Paranormal

THE PRICE OF FAME is firstly RC Daniells' first crime fiction book (she writes fantasy under her fullname Rowena Cory Daniells), albeit with a hefty paranormal subtext. It's also, by way of disclaimer, a book that Clan Destine Press publishes, although I had absolutely nothing to do with either the editorial or business decisions behind the book. Thirdly, it wasn't a book that I was particularly clamouring to read, what with being mildly allergic to anything paranormal.

To be fair though, THE PRICE OF FAME, doesn't start out really pushing the paranormal aspects. Sure there are increasingly odd goings on, and not just moving shaving kits, a cat that appears out of nowhere, water droplets that won't go away, strange feelings and odd dreams. There's also a lot of reality going on as well - Antonia is battling against the remaining band members and a lot of vested interests. She's also battling a creepy ex-husband, and a very present day attraction to old friend, and "Director of Photography", Monty. In all, Antonia is a very real person, with a very approachable voice.

There are a couple of clever aspects to the way that the plot unfolds. The current day story is told mostly from Antonia's point of view, whilst the historical story, from the time when the band was rising and Genevieve's death, is told via snippets of a book being written by a witness, and friend of the main suspect. It's a rather clever technique as not only does it break up the viewpoint, it also means that Antonia and Monty are finding out what went on, at the same time as the reader.

The way that St Kilda worked in the 80's, the trials of a band trying to find its way to popularity and fame, the very nature of punk rock, all come across as very realistic and very believable. The paranormal aspects, for a large part of the story are subdued and almost believable, although I will admit that whilst I got the pathos of the ending, I could have lived without the pyrotechnics. To my mind, fans of stock standard, straight crime fiction would be able to stay with this story, because the basic premise is strong and really well done. In fact I finished THE PRICE OF FAME hoping that Daniells would have a go at a straight crime fiction book. The story here certainly feels like she would do a very good job indeed.
 

There are a lot of reasons why I move heaven and earth to get hold of a Philip McLaren book when I hear there's a new one in the offing.  Firstly, as yo

Okay, so before we go too much further SO COLD THE RIVER came with a media release that flagged it as, amongst other things an "explosive thriller" and "supernatural horror".  Not exactly a recipe for my perfect book.  Having said that, there have been plenty of reading examples in my recent past that make me aware that my "recipe" is a very fluid thing.

Eric Shaw is down and out.  A disgraced movie maker, separated from his wife, he's in Chicago making "life portraits" for people on video - think weddings, parties, and funerals.  During one of these funerals, Shaw is approached by Alyssa who wants him to make a documentary of the life of her father-in-law Campbell Bradford.  The family knows very little about the billionaire head of the family, except that his hometown is West Baden in Indiana.  Alyssa also hands over a very old bottle of Pluto Water which Campbell has held onto for many years, tying him to not just that small town, but a large part of its own history.  This small, mysterious, smelly, murky water bottle is the key to Shaw going to West Baden and somewhere a whole lot stranger.

The language used in SO COLD THE RIVER was quite beautiful in places, the basic bones of story intriguing.  An elderly, private man and what happened to him, and this small town over all those years.  The author is also doing something that I really like with dialogue: it's crisp, pointed, realistic.  There's also the sense of pace and suspense that you want from a first class thriller.  They come with an extremely hefty dose of the supernatural, the paranormal.  It is absolutely intrinsic to the way that the story unfolds and is told.  Undoubtedly Michael Koryta is a very good writer, as I stayed with this book even as I found this increasingly alternative reality more and more unconvincing.

Unfortunately, the supernatural elements were simply laid on so thick that suspension of my disbelief would have required engineering greater than the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge.  I'm also not sure I understand the inclusion of horror in the definitions, as there didn't seem to be many of the standard elements I expect with that genre - so if you're normally nervous of that, there's not a lot that should concern you about that.  

Undoubtedly this is a book for readers with a higher tolerance for the supernatural elements being a core component of the story.  Perhaps that's the difference between SO COLD IS THE RIVER and other books that I've read and enjoyed recently.  The supernatural in SO COLD IS THE RIVER is an intrinsic part of the way that this story unfolds - there's no getting around it, there's no balancing of a fantasy and reality.  To be fair there's no attempt, no pretence, an overt declaration that this fantastical series of events is the point of the book.  Because of that it's most likely a book for people who really like fantasy, the fantastical.. the supernatural.  It's likely to also be a book for dedicated fans of Michael Koryta's writing.  For the rest of us, well I've not had the pleasure of reading any of Kortya's "straight" crime fiction but I'm going to have to rectify that.

u can probably pick from the synopsis above, there's a very dry, understated wit in McLaren's story-telling style.  He's also writing about his own people, in a way that's both affectionate and exasperated.  He's also frequently very very pointed about the difficulties Aboriginal people in Australia face on a daily basis.

What McLaren is doing in MURDER IN UTOPIA is really interesting.  He runs a parallel story of a young Aboriginal girl in Australia, against a disgraced New York doctor both of whom collide in Utopia.  McLaren hastens to add this is not a book about the real Utopia - rather it's a fictional setting for his book, stating "I found the irony irresistible: imagine naming a place Utopia, a place so impoverished, so desolate."

The narrative moves forward bringing Jack Nugent to outback Australia and a community in need of medical services, as well as a community struggling against so many issues - alcohol, violence, neglect, poor housing, tensions with authorities.  All of these are told from both points of view - from the American, doctor, outsider with alcohol problems of his own, and from people within the community.  A ritual killing becomes a catalyst for people to adjust their views and for the depth of the problems in the community to be dragged into the daylight.

The structure of this book really works well, and whilst it is obvious that there is a lot of opinions and observations of reality being voiced within the narrative, fair enough.  In fact it's a privilege to read a fictional story addressing real-life issues in an Aboriginal voice, and the occasional stridency or maybe sledge-hammer adjustment of plot to make a point seemed perfectly reasonable in the circumstances.

Not a book for readers looking just for "pure entertainment" MURDER IN UTOPIA is a book for readers that want to learn something about issues we should be more aware of, written by somebody who obviously knows.

Tara Sharp is a newish entrant in the Australian amateur investigator / mad cap girl / chick lit style of crime fiction.  With the added extra of a bit of paranormal ability, as in aura reading.

There's been a lot of entrants in this sort of slightly out of control, breathlessly 20-something, girl on the run, living in straightened circumstances, forging a way in the world type books recently, although I'm struggling to think of another one that has that added paranormal feature (that's not to say that there's not lots and lots of them out there).  Tara's not overtly annoying, and the aura reading seemed unexceptional in the context of her character and her life.  Some of the fem-jep aspects got a little tiresome after a while, as did the line up of expected clichés - clothes, boys, crushes and love affairs, living back with the parents and so on.  Mind you, Mona the Monaro is a fantastic touch!

To be fair, this is not my sort of book.  Having said that, for something that I normally wouldn't read it was okay, and it is good to know that there are some local offerings out there.  If you're a fan of this sort of lighter, chick-lit styled book, then SHARP SHOOTER should be just the ticket.