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Death on a Galacian Shore, Domingo Villar02/11/2012 - 2:57pmThe discovery of the crime in any crime fiction, regardless of the culture it is based in, obviously becomes the major focus of a police procedural styled book. Increasingly this is balanced by the life, personality and colleagues of the central investigator. How those major elements blend together is becoming one of the strongest indicators of the cultural background of the story for this reader. Whilst there are some aspects that are universal, there are also aspects that really draw on local flavour. The food, the climate, the weather, the place, and how the characters interact ... Read Review |
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Carl Williams, Adam Shand02/11/2012 - 2:16pmHaving read an earlier book by this author on Carl Williams, I did wonder what extra insights might be offered in this latest offering, entitled simply CARL WILLIAMS. But, for this reader, there was something very interesting about the premise of this book. I've never been able to work out how or why Williams came to such a position of prominence and influence in Melbourne criminal circles. There's something that sort of makes sense about the Morans and other members of long-term criminal families or gangs, continuing, so to speak, the family trade. Williams, on the other hand, seemed ... Read Review |
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Chasing the Sun, Robin Baker02/10/2012 - 2:46pmWhen I was a little girl my grandmother always used to say to me ... you'll understand the generation gap when you get to my age. Frankly I thought she was barking, so if she was alive now I would be apologising furiously for the scepticism. And it's not just that modern music has no lyrics and all sounds the same these days ;), it's increasingly becoming the occasional book that makes me realise that I may not necessarily "get" what's going on with the younger generations. Of course that feeling's not helped by the premise of CHASING THE SUN. "A twisted tale about Feng ... Read Review |
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The First Shift - Crime Factory18/09/2012 - 1:26pmRight, here it is. I want more short story collections. There aren't enough thriller / crime fiction short story collections being published. I don't care if I'm not a "normal reader" or if they aren't very popular or whatever other weasel words you want to chuck around. I LIKE short story collections. Part of the reason I like them is because they give a reader a chance to find new authors with storytelling styles that appeal, or even to revisit favourite authors. They work regardless of whether there is a theme, or they are simply ... Read Review |
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Evil in Return, Elena Forbes17/09/2012 - 3:37pmThank goodness for notes! I finished this book at the start of the year, and just noticed that I'd not posted the review I wrote at the time. Which is interesting, as re-reading my notes again, I can remember just about everything about this plot. Which makes it, to my mind, a very good book. Elena Forbes tackles something interesting in EVIL IN RETURN. Joe Logan is found carefully posed in a cemetery crypt. Shot through the head and castrated, there's something that seems deeply personal, ritualistic about the way he was killed. When Paul Khan dies in an identical manner ... Read Review |
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Treachery in Bordeaux, Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen12/09/2012 - 10:20pmLiving on the edge of the Pyrenees (the ones in Victoria, Australia), surrounded as we are by wineries and winemakers, it's was a rather interesting experience to find myself reading TREACHERY IN BORDEAUX which is steeped in wine-making tradition, methodology, and a dash of intrigue. TREACHERY IN BORDEAUX is the first in a series of books that are likely to be compared to the Number 1 Ladies Detective agency, if for no other reason than its incredibly strong sense of place and culture. Plus, whilst the book is crime fiction, there's not a murder in sight. This is a very ... Read Review |
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Shatter the Bones, Stuart MacBride12/09/2012 - 10:05pmHere's the thing. You hoard a book because it's a favourite series, and there's no sign of the next one yet. But then there are noises about the next one, but that's not out for ages, but you can't wait any longer so you read the one you've had tucked away. Then you've not got that little thing of joy hidden away in the bookcases anymore. So now you're stuck in that horrible no man's land, because the next book's not out for ages, and you've given into temptation. It's a nightmare. Mind you, that's about the only complaint I can come up with about SHATTER THE BONES. But ... Read Review |
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Blackwater Moon, B. Michael Radburn10/09/2012 - 2:08pmBLACKWATER MOON is the second book from Australian author B. Michael Radburn, although this has more of a crime fiction / thriller focus. Atmospheric, emotional, poignant and tightly controlled, both books from Radburn mark him out as an author to be watched. The story is built around Andy Walker, a young boy, in a small Australian country town who starts out in life with challenges. An alcoholic and abusive father, a mother who eventually throws in the towel and takes up drinking to kill the pain, Walker is lucky enough to meet a man who teaches him to row, who acts as a ... Read Review |
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The Hypnotist, Lars Kepler31/08/2012 - 3:17pmOn the face of it, THE HYPNOTIST should be a book that's right up my alley, and yet, somehow it's taken quite a few attempts to get to the end of, and the feeling left has been one of vague confusion and a little disappointment. Dr Erick Maria Bark was once a renowned hypnotherapist, doing ground breaking work with people with deep psychological issues. Until something went wrong, and Bark vowed never to use hypnosis again. A vow he keeps until many years later, when he's asked to use his technique on a young, teenage boy, horribly injured in a two part attack that has ... Read Review |
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Bunker, Andrea Maria Schenkel28/08/2012 - 12:13pmYou could not, ever, accuse Andrea Maria Schenkel of wordiness. Her books are masterpieces of succinct, pointed fiction, leaving a lot to the readers imagination, conclusion or simply confusion. Which is part of what I love about these books - that feeling, when finished reading, that you might just not have the whole picture. That there are things that you may have to think about, that not everything is black and white, and that the grey is often very dark, very cloudy, very textured grey. BUNKER is a particular example of that wonderful act of leaving the reader to ... Read Review |
