Australia

The Secrets She Keeps, Michael Robotham

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Secrets She Keeps
Author Name: 
Michael Robotham
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9780733638015
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Publisher: 
Hachette Australia
Publisher Website: 
Hachette Australia - The Secrets She Keeps
Year of Publication: 
2017

Everyone has an idea of what their perfect life is. For Agatha, it's Meghan Shaughnessy's.

These two women from vastly different backgrounds have one thing in common - a dangerous secret that could destroy everything they hold dear.

Both will risk everything to hide the truth, but their worlds are about to collide in a shocking act that cannot be undone.

Book Review: 

The thing with a Michael Robotham thriller is that even when he's working in territory that's been extensively explored, there's always something extra about his interpretations. So it is with THE SECRET SHE KEEPS, where again there's complexity and nuance in the portrayal of both "good" and "bad". 

The narrative in THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS switches between two main female characters. Both are eight weeks pregnant, both have secrets they are keeping to themselves, yet they are very different people. Agatha is struggling on her own, poor and clearly underprivileged she's working in a local supermarket, doing it tough, envious of Meghan's seemingly perfect life. Meghan's the one with the nice house, two children, the successful husband. Agatha's watching Meghan, very closely, envy quickly slipping into something more creepy, worrying, especially as Meghan's utterly unaware of the interest, battling with her own life, that might seem perfect to Agatha, but is riven with problems of its own.

Robotham choreograph's an elaborate dance between these two characters, delicately revealing more and more details about their lives, intertwining them together closer and closer - building the tension gently, slowly, languidly in the beginning, until suddenly the reader will find themselves a page turning witness to a slow moving car crash that is all the more disturbing because of the carefully crafted inevitability of many of the plot lines. 

It's a mark of Robotham's skill that he's inserted THE SECRET SHE KEEPS into a crowded domestic noir scene, littered with unreliable narrators, dysfunctional families and tension because of poor judgements, and created an extremely readable, quite chilling, page turning entrant.

My Name is Revenge, Ashley Kalagian Blunt

Author Information
Book Title: 
My Name is Revenge
Author Name: 
Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Categorisation
Category: 
Thriller
Sub Genre: 
Novella
Year of Publication: 
2018

My Name Is Revenge is in two parts. There is a novella, and an essay reflecting on the historic events that inspired that novella, and meditating also on how history can inform fiction. In the essay the writer says she hopes everything she writes will ‘arouse curiosity’. Both the novella and the essay do just that, and also much, much more. Both pieces are informed by a passion to express the haunting of almost unimaginable historical crimes, and the tragic shapes that vengeance for those crimes can take.

Book Review: 

A real act of terrorism in Sydney in the 1980s inspired Ashley Kalagian Blunt to write My Name is Revenge (a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award). Full review at Newtown Review of Books

The Lost Man, Jane Harper

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Lost Man
Author Name: 
Jane Harper
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781743549100
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Publisher: 
Pan MacMillan
Year of Publication: 
2018

The man lay still in the centre of a dusty grave under a monstrous sky.

Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland.

They are at the stockman's grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last chance for their middle brother, Cameron.

Book Review: 

I'm going to start this review in an odd way, by declaring that I didn't like Jane Harper's second book FORCE OF NATURE as much as I had been expecting to. Initially I thought this was because it read like an idea that Aaron Falk had been hammered into it later on, weakening the plot, motivations and sense of place to the point where they seemed to sort of float along to an inevitable ending. Having now finished Harper's third (non-Falk book) THE LOST MAN, the reasons are clearer.

Harper is at her best when she's writing about people at the absolute and utter edge and THE LOST MAN has edges everywhere. It might look like a novel about the death of the middle Bright brother Cameron, but it's more a story about people on the edge, existences eked out in harsh circumstances, constantly with an eye to the extremes - weather / distance / isolation; past mistakes that continue to haunt; family secrets and struggles; and questioning and probing and complicated lives.

The Bright family are custodians of a lot of secrets, and they deal with the fallout of a lot of mistakes. Three brothers - Nathan, Cameron and Bub are the product of their family circumstances, the isolation, the tensions from the past even before Cameron's body is found at the foot of the stockman's grave, a landmark that's old and small, but casts a long and dark shadow.

Oldest brother Nathan is separated from his wife, the daughter of a local station owner, and he misses his son Xander more than he can say. Nathan lives on his own property, abutting the family station, but Xander's return to spend Christmas is overshadowed by the death of Cameron. Cameron, his wife and daughters, live on the family property with the boy's mother, and the youngest brother Bub. Their father died many years ago in a car accident, but much like the stockman's grave, his presence looms over everything. There are secrets here - in the legend of the stockman, in the memory of the father, in the way Nathan has withdrawn from family and the local community, and in the death of Cameron that hang dark and heavy.

