All the Reviews

The Man From Beijing, Henning Mankell

THE MAN FROM BEIJING is a standalone book from the author of the popular Kurt Wallender series, and if the discussions I've seen about it are any indication, it's guaranteed to polarise opinion.

Set in Hesjövallen, where something very very bad has happened, police are called to the village by researcher, Karsten Höglin, who arrived in the town to find that this quiet, mostly deserted little village in Sweden is the scene of a massacre.

Judge Brigitta Roslin has an unexpected connection to this place, when she discovers that two of the victims are her mother' ... Read Review

Liquid Gold, James Phelan

I've enjoyed the Lachlan Fox series, but I will admit to having read them way out of order.  That doesn't seem to have mattered until LIQUID GOLD, which had me more than a little befuddled, and I'm suspicious it might be because I've missed the book immediately before it in the series.  

LIQUID GOLD has a fantastic, and pertinent premise - the idea that water is to the 21st century, what oil was to the 20th.  As the book opens, central character, investigative journalist, ex Australian Navy Clearance diver, graduate of the Australian Defence Forces Academy, hero of the ... Read Review

The Double Life of Herman Rockefeller, Hilary Bonney

Whilst nobody deserves to die for sexual activities between consenting adults that could be regarded as unsavoury, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF HERMAN ROCKEFELLER says a lot about the causes of this man's death, and all of the participants in the whole sorry, mucky mess.

Herman Rockefeller was killed in January 2010, after a rendezvous at the home of Bernadette Denny, where he had gone, a second time, for sex.  He died, it seems, because he lied about his circumstances and therefore his motives, and because the two people found guilty of his manslaughter - Denny and her boyfriend ... Read Review

The Devil's Edge, Stephen Booth

Many fans of Stephen Booth's Fry and Cooper series seem to fall into the pro or anti DS Diane Fry camp pretty firmly.  Those in the anti camp may take heart from the fact that she's slightly less present in this book, not making an appearance until later in proceedings.  There's also a shift in the power imbalance as Cooper has finally been promoted to the same rank of Detective Sergeant, managing his own team as part of a bigger investigation into a series of home invasions which seem to have culminated in a brutal local murder.

It's been a while since I caught back up ... Read Review

Red Queen, H.M. (Honey) Brown

Apocalyptic scenarios are not my favourite thing.  To be frank, a pandemic world-wide threat from a mutant viruses wasn't making me feel a desperate urge to read RED QUEEN.  I've been shuffling other books over it in the priority queue for quite a while.  But eventually, you've just got to stop sooking about these things and get on with reading.  

There was some confusion in my mind about exactly what "category" this novel falls into.  It won an Aurealis award for Best Horror Novel, but I'd heard comments that indicated that the book, despite the apocalyptic setting, was ... Read Review

Outrage, Arnaldur Indridason

When an author switches viewpoint in a long-running, popular series there's always a risk that some readers will be disappointed.  Personally I find it can be one of the more satisfying uses of an ensemble cast, as was the case in OUTRAGE.  Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason has switched the viewpoint away from his normal main character Erlendur, to one of the lesser characters in the earlier books - Detective Elinborg.  

Erlendur is around, more by way of reference than physically, as he appears to have headed off to the East Fjords, where he lived as a young boy.  ... Read Review

A Noble Killing, Barbara Nadel

Another series that I really should be doing a better job keeping up with as Barbara Nadel writes about Turkey in a way that's vivid, believable and extremely entertaining.

A NOBLE KILLING is the 13th book in the Inspector Cetin Ikmen series, although it might be fairer to combine that with Inspector Mehmet Suleyman who seems to have raised his profile in this book.  (Needless to say I'm behind, so I'm not sure if this is a phenomena in this book or something that's been ongoing).  Not, I suspect, would Suleyman be that thrilled with his starring role here as most of the ... Read Review

Calibre, Ken Bruen

When your favourite authors start dying even the most reasonable reader should be forgiven for becoming a nervous, obsessed, idiot hoarder of books that can, after all, be re-read should the unthinkable eventuate.  Despite an overwhelming desire to continue this hoarding behaviour, eventually the yearning for books like CALIBRE becomes too strong and, as a result, I'm no longer hoarding CALIBRE.  (DISCLAIMER:  I have no information whatsoever with regard to Mr Bruen's state of health... it's just that he's a favourite author and there's always the chance that any one of my favourite ... Read Review

Crime Scene, Esther McKay

"Day after day my life was consumed by killings, distress and gruesome sites, each one adding another piece to an ever-growing mosaic that seemed to be made up of bloodied disposable gloves, plastic bags and human waste. . ."

I don't think there's any way that Esther McKay could describe her life as a forensic crime investigator in terms that would make it comfortable reading for anybody.  Which means it's no surprise whatsoever that this book is confrontational, difficult and frequently disturbing, just as the job must have been.

McKay has a way of telling ... Read Review