All the Reviews

The Marmalade Files, Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann

One of the biggest problems with the blanding out of Australian Federal politics and society is that Political Satire seems to have disappeared around the back, probably mugged by some idiot with a bias obsession. Well that is until THE MARMALADE FILES where I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to finally find something to laugh about coming out of Canberra. In an amused way, not that panicked titter that escapes when you realise that the idiot on the telly who just said what they said may actually be believed by someone out there...

As a political junkie I will ... Read review

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Rotten Gods, Greg Barron

There's something about the combination of a big threat thriller and fundamentalist based threats that makes me twitch badly. ROTTEN GODS is therefore a book that I stupidly put aside for a tad too long.

There is, however, something particularly compelling about the idea that a humanitarian man, a decent person, could be pushed to take extreme action in the face of international disregard for the economic and ecological meltdown happening everywhere around us. The idea that he would form an alliance with a group that seems to have similar concerns, although much more ... Read review

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Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerrilla Knitters Institute, Maggie Groff

I am a bit of a sucker for a daft title, even though it frequently explodes in my face. Even then, it did come as somewhat of a surprise to be reading a knitting type book (no patterns ... there are limits). The reason I picked up MAD MEN, BAD GIRLS AND THE GUERRILLA KNITTERS INSTITUTE is pretty simple really - a bit of little light relief after a row of heavy, thought provoking books. Exercise distraction therapy... whatever. Regardless of why I picked this book up, have to say, was pleasantly surprised.

A particular surprise as even though the ground is pretty liberally ... Read review

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Red Dirt Talking, Jacqueline Wright

Somewhere in the back of my head, as I've read more and more books set in Australia, there's always been a little question. Which RED DIRT TALKING has answered. Why can't we have more books written from the Aboriginal perspective? And what better way to look at that perspective from the point of view of an incomer to a remote outback community.

Set within community RED DIRT TALKING is having a red hot go at a heap of issues, and because of that, if you're looking for something that's a formulaic, straight-forward mystery, then that's not what's going on here. Although it ... Read review

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Jacqueline Wright

Out of the Silence, Wendy James

Set in Victoria in the early 1900s, OUT OF THE SILENCE has been republished by Momentum in digital format. This novel won the 2006 Ned Kelly for Best First Australian Crime Novel. Given that Wendy James has now written a number of other books, not only is this a chance to look back at an extremely worthy award winner, it's also a chance to look at back at the work of an author who specialises in sensitive looks at difficult subjects.

Whilst the packaging might be suggesting something a little on the romantic side, and the subject matter pertains particularly to women, ... Read review

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The Soft Touch, Tony Cavanaugh

Last year PROMISE arrived, well promising quite a bit.... even though at the time the mad bad serial killer bit didn't work, the rest of the book did. And I particularly liked the central character, and the nature of his flawed / skewed moral compass. That component isn't overplayed but it's there, like the bloody great big dingo in the room - you know it could bite at any stage because that's what they do. Nothing personal, just a given. ... Read review

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The First Shot, Patricia Kristensen

One glance at the blurb for this book will give you a pretty good feel for the style. Yep, another comedic female private detective crashing through life in a manner that can make a reader cry with laughter, or stick their hands up in the air begging for a good old fashioned police procedural with a central female character with a serious drinking problem, an attitude and maybe a bad case of BO. Anything from the other end of the expectation spectrum anyway.

The difficulty with this sort of humorous crime fiction scenario is that humour is a profoundly subjective thing - ... Read review

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Patricia Kristensen

Antidote to Murder, Felicity Young

ANTIDOTE TO MURDER is the second Dr Dody McCleland book from WA based author Felicity Young. If this is a series that you are yet to catch up with, then all I can say is get to it. Immediately.

Set in Edwardian London, McCleland is a qualified doctor, fighting a society that has some very confronting attitudes towards women, in particular. To remain working as a doctor, McCleland has to battle daily against mindless prejudice and power games. To simply survive many more women are fighting a similar battle. Particularly any poor woman who is unlucky enough to be single, ... Read review

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Hal Spacejock, Simon Haynes

I realise the idea of me actually exercising is going to stretch the imaginations of one or two people, but sometimes, I do attempt a little bit.

Not often and certainly none of that raising a sweat panting and puffing palaver.

If I can't read a book while I'm doing it, I'm not doing it. And HAL SPACEJOCK was a rather good book to choose. Although I'm not sure that "perfect for when you're exercising" is going to be a description that anybody's going to be drawn to...

Funny, silly, touching in places, the first book in the series is a bit of a ... Read review

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Roll With It, Nick Place

Personally, and not just because the idea of Lycra and clicking around in those weird riding shoes makes me shudder, the idea of being sent to the Siberia of the Mountain Bike Police certainly sounds like a rather extreme punishment. Especially as Tony 'Rocket" Laver is adamant that the bloke he shot fired first. And he was a serial suspect in a series of armed robberies. So you might think that Laver is justified in being more than a bit miffed at the political machinations that are overt in his demotion.