Harper has built a wonderful sense of place, and life into THE LOST MAN. From the self-sufficiency and stockpiling of a property so far from everywhere, to the planning that's involved behind every event and move, to the heat, and the isolation, which isn't as isolated as a casual observer might think. Strangers are noticed in these parts, strange goings on are noticed, cars seen where you wouldn't think they could be seen, events remembered, things noted. Even in a place so remote, the idea that Cameron would be found dead from exposure, so far from his car, a car that Nathan can't understand was missed by everyone, is odd, wrong, out of kilter.

As is the reason Cameron would be out there in the first place - he knew the rules / the warnings / how to survive in the bush. Something's wrong - and everybody seems to know just a little bit - their mother / Cameron's wife / his daughters / his brother Bub. Nathan might have withdrawn from the family a while ago but his spider sense is telling him something's wrong. But what?

And so it is that we return to Harper at her best when she's exploring edges. The edginess of the place, of the people and their existence is backed up by the edginess of this family, balanced so acutely it hurts to read about them. These people are real, this situation is real and in THE LOST MAN Harper has created another astounding work that perfectly evokes a complicated, heart-breaking, all-too-believable family tragedy.

Kill Shot, Garry Disher

Author Information
Book Title: 
Kill Shot
Author Name: 
Garry Disher
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781925773224
Series: 
Wyatt
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Publisher: 
Text Publishing
Year of Publication: 
2018

The latest gripping story in the popular Wyatt thriller series kicks off in Sydney and then unfolds on the beaches of Newcastle

Some people just work better alone. Wyatt’s one of them. He’s been getting by on nice quiet little burglaries—one-man jobs—when he gets wind of something bigger.

A corporate crook, notorious Ponzi schemer, set to face court and certain jail time. He’s about to skip bail the old-fashioned way: on a luxury yacht with a million dollars in cash.

Wyatt thinks it sounds like something he should get into.

He’s not alone.

Book Review: 

Plan for the best, expect the worst, note the exit points.

Good bit of general life advice this, although at the time Wyatt is standing, motionless, waiting for any signs his entry into the house he's about to rob has been noticed. Perhaps not a recommended scenario for the rest of us. Mind you, Wyatt doesn't get noticed that often, and even when people think they know who he is, pinning him down will always prove more difficult than they could possibly imagine. Even going home is an exercise in watching for Wyatt:

Still he waited, the night swollen with the sounds he was accustomed to. Another half-hour passed before he crossed the street and let himself in. He sat in an armchair for some time, thinking about the evening. He'd made no errors. There was nothing to improve on.

After all these years, you'd like to think that Wyatt has his act together. His constant vigilance, his care, precision and cautiousness, combined with a willingness to simply walk away at the slightest sign of interest in him is a well crafted routine. Which is just as well, because in KILL SHOT, there are a few people actively looking for him. 

He's not a complete loner, so he has weak points, vulnerabilities. It's his working relationship, veering towards friendship with Kramer, that makes him particularly vulnerable. Kramer is the man who passes potential heist targets onto him, arranges the fences, let's him know any intelligence that will help make sure that whatever the job, it's done quickly, quietly and most importantly anonymously. The personal is what makes him vulnerable though. In the past there was something, short and sweet with Kramer's daughter Phoebe, but now that Kramer is in jail, and Phoebe is caring for her disabled mother, Wyatt's role is to ensure that the proceeds of any joint jobs are trickle fed to the family. It's not perfect but the authorities haven't taken their eyes off the Kramer family and they would dearly like to track down the proceeds of crime that Wyatt has salted away for them. Pity that Kramer's son Josh is an idiot, who somehow manages to drop Wyatt's existence (and that of the money) into the ear of a very dodgy security guard - Lazar's security firm is going broke and a nice stash of cash is exactly what he'd like.

Meanwhile a Newcastle cop's instincts are working overtime and glimpses of an unknown, lean, precise, watchful bloke poking around where he shouldn't be are enough to ring some loud bells, even if every other cop working all the related jobs thinks that DS Greg Muecke is on a wild goose chase.

The Wyatt novels are predictable on many levels. Always there is the basic modus operandi of the man himself. The cautious, controlled, cold robber - the man who uses the money he makes to survive, never to enjoy. The lone-wolf character with a basic moral compass that may not match everyone else's, but it's there and extremely visible. The Wyatt novels are also wonderfully unpredictable on many levels. There are glimpses of loss, of regret and even a bit of longing in places. There are signs of humanity, the slightest hint of personal feelings. 

