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Child 44, Tom Rob Smith31/03/2008 - 3:03pmCHILD 44 is the debut novel for Tom Rob Smith, set in the dying days of Stalin's Soviet dream society, inspired by a real-life serial killer. Starting in 1933, with villages of people starving to death in a desperate winter, the opening chapter of CHILD 44 deeply underscores the desperation of life in that environment. Moving 20 years later in 1953 Moscow, a very young child is found dead on the railway tracks. His death is barely investigated. The Security Services have other things on their minds. Mostly vicious persecution of ordinary people. Slowly, Security ... Read Review |
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Shooting Star, Peter Temple24/03/2008 - 2:31pmFrank Calder is a bit of a maverick. Ex-cop / ex-soldier - current day "mediator". He's the sort of bloke that gets called in to sticky situations where unusual solutions are required. He's worked for the Carsons before. When a crazed gunman took store staff hostage, Frank wandered into the situation to save the hostages. Which he did. Quietly, efficiently and unusually. So when Anne disappears on the way home from school and a ransom demand is received by the family, the Carsons again turn to Frank. He wants them to call in the police, but they did that once ... Read Review |
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By Death Divided, Patricia Hall29/02/2008 - 12:08pmBY DEATH DIVIDED is the 14th book in the Thackeray and Ackroyd series. Laura Ackroyd is a journalist - her partner Michael Thackeray is a DCI. Fitting the double central characters, BY DEATH DIVIDED has two main threads - a missing Asian woman and her husband (which Thackeray is investigating) and domestic violence (which Ackroyd is reporting on). Both of these threads - probably predictably - meet up as the book draws to a conclusion. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with the predictability of this joining up, as it's done with a fair amount of aplomb and some darn good reasons ... Read Review |
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The Redbreast, Jo Nesbo27/02/2008 - 4:58pmOkay - a little housekeeping first. I can't get accented characters to work properly here ... yet. I'm working on it because it annoys me as much as it undoubtedly annoys readers of these posts. Secondly, a little background to the Harry Hole (pronounced - we think - Hurler, but corrections from those who really know would be extremely welcome)! THE DEVIL'S STAR (released in English first) is actually number 5 in the series, THE REDBREAST (released in English second) is number 3 in the series and NEMESIS (to be released about now, so third) is actually number 4 in ... Read Review |
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The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson26/02/2008 - 11:42amCrime fiction fans are frequently a talkative lot, and news of a phenomenally good book spreads very very quickly. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO has been "the" book on quite a lot of people's lips for what is actually a startlingly short time since it was released - particularly released in English. Needless to say, the publicity has been pretty well universally positive. So reading the much vaunted book was an interesting experience. Often when a book is talked about so much, you can subconsciously approach it with just a little reservation - could it possibly live up to the ... Read Review |
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Absolution, Caro Ramsay04/02/2008 - 5:25pmABSOLUTION is the first book from this Scottish author, with the second - Tambourine to be released 2008. There's obviously something in the water in Scotland - or maybe it's all that time stuck indoors in the long cold winters, but the number of assured, confident books coming out of that place is getting to the startling stage. ABSOLUTION is definitely assured, with a story-telling style that is absolutely enthralling. The main component of the book is the hunt for the serial killer - the 'Crucifixion Killer'. To be honest it's a pretty standard serial killer plot, ... Read Review |
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Appeal Denied, Peter Corris27/01/2008 - 11:24amWhen Hardy got himself into hot water in THE UNDERTOW, you just had to wonder if this was the end of Sydney's most famous hard-boiled detective. In APPEAL DENIED he doesn't get his licence to be a private investigator back; he's got no money; his house and car are falling apart and his love life takes a disastrous turn. But it takes more than murder, bureaucracy and falling down houses to keep Cliff down. Sort of. In typical Cliff Hardy style APPEAL DENIED has events that really should see a hard man give up slightly, but when murder gets very very close to home, Cliff ... Read Review |
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Blood of Dreams, Susan Parisi15/01/2008 - 1:28pmStarting off with the elaborate building of Laudomia's life as the youngest sister of two very self-important merchants in 1700's Venice - BLOOD OF DREAMS is part historical novel, part passionate romance, part Gothic tale of death and the occult and part mystery. Laudomia is destined to be married off, she lives her life seemingly tightly controlled by her brothers and their mindless and rather shallow wives. But she also has a more secret existence. Starting off with roaming of the streets of Venice with only an old servant for company, at a party held by her own family, Laudomia ... Read Review |
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D-E-D Dead!, Geoff McGeachin14/01/2008 - 4:26pmJames Bond would have nothing on our Alby these days (and can we all just spare a moments thought for a character name like Alby Murdoch and wonder idly whatever happened to..... remember those Alby Mangel specials?), but I digress. Mind you, Alby's not opposed to the odd digression as well. Sure assorted bad guys have shot his colleague dead. So he's suddenly face to face with Grace - that gorgeous creature from the tram who returned his dropped gun and now she's armed, dangerous and driving the getaway car. But a good lunch is hard to find and there's absolutely nothing wrong ... Read Review |
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Clean Cut, Lynda La Plante04/01/2008 - 1:59pmCLEAN CUT is the third book in the Anna Travis series, based in London and La Plante knows how to write real female characters, and she's not afraid to make them likable and profoundly irritating all at the same time. In CLEAN CUT, the spark that started between Anna and her boss, James has advanced to a full blown affair. He's keeping his own flat, but most nights he's at Anna's. And she's just ever so slightly grumpy about it - James is very self-absorbed and he's a selfish sod to live with and it's all grating just a bit on Anna. When James is horrifically injured ... Read Review |
