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Eden, Candice Fox02/12/2015 - 2:42pmRight from the commencement of HADES, the first Archer / Bennett book by Candice Fox, it was obvious that this was a series to be watched. Dark, confrontational, emotional and compelling, that book started a journey into the consequences of human damage, and EDEN picks that up, twists it around your throat and pulls tight. When Eden Archer goes undercover to catch a potential killer, the deprivation of the world into which she immerses herself is unsurprisingly apt. She's a woman with a dark core, a vigilante, an edge dweller, and the way she can step into the odd world ... Read Review |
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A Certain Malice, Felicity Young (aka Flashpoint)01/12/2015 - 12:28pmBefore WA based author Felicity Young commenced her extremely good Dr Dody McCleland series, she published a series of police procedural novels one of which built around the central character of Sergeant Cam Fraser in it. FLASHPOINT, originally out in 2005, has recently been re-released in ebook format. Years ago this reader did read FLASHPOINT and some of the elements remained and obviously a lot didn't (the first version of this review muddled up the Cam Fraser and Stevie Hooper series utterly - with apologies to Felicity Young). FLASHPOINT looks back to recent events ... Read Review |
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Deadly Diplomacy, Jean Harrod30/11/2015 - 2:51pmThe Author of DEADLY DIPLOMACY has a background as a diplomat working for many years in Embassies and High Commissions in Australia, Brussels, the Caribbean, China, East Berlin, Indonesia, Mauritius and Switzerland. Her indepth knowledge of the workings of that world stands out in this novel, with her protagonist, Jess Turner, the British Consul in Canberra. Called upon to support the sister of the victim, Turner is quickly dragged into the investigation. Setting up a diplomat and a cop being forced to co-operate is an unusual approach, but the inclusion of the ... Read Review |
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Birthdays for the Dead, Stuart MacBride26/11/2015 - 3:46pmSomething went wrong in the reading universe a while ago and I missed that this had been sitting in the unread list, when I picked up and enjoyed the second in the series - A SONG FOR THE DYING. Which weirdly turned out to be a good thing as an introduction to a new character and a new series, BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD is not without problems. MacBride is not the sort of writer who shilly-shally's around with reader sensitivities. So the fact the (fictional) victims here are children and the way that ... Read Review |
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Inside the Black Horse, Ray Berard26/11/2015 - 2:41pmOne of the great strengths of really good crime fiction is the exploration of big issues at a local level. INSIDE THE BLACK HORSE is set within a smaller community, revolving around life in the local pub / pokie venue, exploring the destruction and chaos that comes with illicit drug use, and distribution. Setting the story around a Maori community also gives the author an opportunity to explore the good and the bad effects of drugs on those communities in particular. There’s an interesting comparison of elders trying to keep their traditions alive, a young widow trying to ... Read Review |
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For the Dignified Dead, Michael Genelin25/11/2015 - 12:27pmThe 5th book in the Jana Matinova series (as best as can be gleaned from online lists which universally don’t seem to include it), FOR THE DIGNIFIED DEAD was so good the first book leapt straight into Mt TBR. It also extremely readable if you are new to them as well. Part of the strength of the book was undoubtedly the central character of Jana Matinova who is strong, smart and unwilling to take any crap from anyone - crims and colleagues alike. She’s compassionate without being soppy and dedicated. She’s also very driven in this book as she’s well aware that the killer’s ... Read Review |
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Breathe and Release, Katherine Hayton23/11/2015 - 1:28pmIt’s no longer surprising that certain “scenarios” seem to be duplicated in a rush of books - and amnesia and/or dementia causing memory loss is the one that has been showing up a lot recently. BREATHE AND RELEASE is by New Zealand based Katherine Hayton, and in this case, the memory loss is as a result of a car accident, and there’s a complication. Another woman is trapped in an underground hell, unable to escape, barely alive. Readers would be forgiven for assuming that there’s going to be a connection between Elisabet and Lillian, although what the connection is might ... Read Review |
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The Heat, Garry Disher18/11/2015 - 5:14pmThe 8th in the Wyatt series, the resurgence of the best unrepentant, unapologetic and very demanding professional crook in Australian Crime Fiction is something to be very pleased about. Wyatt is not a man who plays well with others, and his danger radar is on high alert after he’s pulled into early planning of a heist by some rank amateurs. A move to Noosa and a commission to steal a particular painting comes at a time when absenting himself from Melbourne and all chance of being connected to that group is particularly welcome. Not only is the intended heist a nice ... Read Review |
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Blood Salt Water, Denise Mina11/11/2015 - 1:43pmDenise Mina is one of those authors that you can always trust to spin a good yarn, and once in a while an absolute ripper. BLOOD, SALT, WATER is somewhere on this reader’s scale between really good and ripper. Taut and pointed, her ability to skewer character’s personality traits - good and bad - is razor sharp as usual, with a beautiful turn of sarcasm when required. Putting those characters in a realistic small-town location in Scotland provides not just a wonderful sense of place, but an interesting juxtaposition of have’s and have-nots, whilst leaving more than enough ... Read Review |
