All the Reviews

The 8th in the Wyatt series, the resurgence of the best unrepentant, unapologetic and very demanding professional crook in Australian Crime Fiction is something to be very pleased about.

Wyatt is not a man who plays well with others, and his danger radar is on high alert after he’s pulled into early planning of a heist by some rank amateurs. A move to Noosa and a commission to steal a particular painting comes at a time when absenting himself from Melbourne and all chance of being connected to that group is particularly welcome. Not only is the intended heist a nice ... Read review

Being a huge Hitchock fan this book particularly intrigued, but even if you’ve never seen a single Hitchcock film in your life, VERTIGO is an engaging, fascinating, and frequently beautiful book. If you are also a fan of the film, then there is greater nuance here than the film, and plenty to conjecture about for the reader.

Set at the start of World War II, the central character of Flavières is troubled by many things, not just the need at one point to flee the war’s encroachment. He seems, on the face of it, a man who was destined to be obsessed with the wife of his ... Read review

Denise Mina is one of those authors that you can always trust to spin a good yarn, and once in a while an absolute ripper. BLOOD, SALT, WATER is somewhere on this reader’s scale between really good and ripper.

Taut and pointed, her ability to skewer character’s personality traits - good and bad - is razor sharp as usual, with a beautiful turn of sarcasm when required. Putting those characters in a realistic small-town location in Scotland provides not just a wonderful sense of place, but an interesting juxtaposition of have’s and have-nots, whilst leaving more than enough ... Read review

Set in Sydney, SURVEILLANCE is billed as a cyber-thriller about government spying and corporate underhanded behaviour. A timely and really interesting subject to be explored, this was picked up with much anticipation.

Perhaps the expectations were wrongly set, but SURVEILLANCE quickly felt like it was less about hacker and cyber-vulnerability and more about corporate corruption. Then there's the enthusiastic sexual conquest pursuit that would have made Sydney Sheldon or Harold Robbins envious.

The sex scenes are, frankly, breathtaking. Not in a good way ... Read review

Set in New Zealand, written by an Australian author, POISON BAY by Belinda Pollard is one of those novels that you just can’t help but wonder what tourism authorities reaction would be...

Located in one of New Zealand’s most rugged and beautiful locations - Fiordland - the place and the circumstances combine to create some real menace for a group of high school friends on a trekking holiday that goes horribly wrong. Starting out with a flashback to the tragic death of one of their friends, the focus switches quickly to the current day and a reunion with a difference. A ... Read review

Reading a series in order, I’ve decided, is too normal. Or at least that’s the best excuse I can come up with for starting the Hermes Diaktoros series at book number three - THE DOCTOR OF THESSALY.

Set in a tiny Greek village, a crying jilted bride, leads quickly to the discovery of the groom, and local doctor, horribly scarred and blinded by an attack on the morning of his wedding. Surprisingly almost sanguine about the attack, the doctor is rushed off to hospital, refusing to see his intended bride, as the village slips back into its day to day activities of sniping at ... Read review

It’s going to be impossible to talk about THE UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE OF INSPECTOR CHOPRA without comparing the style of writing with Alexander McCall-Smith and the central character with Poirot, but I’d also throw in Inspector Singh from Shamini Flint’s excellent Inspector Singh Investigates series. They are all written with a light touch, with affection for their location without pretending that everything’s perfect, and with a slightly eccentric, deeply committed to their own particular methodology of crime investigation (which is more cerebral than athletic) central protagonist. ... Read review

There’s not a lot of crime fiction around, unfortunately, for readers who prefer a heist / non-death scenario, but SHWEDAGON is one that delivers exactly that. Author Noleen Jordan’s taken an unusual approach with this novel and, in the main, come up with something that’s engaging, and a bit of a romp.

It’s unusual not just because this is a heist novel, but also because the heister is sixty-year-old Australian photographer, thrill seeker and jewel thief Hannah Nolan. Can’t tell you how amused I was by the central concept of this novel. Nolan has an underground history of ... Read review

Many years ago I remember being given this book for my birthday with the comment "thought you might like this, he's the sort of droll smart-arse commentator that should appeal to you". The presenter of this present knew me well, although I think that they did a massive disservice to Clive James.

The first of a series of books he's subsequently written as memoir there is nobody in these books that James picks on more than himself. He has a wonderful, dry way of commenting on the obvious, of drawing out the reality of the comedy of life.

Everytime I read ... Read review