| Book | Review |
|---|---|
|
|
The Wings of the Sphinx, Andrea Camilleri12/11/2014 - 11:55amThe 11th Montalbano book this is a series that I'm tragically reading out of order, behind the publication dates and sadly not often enough. Of course fans know about the food, and the scenery, and the grumpiness of Montalbano. Combine that with the vague lunacy of the members of the rest of the police force he has to work with and there's a sense of affection about these books. Which stands out markedly against the relationships that Montalbano has with everyone including his on/off/distant/what exactly is their relationship girlfriend Livia. ... Read Review |
 |
Mercy, Jussi Adler-Olsen30/10/2014 - 2:10pmI've read MERCY (aka THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES) by Jussi Adler-Olsen twice now and finally I think I've got it the review straight in my head. Why twice? The first time I read this book was right in the middle of a series of releases based around the woman locked in the basement scenario, and frankly, I was pissed off. Even though I really felt that this gross generalisation wasn't fair in the case of MERCY, this scenario had annoyed me so badly, objectiveness had become a real problem. So why reread and why now? Well a movie came out, and there were a lot more books in ... Read Review |
 |
A Murder Unmentioned, Sulari Gentill28/10/2014 - 1:11pmSulari Gentill has never pulled her punches when it comes to putting Rowly Sinclair in a spot of peril, and it turns out that she's even prepared to do that retrospectively. In the process she makes the idea of being a scion of this particular landed gentry family a rather sobering prospect. In the first book Sinclair's uncle (he of the same name) was murdered, and now, in A MURDER UNMENTIONED, it turns out that Sinclair's father had suffered the same fate. A family secret long kept is not just that Sinclair senior was murdered, the possible involvement of the teenage ... Read Review |
 |
Broken Monsters, Lauren Beukes24/10/2014 - 1:22pmMany frequent readers of crime fiction (and I count myself in both these numbers) are over the mad serial killer sub-genre. This could make the opening monologue of BROKEN MONSTERS something that makes you put down the book and step away. Whilst the subject matter remains confrontational, often times surreal and vaguely supernatural, there are other aspects worth considering. We all know the story of the rise and decline of Detroit – from economic power-house to basket-case in a very short period of time. The resulting population decline left decaying buildings and a ... Read Review |
 |
Claustrophobia, Tracy Ryan21/10/2014 - 3:08pmUsing a title like CLAUSTROPHOBIA obviously sets certain expectations for readers, which luckily, in this outing are uncomfortably well imagined. There's something incredibly claustrophobic about everything to do with this book. The enclosed, world that the two main characters Pen and her husband Derrick occupy. From their home life, working together at the same school, even when Pen finally breaks away to another job, albeit for reasons that Derrick doesn't know. It's not just circumstances though. Of course, with Pen as the main narrator of the book there is an inward focus, but ... Read Review |
 |
Deadly Obsession, Karen M. Davies22/09/2014 - 3:48pmThe second Lexie Rogers book from ex-cop Karen M Davis, it's interesting to note that we've now got a couple of female ex-cops from similar areas writing police procedural style books, although to this reader's eye, completely different sensibilities. Given that this is the second book, it's worth mentioning that you might be best to start at the very beginning with these two. A lot of the back story of Rogers and her rather complicated personal life is going to need that fill in, despite a bit of catch up in DEADLY OBSESSION. Part of the reason for that ... Read Review |
 |
Chasing the Ace, Nicholas J. Johnson18/09/2014 - 2:50pm"The Honest Conman" (aka Nicholas J Johnson) used to do a warning segment on scams and frauds on ABC Local Radio, but it was a pleasant surprise to find he'd written a heist / scam novel. Needless to say his debut novel, CHASING THE ACE, reads like the author knows a lot about the subject matter. Think a dual handed TV's Hustle style scenario in which Joel, a young man with no purpose in life, hooks up with Richard, an older man, experienced in the fine art of scams and swindles. What Joel doesn't realise is that the man he's adopted as his mentor and working partner is ... Read Review |
 |
A Madras Miasma, Brian Stoddart16/09/2014 - 6:34pmSet in 1920's India, A MADRAS MIASMA takes place in an India that is looking towards independence from the British. With a strong sense of place, culture and time built in, this is debut crime fiction with potential. The central character, Superintendent Le Fanu is a complex man in a judgemental and class-riven society. His wife has left him, he's in love with an Anglo-Indian woman, a relationship frowned upon by the ex-pat British "society" that remains influential. His investigative side-kick is a local man, who he admires for his ability, and skill as an investigator. ... Read Review |
 |
One Boy Missing, Stephen Orr12/09/2014 - 1:58pmSet in the heat, dust and community of the South Australian Mallee there is much that is visceral in ONE BOY MISSING. From the opening in which a young, vulnerable boy desperately tries to avoid a pursuer, to the character of DS Bart Moy who is back in Guilderton, possibly because his elderly father needs help, but mostly because he's running away from his past. He's lost and damaged, and there really doesn't seem to be much reason for him to be in the town that hasn't had a Detective presence for years. Until the inexplicable report of a kidnapping or abduction of a ... Read Review |
 |
Bangkok Cowboy, Ron McMillan02/09/2014 - 12:56pmWritten with incredible pace and verve, BANGKOK COWBOY combines a very good plot with a couple of great central characters. Army veteran and PI Mason is in Thailand, disappearing after a bad war experience and an imploded marriage. In a series of elegantly incorporated thought bubbles, Mason's backstory is filled in well, including how he came to be in a business partnership and close friendship with Dixie. A Thai ladyboy, Dixie is a strong, brave, and gorgeous character, working with Mason and as a highly sought after personal escort. An unlikely friendship maybe, but well done, with ... Read Review |
