All the Reviews

The Life I Left Behind, Colette McBeth

THE LIFE I LEFT BEHIND is the second novel from London based author Colette McBeth, her first being PRECIOUS THING. Both in the form of psychological thriller, part of the increasingly common "domestic noir" category, they are however standalone books.

The story here is told using a combination of viewpoints from three main characters. Melody Pieterson is a survivor, brutally attacked and left for dead, she lives in personal imprisonment, whilst her attacker has just been released from jail. The aftermath of the attack has seen her lose her confidence, her social life and ... Read Review

No Man's Land, Roland Fishman

A thriller that features surfing and a special operative anti-terrorism order, based on Eastern mysticism, is not exactly "expected territory" even with the best will in the world. Which makes NO MAN'S LAND by Australian author Roland Fishman an interesting prospect.

For something that starts out with such an odd premise, there is much to like about this book. Sticking closely to the thriller format there are thrills, spills and a lot of action built into a plot that actually makes sense. The fundamentals of threat are here - kidnapping, terrorism, assassination attempts - ... Read Review

Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey

Reading a lot of crime fiction can sometimes get a little groundhog day"ish". Not so when a book like ELIZABETH IS MISSING comes along. Not only is the styling of this mystery very unusual, the central character is outstanding and different.

Maud is an eighty-two-year old independent woman, living in her own home, slowly losing her memory. Devastatingly she sometimes knows she's losing touch with reality, she certainly knows enough to recognise that the notes that are liberally dotted throughout her home, in her pockets and her bag are an important aide-memoire. ... Read Review

The Missing and the Dead, Stuart MacBride

Sure Logan McRae's now an Acting Detective Inspector, in uniform. In the backend of nowhere, with a good team working with him, especially when you realise the number of cows they have to chase off roads. His girlfriend has improved a little, she's now in a care home, still uncommunicative, her nursing being paid for by McRae which is creating certain "problems" in his personal lifestyle. To make matters worse, his role in a high profile arrest causes a court case to collapse which brings the higher-ups down on his head and everything he does, says or has is questioned. Except for the ... Read Review

Bent, James Morton & Susanna Lobez

James Morton and Susanna Lobez have written a number of Australian true crime books together now, many of which are in anecdotal format. Whilst BENT tends towards that style again, it is considerably more detailed and employs a much clearer narrative connection than many of the earlier books this reviewer has read. As a result of this, it's a much stronger, considerably more informative read than originally expected.

Even when you realise that there's been an extensive culture of corruption throughout not just the Police in Australia since First Fleet Days, BENT really ... Read Review

Disappeared, Anthony Quinn

When the blurb says "In Northern Ireland's darkest corner" it means it. It's winter, it's wet, dark, cold and black. A landscape full of old houses, swamps and fast running streams, there's an overwhelming sense of dark, deep, close-held, life-long, simmering secrets in the world that Inspector Celcius Daly now lives.

A Catholic Irishman, he's returned to his father's house after a stint in Scotland. His father's recent death, his own marriage breakdown - it's exactly what you'd expect of somebody living in this place, although Daly's a bit of a dark horse himself. He's ... Read Review

Prisoner of Night and Fog, Anne Blankman

Up front, I've always struggled with fiction that uses fact as the entire basis for a made-up story. I'm twitchy about the possibility (albeit possibly unintentionally) of reinventing history. PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG is therefore built on a particularly challenging premise - that the central character in this book, Gretchen Müller, is a protégé of Adolf Hilter.

Needless to say it came as no surprise to find that Müller's loyalty to her "Uncle", the party and all is undermined when she meets a fearless and "handsome" (couldn't he at least have been average looking...) ... Read Review

The Morutau Affair, Vernon M. Baker

Steamy is right – and not just the weather. THE MORUTAU AFFAIR was not what I was expecting.

Ostensibly about the death of a plantation owner, it's a story made up of current action and flashbacks to the time that he and his wife, met, married and from there, the lead-up to his death. Obviously, given the time and the place, there's a lot of racial interactions which are uncomfortable reading nowadays, but there's nothing about any of it that feels out of place, or gratuitous.

There is, however some very complicated sexual shenanigan's going on. We're not ... Read Review

Mistress, Matthew Benns & Terry Smyth

I probably should have known better, but I admit the final line of the blurb caught my eye "And it explains the one lie that binds them all – sex." I was wondering what it was that made these sorts of liaison's "public property".

And I still don't know. So much salacious gossip, some of it repeated directly from the tabloid newspapers (if the story I test googled is any indication), with no analysis, no explanation and ... well nothing much really except a sneaking suspicion of a bit of "nudge nudge wink wink". Which makes it very hard to even recommend this as I suspect ... Read Review