Penguin

Whilst it's not particularly unusual to have a flawed central protagonist, unapologetic ones are less common. Add being female, and that makes IN HER BLOOD's Catherine Berlin a rather rare beast, and a very welcome one.

Set in London after the Global Financial meltdown, Berlin is a government investigator who receives a tip-off about a local loan shark, then finds her informant floating in the Limehouse Basin, brutally killed. The first complication is that her female informant has been anonymous, and even the police seem to have trouble identifying her. The second complication is at the same time a notorious doctor is murdered and the pharmaceutical heroin he provided on prescription to registered addicts stolen. Leaving Berlin with the third complication of only finding a very limited temporary source, and the final, really big complication of sorting out a permanent alternative supply.

Berlin is a registered heroin addict, completely opposed to more mainstream treatment options, including methadone, she's an addict who had some measure of control over her addiction... as long as her doctor was alive.

Hence the flawed, unapologetic protagonist. Berlin (she doesn't use Catherine) is completely aware of her addiction and firmly of the opinion that she has it under control. Which makes the sudden inaccessibility of the ongoing medical supply a rather interesting problem for her. Hauxwell has pulled off a balancing act - on one hand you can see that it's not going to take much of a push for Berlin's life to spiral out of control, and at the same time you can see she's not going to let that push happen without one hell of a fight.

Illustrating the limited supply of heroin, the story is divided into "The First Day", "The Second Day" and so on covering the 5 days of supply that Berlin has. Before it runs out, she has to do something about her own life, and whilst she's aware of that, and thinking of her options, her desire to know who her informant was and solve the murders is also pressing - not least because some of her investigative choices are very compromised by the overriding addiction. These suspect choices provide a very interesting insight into the all-consuming nature of addiction, no matter how much somebody thinks they have it under control. There is quite a bit of that teetering on the edge going on for all the characters - Berlin, her bosses and workmates, the cops, the crooks. Really just about the entire cast have choices to make be they conscious or unconscious.

Early on there was some confusion about the involvement of an independent investigator right in the heart of a series of murder enquiries, but the writing was so sharp, and the way that the plot wove the world of drug addiction and rehabilitation, cops and crooks, high-finance and loan-sharking together was clever and very realistic. But really, the best aspects of IN HER BLOOD was Catherine Berlin who is a surprisingly sympathetic, unapologetic, flawed protagonist.

The problem I had with an earlier book of Honey Brown's was that whilst the thriller aspects of the book really worked, I was less convinced by the post-apocalyptic scenario and the happy ever after ending. AFTER THE DARKNESS solved those personal prejudices, and presented me with a thriller that worked on just about every level.  

I just love thrillers that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, that present a scenario that's unexpected, quietly disconcerting and extremely worrying. Particularly where the tension ramps up, the outcome's not immediately apparent, and the resolution ambiguous. AFTER THE DARKNESS takes a pretty normal married couple, successful in their business, happy in their family life and their love and relationship together, and in one seemingly innocent outing, rips that into little tiny itty bitty shreds. It then takes these two traumatised individuals, Bruce and Trudy Harrison, and makes everything a whole lot worse.

Whilst the ramp up is nicely paced, what really works in AFTER THE DARKNESS is the realness of the whole thing. Of course a holidaying couple would take a short bypass to an art gallery on the road back home. Of course they would fail to recognise the menace until it was too late (not everyone goes around expecting the worst after all!). Of course they would do whatever it took to save each other. Of course they would struggle to talk about the shocking situation they found themselves in afterwards. Of course they would react when the threat continues, and of course they would do what ever it takes when the threat gets too close to home.

All of which adds up to one of those much touted, and often not achieved, "unputdownable book". But AFTER THE DARKNESS truly was very difficult to put down. The writing is taut and subtle, the tension is built within the reader's head, as it builds in the characters lives. There are clever differences in the plot which give Brown options to explore the couple's individual and combined reactions and relationships giving the book a refreshingly different outlook. The characterisations aren't stereotypical - Bruce and Trudy may be a married couple, but their roles and reactions aren't limited by their gender and standard expectation. There's cross-over and ambiguity in their reactions, actions, and responsibilities. It's that realness thing again - they seem like very real people, in a very real scenario that's spiralling rapidly.

It's actually not that often that I find myself immersed in a book that I truly can't put down. Not only was AFTER THE DARKNESS one of the best thrillers of it's kind I've read in a long time, it gave me a chance to work long and hard on some good "can't sorry... reading" excuses.

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 Mario Schembri - were angry at his duplicity.  

Mr Rockefeller had a history of trawling for sex with strangers that went back at least a decade.  He frequently advertised in a range of speciality magazines, using a number of different names, and where he was targeting swingers, with photographs of him engaged in sex with an unknown woman, believed to be a prostitute.  Denny and Schembri encountered Rockefeller through these advertisements, making their own attempts to join the swinger scene.  The frustration that lead to Rockefeller's death arose from his failure to produce a female partner, instead using Denny for his own sexual gratification only.  The police also discovered that this supposedly upright, loving family-man, church goer and pillar of his local community had also kept a mistress, the woman who eventually helped police look in the right direction - along with a hidden stash of mobile telephones, multiple post office boxes, and the many many advertisements he had placed in sex magazines, as well as a particular technical feature of his abandoned car.

