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Hush Little Baby, Joanna Barnard10/08/2017 - 2:18pmDigging into the parental guilt that is heaped upon all new parents, HUSH LITTLE BABY is that needling little voice in your head telling you that you're not doing it right, and that someone else could probably do it better. Sally's character alternates between maternal confidence and maternal guilt; we're never quite sure if she is genuinely apathetic, guilty, or simply exhausted. The speed at which her child is taken from her is frightening, and the lack of real support she has shown to her is heartbreaking. This novel does much to illustrate that success is often just a facade, ... Read Review |
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Dr Jekyll & Mr Seek, Anthony O'Neill08/08/2017 - 2:16pmThere is something of a huge comfort in picking up a book that possesses that air of gentility which was common to works written in the latter part of the 19th century. The first pages of DR JEKYLL AND MR SEEK instantly catapult the reader into a murky world where deception and nefarious acts are committed by intelligent yet desperate men. DR JEKYLL & MR SEEK is a delightfully immersive read that quickly draws us into a world we never knew we had been missing. A relatively short foray back to 1800’s England, this book wastes no pages in being overly descriptive and ... Read Review |
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Burn Patterns, Ron Elliott08/08/2017 - 2:14pmPartly a story around Iris Foster, partly a story around arson, BURN PATTERNS puts a complicated woman at the heart of a story about complicated offenders. Known as "The Fire Lady" Foster is a psychologist with a messy past that she's tried to put behind her. Until mid consultation with patients nothing to do with fires, she's hauled out by the police and taken straight to the site of a bomb planted at a local school. It doesn't matter how hard Iris tries to step away from her role as "Fire Lady" she's dragged back in - particularly as the initial bomb explosion leads to a range of ... Read Review |
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Ruby and the Blue Sky, Katherine Dewar07/08/2017 - 2:42pmComing at an eco-thriller from the point of view of the activists, RUBY AND THE BLUE SKY is part thriller, part exploration of "celebrity" culture, and part do good chick lit novel. The idea at the core is that fame can be used in positive ways - in this case a pro-environment, anti consumer-culture stance with a hefty dose of women's rights and empowerment. To that end the central character Ruby is band leader, conscience and activist, pursued by eco-groupies, determined to ensure she uses a sold-out tour as a venue to push the messages. Needless to say message is a ... Read Review |
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Tainted by Fire, Sidney Mazzi05/08/2017 - 2:08pmThe novella, TAINTED BY FIRE, from New Zealand based author Sidney Mazza, definitely telegraphs promise of things to come. There's an excellent idea at the heart of this work - an ordinary family man, living an ordinary sort of a life suddenly has everything tipped on its head, and he's in the fight of his life. There's plenty of potential for "what would I do" musings on the part of readers, as well as whatever it is that Bradley Cain decides to do. It's not all promise though, and TAINTED BY FIRE is struggling a lot in places. There are too frequent leaps in logic which ... Read Review |
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Crossing The Lines, Sulari Gentill03/08/2017 - 4:39pmKnown for her Rowland Sinclair historical crime series and her YA Hero trilogy, Sulari Gentill delivers something very different with this new novel. Full review at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Shafts of Strife, David Bates01/08/2017 - 8:39pmNew Zealand's decision to declare itself nuclear-free in 1987 created quite a stir at the time, so it makes considerable sense that an autocratic Prime Minister approving a US Navel facility in the middle of Wellington harbour (and therefore allowing the possibility of nuclear powered vessels back into New Zealand waters) would create an even bigger stir. SHAFTS OF STRIFE is built around that concept - where daily protests and rallies occur, mayhem and anarchy ensue and, well all hell breaks out as the blurb says. The novel builds a picture of an authoritarian Prime ... Read Review |
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Payback, Geoff Palmer01/08/2017 - 1:48pmA vengeance styled thriller, set in Asia, PAYBACK tackles sex-trafficking and child abuse head on. Opening with the recounting of a young village girl being trucked off to the south of the country, along with many others, to be forced into a child sex ring. The resourcefulness this young girl and the small boy she has befriended show in escaping their intended fate goes on to be reflected in adult life, with the two of them staying in touch, close friends to this day. The blurb includes the line: "What binds these women together is a shocking trade - the third-largest ... Read Review |
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Tattletale, Sarah J Naughton31/07/2017 - 3:54pmTATTLETALE is a bit of a muddy experience initially as the characters are established. As doubt begins to direct Mags in her investigations, the pace picks up and we are questioning everything that she has been told about the life of her brother. Mags is a terrific character (would love to see her again in another book) and the strength of her resolve drives TATTLETALE forward. The viewpoints of the two women are in such opposition to each other that we do not know who is presenting their true selves, and who is operating behind a mask. Secondary characters from the building all ... Read Review |