 |
After the Silence, Jake Woodhouse28/08/2014 - 3:59pmSet in Amsterdam, AFTER THE SILENCE is a debut police procedural introducing, amongst a big cast of characters, Inspector Jaap Rykel. If you were looking for a single word to describe everyone in this book it would have to be damaged. They are all dealing with their own demons, to the point where there is a sneaking suspicion that there's not a happy person in the entire city. Mind you, the themes in the book will also have you wondering about where they have put their human decency into the bargain. Rykel is a very flawed main character with a complicated past. His work ... Read Review |
 |
A Morbid Habit, Annie Hauxwell25/06/2014 - 5:31pmThe third Catherine Berlin novel from Annie Hauxwell takes the concept of moving a character out of their comfort zone that bit further. Berlin is one of those unrepentant flawed types. A heroin addict she's prepared to manage the addiction with prescription medications, but she's really not able / or willing to give up totally. Anything that threatens her supply of drugs has a major impact on her comfort zone. She's also a welded-on resident of London. She knows her area very well, often walking miles of a night to soothe the cravings and distract her brain. Taking her to Moscow ... Read Review |
 |
Blood is Thicker, J.S. McGrath25/06/2014 - 3:36pmI fell across this book a few years ago in a shop, having never heard of the author anywhere before. But if it's Australian then I'm almost duty bound to read a book (well that's my justification anyway). This is a story about a serial killer - and the police unit that is investigating - firstly the death of a teenage girl and then the death of a young boy - both killings with a similar, very clinical, method. From the book - the synopsis probably explains it best: "In the bayside suburb of St Kilda a teenage girl is murdered. It is no ordinary murder; the method was ... Read Review |
 |
The Lost Girls, Wendy James03/05/2014 - 2:32pmWendy James has once more taken a close up, and uncomfortable look at the reality of family secrets. Something that she's not only specialising in, she's particularly good at into the bargain. We're programmed to think that the family unit is safe, staid, even boring (perhaps because the alternative is too confrontational). Certainly for most, it's not necessarily dangerous and most definitely not devious. But in James' hands, somehow the respectable, the normal, the supportive twists and turns into everything that's wrong, and frequently sinister. Even ... Read Review |
 |
8 Hours to Die, J.R. Carroll17/03/2014 - 4:55pm
Sometime in the early 2000's, deeply immersed in an obsession with J.R. Carroll's books (which at the time were very hard to get hold of) coming across that quotation was a nice vindication of the book quest that was occupying a bit of my book buying time. It is, however, sheer coincidence that I'd be re-reading Continent of ... Read Review |
 |
Beams Falling, P.M. Newton24/02/2014 - 2:00pmWhen THE OLD SCHOOL was released all the way back in 2010, I noted "As I was reading this book I couldn't help but create a checklist of the things that make up seriously good crime fiction for me, and apply it as I went." Every box ticked needless to say, which means that the follow up has been much anticipated. It doesn't disappoint in any single way. As with the first book we've got a very good plot, with Kelly returned from sick leave, and on light duties. Still in physical rehab her mental recovery also gets some attention, as she struggles to cope with the PTSD ... Read Review |
 |
The Scent of Murder, Felicity Young14/02/2014 - 5:33pmSomebody, years ago, in "one of those long and philosophical nights around the dinner table" made a comment about history always being written by the victor, and it's stayed with me ever since (even though it's not an original proposition). I'm always reminded of it when a new Dody McCleland book arrives. Although they are fictional books, they speak with a resonance and an authority which draws a vivid picture of the time of the suffragettes, using the point of view of the women, demonstrating the utter stupidity and nastiness of the restrictions placed on women, without turning ... Read Review |
 |
A Vintage Death, Colin King02/02/2014 - 7:23pmWith tongue firmly in cheek, and only because I live in the Pyrenees wine district, yes, well why on earth WOULD somebody kill for a Heathcote shiraz??? (Kidding!) There's nothing better than books that are set in your own stomping grounds. Places that are very familiar, environments and industries that are close to the heart. I was really thrilled to win a copy of A VINTAGE DEATH from the good people at the very excellent Bendigo Writers' Festival, particularly as the author, Colin King is a Bendigo local, and Bendigo is one of my favourite places in this region. Not ... Read Review |
 |
Silent Kill, Peter Corris16/01/2014 - 1:09pmAfter coming to love the regular January Cliff Hardy fix it was a happy day when SILENT KILL arrived. Reading blurbs though can sometimes be problematic and so it was with this one, and the reference to a "rogue intelligence agent". Recently that seems to have been code for "no idea how to get my protagonist into, and subsequently, out of the mess I want them in the middle of". Corris is, however, not your standard writer and whilst there is a bit of sneaking around going on, in the main, this is a good old fashioned bit of biff, doesn't get the girl, solves the problem, Cliff Hardy ... Read Review |
 |
A Song for the Dying, Stuart MacBride15/01/2014 - 10:18pmSaid it before, should say it again. Will read anything Stuart MacBride publishes... eventually. And yes I know they are extremely violent, dark, with a warped sense of humour and slightly mad edge. What, therefore, is not to love. A SONG FOR THE DYING isn't, however, a Logan McRae novel but don't let that make you lose hope. There's an equally good cast of misfits, mad buggers, scrappers and fighters here. Which is just as well as it's not easy for an ex-cop like Ash Henderson to survive a spell inside. Especially as even there, arch-enemy, gang boss and evil bitch Maeve ... Read Review |