All the Reviews

Melbourne in the late 1980s, and journalist Peter Clancy is working for The Truth. Which, for those of us who were around in those days, in that place, conjures up a very clear vision. Booze, coffee, dodgy goings on and journalism from the... well extreme-tabloid end of the scale.

After being "promoted" to the Crime Beat and provided with the mandatory police scanner, Clancy is launched into Melbourne's seedy side, way back before mobile phones and the internet made keeping track of everyone and everything part of everybody's daily routine. THORNYDEVILS builds a strong ... Read review

The third Catherine Berlin novel from Annie Hauxwell takes the concept of moving a character out of their comfort zone that bit further. Berlin is one of those unrepentant flawed types. A heroin addict she's prepared to manage the addiction with prescription medications, but she's really not able / or willing to give up totally. Anything that threatens her supply of drugs has a major impact on her comfort zone. She's also a welded-on resident of London. She knows her area very well, often walking miles of a night to soothe the cravings and distract her brain. Taking her to Moscow ... Read review

Are you allowed to write reviews that just say "WOW"? No, well okay - an explanation of why "wow".

From the opening lines of WHAT CAME BEFORE it's hard not to be hooked. The man talking directly to the reader has just killed his wife. He's a lawyer, so his immediate reaction is to record his statement of events - into a dictaphone, sitting in his car. In the background there's the quiet, subdued voice of his wife. Hovering there in the laundry, also talking directly to the reader. Not as often, and not in a strong voice. Well you wouldn't if you were staring at your own ... Read review

It's hard not to have certain expectations of crime fiction when it's written by a former Victorian Assistant Police Commissioner, as unreasonable or unfair as that may seem.

The first expectation is that the plot should have a strong sense of realism about it. NO WITNESS, NO CASE explores Mafia activities in a way that seemed uncommon in crime fiction. Looking at the machinations behind a Mafia boss attempting to turn an illegal, and dangerous business, into a legitimate activity. That needs influence from the bottom of the chain - the workers in a company through the ... Read review

A modern day industrial espionage tale, 1.9.7 HAMBURG, the debut novel from Alex Camouro is a very brave undertaking. Moving backwards and forwards in time in chapter jumps, it tells the story of much of Dixon Grace's past life as well as present circumstances. As befits the situation she finds herself in Germany, everything about Grace is complicated - her name, her ethnic background, her family, her current situation, the investigation she's involved in, her love life. Everything.

Part of the braveness of this novel is what seems to be the intentional use of ... Read review

The thing with really enjoyable review books that are part of a series is that there's no option but to go back and get the earlier books. Regardless of how teetering the current reading pile might be. Which is what happened here after finishing STALIN'S GOLD.

Interesting enough this is now the second series built around the Polish in England that's appealed - albeit this isn't set in current day. Despite it also being the second book in the series, it's very easy to get into sync with Frank Merlin. A cop kept behind in England whilst the war rages, because of the ... Read review

Honey Brown moves to the city and suburbs for her new thriller, shedding light into some very dark corners. 

Psychological thrillers are an interesting reading prospect. Often very confrontational, the best of these sorts of books should generate a definite reaction in the reader. They will also seek to explain, or at least explore, the reasons for the worst – and best – of human behaviour. Through the Cracks, Honey Brown’s fifth book, explores, challenges, and will confront many readers. But for every scintilla of discomfort that a reader may ... Read review

In this seventh novel in Michael Robotham’s Luiz/O’Loughlin series the sense of unease and anticipation builds from the opening lines. Marnie Logan, young, married, with two children, is struggling to survive since her husband Daniel simply vanished a couple of years earlier and it quickly becomes obvious that there's a lurking presence in her life that has been there for a long time:

Marnie Logan often feels like she's being watched. Nothing she can quite put her finger on – a whisper of breath on the back of her neck, or a shadow in the corner of her

... Read review

The third in the Winemaker Detective series, NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY takes our hero Benjamin Cooker away from his native Bordeaux to Burgundy, where he is being named Chevalier du Tastevin by the Knights of the order that are proud of their slogan 'Never whine, always wine!'.

Which will probably give you a little bit of an indication of the tone of this charming series, set deep in the world of French wine, and the intrigues that seem to pile up alongside it. In NIGHTMARE IN BURGUNDY this intrigue revolves mostly around a series of extremely erudite graffiti attacks which ... Read review