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Dirt Town, Hayley Scrivenor08/03/2024 - 1:54pmAn outstanding debut novel back in 2022 (good grief has it really taken this long to post this ...), it's very very hard to look past an Australian rural noir novel called DIRT TOWN. Sitting as I am at the moment in the middle of an Australian rural summer that's mostly putting up dust clouds and fire smoke everywhere you look. Set in the sweltering (can identify) small Australian town of Durton, this place is referred to mostly as Dirt Town by the locals (and why wouldn't they). There's a particularly apt quote:
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Halfway House, Helen FitzGerald07/03/2024 - 4:31pmHelen FitzGerald is one of those authors who really knows how to write engaging and very offputting central characters that you care about, despite their obvious failings, flaws, and downright stupidity from time to time. As is the case in HALFWAY HOUSE where central character Lou O'Dowd is .. well ... quite something. Infuriating, annoying and quite beguiling, she's part ingénue, part ruthless user, and oddly extremely sympathetic and relatable. Maybe it's the wide eyed devil may care"edness" of her lifestyle, maybe it's the sneaking suspicion that she's well aware of ... Read Review |
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I Am Behind You, John Ajvide Lindqvist29/02/2024 - 12:53pmThe thing with any novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist is to remember the stages of reading. Stage One is always, oh wow, why do I take so long to pick up these books. This is just amazing. On the whole his work is amazing. It's horror sure, and that's something I'd normally go out of my way to avoid, but it's his version of horror, which always has something extra. It's not just about the shock, it's about the why's and where's of human behaviour, and the how did we get here's. Or at least that's what all his novels I've read have felt like to me. ... Read Review |
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To The River, Vikki Wakefield27/02/2024 - 12:36pmI can almost feel a collective intake of breath when many crime fiction fans read a blurb that includes mention of "a brave dog". So right up front, the dog's fine. In other news, this is a very interesting novel that uses a mostly female viewpoint for a story that has a past as well as a present. Sabine Kelly disappeared many years ago, after confessing to setting the fire that killed nine people in a remote caravan park 12 years ago. Since that time she's been living life on the run, hiding out on an old houseboat with her dog Blue for company, returning sometimes to ... Read Review |
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A Better Class of Criminal, Cristian Kelly22/02/2024 - 2:24pmThere's a quote on the blurb for this book which goes:
Which is where I could leave this review because it sums it up perfectly. Fast paced: A BETTER CLASS OF CRIMINAL belts along, mind you that's a word worth keeping in mind, there's belting violence aplenty here which comes at the reader like a battering ram. Humorous: If you like dark, cynical, pointed and very "gangster" styled ... Read Review |
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Rings on Water, Madeleine Eskedahl19/02/2024 - 3:23pmRINGS ON WATER is the second novel in NZ author Madeleine Eskedahl's Matakana Series, set in and around the idyllic rural winemaking and tourist destination near Auckland. The series features local cop, Sergeant Bill Granger, and his Swedish wife Annika, their family, and their lifestyle in what should be a quiet, relaxed sort of a place. Except in Eskedahl's series where the location and life is cozy and laid back and the crimes are violent and confronting. In a switch from the environmental conditions of the first novel, BLOOD ON VINE, this one is set in the wet, rainy ... Read Review |
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Death Off Camera, B.M. Allsopp19/02/2024 - 2:26pmBook number five in the Fiji Island Mystery series featuring local rugby hero, now policeman Inspector Joe Horseman and his team, this time investigating the death of a fit young reality TV star who dies most unexpectedly on a small island off the coast of Fiji, in the middle of filming a wildly popular show which features, for the first time, a Fijian contestant. Readers who are new to this series would be able to step in at any point as the author here plays very fair with just enough personal background to get where Horseman, and his 2IC, DS Susie Singh, in particular ... Read Review |
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Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver12/02/2024 - 8:52pmRead for our f2f bookclub, it certainly elicited an interesting, lively and at times quite loud discussion. Most of which I couldn't contribute much to because I just didn't get this book. At All. After, what is to be fair, a really captivating start with an engaging voice and a character that I really liked, then found mildly annoying, and then utterly exhausting, it's a bit undertaking - subject matter wise and size wise. Leaving aside the whole question of whether or not a reimagining of David Copperfield needs to be a thing to explore the ravages of the opioid crisis ... Read Review |
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The Concierge, Abby Corson31/01/2024 - 2:11pmThe author of THE CONCIERGE, Abby Corson, has been a luxury travel and lifestyle writer for over 10 years, and it shows in the way that she's able to depict a luxury hotel in the English countryside, with it's own concierge, Henry Harrow, the narrator of this, her first novel. Now 73 years old, Henry has worked at the Cavengreen Hotel since he was 16. After a shocking murder, a very intense investigation, and a hotel ownership change, he finds himself narrating the story behind all that, in his own, rather unique voice. The blurb introduces him thus: ... Read Review |
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The Berlin Traitor, A.W. Hammond31/01/2024 - 2:02pmIt’s July 1945, and the war in Europe is finally over. Auguste Duchene has survived, but the past will not let go. |
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The Good Dog, Simon Rowell30/01/2024 - 4:49pmTHE GOOD DOG is the third novel featuring DS Zoe Mayer and her service dog Harry. The background to why Mayer has Harry, and some of the back story about why a new partner is working with her is in both of the previous books, and touched on enough here to give new readers some hints as to what's gone on. Seriously though, this is a series that really deserves following. Mayer is a strong character, Harry is fantastic, and the stories in both previous novels (THE LONG GAME and ... Read Review |
