Pantera Press

Interesting premise this. Take a devastating hit, albeit targeted, in the name of radical environmentalism to engineer a change for the good of the planet. Use sleeper agents who have worked their way into positions of influence and power over many years. Make it even more devastating by having the strikes occur in quick succession, stretching authorities to the limit. Make the targets as varied and unpredictable as possible.

Because of the huge range of incidents the authorities are scrambling just to deal with the fallout, the connections aren't that easy to see to start off with. At the centre of it all is Dr Tori Swyft, ex-CIA member, Australian surfer girl, who, at university, briefly belonged to the group of sleeper agents - 9S. Lead by a most unexpected character, the group has spread out across all sorts of industries, cultures and backgrounds. These committed individuals, once inculcated to the cause, never contact each other again. It's really only Swyft that can work out the connections as the attacks build. Very fast train pileups, a code change in management software for nuclear reactors (okay so I had a bit of trouble swallowing the open source / nobody noticed bit of this one), a financial crisis instigated by within a bank (not so hard to picture), biohazards, and potential shipping disasters.

Swyft, now working for another secretive organisation involved in engineering major corporate outcomes for its clients, was in the middle of a major political / corporate coup when she is forced to walk away to discover where the trojan in her nuclear reactor code came from. This organisation and it's eccentric leader provide her with the resources, tools, and support she needs to find the connections, to go head to head with the sleeper agents, and stop the threat.

So we're obviously talking a very big threat scenario, with a lot of action happening all at once. There's also a big corporate feel to the anti-sleeper effort with private planes, fabulous yachts, high-tech gadgetry and much charging about in helicopters. A lot of the analysis, identification and outcomes that Swyft pulls off rely very heavily on the use of some very high-tech gadgetry. It's a testament to the pacing of the story that at no stage do you feel any desire to scratch a few estimates on the back of an envelope and do a spot of cost accounting - it's all very wild and cutting edge stuff yet it's compelling.

For something quite this "out there", there is a sneaking sense of possibility, which is always a very good thing in a thriller of this kind. After all, sleeper spy agents are absolutely nothing new in the world of espionage. It's not that hard to imagine that the most trusted in corporate, financial and government circles could be a plant. With an agenda that's set by convictions deeply held. Fortunately THE TRUSTED is probably fiction. At least you'd hope so.

When I was a little girl my grandmother always used to say to me ... you'll understand the generation gap when you get to my age. Frankly I thought she was barking, so if she was alive now I would be apologising furiously for the scepticism. And it's not just that modern music has no lyrics and all sounds the same these days ;), it's increasingly becoming the occasional book that makes me realise that I may not necessarily "get" what's going on with the younger generations.

Of course that feeling's not helped by the premise of CHASING THE SUN. "A twisted tale about Feng Shui, vampires, drinking, pet psychiatry, genocide, belief and mortality". But hey, I've read vampire novels recently that I liked - why not this one?

I have to say CHASING THE SUN did not start out well. Whilst I realise that the voice was probably very authentic, that low level, disengaged, not bothered sort of style drove me utterly and completely nuts. It was just too cool to sweat, which I know is realistic, but would you buy a give a damn card please. I also realise that to get these books you have to accept that vampires live amongst us, hanging out at nightclubs, picking up mostly women, using abusing and casually discarding bodies... but don't get me started on the morgue attendant side of things. What I don't quite get about CHASING THE SUN is the level of disengagement from the acts exhibited.

To my mind reading fiction is entertaining, enlightening, informative, amusing, life-changing or just flat out good old time wasting in the very best sense of the words - a chance to escape and disappear into better, interesting or different worlds. But it has to be engaging, believable and preferably not overtly manipulative or derivative. With CHASING THE SUN I absolutely got that the voice wasn't one I would find all that engaging, and the whole premise wasn't believable which should have been okay. I was happy that our central character at some stage did meet a young child and her mother, and undergo some sort of transformation, and yet, somehow the whole package was creepy, convenient, and way too disconnected for my liking.

