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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 |
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The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz10/01/2024 - 11:46amLaunched into listening to this on audio without really doing any blurb reading or background checking of any type. Basically grabbed it because we'd recently watched THE MAGPIE MURDERS which we'd loved, and, well it was there. One of those reinvention style novels, where the author has cast himself in the role of a "Watson" like character, although to equate Daniel Hawthorne with Sherlock Holmes might be a bit of a push. Still, there's nothing wrong with the development of a brilliant, eccentric, disgraced police detective as a character, and Horowitz seems quite a dab ... Read Review |
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The Pain Tourist, Paul Cleave08/01/2024 - 2:45pmPaul Cleave is an absolute master of the art of the expected unexpected, especially when Theodore Tate pops up. On the expected front you know that things are going to get messy weird, and you know that Tate is going to go out of his way to try to do right by victims, regardless of the personal cost. You also know that the unexpected will occur, and what ever paranormal or slightly off centre goings on are presented, you're going to stay with it, even if, as a reader like me you'd swear black and blue that paranormal is not your thing. I mean I still maintain it isn't, with the ... Read Review |
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The Marlow Murder Club / Death Comes to Marlow, Robert Thorogood08/01/2024 - 1:58pmThis audio series was recommended to me by an algorithm which I'm never 100% convinced about, but I'd finished all that was available in The Thursday Murder club series and was in the mood for something on the lighter side. Besides I'm increasingly a sucker for anything with women of a certain age getting on with things, refusing to buckle under to "societal expectations". For some reason. This series revolves around 77 year old Judith Potts, she of the, it turns out, decidedly odd past. A woman who now works as a crossword setter, lives in a fading old mansion on the ... Read Review |
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Outback, Patricia Wolf05/01/2024 - 5:23pmYou have to give it to the publishing gods, once they find a location or concept that appeals to readers, they stick with it like sweaty thighs to a vinyl car seat. Outback Noir is something that's been ticking away in Australia for quite a while now, with settings from the red, dry dirtland centre of Australia from Western Australia to Queensland, South Australia to the Northern Territory. OUTBACK by Patricia Wolf is set in hot, dry remote small-town Queensland in the fictional location of Caloodie (the author spent many years living in Mount Isa and there are things that might ring ... Read Review |
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The Year of the Locust, Terry Hayes05/01/2024 - 4:31pmI was so looking forward to THE YEAR OF THE LOCUST, and yet, somehow, it's arrival in my ebook queue came as a hell of a surprise. So, needless to say, everything else got swept aside and I settled in for what I hoped would be some days of engaging espionage thriller reading. Which I got, and then some more, and then a whole lot of different stuff, and then a bit more of what was expected. What I'm trying to say in such a hamfisted way is there were bits of THE YEAR OF THE LOCUST that grabbed and did not let go, and then there were bits that simply did not work, and then ... Read Review |
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The Man Who Died Twice / The Bullet that Missed, Richard Osman04/01/2024 - 4:33pmThe last thing anybody needs is a fully blown review of anything to do with Richard Osman's wildly popular The Thursday Murder Club series, of which THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE is number 2 and THE BULLET THAT MISSED is number 3. These books deserve all the success they have achieved, but as I've been listening to the series on Audible (and have the 4th queued up at the moment), I thought a quick reminder to myself if nothing else about why a reader who likes the darker side of fiction would find these such great, fun listening. Mostly it's because of the character studies. The ... Read Review |
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A Man With One of Those Faces, Caimh McDonnell04/01/2024 - 2:29pmOne of those series that I plucked from a long list on Audible when looking for something new and fun to listen to. Sometimes the universe is very good to you. A MAN WITH ONE OF THOSE FACES was such good fun with madcap action and activities, really engaging characters, and a mystery plot that lent itself well to listening. The narrator of this was also perfect, with an engaging accent and an excellent deployment of varied voices to always give you an idea about who is who in a busy, but not overcrowded cast listing. The series revolves around Paul Mulchrone ... Read Review |
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Australian Code Breakers: Our top-secret war with the Kaiser's Reich, James Phelps04/01/2024 - 1:52pmI listened to this audio book (borrowed from the library) sometime ago. Definitely fell into the "why didn't I know about this before' category. As per the blurb:
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Notorious, Olivia Hayfield03/01/2024 - 4:45pmPart of a series of novels placing real life historical events in a modern setting, NOTORIOUS deals with one of England's past mysteries - the Princes in the Tower, and the enigma that was Richard III. The modern setting revolves around a world famous arty family, the Snows. Belle is a singer, her husband Teddy an acclaimed actor. Their 5 children live their lives in the shadow of their parents, but eldest daughter Emma has dreams of her own. She wants to be a writer, she wants a cat and she wants to forget her first love interest. The story revolves around the ... Read Review |
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If That's What It Takes, Les Allen02/01/2024 - 3:07pmLess a review, more a few comments on Les Allen's IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES, published in June 2022. Set in 1982, New Zealand, the story revolves around an unlicensed private investigator who, whilst living under a false identity, forms an unlikely alliance with a small town laywer to fight dirty tricks and nefarious goings on in courtrooms and, slightly unexpectedly, rugby fields. Luckily PI Sean McBride's past experience has equipped him with a fine abilty to play dirty, if that's what it takes. This story is very much in the spinning a yarn category of ... Read Review |
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Everyone On This Train is a Suspect, Benjamin Stevenson02/01/2024 - 12:38pmI'm not going to pretend that I didn't wonder if the dreaded "second book syndrome" would appear with Benjamin Stevenson's EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT. This second novel in the series (not his body of work overall), features Ernest Cunningham, of EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE fame, a book, which to be frank never really felt like it was going to leave the possibility of a follow up in its wake. Shortage of people after the accelerated body count being part of the problem, the other being the enclosed space cleverness which felt like it would be a more ... Read Review |
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The Wiregrass, Adrian Hyland14/12/2023 - 4:54pmIn Adrian Hyland’s latest crime novel, Jesse Redpath is back, stationed in a new town during a time of stormy weather. Review at: Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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The Great Swindle, Pierre Lemaitre06/12/2023 - 4:13pmSet in France in the aftermath of the First World War, THE GREAT SWINDLE is loosely a crime novel, owing to the fraud perpetrated as part of the ongoing action. What it really is, is an exploration of the treatment of returned servicemen, the damage - physical and mental - that war leaves in it's wake, and the similar damage societal pressure causes. In what turned out to be a massive book (I was reading an ebook version of it and didn't twig to the size until well into the story), Lemaitre introduces the reader to the three main characters on the battlefront - in an apt ... Read Review |