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The Unfortunate Victim, Greg Pyers13/04/2017 - 2:45pmBased on a true story, set in the Victorian Goldfields in the 1860's, THE UNFORTUNATE VICTIM is part fiction, part reminder that life in those days, particularly for women, was not easy, pleasant or fair. When the body of young newly-wed Maggie Stuart is found in the home she shares with her much older husband it's all to easy to forget that young is around 17 years old, older husband means arranged / quickly married off for reasons that become apparent, and with family is often the least safe place you can be. The dreadful circumstances in which Maggie has grown up, ... Read Review |
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Justice Denied, Bill Hosking & John Suter Linton03/04/2017 - 3:12pmBill Hosking is well known in legal circles, probably less outside of them, but his many years of experience, and sheer number of cases that he appeared in - mostly as defence counsel, is a telling testimony about this man's standing, and understanding, of the law. JUSTICE DENIED is a look back through Hosking's career as a criminal barrister - defending rogues and crooks through to the seemingly indefensible. Using a very low-key, formal style of story-telling, he outlines many of the tools of the trade of a criminal barrister, and the efforts undertaken to ensure that ... Read Review |
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Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty30/03/2017 - 4:39pmAfter a few attempts, managed to finish BIG LITTLE LIES over the weekend. There's a reason this has been a bit of a chore explained below. Funny and quite cleverly constructed, BIG LITTLE LIES is about every day lives. If you're a mother, an ex-wife, a daughter, a second wife or possibly if you've ever been in a schoolyard or involved in the grass roots "political" movement that those environments seem to be, then there could be resonances throughout this book. There's a light-hearted, slightly tongue-in-cheek tone used to tell this story, that even finishes chapters with ... Read Review |
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Saigon Dark, Elka Ray28/03/2017 - 2:46pmIt's taken an age to get this review to the point where it can be published, because it's it's been so hard to clearly identify what about SAIGON DARK really worked for this reader, and why there were some niggling doubts remaining. A seemingly straight-forward story where Lily, a competent, respected surgeon has returned to her native Saigon, two children with her - leaving behind a failed marriage to an American Vietnamese man. When her young daughter dies in a drowning accident, she buries the body in her garden - never telling anyone what happened. Then grief-stricken ... Read Review |
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Quicksand, Steve Toltz28/03/2017 - 1:46pmFlashes of brilliance, hammered with what felt like a slightly desperate hand, into a plot that wandered about looking for a reason for being. Having waded through to the end, wasn't at all surprised to find Liam confessing to being an aspiring author totally bored by plot. Take that as a tongue in cheek explanation from the real life author and you might be more inclined to forgive.Read Review |
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Born to Run, John M. Green27/03/2017 - 4:40pmave to be the short version of this review. The blurb on BORN TO RUN didn't bode well to be honest. Politics in thrillers, a bit of pushing the envelope with the chance of the first woman to win the White House. An Australian software whiz, a TV journalist digging for dirt, and terrorists working on a daring attack on New York City and I'll be honest, I felt an urge to yawn. Never got a chance. It is undoubtedly the mark of a very good thriller that all of the unlikely elements of the plot, all of the potential cheap targets of the scenarios disappeared. Okay - so you get ... Read Review |
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The Blood on My Hands, Shannon O'Leary27/03/2017 - 4:38pmTHE BLOOD ON MY HANDS is a very personal story, told by Shannon O'Leary, recounting a childhood that truly could be said was hellish. A violent, mentally ill father, an extended family wrapped up in concern about their "good name", vicious or uncaring authorities, and police neglect that is positively staggering, combine in this tale to create a story that's incredibly difficult to read. When reviewing this book it's really important to stress that the review is not of the life, or the story itself. This is somebody's truth, a woman's life and what happened is utterly ... Read Review |
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Inheritance, Balli Kaur Jaswal27/03/2017 - 4:08pmRead for our f2f bookclub discussion - this was another book that divided the group up into like and did not like camps initially. Some difficulties with keeping track of the timeline leaps, and a lot of concerns about difficult to understand motivations. Made for a typically robust discussion which is always a very good thing.Read Review |
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Flesh Wounds, Christopher Brookmyre23/03/2017 - 2:40pmFlesh Wounds (aka Bred in the Bone) is the third in the Jasmine Sharp series from Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre. One of those authors that is on the "to be purchased immediately" list, under the category "I'm starting to fret about the time it's taking to get to this one". Welded on fan needless to say. The Jasmine Sharp series is a bit different from some of Brookmyre's more surreal / out there offerings. Although there's always plenty of cutting humour, dry observation and more than a bit of dragging readers down dark alleys at unexpected times. ... Read Review |
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The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson20/03/2017 - 2:42pmRead for this month's face to face bookclub, it was one of those books that happily divided the group. Light and fun, some liked and some were bored. Have to admit I was in the like group finding this amusing and slightly silly on one level, and actually a bit of a morality play on another. Full of lovely little cameo's, odd little highways and byways and things that made me everything from smile to laugh out loud. Still tickled by the idea of Agent B and Nombeko standing at police lines, watching a warehouse burn down, with a nuclear bomb in a crate on a trailer parked on the other ... Read Review |