All of this is delivered in the classic pared down, matter of fact manner that's part of expectations that a reader is well within their rights to have when picking up the latest Wyatt novel. Garry Disher is one of the great writers that Australia has produced, and should be celebrating. His consummate skill in creating a character that's so wrong on so many levels and yet engaging, sympathetic and ... likeable is evident, and KILL SHOT delivers on the expected and unexpected in equal measure.


The Echo of Others, S.D. Rowell

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Echo of Others
Author Name: 
S.D. Rowell
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
B0776Q7BNS
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Year of Publication: 
2017

An outsider detective. The vigilante killer with a message. A cold case they both want solved.

From Amazon Bestseller S.D. Rowell comes a heart-pounding crime mystery that will keep you thinking until the final page… 

Book Review: 

Opening up with a duck hunting scene that will stay with readers for a while, THE ECHO OF OTHERS is a debut novel set in my part of the world - Central and parts of Western Victoria. There's a heap of potential here - from a good solid, cleverly structured plot; some excellent characters - including Detective Rachael Schlank who finds herself working on old cases, leading her back to her early days in Vic Police and a particular fellow officer who she worked with out of the main Bendigo police station.

The plot revolves around a series of what appears to be vigilante killings - the victims perpetrators of various forms of animal cruelty and exploitation. That aspect is handled well so there's nothing in here that will be too much for readers opposed to graphic descriptions or details. Schlank quickly suspects there's more connections than just geographical in the cold case death of two animal activists and the current spate of killings, as it leads her into some pretty dark places.

Alongside a strong plot, there's some excellent characterisations in THE ECHO OF OTHERS. Schlank is a good example of the dogged investigator type, surrounded by sexists, idiots and nasty types which isn't overplayed. The trope of the cold case unit's a good one to give both cases, potential suspects, and Schlank some background without having to laboriously hammer it into place, so pace is unaffected by background and build up, and everything moves forward constantly, pulling the reader further and further into the cases as the number of victims grow.

The author's bio mentions that S.D. Rowell is interested in the interplay between culture, morality and truth, explored in THE ECHO OF OTHERS. Can't disagree with any of that, THE ECHO OF OTHERS is an outstanding debut novel.

The Summertime Dead

Submitted by Karen on December 3, 2018 - 12:20pm
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Category: 
Crime Fiction

When a teenage girl and boy go missing from Mitchell everyone has a theory about what happened to them. Most in town think they’re runaways. Others suspect their families or marijuana growers as rumours and gossip abound in the orchards and farms of Victoria’s northern plains. But when the brutally murdered teenagers’ bodies are discovered in an isolated paddock a fortnight later, the town’s attention quickly turns to its itinerant, summertime population and to the dead girl’s boyfriend, Lee Furnell. 

ISBN: 
01HXMF4C6
Year of Publication: 
2016

Murder at Myall Creek, Mark Tedeschi

Author Information
Book Title: 
Murder at Myall Creek
Author Name: 
Mark Tedeschi
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781925456264
Categorisation
Category: 
True Crime
Sub Genre: 
Historical
Publisher: 
Simon & Schuster
Year of Publication: 
2016

One of the most shocking murder trials in Australia's legal history, and the tribulations of the man who conducted it

In 1838, eleven convicts and former convicts were put on trial for the brutal murder of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children at Myall Creek in New South Wales. The trial created an enormous amount of controversy because it was almost unknown for Europeans to be charged with the murder of Aborigines. It would become the most serious trial of mass murder in Australia’s history.

Book Review: 

Following on from Terry Smythe's Denny Day Mark Tedeschi QC picks up the story of the aftermath of the Myall Creek Massacre, concentrating on events and the participants around the trial of the perpetrators of the massacre of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children in 1838 in northern New South Wales.

The cover of the book refers to it as the "trial that defined a nation" and it's hard not to agree 100% with that statement. Whilst it could be said that the book concentrates considerably more on the outcomes and surrounding civil changes that occurred at the time of the trial - rather than the massacre itself - it's important to realise that out of the dreadful acts of eleven men, some good eventuated including modern-day civil rights, equality, religious freedoms and the secular state. That doesn't hold true, unfortunately, for recognition of the lives lost in the massacre itself and we should never forget that or them.

The circumstances and events surrounding this massacre are utterly appalling. These killers behaved appallingly. Their crimes were beyond appalling and we should all be aware of what they did, and the manner in which they did it. We should also remember that this trial came at a time when it was virtually unknown for Europeans to be charged with any crimes against Aboriginal people. As a consequence, some small amount of justice was achieved. Awareness was raised, and good people were able to stand up for what is right.