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A Cure for All Diseases, Reginald Hill01/01/2008 - 12:21pmTo begin with, I have one confession and one warning. Reginald Hill is my absolute favourite author. I could read his shopping list and rave about it, so I have no pretence here of objectivity. Now the warning. If you have yet to read Reginald Hill’s DEATH OF DALZIEL (published in the U.S.A. under the title Death Comes for the Fat Man) then stop right now. Don’t read any further, because it is impossible to write a review of A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES without creating a spoiler for Hill’s previous Dalziel and Pascoe novel. Book Review: In the ... Read Review |
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Black Man, Richard K. Morgan08/12/2007 - 12:30pmHands up if you, like me, a died in the wool thriller fan, were just a bit hesitant about BLACK MAN when you saw "science fiction". All I can say is put your hands down and get to a bookstore! Carl Marsalis is a 13, but he works for the UN, tracking down rogue thirteens. Not a particularly pleasant job really - he's loathed by the other 13's as a traitor and a sell out. The rest of the community regard him as a twist, treating him with suspicion and frequently fear. Thirteen's have a reputation. In BLACK MAN Carl is released from jail to help track down a very rogue ... Read Review |
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Thirty-Three Teeth, Colin Cotterill15/10/2007 - 6:41pmTHIRTY-THREE TEETH is the follow up to THE CORONER'S LUNCH featuring the elderly, reluctant Laotian National Coroner Dr Siri Paiboun. In THIRTY-THREE TEETH it is summer in Vientiane and it is hot, bloody hot. Laotians greet each other with that phrase as they steam away in the unrelenting heat. In Vientiane, a much tormented Asian Bear escapes from cruel confines in a local hotel garden just before there is a slow build-up of viciously savaged corpses in Dr Siri's morgue. The injuries that these victims have endured appear to indicate that they have been mauled by a very ... Read Review |
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All She Ever Wanted, Patrick Redmond14/10/2007 - 2:31pmIf you're looking for a disconcerting psychological thriller, with the lead up to the crime as the focus of the story, ALL SHE EVER WANTED could be the book for you. Tina was a weak, bullied, vulnerable child. Deserted by the father she adored, belittled by a mother that blamed her for everything that had gone wrong in her own life, Tina was a scrawny, ugly duckling child - the object of derision and cruelty by nearly everyone around her. Her only real emotional support, her aunt, tried to care for the girl that everybody else, if she was lucky, ignored. All she ever ... Read Review |
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Cross, Ken Bruen12/10/2007 - 1:40pmJack Taylor is changing. Shattered by the shooting of Cody, the young man who came to him for a chance, Jack feels for Cody like a man would for his natural son. Cody is comatose in hospital and even though he didn't pull the trigger, Jack feels responsible for Cody's fate. This has given him a real reason and he's given up drinking, smoking and drugs. Jack's not pretending - it's hard, and he's not found an exactly “normal” way of resisting a drink, but he's serious and he's really trying. As usual with Jack he's pulled into strange events and strange places. A young boy ... Read Review |
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A Stain on the Silence, Andrew Taylor10/10/2007 - 4:03pmJames and Nicky are a happily married couple, no kids, new big fancy house, everything seemingly idyllic between them. Until the day that James receives a call on his mobile: “Jamie .... It's me!”. The only woman who has ever called him Jamie was Lily Murthington. When James was a young boy his father was killed in a car accident and his mother worked overseas, eventually remarrying. James was bundled off to boarding school where he met Carlo Murthington. Carlo had a younger sister, Felicity and a stepmother – Lily. James spent a lot of school holidays with the Murthington family, but ... Read Review |
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And Hope to Die, J.M. Calder09/10/2007 - 3:39pmSet in an unnamed USA city, JM Calder's second thriller AND HOPE TO DIE is chilling. The book opens as a package is received by the parents of a kidnapped little girl. Finding out that this little girl is the 4th child taken by the same kidnapper and then discovering that even though the children are released, they have been purposely mutilated is bad enough. Then finding out that the kidnapper's demands aren't for money, but for the suicide of the mother in return for the life of the child, and you're going to be squirming in your chair as you read. Solomon Glass has ... Read Review |
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Big Shots, Adam Shand08/10/2007 - 2:50pmThere's something - possibly it's car crash fascination - but ultimately there's something nigglingly alluring about True Crime books about the recent ructions in Melbourne's Underworld. Maybe it's the proximity of the goings on, maybe it's the sheer unbelievability of the world that people - who don't live a million miles away from me - live. It's a lifestyle that doesn't have any similarity with my own, yet it goes on in the same city that I live in. And Melbourne's not a humongous metropolis... it's Melbourne. Adam Shand's Big Shots is, I guess, in that style that ... Read Review |
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The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh04/10/2007 - 4:36pmTHE CUTTING ROOM is Louise Welsh's debut novel, published for the first time by Text Publishing in Australia in 2006. Rilke's not exactly the archetypal hero accidental investigator. He's in his 40's; his personal hygiene is a bit offhand; he's an auctioneer for one of Glasgow's less than salubrious auction houses and he's gay with a taste for anonymous sexual encounters anywhere, anytime. When summoned by Miss McKindless to her recently deceased brother's home, stuffed full with antiques, the likes of which Rilke's firm have never been able to get hold of. ... Read Review |
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A Certain Justice, P.D. James04/10/2007 - 12:51pmVenetia Aldridge QC, distinguished barrister, is found dead in her Middle Temple Chambers, stabbed once cleanly through the heart; sat in her chair; wearing a full wig covered in blood. She had recently successfully defended Garry Ashe, accused of killing his aunt, and has been horrified by the announcement that Ashe and her troublesome daughter Octavia plan to marry. The current Head of Middle Temple Chambers is about to retire and Venetia believed she had a right to the position, despite just a few scant weeks of seniority. She was planning big disruptive changes in ... Read Review |