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Bereft, Chris Womersley24/08/2012 - 1:12pmThe frustrating thing about discussing a book like BEREFT is the reason Womersley's the author, and I'm the reader. How do you put into words something as moving, involving, immersing as BEREFT and make it intelligible? No idea, so let's go with the next best option. "A searing gothic novel of love, longing and justice" sounds, to be frank, not my sort of thing. It's probably the juxtaposition of "gothic" and "love" that somehow or other has my befuddled brain thinking "regency" / "romance". No idea to be honest, but, regardless of why, if THE LOW ROAD hadn't been such a ... Read Review |
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A Deniable Death, Gerald Seymour23/08/2012 - 4:51pmYou'd think, on the face of it, that this would be a book that would be right up my dark and twisty alley but for some reason A DENIABLE DEATH took an age to read, and I came away from it with a mild sense of disappointment. And try as I might, I can't quite put my finger on why, as there was much about the book that I did like. It's very much a contemporary thriller, with a very strong idea as the central plot, delivered with pace and authority. I suspect what didn't quite work for me was the contrivance of the classic lone wolf - Badger - trudging through a very ... Read Review |
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Babylon, Stephen Sewell27/07/2012 - 4:54pmA young English backpacker gets into a car with an older Australian man somewhere in the Australian outback, and the violence, threatening, rape, pillage, murder and general mayhem commences. Somehow young, innocent, a bit wet Mick the backpacker stays. Despite the drugging and rape of a couple of under-age girls by Dan, despite the weird behaviour, despite the somewhat over the top sense of menace and madness, and especially despite Mick's somewhat wishy washy assertions that "he" didn't rape those girls... but. And that's possibly the big problem with BABYLON. There are ... Read Review |
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All My Enemies, Barry Maitland26/07/2012 - 4:27pmAllen & Unwin have re-released Barry Maitland's ALL MY ENEMIES, the third book in the Brock and Kolla series. Given that the book was originally published in around 1996 there were a few things intriguing me. Obviously, whether or not it would stand the test of time, but also, what would it be like going back to a book so early in a series that has since become a favourite. Interestingly I could still remember this book from the first time I read it, mostly because of the way that it starts to build this ongoing team, partly because of the interesting setting in which ... Read Review |
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Cue the Easter Bunny, Liz Evans25/07/2012 - 2:44pmGrace Smith has always been one of my favourite of the fraught, vaguely madcap female private detective sub-genre for a bunch of different reasons. Firstly I love Grace herself. Slightly bats definitely, sometimes refreshingly stupid, often times bordering on out of control, there's something refreshingly real and unmanufactured about Grace. She's the sort of girl you could see yourself having a drink with and whilst you might be a bit worried about the state of your shoes at the end of the night, your personal ego's not going to come away feeling somewhat underbaked. ... Read Review |
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Devil-Devil, Graeme Kent16/07/2012 - 2:27pmWhen it comes to convoluted reasons for picking up a book I suspect this is not a bad one. I've had DEVIL-DEVIL on the piles here for quite some time, but I suddenly realised it was the perfect book to read as a comparison with a manuscript I was looking at. Love it when you have a win-win like this. Set in the Solomon Islands, Ben Kella is a man steeped in island tradition, educated in western tradition. He's worked in London and Manhattan, and is now a sergeant in the Islands' police force as well as holding the hereditary role of Aofia, a peacekeeper of the Lau people ... Read Review |
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Dougal's Diary, David Greagg (review by Madelyn)10/07/2012 - 2:20pmDougal is an ordinary cat, living an ordinary life as a household pet. His diary tells the story of his life, beginning as a newborn kitten and ending as a happy household cat. Along the way he has several visits to the pound and shares adventures with fellow adoptee Shadow. You discover what Dougal thinks of all the things that happen to him and exactly how he sees the people and other creatures he interacts with. I think this is a very good book. I love how the cats don’t play when human are around, and then play for hours when they are gone. It’s interesting to read ... Read Review |
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Dougal's Diary, David Greagg (review by Chloe)06/07/2012 - 2:21pmDougal’s Diary is about a kitten that tries to be a good cat for his humans but his little sister Shadow doesn’t make it easy. I loved the book from the start and it was very humorous. I would also like to read it again. I, for one, would recommend other children my age to read this book and hope they would like it just as much as I did. Dougal’s Diary kept me interested the whole time. It was also very hard to put it down because I liked it so much. The purpose of the story is to definitely entertain people and also see a cat’s point of view. On every ... Read Review |
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Paving the New Road, Sulari Gentill20/06/2012 - 5:31pmThe reader of my reviews will know I've become a bit of a fan of the Rowland Sinclair series (which is quite surprising for somebody who normally prefers to lurk deep on the dark side), so PAVING THE NEW ROAD was a welcome arrival. Basing the story in 1933, sending Sinclair and his companions to Germany all sounded rather interesting. Although I will confess that one of my pet peeves - the inclusion of high profile real-life figures in fiction - made me somewhat nervous. Having said that, if you're going to include a real-life figure, then why not somebody famous for being around ... Read Review |
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Blackwattle Creek, Geoffrey McGeachin14/06/2012 - 1:14pmFollowing on from the excellent THE DIGGER'S REST HOTEL, BLACKWATTLE CREEK sees Charlie Berlin and now wife Rebecca, 10 years on. Married with two kids, they are struggling to make ends meet on a policeman's wage, living in the glaringly new suburbs of Melbourne. With a solid but unremarkable career in the police behind him, Berlin's refuge from the demons that continue to haunt him after WWII, is his happy little family unit, despite his sometimes fractious relationship with his son Peter, despite their ... Read Review |