Part of that was undoubtedly the lack of engagement with cause and effect. Given that most of my reading choices are at the darker end of the Crime Fiction spectrum there's nothing new in violence, victim exploitation or killer disconnection. But in good examples there is something else - there's an attempt at explanation, analysis or understanding, there's justice or retribution if you're into that sort of thing. There's even resolution in some cases. But the level of disengagement, the total and absolute lack of empathy and emotional maturity alongside the nothingness of the outcome ... was too simplistic, too dismissive, almost too easy a way out.

I can see that there's a real attempt at humour at the base of the storyline of this book, but try as I might I couldn't find it funny. The central character wasn't somebody I ever warmed to, and whilst I don't want to approve of every character in a book - in this one I never even got a glimmer of understanding or acceptance. For some reason something about CHASING THE SUN just creeped me out and I suspect that had a lot to do with what seemed like a real life current problem. Lack of empathy, lack of engagement, lack of consequences. It might be that this a book for a different generation, or for more welded-on fans of the uber-cool urban vampire thing.

BLACKWATER MOON is the second book from Australian author B. Michael Radburn, although this has more of a crime fiction / thriller focus. Atmospheric, emotional, poignant and tightly controlled, both books from Radburn mark him out as an author to be watched.

The story is built around Andy Walker, a young boy, in a small Australian country town who starts out in life with challenges. An alcoholic and abusive father, a mother who eventually throws in the towel and takes up drinking to kill the pain, Walker is lucky enough to meet a man who teaches him to row, who acts as a mentor. Alas, another adult that Andy meets on his journey is another damaged human being, a man all too willing to give in to his own demons.

This is not the first book I've read recently that uses a small town / young boy / war intervention theme, although it is set more recently, and the war involved is the Vietnam conflict. Both these books have, at their core, a strong sense of loss, of struggle, and of the potential outcome of background and circumstance. BLACKWATER MOON also includes that idea of a mentor, of the one person that can step into a young boy's life and make a difference which adds a level of hope, the possibility of a positive in a life which is set reeling by the actions of others. Then there's the character of Andy Walker. A young boy from a difficult background, in danger of being shaped by a dreadful experience, beaten down again and again by events, timing and things outside his control - Walker struggles to build a life. But there's more to the book than that, the story is also looking into the eyes and mind of a damaged man. A man who acted with impunity, seemingly unseen by a small community, a man who has made starkly different choices.

The tension in BLACKWATER MOON is multi-level - an external threat, the "Game" and its perpetrator, the internal threat of what life has done to Andy Walker. There's some fascinating observations of what it must be to be a victim, to succumb to the terror, or find a way to deal with it, go on, live a life.

Needless to say, BLACKWATER MOON is clever. It's sad, uplifting, poignant, worrying, touching and provides more than a little insight into life, love and the whole damn thing. Sure the ending is a bit sentimental, but by that stage the characters and the reader have been in the wars. A bit of schmaltz is exactly what a lot of readers are going to need by then.

The reader of my reviews will know I've become a bit of a fan of the Rowland Sinclair series (which is quite surprising for somebody who normally prefers to lurk deep on the dark side), so PAVING THE NEW ROAD was a welcome arrival. Basing the story in 1933, sending Sinclair and his companions to Germany all sounded rather interesting. Although I will confess that one of my pet peeves - the inclusion of high profile real-life figures in fiction - made me somewhat nervous. Having said that, if you're going to include a real-life figure, then why not somebody famous for being around somebody really famous (as opposed to the really famous person themselves)... If that seems to be ridiculously coy, then my apologies, but sometimes avoiding spoilers in reviews requires Herculean effort.

Given this is now the 4th Sinclair book, I'll leave out mentioning who Rowland Sinclair and his group of companions are and how they came to be. As with all of the series, you could read them on their own, but you really would be better off to go back to the start if you need to, as the background to these characters is part of their attraction.