At the heart of these people is a most fascinating man I'd never heard of. The Attorney General of New South Wales at the time - John Hubert Plunkett is a study all to himself, a religious man who believed fervently in the separation of church and State; the provision of secular education; the provision of health care to all regardless of religious background; equality before the law; emancipation; and fair and decent treatment of all people regardless of their backgrounds. 

The fact that Plunkett persisted with two trials of the alleged murderers is a relief. What he also did for the society in which we now live is worth knowing. 

Man at the Window, Robert Jeffreys

Author Information
Book Title: 
Man at the Window
Author Name: 
Robert Jeffreys
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781760683306
Series: 
Detective Cardilini
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Historical
Police Procedural
Location: 
Western Australia
Publisher: 
Echo Publishing
Year of Publication: 
2018

An atmospheric crime novel with a burning moral dilemma at its heart.

When a boarding master at an exclusive boys’ school is shot dead, it is deemed accidental. A lazy and usually drunk detective is sent to write up the report. Cardilini unexpectedly does not cooperate, as he becomes riled by the privileged arrogance of those at the school. He used to have instincts. Perhaps he should follow them now…

Book Review: 

There's something very satisfying about the emergence of a new crime series set in Australia - this time 1960's Perth. This one includes a hat tip to a number of the older stylised detectives of popular TV series in that Detective Cardilini's is portrayed as, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit of a grumpy old sod. He's got a reputation for being lazy and a drunk; and a recently deceased wife and a young adult son that he doesn't get on with (and who doesn't have much time for his father). This makes for a life that feels more stalled than lived, mostly via self-inflicted causes, which makes him a bit of a tricky character to deal with.

There's something there in the early stages of this investigation that will spark a reader's interest (and a titchy tiny bit of sympathy or connection), when it is quickly obvious that the reason he's been assigned to the shooting murder of a posh private school master is more to do with an urgent need for a quick determination of accident and some immediate sweeping of issues under the carpet. Something about this haste, and pre-supposition on the part of everyone from the hierarchy of the police, through to the school itself, gets right up Cardilini's nose. What starts out as a bit of stubbornness on his part, quickly turns to suspicion that there is nothing accidental about this shooting at all. Complicated by a suggestion that his support for the official accident line will result in a small indiscretion on the part of his son being ignored, allowing him to enter the Police College and finally get some direction in his life.

To get to the solution Cardilini has to step on a lot of toes - his bosses, the school, parents, current and past students, and he risks his son's future into the bargain. At some stage he's also got to give up drinking and get control of his personal life. 

In the initial stages of THE MAN AT THE WINDOW there's a bit of an issue with balance where the general gloom of Cardilini and his personal circumstances make him hard work to get to know. But there's an intriguing idea at the core of this plot with the supposed accidental shooting of the school master, commented on via the voice of a young boy, obviously a victim of an ongoing sexual abuse crime at the core of the school's cover-up. The fact that it takes so long for somebody to twig that this is the likely cause of some odd behaviour is probably indicative of the timeframe of the novel - it's hard to remember what's almost a default conclusion for us these days, was possibly less front of brain in the 60's. 

There is a tendency for some plot elements to drag a bit in parts in THE MAN AT THE WINDOW, but stick with it. This is, after all clearly telegraphed as the start of a new series and there's more than enough potential to let any slight quibbles in the opening foray roll.

Villain, Edward Berridge

Author Information
Book Title: 
Villian
Author Name: 
Edward Berridge
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9780648092049
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Publisher: 
Best Independent
Year of Publication: 
2017

“I was aware of the weight of Spoole’s head, clutched against my stomach. I hadn’t thought of a head being something that was heavy to carry. Another new thing learned.”

Book Review: 

One reader's darkly comic domestic noir is another reader's vegan sausage. Which is a really bad way of saying I just didn't get VILLIAN. Not for a moment, and try as I might I'm not even sure I can explain it adequately. 

At the core it's a very "current day" idea - what would drive an ordinary person to kill? Injustice? Revenge? Notoriety? Heartbreak? Post separation anxiety? Whole desperate experience of internet dating? Clickbait headlines? For Alistair, it could be all of those things, piled on top of each other. Good questions all of them - we could probably add everyone constantly being outraged about everything. Surely that's got to be part of the reason why somebody is (or has already) flipping out and doing appalling things. 

It's also an interesting idea to make Alistair... well an utter twat. Appalling man. Awful. The kind of dickhead who thinks value judgements on women's looks are his right - but then casual misogny and appalling over-confidence in own worth isn't an unknown combination these days - in fact as the judgement against those sorts of blokes get more strident they seem to be wearing their dickheadery with increasing pride.