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF HERMAN ROCKEFELLER does a particularly good job at sensitively and carefully outlining the effects that this murder, and the particularly gruesome way that this remains were disposed of, had on his family and community.  It looks carefully at the backgrounds of Denny and Schembri, and it also looks at what is known about Rockefeller.  At the end, the book extrapolates on a theory of why a man, worth somewhere in the vicinity of $14.6 million at his death, took such an extreme path to achieve sexual gratification when it would seem that there were plenty of other options open to him.  

The sobering aspect of the book for this reader is that it was possible to feel great sympathy for Rockefeller's family, it was even possible to feel some sympathy for Denny and Schembri.  Rockefeller, on the other hand, was less approachable, more shadowy, complicit in his own demise.  This is possibly because his behaviour was so extreme, and frankly, predatory, but it was also obviously because he has no opportunity to explain the sordid and inexplicable.  

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF HERMAN ROCKEFELLER is a discomforting book, about a disconcerting case, but it doesn't feel exploitative or sensational.  It's very measured in tone, tells as much as it can about all the main participants and does something that really good true crime writing should.  It allows the reader to understand what happened, and where known, why.  What everyone involved was thinking... well that's considerably less clear.

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 more of a thriller.  To my uneducated mind, there didn't seem a lot of horror about RED QUEEN, but it certainly fits the thriller criteria.  Set in the Australian bush, brothers Shannon and Rohan are hiding out from the effects of the virus, holed up in the ultimate survivalist paradise, set up originally by their parents, both of whom have died from the very virus the brothers are trying to avoid.  They stay constantly on guard, despite which, their defences are breeched by a smart young woman who initially steals food from the cabin during the night, eventually revealing herself and asking for their help and shelter.

Once Denny arrives on the scene it's hard to avoid a sense of inevitability about the relationships.  Shannon is the more sensitive, gentle brother - and he takes on the "good cop" role very quickly.  Rohan is more mistrusting, taking the "bad cop" role with aplomb, right down to being the brother that Denny turns to for sexual gratification.  What saves that entire scenario is the clever and subtle way that the conflict between the brothers is handled.  The sexual rivalry fits into a general feeling of distrust, tension and rivalry as rules of the house are stretched, and the ever present threat from the outside world hangs heavily over all three characters.  There is also the increasing pressure of if, and how, they can remain self-sufficient with every day that passes.

There is something very atmospheric about RED QUEEN, and the writing is clever.  Whilst it's very descriptive, and extremely evocative it's also elegant, pared down, and without padding.  Still, you can feel the tension in the air, see the glowering looks and the sideways glances.  The bush and environs of the cabin come to life, even the weather feels real and very immediate.  RED QUEEN is assured storytelling, clever and extremely surprising.  Especially as it kept this reader involved despite some predictable plot lines, overt characterisations and the sort of happy-ever-after ending that always leaves me feeling decidedly queasy. 

Detective Sam Shephard is back, promoted (no longer a Detective Constable), working in the same squad as boyfriend Paul and still in head on confrontation with the boss, and slightly off centre confrontation with her mother.  Which is particularly difficult as in BOUND Sam's much loved father is dying, just as the case of a brutal home invasion takes most of Sam's attention and energy.

There are some absolute givens in the Sam Shephard series.  There's going to be an opening to the book which should have the reader paying attention.  Sam is going to be part energiser bunny, part her own worst critic. Whilst the focus of the books remains on Sam, as the narrator of the action, there's always a good supporting cast, and there's invariably an unusual and somehow quintessentially small town plot.  In this case, after a violent home invasion in which a man is shot dead in front of his wife, Sam is initially given the job of liaison with and supporting the wife, who was injured in the attack.  It's a difficult enough job for somebody who has the sort of mind that doesn't rest and isn't particularly comfortable dealing with raw and very exposed grief and personal retribution - particularly as the couple's teenage son arrived home to find the carnage inflicted on his family.

The complication in this book is that all the while that Sam is working this case, which is, after all a family being forced apart, she has her own family problems with her father succumbing rapidly to cancer.  Sam's own relationship with her mother has always been complicated, but the rawness of the grief and suffering of her father makes that relationship even more a minefield, and it's clear that Sam's increasing desire to get more and more into the details of the home invasion case are partially as a way of avoiding the constant confrontation.  There's also more turmoil in Sam's personal life that she has to deal with.

Sam is undoubtedly one of my favourite fictional characters.  I really like the way that her internal dialogue runs, I like the way she is her most strident critic, and I love the way she's always prepared to leap in where wiser heads might prefer not to tread.  I really really liked the way that in BOUND she finally stands up to her bullying boss, I thought the way that she tiptoed around her relationship difficulties with her mother was beautifully done.

