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How I Became the Mr Big of People Smuggling, Martin Chambers30/05/2017 - 3:02pmThere must be a group of readers out there that are a sucker for a fabulous book title (or it could be a group of one) but HOW I BECAME THE MR BIG OF PEOPLE SMUGGLING is one of those eye-catching titles that luckily coincides with a terrific story. We've all done it, or dreamed of it. An adventure, a break from the day to day, and for Nick Smart it seemed like working as a jackaroo on a remote station was the perfect solution. Away from everything, a chance to save some money, maybe even some quiet time to get his head together. "I drove out of Victoria via ... Read Review |
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Dead Again, Sandi Wallace08/05/2017 - 3:40pmDEAD AGAIN is the second novel in the Georgie Harvey and John Franklin series. Harvey is a Melbourne based journalist and Franklin a Daylesford based cop, and whilst it's not absolutely necessary that you've read the first book - TELL ME WHY, it would help a lot to understand why there is a connection between these two characters, and ultimately the two main locations in this book. Set around a fictionalised fire storm called in this book Red Victoria, a potential article about a small town in recovery becomes a private quest for Harvey to track down a man believed killed in the fire ... Read Review |
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The Breakdown, B.A. Paris15/04/2017 - 3:12pmThere is only a small cast in THE BREAKDOWN so our suspicious eyes are trained on characters that don’t have anywhere to hide; they are all close to Cass’s life and are becoming increasingly aware that her life is in disarray. Cass becomes more hemmed in by her memory glitches and is desperate to regain control of a life that is being puppet mastered by someone who must be close to her. THE BREAKDOWN is a very suspenseful read, tempered with periods of time where you alternately feel desperately sorry for Cass in her struggles, or frustrated with her as she seems to be going around ... Read Review |
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Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty30/03/2017 - 4:39pmAfter a few attempts, managed to finish BIG LITTLE LIES over the weekend. There's a reason this has been a bit of a chore explained below. Funny and quite cleverly constructed, BIG LITTLE LIES is about every day lives. If you're a mother, an ex-wife, a daughter, a second wife or possibly if you've ever been in a schoolyard or involved in the grass roots "political" movement that those environments seem to be, then there could be resonances throughout this book. There's a light-hearted, slightly tongue-in-cheek tone used to tell this story, that even finishes chapters with ... Read Review |
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Saigon Dark, Elka Ray28/03/2017 - 2:46pmIt's taken an age to get this review to the point where it can be published, because it's it's been so hard to clearly identify what about SAIGON DARK really worked for this reader, and why there were some niggling doubts remaining. A seemingly straight-forward story where Lily, a competent, respected surgeon has returned to her native Saigon, two children with her - leaving behind a failed marriage to an American Vietnamese man. When her young daughter dies in a drowning accident, she buries the body in her garden - never telling anyone what happened. Then grief-stricken ... Read Review |
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Born to Run, John M. Green27/03/2017 - 4:40pmave to be the short version of this review. The blurb on BORN TO RUN didn't bode well to be honest. Politics in thrillers, a bit of pushing the envelope with the chance of the first woman to win the White House. An Australian software whiz, a TV journalist digging for dirt, and terrorists working on a daring attack on New York City and I'll be honest, I felt an urge to yawn. Never got a chance. It is undoubtedly the mark of a very good thriller that all of the unlikely elements of the plot, all of the potential cheap targets of the scenarios disappeared. Okay - so you get ... Read Review |
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The Blood on My Hands, Shannon O'Leary27/03/2017 - 4:38pmTHE BLOOD ON MY HANDS is a very personal story, told by Shannon O'Leary, recounting a childhood that truly could be said was hellish. A violent, mentally ill father, an extended family wrapped up in concern about their "good name", vicious or uncaring authorities, and police neglect that is positively staggering, combine in this tale to create a story that's incredibly difficult to read. When reviewing this book it's really important to stress that the review is not of the life, or the story itself. This is somebody's truth, a woman's life and what happened is utterly ... Read Review |
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Flesh Wounds, Christopher Brookmyre23/03/2017 - 2:40pmFlesh Wounds (aka Bred in the Bone) is the third in the Jasmine Sharp series from Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre. One of those authors that is on the "to be purchased immediately" list, under the category "I'm starting to fret about the time it's taking to get to this one". Welded on fan needless to say. The Jasmine Sharp series is a bit different from some of Brookmyre's more surreal / out there offerings. Although there's always plenty of cutting humour, dry observation and more than a bit of dragging readers down dark alleys at unexpected times. ... Read Review |
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The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson20/03/2017 - 2:42pmRead for this month's face to face bookclub, it was one of those books that happily divided the group. Light and fun, some liked and some were bored. Have to admit I was in the like group finding this amusing and slightly silly on one level, and actually a bit of a morality play on another. Full of lovely little cameo's, odd little highways and byways and things that made me everything from smile to laugh out loud. Still tickled by the idea of Agent B and Nombeko standing at police lines, watching a warehouse burn down, with a nuclear bomb in a crate on a trailer parked on the other ... Read Review |