Somehow though the whole thing didn't quite jell for this reader. Alistair was flat out awful to the point where I didn't want to spend a nano-second's time with him - not that I had a reaction to or for him / just flat out couldn't care less. Don't want to think about him, don't particularly care one way or the other what made him do what to whom. Just want him out of my life and out of my thoughts.

Which made everything he did a bit... bleagh. Of course he's a misogynistic twat. Of course he's an appalling father, an awful ex-husband, a self-involved dickhead with no redeeming features. I so struggled with care factor I just couldn't retain much at all. In the end, my final review note on the final page of my copy summed it up I guess "bored / bored / bored / bored / what was all that about...?".

Still can't answer that final question - which is why it's been quite a while between reading the book and writing this review. Don't take my word for it, if anything in the blurb appeals, have a go at the book yourself and see if I've just flat out missed the point.

Live and Let Fry, Sue Williams

Author Information
Book Title: 
Live and Let Fry
Author Name: 
Sue Williams
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781925603514
Series: 
Cass Tuplin
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Location: 
Rural Australia
Publisher: 
Text Publishing
Year of Publication: 
2018

For Cass Tuplin, proprietor of the Rusty Bore Takeaway (and definitely not an unlicensed private investigator), it’s weird enough that her neighbour Vern has somehow acquired a lady friend. But then he asks Cass to look into the case of the dead rats someone’s dumped on Joanne’s doorstep.

She’s barely started when Joanne goes missing, leaving hints of an unsavoury past. Then a private investigator from Melbourne turns up asking questions about Joanne’s involvement in a fatal house fire—and before you can say ‘unauthorised investigation’ Cass is back on the case. 

Book Review: 

There are times in life when you just need something frivolous, fun and slightly tongue in cheek. Australian readers are lucky to have the Cass Tuplin series from Sue Williams to fulfil that need.

The tongue in cheek bit is the important thing to remember when it comes to Cass Tuplin books - from the titles: MURDER WITH THE LOT / DEAD MEN DON'T ORDER FLAKE and now LIVE AND LET FRY you can kind of gather there's a good old-style fish and chip shop somewhere in the mix here. In this case in the fictional Victorian Mallee town of Rusty Bore, just down the road from Hustle, not far from Sheep Dip, and a few hours straight road travelling through Ouyen to Mildura. Some of us have probably taken an educated guess at the likely inspiration and one or two of us may have actually ordered a minimum chips in such a locale. Cass Tuplin is most definitely not a licensed investigator, she's a good neighbour, an inveterate sticky-nose with a sideline in caring about people, mother of two sons (one uptight cop / one laid back environmentalist) and she's most definitely not cut from the same cloth as a well-known ex-proprietor of a similar establishment from Queensland.

You expect with a Cass Tuplin book that you're going to get a hefty dose of daft fun and it's served up neatly wrapped in butchers paper in LIVE AND LET FRY. It would help a lot if you've read the two earlier books as the cast of eccentric locals is important, and their back stories interwined to the point of knotted. You might want to take a seat for a minute as this is going to get complicated but Vern (who runs the convenience store in Rusy Bore, is Cass's closest neighbour, once was suitor, now besotted with the new woman in Sheep Dip, who has opened a bookshop in an old church (why nobody can quite fathom)), wants Cass to help get to the bottom of odd phone calls and dumped mutilated rats on his Joanne's doorstep. Which leads Cass via Sheep Dip and a tattooed hitman, to a private detective named Mel, a property developer and his chauffeur/helicopter pilot, a missing pump leading to lost love, Mildura based environmental consultants, a dead bloke in a house fire, a dead woman in a river, a casino and harbour development, some odd photographs, a residence attached to a fish and chip shop filled with ferrets (not good for Health and Safety), her policeman son's marriage collapsing, his complicit boss, a long-distance love affair in trouble, a hefty belt over the head in a toilet block in Ouyen, a bus crash in Bolivia and a paddle steamer. And some solid connections between them all. I kid you not, and all in pretty rapid succession so you'd better be paying attention.

Needless to say madcap, fast paced, silly and fun. All delivered in Cass's own personal style which is a sort of combination caring, blithely unaware, manipulative, helpful, blundering, clever, self-deprecating, self-aware and blissfully unself-aware. Simultaneously.

This is one of those series that has developed into something delightfully entertaining, Cass's tone and style have matured into just the right level of personal daft, and the eccentricities are nicely balanced against a plot that's actually quite believable. Definitely one for fans of something that will make them laugh, and for those of us who live around the same locale, one that will make you wonder whether or not this author has been doing some ear-wigging around the local fish and chip shop.