This book, in particular, is littered with real-life references that are very recognisable. From Charles Kingsford-Smith providing transport for Sinclair's group to Europe, Adolph Hitler (although he's more referred to, as opposed to incorporated into the story), through Eric Campbell himself (who I was somewhat surprised to find died as recently as 1970 in Canberra), there's a smattering of other names throughout the book that are instantly going to give this story some very firm grounding in a time, and a society, that had such a massive impact on the rest of the world in the years that followed.

There is quite a leap of allegiance in this book as Sinclair reluctantly heads to Germany on a commission from old enemies, although the leap is nicely explained, and given some lovely light touches as Sinclair's friends, masquerading as art dealers, manage to take their revenge with some rather eccentric purchases. What's also very well done is the weaving together of Sinclair's role in Germany - essentially as that of spy - with the solving of the death of the man in whose footsteps he is following. Granted the spying aspects of the plot take up a lot more time than the investigation, but that wasn't in any way unsatisfying or annoying. There's also a very strong sense of the place - 1933 Germany is a worrying place to be in this book - the build up of Nazi fanaticism is stark and frightening, not just because we read about it knowing the ultimate outcome.

Part of the attraction of this series is the combination of historical facts, with a great ongoing cast of characters, all handled with great aplomb by a master storyteller. Who must be good at what she does - littered with references to dresses and clothes, incorporating a pet peeve of this reader, and a combined spy thriller and crime investigation - and I still thoroughly enjoyed PAVING THE NEW ROAD.

Not sure what's weirder, talking to fictional characters, or the feeling that you actually know those fictional characters...  Either way, you have to think it's quite a feat for a writer to get you to the stage where you're more than happy to regard her characters as real people. MILES OFF COURSE is now the third book from Sulari Gentill featuring Rowland Sinclair and his band of supporters - Edna, Milton and Clyde and that feeling of connection, of reality and authenticity continues ... in spades.  

The connection is probably helped by the way that Gentill sets her characters and her stories in differing, and frequently real settings.  Whilst MILES OFF COURSE starts out at the luxury Hydro Majestic Hotel and spa, it ends up deep in the High Country, often in significantly less luxurious circumstances, although one property owner's pride in the running water and other mod cons was particularly illustrative of the difference in times (this book is set in 1933 after all).  But the move to the High Country and the Tumut valley in particular comes as Rowly's brother Wilfred despatches him in search of their missing foreman, Wiradjuri man Harry Simpson, a long time and much trusted employee of the Sinclair family who has disappeared in highly unsatisfactory circumstances.  As Rowly, and his entourage move into this environment, it's very obvious that we're in a part of the world that the author knows and loves.  The sense of place becomes almost palpable and there's a real feeling for how the High Country looks, feels and grows into and around the story.

I have been a fan of these books since the first one was released, but intriguingly in MILES OFF COURSE I think I see a little deepening of character, a few glimpses of, maybe not so much internal crisis, as conflicts.  Not surprising really as Gentill's light touch with the storytelling should not be misread as light-weight.  Whilst there is humour and a certain insouciance that seems to fit with the born to wealth and privilege background of Rowly, there were points at which something deeper revealed.  Whether it was the internal bored playboy peeking out from under the mantle of social conscience, or whether it was deeper, private passions more starkly drawn, Rowly is not everything he seems.  Nor is his brother Wilfred quite the stuffed shirt he seems; Milton as shallow; Edna as assured or Clyde as confident about his choices in life.

Given that this is now the third book in the series, to be honest I can't make a definitive statement about whether or not you would be better to read the earlier ones first.  Whilst there is ongoing character development, and you will get more from the series understanding the relationships between Rowly and his family, and his entourage the books would work on their own.  But if you haven't read the earlier books in the series, you really should.  Gentill's combination of factual events and places, built around the fictional undertakings of her cast of characters help to give the books a fantastic grounding, and a firm sense of place.  Done, mind you, with the lightest of touches, and with the flair of a real storyteller, the books "feel" right and real and authentic, the stories are fast paced, nuanced, often funny, frequently insightful and just flat out darned good yarns.