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The Sunday Girl, Pip Drysdale06/09/2018 - 3:27pmAnybody thinking the cover of this novel with it's bright pink girly styling, means it's going to be on the light and fluffy side, might want to invest in some brown paper, cover the thing, and read it anyway. THE SUNDAY GIRL is not fluffy, girly fiction, even if the opening salvo makes you wonder about return on the brown paper investment. The central character of this tale, Taylor Bishop, is all millennium styled girl: over-sharing, over thinking, brittle and frequently coming across as daft as a brush. She is, in part, the daft idiotic woman of initial perception, but, as the tale ... Read Review |
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A Double Life, Flynn Berry03/09/2018 - 1:01pmIt was only recently that I watched a documentary about Lord Lucan, of which A DOUBLE LIFE was inspired by, so the release of this book was timely for me. So armed, was very keen to read Berry’s fictionalized take on such an iconic disappearance story. UK novelist Flynn Berry’s first book, UNDER THE HARROW was a standout of 2016 and her second outing A DOUBLE LIFE has much of that same bewitching appeal. Another captivating and intelligent narrator makes no apology for her decisions and none of her incisive observations can be dismissed as unimportant. It’s all ... Read Review |
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Greenlight, Benjamin Stevenson02/09/2018 - 4:52pmGREENLIGHT works extremely well as an audio title as the conspiratorial way it has been written lends itself beautifully to that platform of intimacy. In our ears it’s all quietly confessed secrets and the discovery of lies as we move around with producer Jack Quick in the shadows of a country town. This is not necessarily a sleepy town. This is wine country. If you’ve ever stayed in an Australian wine region, you might feel that you recognize the (fictional) setting and some of the townsfolk who feature in GREENLIGHT. Wine towns ride on the back of tourism, but the ... Read Review |
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Forgotten, Nicole Trope01/09/2018 - 4:49pmEveryone is saying this is one for fans of Jodi Picoult, which probably explains a lot of my reaction, because I'm not much of a fan of Picoult's books. I also suspect I may have overdosed on domestic noir of the "harried mother / useless father / tedious kids" variety. For that reason this came across as too predictable, and the messaging was too heavy-handed for my liking. Obviously not my thing, and from the your mileage will obviously vary category.Read Review |
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Retribution, Richard Anderson18/08/2018 - 3:26pmThe people in RETRIBUTION come across as quite desultory and disaffected so it’s a relief when they are given a purpose, doomed as it is. Sweetapple, Carson and Luke are struggling to stay focused and it’s a diversion from their own mess when they band together to do some harm and make a stand. Really hesitant to jump on the bandwagon of labelling this work ‘bush noir’ as whilst there’s illegal acts detailed within, RETRIBUTION is not what you might consider a work of crime fiction. This is a drama novel set in the outback and as with most novels with a rural setting, the ... Read Review |
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The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan14/08/2018 - 3:53pmTwenty years ago Cormac Reilly was a fresh faced, rookie cop, who thought he had been sent to a standard domestic problem. In a rundown old house that took forever to find, what he ended up discovering comes back to haunt him all these years later. Fifteen-year-old Maud Blake and her five-year-old brother Jack are in the house with the body of their alcoholic mother, dead from an apparent overdose. After taking the children straight to hospital Reilly discovers that Jack has been the victim of abuse, while Maud vanishes into the night. Twenty years on, Reilly's moved to Galway from ... Read Review |
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Killing is My Business, Adam Christopher13/08/2018 - 1:38pmFans of MADE TO KILL will already know all about Ray Electromatic, Ada and his line of work. Set in the 1950s, KILLING IS MY BUSINESS is the second in the trilogy based around Ray Electromatic. Part crime fiction, part science fiction, Ray is a robot, Ada is his controlling computer, and together their business, is killing. The first novel MADE TO KILL readers were introduced to Ray, the last robot in America, who covers his hired assassin persona with a day job as a private detective. The trick here is that Ada wipes Ray's memory (? banks) every night so and must ... Read Review |
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The Popeye Murder, Sandra Winter-Dewhirst09/08/2018 - 3:19pmFeeling very much like an advertisement for gourmet South Australia with a slightly incongruous crime fiction element (wouldn't that turn potential visitors off...) THE POPEYE MURDER by Sandra Winter-Dewhirst is the first Rebecca Keith mystery. An extremely cozy series, based around the life and times of Keith: editor of Taste, the food and wine liftout of Adelaide's daily newspaper, this is all about the food, the wine and the clothes. With some crime and the obligatory romance chucked in. THE POPEYE MURDER doesn't seem to be taking itself too seriously, which is just as ... Read Review |
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Scrublands, Chris Hammer09/08/2018 - 3:16pmAustralian Rural Crime has arrived, there are novels showing up everywhere claiming this as their sub-genre, and SCRUBLANDS is the one that everyone is talking about. Film rights have been sold, everyone's reading it, most are raving about the book. So having a contrary opinion is obviously going to go down like a lead balloon, but in this case, this reader has to beg to differ. Personally, after reading, SCRUBLANDS, it's staying with me as an airport thriller style novel shoe-horned into a rural setting. A rural setting that has some questionable elements to ... Read Review |
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Dig Two Graves, Carolyn Morwood09/08/2018 - 1:13pmBack when we were all a quite a bit younger Carolyn Morwood had a couple of books out featuring Melbourne based, female, professional cricketer Marlo Shaw (AN UNCERTAIN DEATH and A SIMPLE DEATH). She followed that up more recently with the Eleanor Jones series, set around the time of World War I (DEATH AND THE SPANISH LADY and CYANIDE AND POPPIES). Her latest novel DIG TWO GRAVES has a more contemporary timeframe, and is set in Southern Spain around an artist's retreat / residency. Leaning more towards the crimance sub-genre than the earlier books, DIG TWO GRAVES features ... Read Review |
