All the Reviews

Think Bond girl who can make a mean espresso, is armed to teeth, trained to the bare minimum, and is mightily pissed off with her ex and you've got Eva Destruction. A woman with a propensity to fall for the bad boy, who thinks, for a brief time, that meeting billionaire charmer Harry Lancing might mean her streak of dead-end relationships has finally come to an end. Until he turns out to be a control-freak, super-villain with a plan to take over the world, and all sorts of ways and means of achieving it.

When the good guys arrive on the scene - mostly in the person of ... Read review

You do want to Lily to succeed, as her clumsy and inept forays into investigating the murder of her neighbour are almost charming. She is a lone woman against the world and her husband is of little or no help. You do feel her frustration when the efforts of others to shut her down send her into further distress and disarray.  Lily is one person who truly needs to get to the truth.   The red herrings are largely due to the floundering of Lily herself and the structure of the murder mystery is not that complicated; you will need to wade in and wait quite a while for the major plot twist ... Read review

DEAD AGAIN is the second novel in the Georgie Harvey and John Franklin series. Harvey is a Melbourne based journalist and Franklin a Daylesford based cop, and whilst it's not absolutely necessary that you've read the first book - TELL ME WHY, it would help a lot to understand why there is a connection between these two characters, and ultimately the two main locations in this book. Set around a fictionalised fire storm called in this book Red Victoria, a potential article about a small town in recovery becomes a private quest for Harvey to track down a man believed killed in the fire ... Read review

The setting of THE GIRL BEFORE is all important and gives structure to a story that is essentially carried out with in four walls of one very spectacular and unusual house.  There are shades of ‘Hal’ in this book too which are delicious, as in that an omnipresent technological mind is controlling the conditions thus manipulating the lives of the occupants of the house. Or is it really?

Poor self esteem, the classic pull of the bad boy and just seriously bad taste all come together to push the sanity of both past Emma, and present Jane.   Is it an insult for an untidy ... Read review

Based on a true story, set in the Victorian Goldfields in the 1860's, THE UNFORTUNATE VICTIM is part fiction, part reminder that life in those days, particularly for women, was not easy, pleasant or fair. When the body of young newly-wed Maggie Stuart is found in the home she shares with her much older husband it's all to easy to forget that young is around 17 years old, older husband means arranged / quickly married off for reasons that become apparent, and with family is often the least safe place you can be.

The dreadful circumstances in which Maggie has grown up, ... Read review

After a few attempts, managed to finish BIG LITTLE LIES over the weekend. There's a reason this has been a bit of a chore explained below.

Funny and quite cleverly constructed, BIG LITTLE LIES is about every day lives. If you're a mother, an ex-wife, a daughter, a second wife or possibly if you've ever been in a schoolyard or involved in the grass roots "political" movement that those environments seem to be, then there could be resonances throughout this book. There's a light-hearted, slightly tongue-in-cheek tone used to tell this story, that even finishes chapters with ... Read review

Flashes of brilliance, hammered with what felt like a slightly desperate hand, into a plot that wandered about looking for a reason for being. Having waded through to the end, wasn't at all surprised to find Liam confessing to being an aspiring author totally bored by plot. Take that as a tongue in cheek explanation from the real life author and you might be more inclined to forgive.Read review

THE BLOOD ON MY HANDS is a very personal story, told by Shannon O'Leary, recounting a childhood that truly could be said was hellish. A violent, mentally ill father, an extended family wrapped up in concern about their "good name", vicious or uncaring authorities, and police neglect that is positively staggering, combine in this tale to create a story that's incredibly difficult to read.

When reviewing this book it's really important to stress that the review is not of the life, or the story itself. This is somebody's truth, a woman's life and what happened is utterly ... Read review

Flesh Wounds (aka Bred in the Bone) is the third in the Jasmine Sharp series from Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre. One of those authors that is on the "to be purchased immediately" list, under the category "I'm starting to fret about the time it's taking to get to this one". Welded on fan needless to say.

The Jasmine Sharp series is a bit different from some of Brookmyre's more surreal / out there offerings. Although there's always plenty of cutting humour, dry observation and more than a bit of dragging readers down dark alleys at unexpected times. 

... Read review