All the Reviews

The Death Ray Debacle, David McGill

THE DEATH RAY DEBACLE is fiction built around unexpected facts from the period leading up to World War II. New Zealand inventor Victor Penny ran a bus company by day and at night he worked on producing a death ray. His government sanctioned, amateur scientific pursuits did indeed lead to an electric bolt system powerful enough to implode a matchbox, and they certainly created enough interest to make him a target of German spies. 

Even though it appears that Penny remains pretty well unknown in New Zealand, let alone the rest of the world, his enthusiasm for invention led ... Read Review

The Boy, Gary L. Clarke

Another debut Australian novel where the blurb will provide a good indication of the style of storytelling. Police procedural in concept, there's a lot going on in THE BOY, leading to a rather complicated and not always well served by procedural correctness, story of a young boy and a cop, haunted by the same unsolved multiple-murder.

Choosing to use direct speech in telling a story of positively epic detail has resulted in something that feels more visual than anything else, not always providing this reader with a pathway to connect with any characters and the story they ... Read Review

The Falling Detective, Christoffer Carlsson

THE FALLING DETECTIVE is the second Leo Junker book written by Swedish author Christoffer Carlsson. Not having read the first was a minor irritation (with myself) in reading this because Junker is complicated, challenging, slightly off-beat and utterly charismatic. In an odd, shadowy, slightly blurry sort of way. Hence the irritation with not having read the first book as there's obviously more to this portrayal than is declared in this outing.

Perhaps because of that slightly off-camera feeling, THE FALLING DETECTIVE was also a book that felt like it took a while to get ... Read Review

A Straits Settlement, Brian Stoddart

The Le Fanu series from author Brian Stoddart is one of those extremely elegant combinations of mystery fiction and historical lesson that also provides entertainment for readers. There's even a bit of good old fashioned romance from the male point of view. In short, there's something for all readers within these pages.

The third book, A STRAITS SETTLEMENT sees Le Fanu promoted above his desired wishes to acting Inspector-General, buried in paperwork and oddly behaving subordinate officers, increasingly desperate to resolve his ongoing faltering love affair with a local ... Read Review

Amplify, Mark Hollands

What a little gem AMPLIFY turned out to be. A debut novel from journalist Mark Hollands, introducing musical impresario Billy Lime and his world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. 

So much potential for cliché so very nicely dodged here. The women are not all sex objects or madder than meat-axe fans, the rock and roll is slightly on the older and might not be quite up to it any more side, the muso's an interesting combination of old and wise, and still living the dream types. Then there's the daring deeds of Lime himself liberally laced with martial arts, some aches and ... Read Review

The Swap, Greg Moriarty

Dom and Donald Tolen are identical twins - in looks but not personality. Whilst Dom craves the quiet life, Donald has pushed the boundaries a lot more. But now, separated from his wife and living, as an increasingly unwelcome guest, in his brother's apartment, Donald needs to get himself sorted in a hurry. What ensues is a complicated tale of swapped identities and confusion that is going to need the reader to be paying close attention.

We've all heard tales of identical twins swapping places. Particularly when young, and in this reader's case, in school when one twin was ... Read Review

The Secret Chord, Geraldine Brooks

THE SECRET CHORD is a story of an ancient King in ancient times thus it absolutely demanded a magisterial narrator. Over dramatic at first, and next ominously grave and biblical, voice actor Paul Boehmer is exactly what was required to do such a grand tale justice. It only takes only a short time to become accustomed to his distinctive and commanding storytelling.

THE SECRET CHORD is a book of some length (13 hours of audio), so the reader is investing a fair deal of “reading” time here. Australian author Geraldine Brooks is a master at bringing historical figures and ... Read Review

Coffin Road, Peter May

A mystery set within a bubble very much heightens the senses when reading COFFIN ROAD.  The action is placed within an isolated small seaside town and there are very few characters for the reader to learn about and glean clues from.  The lead, who has lost his memory, retraces his steps in an effort to find out who he is, what kind of man he is, and what it is that he has done that has left him with such a leaden feeling of dread.  May reaches deep into the psyche of his lead character and we are immersed very quickly in his nightmare.  Having washed up on a beach with injuries, Neal ... Read Review

The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe’s Killer, Kate Kyriacou

It's nearly impossible to "review" a book like THE STING simply because the subject matter is so horrific. The delivery, styling or methods chosen to explain the events pale into insignificance alongside the reader's desire to look away, whilst simultaneously wanting to track down some people in the justice and political systems and demand a few answers.

Why it is that somebody like this killer was given such light sentences over earlier child rapes, beatings and maimings is the one question that you cannot come away from this book without. How it was that he, and his ... Read Review