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Dark As My Heart, Antti Tuomainen10/11/2015 - 6:27pmThe exploration of consequences is beautifully executed in Antti Tuomainen’s mesmerising DARK AS MY HEART. That he is an award winning author comes as no surprise, but of the five novels to his name in his native Finland, the third “The Healer” and this, his fourth novel, are so far the only ones translated into English. Needless to say THE HEALER is now on the TBR pile. Aleksi Kivi was thirteen years old when his mother vanished. Now, twenty years on, he’s still haunted by her murder, and his feelings of recognition and utter belief that the millionaire owner of the ... Read Review |
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Close Your Eyes, Michael Robotham27/10/2015 - 1:41pmThe CWA Gold Dagger Winner’s latest novel is a return to his much-loved Joe O’Loughlin series. As is often the way with series books, some knowledge of past novels can enhance a reader’s pleasure, and in this case Shatter (2008) is close to mandatory reading before you sit down to enjoy Close Your Eyes – mainly to ensure that you get the full impact of the family changes that confront consulting psychiatrist O’Loughlin in his latest outing. There is a very close correlation between the two books, although definitely not enough to avoid picking this ... Read Review |
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Running Towards Danger, Tina Clough22/10/2015 - 2:11pmThe central premise of RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER is a fascinating idea. What would you do if the flatmate that you knew very little about, and saw even less of, is suddenly gunned down in front of you, and the investigation into his death starts to reveal some very worrying facts about his life? Which again, you knew nothing about, but everybody, including the police, don’t believe you. Would it be to suddenly go into hiding, head off into a small community and try to settle into that world using a different name (Cara), in the hopes that dropping off the radar will ease the ... Read Review |
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Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett12/10/2015 - 1:29pmProbably my favourite of the Witches books in the Discworld series, WYRD SISTERS is Shakespearean, comedic and a really clever combination of witches being witches, royalty being royalty and subjects being subjects.Read Review |
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On A Small Island, Grant Nicol08/10/2015 - 3:06pmA New Zealand born, Australian and Northern Ireland dwelling, now Iceland based author has written a book set in his adopted city of Reykjavík, with a central female character whose life is turned upside down in a very short space of time, that really works. Read ON A SMALL ISLAND so you can tick one off from your most unlikely working scenario list or simply read it because this is a really good book. Ylfa Einarsdóttir has a relatively predictable, quiet life in downtown Reykjavík, even allowing for the friction between her elderly, grumpy farm dwelling father and her ... Read Review |
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Resurrection Bay, Emma Viskic25/09/2015 - 2:48pmA deftly handled plot, strong characters and a sly, dry humour make this an outstanding debut crime novel. - Review at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Europa Blues, Arne Dahl16/09/2015 - 4:32pmEUROPA BLUES is the first of Arne Dahl's books I've been fortunate enough to read and it definitely won't be the last. A combination of a slightly eccentric, dedicated and very determined investigation group full of strong individuals, who work as a team; and a confrontational and some very pointed crimes and their backgrounds, perpetrated for very believable reasons made this novel a stand-out read. When an unknown Greek gangster is murdered and then disposed of in the wolverine enclosure of a local zoo, the likelihood of even identifying him, let alone resolving the ... Read Review |
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The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, Soji Shimada15/09/2015 - 3:30pmHonkaku is a subgenre of Japanese Crime Fiction that came into being sometime in the early 1920's. The original definition was "a detective story that mainly focuses on the process of a criminal investigation and values the entertainment derived from pure logical reasoning". The term was coined to clearly differentiate Honkaku mystery fiction from other subgenres and it was used for both local and Western writers, although a distinct Japanese form became increasingly common in the 1950's. Adding depth to long tradition, the author of THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS, Soji Shimada ... Read Review |
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Come to Harm, Catriona McPherson27/08/2015 - 1:24pmHaving never read anything by Catriona McPherson before, this made it into the To Be Read Mountain based on the blurb - which appealed. Looking at her back catalogue this is an author who is not afraid to try different things and COME TO HARM is a perfect example of that difference. Set in a small Scottish town, Japanese student Keiko Nishisato is a student in residence, sponsored by the local Traders association, provided with an apartment to live in, more food and supplies that you can poke a stick at, and enough to keep a student of Psychology scribbling notes on a ... Read Review |
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Leona: The Die is Cast, Jenny Rogneby21/08/2015 - 2:44pmAny readers looking for something different - LEONA: THE DIE IS CAST could be just the ticket. There's so much here in the writing, and the styling that is very brave of this author. Leona Lindberg is both a highly regarded investigator and an outsider. She has a personality disorder which makes her a tricky person to work with, and an even harder protagonist for a reader to establish a connection with. Her internal dialogue clearly shows she's aware of her limitations, that her interactions with others are flawed, and able to moderate that to some extent. Every now and ... Read Review |
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The Insanity of Murder, Felicity Young20/08/2015 - 5:37pmThis is the latest in a series of intelligent, well-researched and engagingly written crime-fiction novels set amid the suffragette battles of early 1900s England. http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/2015/08/20/crime-scene-felicity-young...Read Review |