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Love Like Blood, Mark Billingham31/07/2017 - 3:10pmIt's always a joy to visit with Tom Thorne who makes firm decisions according to his own moral code and does not sweat the consequences of his actions. Thorne's personal life, now fourteen novels in, has settled into that of (mostly) peaceful cohabitation with his partner Helen and her son. There is less of Thorne's presence here as he shares the stage with colleague DI Tanner, and Tanner’s personal back story has greater relevance to the events of LOVE LIKE BLOOD. Thorne still shows us that he has firm personal convictions and plenty to say, but it's a more muted Thorne we ... Read Review |
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Ragdoll, Daniel Cole31/07/2017 - 12:36pmRAGDOLL is the debut novel of author Daniel Cole. With a second series entry due out in 2018, this is great news for readers of UK police procedurals. We're emotionally invested pretty soon into the read as RAGDOLL’s strongest inclusion is its large cast of diverse characters. Some decisions made by the police seem a bit questionable as they are marched through very quickly in order to keep momentum, but it's not that much of a pull away from the enjoyment of this read. You expect a bit of plot fluidity in a first novel and without great characters, you are unlikely to bother ... Read Review |
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Romeo's Gun, David Owen28/07/2017 - 2:13pmHate it when a new book from a much loved series lingers too long on the reading pile simply because of competing priorities. No disrespect intended at all in how long it took me to get to this entry, and much pleasure when I finally did. Anyway they come, I'm quite a fan of the Pufferfish books. For readers unaware of the Pufferfish series, Detective Inspector Franz Heineken is a gruff, grumbling bear of a man wont to stalk the mean streets of Tasmania with a glare and a stare for anybody who steps outside the bounds of propriety. His very particular brand of propriety ... Read Review |
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Wimmera, Mark Brandi25/07/2017 - 3:39pmIn 2016 the unpublished manuscript of Wimmera won the UK Crime Writers’ Association debut dagger – now it’s published and we can see why. Reviewed at Newtown Review of Books - this is mandatory reading.Read Review |
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Psychobyte, Cat Connor21/07/2017 - 11:54amWritten by New Zealand based author Cat Connor, PSYCHOBYTE is book 8 in the Byte series based around FBI Agent Ellie Conway. Reading this series has always been a mixed experience for this reader - sometimes I find myself really enjoying them, sometimes I'm just not getting it at all. The whole series is what you'd possibly call "thriller lite" which seems a bit odd because the subject matter is often big picture, threatening stuff. But then there's the whole psycho-prophetic talent thing that is one of Conway's biggest investigation tools, and there's the breezy style ... Read Review |
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The Ice Shroud, Gordon Ell20/07/2017 - 4:07pmTHE ICE SHROUD is a very promising debut fictional novel from New Zealand wildlife photographer and non-fiction writer Gordon Ell. Structured as a combination village mystery and closed room scenario, the locations in this novel are beautifully described, the plot is good, the dialogue crisp and believable, and the main police character pairing well imagined. Any writer who can evoke the amazing scenery and sensibility of some of the wilds of New Zealand is obviously off to a very good start, and a woman's body, frozen to the iced cliff edges of a river, discovered by a ... Read Review |
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Unfaithful unto Death, Jennifer Barraclough17/07/2017 - 3:28pmThe unaware, vaguely idiotic central character provides a deep mine of material for any type of slightly tongue in cheek story-telling, and UNFAITHFUL UNTO DEATH uses the premises in setting up Dr Cyril Peabody from the outset of the novel. Cyril is perpetually disappointed in life. He has been stymied in his career path, forced to take a (in his opinion) menial job as a country GP, married a woman who is only just satisfactory, and generally living a life that he feels has been affected constantly by the wilfulness of others. Obviously he's completely incapable of seeing that he's ... Read Review |
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The Ethics of Evil, Ray Mooney16/07/2017 - 3:35pmUnfortunately, regardless of the sense of righteous anger about the treatment of prisoners within the walls of Pentridge Prison, this account doesn't do the outrage a service. It's very repetitive and overly wordy, with a series of similar stories included in their entirety whether or not they serve to provide enlightenment to the reader, or simply confuse, and often times lose because it's territory that's been covered. Regard it as more of a cathartic experience for the writer and his collaborators and it might make sense.Read Review |
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Into the Darkness, Robin Bowles16/07/2017 - 12:40pmInteresting case, with a fair recall of the facts / conclusions left to the reader, not well-served by the authors constant pushing of themselves into the narrative for no apparent reason.Read Review |
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Busted, Keith Moor16/07/2017 - 11:52amSlightly fuzzy focus as it moves from the gang behind the haul, the ecstasy haul itself and then into much more info about the Calabrian mafia. Not 100% convinced by the style of storytelling which is very disjointed and frequently disorientating.Read Review |
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The Secrets She Keeps, Michael Robotham15/07/2017 - 3:46pmIf you’ve read any books at all by this author, picking this title up will be a no-brainer. They are all consistently written at a higher quality than their market peers. Author Michael Robotham proves his versatility once again and writes with assurance about the intense world of female relationships and in particular, of the point at which women are at their most vulnerable. Nothing is overplayed and it’s a subtle hand that deals out the enormities of loss, betrayal, deception and entitlement. It’s a win for readers that Robotham has written a female centric novel of this kind ... Read Review |