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The Slow Roll, Simon Lendrum29/01/2024 - 2:22pmTHE SLOW ROLL is New Zealand based author Simon Lendrum's debut novel, which is worth mentioning because readers could be mistaken for thinking this is one of many. Engrossing, with a well constructed plot, a very engaging couple of central characters, and a dry, almost melancholic style, this is a story of a professional gambler, his girlfriend Claire and a missing person case that's, well, complicated. O'Malley's a professional gambler with a bit on his plate. The murder of one of his poker partners, and some drug dealers, money launderers, the police, and gangs ... Read Review |
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Mila and the Bone Man, Lauren Roche24/01/2024 - 2:56pmTo say that author Lauren Roche has taken on a mammoth undertaking with MILA AND THE BONE MAN is possibly one of the bigger understatements this reviewer has uttered. There is so much happening in this coming of age story, which is more than just that - it's an exploration of consequences, a pathway from child to adulthood that has been profoundly impacted by trauma, it's about difference, acceptance, friendship, damage, and grief. Every year the New Zealand Crime Fiction awards (Ngaio Marsh Awards) invariably present us with something that takes a different viewpoint ... Read Review |
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Paradise, Patricia Wolf23/01/2024 - 5:14pmBook Two in the DS Lucas Walker series sees him away from his family home in the dry, arid interior of Queensland, working on the Gold Coast. He's under investigation / threat of his job after the events in the first book, OUTBACK, and temporarily doing some training there. He's been lucky enough to stay in a very swanky apartment overlooking the sea, courtesy of an old friend and admirer of his father, and whilst all of that seems pretty straight forward, there are layers, upon layers here, with echoes back to the drug dealing and criminal gangs back in Caloodie, and Walker's past ... Read Review |
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Slow Horses, Mick Herron23/01/2024 - 1:37pmBeen very intrigued by this series for the longest time, and I'm so glad I finally remembered to add it to the audio queue. Probably been mentioned lots before, but this felt very much like a worthy successor to the espionage thriller crown that sat atop John Le Carre's head for many many years. Originally published in 2010, Slow Horses is the nickname that the MI5 uses for "Slough House" a division of the service that's a dumping ground for members that have screwed up. Their sins are many, varied yet depressingly similar: secret files left on trains, blown surveillance ... Read Review |
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In Her Blood, Nikki Crutchley18/01/2024 - 2:08pmAuthor Nikki Crutchley always brings an interesting twist, or idea to her novels, and IN HER BLOOD is most definitely a perfect example of that. Gothic in feel, it's a thriller that's based around dual disappearances, with a big time gap, set in a haunted-house scenario with touches of a classic psychodrama, and a wonderful sense of place that carries the multiple timelines with considerable aplomb. Crutchley's specialty has always been character development, and IN HER BLOOD presents the reader with a bunch of very damaged people, on a discovery tour of each other, and ... Read Review |
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And Away ..., Bob Mortimer16/01/2024 - 1:15pmBob Mortimer is probably best known around these parts for his legendary appearances on WOULD I LIE TO YOU? The TV show that includes David Mitchell as a team captain, somebody who, it has to be said, Mortimer has bluffed well and truly. His storytelling style on that show is exactly the same as it is in this biography, and you can't help but think it wouldn't be a bad idea for Mitchell to have been able to have read it (realise the timing isn't conducive) - as a lot of the stories that turn out to be true on that show (as unbelievable as most of them are), are covered in this amiable ... Read Review |
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Too Far From Antibes, Bede Scott11/01/2024 - 5:59pmSet in 1951, Indochina, TOO FAR FROM ANTIBES is the story of Jean-Luc Guéry and his quest to find the truth behind his brother Oliver's murder. An avid reader of detective fiction, Guéry has a very firm picture of how investigations should proceed, although the likelihood of him being able to achieve that discipline is remote. An incorrigible alcoholic and compulsive gambler he's already squandered a small fortune in the casinos of the Côte d’Azur. And there's nothing at all in the demeanour, attitude or aptitude of this failed fiction writer, come obscure provincial newspaper ... Read Review |
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São Paulo Noir, edited by Tony Bellotto10/01/2024 - 1:58pmThe Akashic Noir series is a brilliant idea (I have SYDNEY NOIR on the piles at present). The whole thing is a series of Noir styled short story collections from all around the world, launched originally in 2004 with BROOKLYN NOIR. This collection of stories from Brazil is a fascinating combination of darkest noir stylings, some humorous in delivery, many of which come from an unexpected viewpoint / starting position. As is always the way, some of the stories here will work for some readers and others not. In particular, the humour is a tricky undertaking ... Read Review |
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Kill Your Husbands, Jack Heath10/01/2024 - 1:56pmBit of background to commence - KILL YOUR HUSBANDS is billed as a follow up to KILL YOUR BROTHER, which I've not read / listened to yet. None of which seemed to matter a jot, although I understand there is some character crossover it's definitely didn't feel like I should have read these in order. It's probably also worth mentioning (because my partner did enquire when I was sniggering away at something in it), it's not a manual or how to. Instead KILL YOUR HUSBANDS is the story of three couples, with friendships that go back to their university days, and very different ... Read Review |