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Quicksand, Malin Persson Giolito20/03/2017 - 2:19pmIf ever there was a book that shows that the Best Swedish Crime Novel award needs to be closely followed, QUICKSAND is it. Scandinoir remains one of the big things in worldwide crime fiction, but, as you'd expect, there can sometimes be a little sameness to the sub genre. Which is not intended as criticism, there's only so many subject matters, styles and approaches available when you're writing psychological thrillers or crime fiction. QUICKSAND, on the other hand, has taken an unusual and different approach to a very difficult subject, handling that undertaking with considerable ... Read Review |
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Only Daughter, Anna Snoekstra14/03/2017 - 3:07pmDebut author Anna Snoekstra has taken on one of the more difficult challenges in writing fiction - creating an engaging, morally ambiguous central character, who sometimes borders on unlikeable. ONE DAUGHTER shows that an intriguing scenario helps, as does pace and the provision for some readers to have some sympathy for, in this case, the imposter's situation in particular. Right from the start imposter Bec has reasons for doing what she did. Eleven years after the real Rebecca Winter disappeared, an imposter "returns" to the family claiming to be the ... Read Review |
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Kingdom of the Strong, Tony Cavanaugh25/02/2017 - 4:55pmAuthor Tony Cavanaugh has had a long and illustrious career in film and tv and thus brings that excellent crafting of place and character to his crime novels. All of his creations are wholly convincing and though sketched with typical Australian economy, they are entirely recognizable in their landscape. KINGDOM OF THE STRONG is strongly anchored to the Melbourne setting and the reader is very much travelling along the streets with investigator Darian Richards. The same themes do thread through the novels in this series; loss, redemption, loyalty and betrayal and ... Read Review |
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Crimson Lake, Candice Fox09/02/2017 - 3:36pmIf two Ned Kelly Awards and one short-listing hasn't given you a big enough hint already, CRIMSON LAKE should absolutely confirm that Candice Fox is an Australian writer of immense ability. Always on the darker side, Fox's books incorporate clever plots with strong characters. She has a particular ability to create unusual, unexpected partnerships, teaming up the unlikely, creating tension and unexpected affection and acceptance. It's that idea of acceptance of the fringe dweller's, of the flawed and the people who are rebuilding their lives where all her characters stand ... Read Review |
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Signal Loss, Garry Disher09/02/2017 - 3:10pmGarry Disher has two successful major crime series out – very different from each other, both of the highest possible standard. Full Review At Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Dead in the Water, Tania Chandler07/02/2017 - 2:04pmDo a quick search on any of the book reading community websites and you're going to find a large number of novels called "Dead in The Water", adding to the feeling that there's something nicely tongue in cheek about the title of Tania Chandler's second novel also being the title of a crime novel within the story. That sort of echo is loosely reflected in elements of the internal novel and the troubled life of central character Brigitte and her husband in the ... main novel for want of a better description. Brigitte and her policeman husband Aidan were introduced to ... Read Review |
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Blood Wedding, Pierre Lamaitre05/02/2017 - 2:05pmThere is much of the before in this novel, and there is also much of the after. Sophie can’t run from herself but as she struggles to make sense of her new present, it becomes a delirious ride where the reader needs to establish what events are the direct result of Sophie’s own actions or those of another. Sophie’s struggles to make sense of all that is happening to her are quite moving and the righteous anger does build up when you realize the depth of her predicament and the depth of resourcefulness she is going to need in order to survive. Translated from French to ... Read Review |
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Dreaming Inside: Voices from Junee Correctional Centre Volume 404/02/2017 - 12:40pmIt's taken a long while to write this review, simply because this has been a collection of writing that I've wanted to go back to frequently in order to get my head around much of it. Voices from Junee Correctional Centre is a project that commenced in 2012, publishing works by the centre's Indigenous inmates. The work is heart-felt, raw, and confronting. Purposely not edited or altered, this is straight from the hip stuff, allowing the inmates to say what they want. The subject matter varies from life in prison, reasons for being there in the first place, families (and ... Read Review |
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Win, Lose or Draw, Peter Corris16/01/2017 - 12:39pmMany years ago there was a specialist bookshop tucked away in Auburn Road, Hawthorn run by a crime fiction expert and massive enabler (I think his name was Malcolm Campbell). He was one of those real-life people that made me thankful I'd made the trek from the bush to the big city, and Peter Corris was another. Sure I probably would have eventually found his books, but arriving in the city, finding that shop, and eventually being introduced to Cliff Hardy, kind of reinforced at that time it had been a good move all round. From the opening book in the Cliff Hardy series, ... Read Review |
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Darkest Place, Jaye Ford15/12/2016 - 12:52pmDarkest Place is Australian thriller writer Jaye Ford’s fifth book of stand-alones involving women under threat who are definitely not victims. Review at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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The Black Tongue, Marko Hautala14/12/2016 - 1:21pmSomewhere between horror, folk lore and social commentary, set deep in the quiet back waters of northern Finland, THE BLACK TONGUE is a book that will stay with you for a lot of reasons. Not being much of a fan of horror stories, it's hard to explain why this book appealed in the first place. Perhaps it is that concept of Scandinavian folk lore, to this reader's mind a kind of ramped up Grimms' Fairy Tales. Perhaps it was simply the idea that there is always an unexplained lurking evil - the boogie man or the bunyip - that's designed to keep kids in line and give them a ... Read Review |