Less 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...Read more
BETTER THE BLOOD is one of those novels that I'd been hearing whispers about for quite a while, and should have made it to the top of the reading pile more quickly than my poor priority setting allowed. On the one hand I'm now regretting the delay, but on the upside, maybe I've cunningly...Read more
Who killed Marcia?
Beautiful but difficult, Marcia...
Ted answers the telephone to discover his ex-wife, Marcia, is dead, accidentally drowned in the sea below the house that he built on a remote beach in the north of New Zealand, a house he lost in the divorce....Read more
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE FAMOUS
Everyone has heard of the Snows. Belle, world-famous singer of Woodville fame. Her husband Teddy, acclaimed actor by day, notorious party animal by night. Their children: Emma, Pearl, Crystal, Elfred and River.
EVERYONE EXCEPT EMMA SNOW...Read more
Zoe Herewini's treatment for her irrational behaviour threatens to reveal the killer of her sister. The killer must silence her.
Members of a protest group wish to kill the Prime Minister, Jennifer Allenby for imposing sanctions on people's freedoms during the Covid-19 pandemic...Read more
“A Millennial New Yorker, a Stewart Island fisherman, and a WW II veteran walk into a bar...”
Maudie’s on the run – from New York and from her past – but she runs headlong into her future when she ends up on Rakiura Stewart Island on assignment to cover Aotearoa New Zealand’s...Read more
If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear ...
Journalist Grace Marks, needing a story to boost her career and finances, is intrigued by a surge in minor crime in New Zealand suburbs. She discovers it’s organised, but why?
Her investigations lead her to...Read more
To 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,...Read more
Afghanistan 1982, a botched CIA operation leaves a young Ali without a family, setting him on an unpredictable path for retribution. What follows is his lifelong, meticulously planned quest for vengeance, from Afghanistan across the globe to New York. Along the way he makes enemies in a...Read more
It seemed a simple request. ”Can you find my daughter who has run away?” But for professional gambler O’Malley, life isn’t that simple.
There is the murder of one of his poker partners, the attention of drug dealers, money launderers, the police, the gangs, and just to top it...Read more
Harold Pederson’s discovery ships are in trouble. Specializing in exploring remote estuaries and photographing endangered wildlife in South East Asia and the western Pacific, his fleet ventures into waters that are rife with pirates.
When Jerry Giacomo is hired by Pederson to...Read more
Puti Derrell likes running at midnight. During lockdown it was safe but now lockdown is over and Porohiwi doesn’t feel safe anymore – especially when she discovers her estranged grandfather has been murdered and left with a Judas mask on his face.
Puti’s already got a lot on her...Read more
THE 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,...Read more
Monday Woolridge is a fighter with a face covered in scars and life full of debt.
Her Avondale flat has no furniture, her father’s dead, her catatonic mother’s in an expensive nursing home and her kickboxing gym is going to Thailand.
Monday's shitty bartending job pays...Read more