BOUND is, however, probably not my favourite book of this series, and it took me quite a while to work out why.  I suspect it's a combination of a few things.  Firstly, this time there was a considerably more predictable plot and an extremely predictable personal complication.  To be fair though, the who and the why of the plot weren't that hard to pick, so having the how of the various threads less obvious did compensate.  Secondly, a decidedly lesser showing of Sam's wonderful housemate and voice of reason Maggie didn't help, undoubtedly because she's such a great character but mostly because she works very well as a foil for Sam's more angst-ridden internal monologues.  Finally it's also that the mostly personal twists at the end of the book again weren't that hard to pick, and in one case, there was a sort of coyness that seemed a step too far for Sam's personality type.

All of this simply means that out of the entire Sam Shephard series, BOUND wasn't my absolute favourite book.  They are, however, one of my all time favourite series, so despite promises to myself that I'd be hoarding this book until the next was on the way (I believe Symons is working on a stand-alone next up), I've now read it and I'm back in that desperately sad situation of waiting impatiently for the next book.  Things could get really desperate .... may have to re-read the series from scratch!

Okay, so I'm a more than a bit of a fan of Caro Ramsay for a lot of reasons.  DARK WATER is her third book, featuring a number of ongoing characters, but somehow there's not quite a feeling of a series about these.  If you've not read ABSOLUTION, the first book, that will probably sound a bit odd - but let's just say at the end of that book something I've always thought of as quite brave from an author happens.  The second book SINGING TO THE DEAD has to move on as a result, and again here, we've got a slight switch in the pairings, the characters and the goings on in this book.

We are talking Tartan Noir here - so there is the obligatory setting of dense fog, cold and a series of violent deaths that seem to have all the markings of a serial killer.  There's also a former beauty queen, her mentally ill sister, a rather attractive photographer and his well dodgy assistant and a healthy sprinkling of odd types hanging around the edges.  Adding to the obligatory list is the team being stuffed around by their bosses and all, some romantic tension in the ranks, a rookie who is prepared ot push the boundaries and the required tension within any well functioning police team.

Sounds all very predictable doesn't it.  Luckily in Ramsay's hands there's an edge, a certain something that makes the basic elements of a Tartan Noir police procedural just that little bit better than you'd think.  When I say I'm a bit of a fan - I'm talking a very very big bit.

CONTAINMENT is the third in the Sam Shephard series from New Zealand writer Vanda Symon.  It's rapidly stepped up to be one of my all time favourite series for a whole bunch of reasons.

Firstly these are truly humorous books.  Subtly, ever so slightly tongue in cheek, the humour is both self-deprecating and tension alleviating.  My favourite sort.  Sam's voice is particularly appealing - as she busily beats herself up mentally, leaving the physical assault to the scavengers on the beach in the case of CONTAINMENT.  As mentioned in earlier reviews - because the books are told from Sam's point of view, her self-deprecation and self-analysis is part of what alleviates any sense of myopia or self-servitude that can sometimes occur with that viewpoint.

Secondly they are solid, believable, twisty and nicely complex plots.  They are particularly believable and realistic in the setting in which the action takes place.  Symon's small town or country New Zealand is a place where the crimes, the perpetrators, the cops and the victims all fit perfectly.  Often the action starts out small-time and stays that way, in other cases things escalate rapidly, frequently slightly out of control and mostly inexplicably until everything just explodes around the cops and perpetrators ears!   

Lastly, but not least of all, there are great characters in these books.  The stand out is obviously Sam Shephard herself.  The country cop who has moved to the bigger city, but not lost that practical, self-deprecating, country sensibility.  Her awareness (and willingness to beat herself up) for her shortcomings, her understanding and forgiveness and care for those who surround her is .. here's those words again .. realistic and believable.  Sam is definitely the sort of cop that you can well imagine running into at a crime scene, at the pub, in a hospital bed.  Because she is a little accident prone.  Mostly because of enthusiasm and concern for the job, partially because of a stubborn refusal to think things through totally, Sam spends more than a bit of time in her own physical or mental wars.  Just to add to the mix, the course of true love gets smacked around the head pretty regularly by Sam, and the bosom of her loving family has it's own twists and turns.

Whilst Sam is definitely the star of her own show in these books, the supporting cast isn't one dimensional or off-camera.  Her interactions with the other cops in her team, her boss, her parents, cop boyfriend and best friend Maggie are very good.  Particularly her relationship with friend, flatmate and voice of reason Maggie.  It's actually a fantastic element of these books - to have a strong, supportive and brutally honest relationship between two women drawn so clearly is a relatively rare occurrence, and it's done extremely well in these books - although Maggie is possibly slightly less present in CONTAINMENT than I recall her in the earlier books.

For all the gushing of this review, these books aren't just light-hearted entertainment.  There are often elements in the plots which are unexpected, unpleasant even - characters that are expendable, deaths that are confrontational or emotional.  The light-hearted touch of Symon doesn't conceal the reality of criminal activity, murder or mayhem.  It just makes the lesson slightly more palatable.