towards satire, which you'll get from title, even before you've even cracked open the spine. SIX MURDERS (for short) is the tale of the weird life of Ponytail O'Gorman - a charming old-style fraudster - who somehow convinced a couple of everyday people from the suburbs to assist him in a grand quest. There are some funny moments in this novel and the characters are great, it's a plot with great potential as well, although the style is on the arch side, sometimes overwhelming so. If you like your satire thick and fast, this could be just the ticket ... Read Review |
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The Carlswick Deception, SL Beaumont20/02/2019 - 1:51pmThe Carlswick Mysteries are a series of young adult novels (THE CARLSWICK AFFAIR, THE CARLSWICK TREASURE, THE CARLSWICK CONSPIRACY, THE CARLSWICK DECEPTION and THE CARSLWICK MYTHOLOGY), this one being the fourth in the series. There is some back-story woven into each of the books to assist readers in not needing to start from the very beginning, although my advice would be to go back to the start as there appears to be a lot that's happened between Oxford student Stephanie Cooper and her rock-star boyfriend, James. Young adult styled, with the emphasis leaning slightly ... Read Review |