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Aukati, Michalia Arathimos09/08/2018 - 12:24pmAuthor Michalia Arathimos has Greek-New Zealand heritage which is strongly reflected in her novel AUKATI. Set in New Zealand, this is a crime novel based around the scourge that is fracking. Featuring two main characters, Alexia, a law student with a controlling Greek family, and Isaiah, a young Maori man trying to reconnect with his own family. Cut loose from their backgrounds, and their cultures, they are drawn into the fight to protect Isaiah's Taranaki iwi from the devastation that the fracking is causing. As a protest march turns violent, and the group start to ... Read Review |
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Happily Ever Esther, Steve Jenkins & Derek Walter08/08/2018 - 12:58pmDesigned as a bit of filler behind the story of Esther the Wonder Pig this charming, slightly dotty little book is a) a fund raiser b) a bit more of the true details of life with a rather large pig in the house and c) immensely helpful for those of us with (non-house) pet pigs one of whom is inclined to get a bit "sharky" at certain times of the month. Points to Steve, Derek and all for being so open and honest, and so bloody brave (crazy?) with what they are doing at the Happily Ever Esther Sanctuary.Read Review |
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Take Me In, Sabine Durrant06/08/2018 - 2:23pmFour thriller novels in, Sabine Durrant is already in the stable of authors of whose works I will read no matter what the blurb on their upcoming release has to say. Each book has been just as good as the one before, and Durrant knows exactly what needs to be done in order to pull the reader in close by the end of the very first chapter, if not the very first page. The central premise of TAKE ME IN is an interesting one. The notion of gratitude, and the varying levels of what that can ascend to, comes up often in work and personal relationships. There’s nothing more ... Read Review |
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The Outsider, Stephen King04/08/2018 - 4:41pmOur beloved Uncle Stevie always has many wise things to share with us, his constant readers, and continues to faithfully inserts these pearls into the storytelling matrix of each new novel. Sometimes they may be bashed directly into your psyche and at other times they may merely brush against you in passing but at whatever level of introduction, there will always be a direct appeal to his reader’s hearts at some point. King writes ‘everyman’ like no other. King has an inexhaustible supply of wry observations to dole out via the mouths of his creations and you will find ... Read Review |
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Second Sight, Aoife Clifford01/08/2018 - 2:45pmWhen Eliza Carmody returns to the small seaside town she grew up in, some things have changed, and a lot hasn't. Often the way when you return to the small town of your youth. Carmody's changed a bit though, and this daughter of the local cop, now lawyer, is there as the legal representative of a large corporation, defending a bushfire class action bought by residents of Kinsale, after it was nearly wiped out in a massive bushfire. On the way into town to meet up with an expert witness a road rage incident unfolds in front of her, rapidly spiralling into deadly assault, ... Read Review |
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The Last Escape, John Killick01/08/2018 - 2:04pmReading true crime memoirs written by people you have to think of as career criminals can be a sobering undertaking. John Killick came to fame mostly because of the helicopter escape from Sydney's Silverwater prison aided by his then partner Lucy Dudko, but over many years Killick was well known to law enforcement agencies. He was a bank robber, a scam artist, a petty criminal, a bloody pest who became a violent offender. He's also a father, and a man who now openly admits he made some stupid mistakes in his life. Working now with young offenders in the criminal justice system, he's ... Read Review |
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Hell Ship, Michael Veitch01/08/2018 - 1:22pmCould NOT put this book down and polished it off in a day. Absolutely gripping with great care and dignity afforded to all of those who set sail, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. The research undertaken to write such a detailed work must have been incredible, and it is with this care that Australian author Michael Veitch has written a book detailing of how his great-great grandfather, James William Henry Veitch, first came to Australia and married the woman who saw him through the horror, the stalwart Anne Morrison. HELL SHIP was, if you’ll forgive this, ... Read Review |
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The Sound of Her Voice, Nathan Blackwell29/07/2018 - 4:17pmCop-turned novelist, Nathan Blackwell (true identity hidden due to covert police operations) has written a debut novel, THE SOUND OF HER VOICE, which is intense, unsparing, realistic, brutal and will stay with the reader for a long time. Every year the Ngaio Marsh awards for New Zealand crime fiction throw up an unexpected perspective, something brave and unusual that will set you back on your heels and make you think. For this reviewer, this year, that book was THE SOUND OF HER VOICE. In what's a combination of police procedural, and tragic police perspective, Detective ... Read Review |
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The Other Wife, Michael Robotham28/07/2018 - 4:29pmTHE OTHER WIFE is the latest bittersweet entry in an excellent series that progressively takes a little bit more of your heart with each encounter. And these are crime novels, so that is truly a testament to the author’s mastery of characterization. Creating characters that we are fully invested in will always trump the impact of a complex and clever plot. THE OTHER WIFE is a shining example of both achievements. THE OTHER WIFE serves well as a standalone but if you’ve been on the bandwagon with the rest of us crime readers, you have likely read at least one of the ... Read Review |
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Scrublands, Chris Hammer28/07/2018 - 3:15pmWhat is evident early on to Martin is that the events as reported by a colleague at the time of the shootings are not marrying up with the recollections being related to him now in the present day. For such a remote community, the loss of five of its men was a huge blow and has wrought huge changes in the lives of people used to the world largely only passing through their tiny home town. When two bodies are found in the local dam, the outside world again turns its attention to Riversend. What might strike the reader first is that SCRUBLANDS reeks of authenticity. ... Read Review |