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Quicksand, Malin Persson Giolito20/03/2017 - 2:19pmIf ever there was a book that shows that the Best Swedish Crime Novel award needs to be closely followed, QUICKSAND is it. Scandinoir remains one of the big things in worldwide crime fiction, but, as you'd expect, there can sometimes be a little sameness to the sub genre. Which is not intended as criticism, there's only so many subject matters, styles and approaches available when you're writing psychological thrillers or crime fiction. QUICKSAND, on the other hand, has taken an unusual and different approach to a very difficult subject, handling that undertaking with considerable ... Read Review |
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Only Daughter, Anna Snoekstra14/03/2017 - 3:07pmDebut author Anna Snoekstra has taken on one of the more difficult challenges in writing fiction - creating an engaging, morally ambiguous central character, who sometimes borders on unlikeable. ONE DAUGHTER shows that an intriguing scenario helps, as does pace and the provision for some readers to have some sympathy for, in this case, the imposter's situation in particular. Right from the start imposter Bec has reasons for doing what she did. Eleven years after the real Rebecca Winter disappeared, an imposter "returns" to the family claiming to be the ... Read Review |
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Tattletale, Sarah J Naughton09/03/2017 - 3:53pmIf you happen to find yourself feeling slightly confused and muddled in the early chapters of TATTLETALE - hang in there. It takes a while for everyone and everything in this novel to fall into place, but once they do - hang on for the rest of the ride. Using an unusual structure, and some really complicated character back-stories, TATTLETALE starts out with Mags receiving an unexpected phone call. Her estranged brother Abe is in hospital back in their native UK, and no-one seems to know what was behind his fall from the 4th floor of the converted church that he, Jody his ... Read Review |
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More Bitter than Death, Camilla Grebe and Åsa Träff01/03/2017 - 1:12pmThe second novel in the Siri Bergman series, MORE BITTER THAN DEATH, suffered a little from this reader having missed the first book - SOME KIND OF PEACE. It left such a sense of missing out for this reader, that SOME KIND OF PEACE was slotted into the teetering pile of books to be read. A big part of the reason for that reaction is that Siri Bergman is a tricky character to come to grips with part-way through her story. Not to say that she's not particularly intriguing, strong and fascinating, there just always felt like something about her was cloudy / didn't quite add ... Read Review |
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Kingdom of the Strong, Tony Cavanaugh25/02/2017 - 4:55pmAuthor Tony Cavanaugh has had a long and illustrious career in film and tv and thus brings that excellent crafting of place and character to his crime novels. All of his creations are wholly convincing and though sketched with typical Australian economy, they are entirely recognizable in their landscape. KINGDOM OF THE STRONG is strongly anchored to the Melbourne setting and the reader is very much travelling along the streets with investigator Darian Richards. The same themes do thread through the novels in this series; loss, redemption, loyalty and betrayal and ... Read Review |
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Crimson Lake, Candice Fox09/02/2017 - 3:36pmIf two Ned Kelly Awards and one short-listing hasn't given you a big enough hint already, CRIMSON LAKE should absolutely confirm that Candice Fox is an Australian writer of immense ability. Always on the darker side, Fox's books incorporate clever plots with strong characters. She has a particular ability to create unusual, unexpected partnerships, teaming up the unlikely, creating tension and unexpected affection and acceptance. It's that idea of acceptance of the fringe dweller's, of the flawed and the people who are rebuilding their lives where all her characters stand ... Read Review |
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Signal Loss, Garry Disher09/02/2017 - 3:10pmGarry Disher has two successful major crime series out – very different from each other, both of the highest possible standard. Full Review At Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Master Liar Traitor Friend, Christoffer Carlsson08/02/2017 - 3:47pmMASTER, LIAR, TRAITOR, FRIEND is the third in the Swedish Leo Junker series, a set of books which hopefully all fans of Scandinavian crime fiction are aware of. Up there with the very best of Scandinavian crime fiction, partly it's the interweaving of the past and present into the backgrounds of the crimes and the main characters, partly it's beautifully descriptive writing that never becomes overdone, that help make this series work so well. Ultimately it's the realness of the situations and the characters that take the reader directly into the story, seeing and feeling ... Read Review |
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Dead in the Water, Tania Chandler07/02/2017 - 2:04pmDo a quick search on any of the book reading community websites and you're going to find a large number of novels called "Dead in The Water", adding to the feeling that there's something nicely tongue in cheek about the title of Tania Chandler's second novel also being the title of a crime novel within the story. That sort of echo is loosely reflected in elements of the internal novel and the troubled life of central character Brigitte and her husband in the ... main novel for want of a better description. Brigitte and her policeman husband Aidan were introduced to ... Read Review |
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Blood Wedding, Pierre Lamaitre05/02/2017 - 2:05pmThere is much of the before in this novel, and there is also much of the after. Sophie can’t run from herself but as she struggles to make sense of her new present, it becomes a delirious ride where the reader needs to establish what events are the direct result of Sophie’s own actions or those of another. Sophie’s struggles to make sense of all that is happening to her are quite moving and the righteous anger does build up when you realize the depth of her predicament and the depth of resourcefulness she is going to need in order to survive. Translated from French to ... Read Review |