All the Reviews

Cooper Bartholomew is Dead, Rebecca James

Nominated as a young adult novel, COOPER BARTHOLOMEW IS DEAD is one that's readable for that age group and those of us for whom "young" is but a vague memory.

Whilst there is a death at the centre of this book, in many ways it is less of a crime mystery than one about the mysterious, and quite scary things that confront many of us when we are young. To be fair though, the reasons for Cooper Bartholomew's death aren't glaringly obvious from the start, although some informed speculation is available to the reader at various points throughout the narrative.

... Read Review

No Time to Lose, Matt Baak

NO TIME TO LOSE is Matt Baak's debut novel, set in the high-tech, high octane world of bank robberies in the current day. Which are considerably less about fronting the bank waving a gun around, and more the very high-tech way in which time locks, centralised security, and automatic systems have to be circumvented.

The plot of NO TIME TO LOSE is an interesting one - it does seem that bank robberies are a lot less common in this day and age, as their security and loss prevention methodologies have tightened, and employees are so much more protected. The back ways in are ... Read Review

The Koldun Code, Sophie Masson

The Koldun Code is Book 1 of the Trinity Trilogy, the second book being not far away if memory serves correct. Set in modern Russia, Sophie Masson has certainly involved a wonderful sense of place and culture in this book:

"They'd left a mild gray London spring morning and emerged into a Moscow afternoon so bright blue that it seemed painted on with a lavish brush. Everything had culture-shocked her, from the sublime to the ordinary: the candy-striped domes of St Basil's cathedral flaunted against the intense sky, Red Square vast as a rolling stone plain,

... Read Review

Graveyard of the Atlantic, Helen Goltz

GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC is the second in the Mitchell Parker thriller series, so reading them backwards (as I am) is clearing up some unknowns, and creating a few more. Needless to say MASTERMIND, the first in the series is going to have to be read at some stage as now, if nothing else, this reader wants to know how this group got together in the first place.

Given the proximity of reading the third (THE FOURTH REICH) and now GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC it's possible to really see the way the series has evolved. Whilst the crisp dialogue, and the team interactions are as ... Read Review

Cold Deception, D.B. Tait

The author of COLD DECEPTION has had many years experience in the Criminal Justice system, and that knowledge shines through in this debut crime fiction offering.

Julia Taylor's release from prison, her struggles to re-establish life and normality, and the way that she balances that struggle with parole responsibilities, the problems with finding a job and the problems in inserting herself back into her family and her community have a strong sense of reality about them.

Julia's crime provides the author with a chance to explore a number of aspects - how will ... Read Review

Swimming in the Dark, Paddy Richardson

Every now and again you come across an author who writes fabulous books, and yet, sadly seems to stay too far below the radar. New Zealander Paddy Richardson is one of the best thriller writers around these days, one that undoubtedly deserves a much bigger readership than she seems to have garnered.

SWIMMING IN THE DARK is a classic from this author. Reminiscent of some of the best of the Scandinavian psychological thriller writers, this book is a perfect illustration of the power of this author's storytelling and the cleverness of the writing.

Starting out ... Read Review

Fallout, Paul Thomas

When a man like Ihaka hears there are questions about the death of his father of course it will be front of mind. Just as the unsolved murder of a young girl on election night 1987 preys on the mind of his boss Finbar McGrail. It goes without saying that Ihaka is going to start kicking over any rocks he can find in the search for the truth about his father's death, even though, as a favour to his boss, he's got to balance that with a re-investigation of the death of that young girl as well.

Taking Ihaka back to the past is an interesting move for author Paul ... Read Review

The Petticoat Men, Barbara Ewing

Based on the true story of the trial of two men in 1871, THE PETTICOAT MEN places real-life characters into a fictional scenario to create an extremely entertaining, and very readable story.

It is true that the young Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park were put on trial for "conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence", they were both well-known cross-dressers and suspected homosexuals, although acquitted due to the prosecutions failure to prove either the sexual activity or that wearing women's clothing was actually a crime. The trial was a sensation due ... Read Review

Amnesia, Peter Carey

The blurb on the back of AMNESIA reads exactly like that of a really good thriller. A threat that unleashes something frightening in the world, and the battle to find the perpetrator.

Which seemed, by the end of the book, to be written for another AMNESIA, somewhere in a parallel universe. One where the book we were reading actually addressed the major plot elements, rather than immediately meandering off into something or other about an ex-journalist / ghost writer who had a bit of a hump up with the world who ... something.

It's certainly possible to see ... Read Review