Although he can't really blame just the demotion for his rocky ... Read review

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The Trusted, John M. Green

Interesting premise this. Take a devastating hit, albeit targeted, in the name of radical environmentalism to engineer a change for the good of the planet. Use sleeper agents who have worked their way into positions of influence and power over many years. Make it even more devastating by having the strikes occur in quick succession, stretching authorities to the limit. Make the targets as varied and unpredictable as possible.

Because of the huge range of incidents the authorities are scrambling just to deal with the fallout, the connections aren't that easy to see to start ... Read review

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Call Me Cruel, Michael Duffy

This true crime account attempts to explain the mind of a manipulative killer.

It’s a cliché, but in this case it’s apt; if you came across a scenario like this in crime fiction you’d be hard pressed to stop your eyes from rolling. As is often the way, however, true life defies anything the very best fiction writers can come up with. Reviewed for The Newtown Review of Books Read review

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Blind Goddess, Anne Holt

The Hanne Wilhelmsen series from Norwegian author Anne Holt is another one of those Scandinavian series that have been translated completely out of order. For reasons which, as usual, escape me completely. So <insert standard whinge about how profoundly annoying that is>, and onto BLIND GODDESS which is the book that started the whole thing off.

It would be bad enough to discover a battered body when jogging in the morning, but you'd doubt lawyer Karen Borg would also have been expecting to be called in as defence counsel for the Dutchman who is found wandering, ... Read review

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Murder on the Home Front, Molly Lefebure

Told in her own voice, Miss Molly Lefebure is tempted from her role as a journalist to work closely as secretary to one of the earliest "famous" forensic pathologists in England - Dr Keith Simpson. Set in war-time London, the work of civilian authorities continued, often in defiance of the chaos around them, investigating both unusual or suspicious deaths, as well as the results of the Blitz bombings.

During in the 1940's the idea of a female secretary sitting right beside the pathologist, typing his reports as an autopsy proceeds was probably just another slightly ... Read review

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Close to the Bone, Stuart MacBride

Look, let's just admit that I'm a huge fan of this series and get it over and done with. Love DI Steel, love her glorious over the topness, love McRae's constant sooking and all being put upon. Love the madness of the world in which they have to try to operate as functioning police members, love the supporting cast, love the gallows humour. Love the whole damn thing. Even love those that don't quite live up to the other books in the series (and let's face it - we're talking bees d's worth of not living up to that which came before).

I'll therefore plead to some lacking in ... Read review

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Stuart MacBride

Washed Up, Tony Berry

There are some books around that may not be good for your health. Since finishing WASHED UP I've had this nagging feeling that all problems should be resolved with a glass of Lagavulin malt in one hand and a shot of espresso in the other.

WASHED UP is the second book from UK / Australian author Tony Berry featuring reluctant sleuth, travel-agent and welded on Richmond resident Bromo Perkins. In this outing Bromo finds himself poking around in the trail left by a verdict of least resistance - that the drowning death of a bright young student in the Yarra River was suicide ... Read review

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The Toe Tag Quintet, Matthew Condon

The initial idea for THE TOE TAG QUINTET came from author Matthew Condon's editor at The Courier Mail in Brisbane, who wanted a series of novella's in the newspaper over the Christmas / New Year period. Combine that idea with the chance meeting of an old mate, a now retired NSW senior policeman, with a story about walking past an old gangster and you get, with a lot of work in the middle, those five novella's now published in one volume.

Each story is a separate outing for the central protagonist, an unnamed former homicide detective, scouting for, and eventually moving ... Read review

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The Girl on the Stairs, Louise Welsh

One of the things that makes Louise Welsh one of my favourite authors is the way you just never know what to expect when a new novel arrives.

In THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS Jane Logan moves to Berlin to be with her partner Petra, in the lead up to the birth of their first child. From the moment she arrives there's something wrong. Jane is uneasy in their chic, upmarket apartment, where amongst lots of other oddities, there are shadows on the stairs and a neighbour's daughter who Jane is sure is in danger.

A psychological mystery, the book is chilling and ... Read review

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The House of Dark Shadows, Digger Cartwright

I was sent this book to read for a review, and I've now made numerous attempts to read it and I just can't.

It's not just that the wait for something to happen seems interminable, I think the fundamental problem I'm having is with the relationships.

Alex is gorgeous, a successful and supposedly wonderful man, who is looking for love.

With his sexy secretary, friend and occasional bit on the side, well by his side.

Even after he meets Hope on an online dating site and plunges headfirst into love, marriage and the whole damn thing. ... Read review

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Digger Cartwright

Murder With the Lot, Sue Williams

MURDER WITH THE LOT is set in the fictional Mallee town of Rusty Bore, featuring Cass Tuplin, fish and chip shop owner, mother, and self-appointed private investigator. The story is told all from Cass's viewpoint, a viewpoint which is somewhat skewed towards a ... how should we put this ... less than realistic outlook. Not only is the Mallee still deep in the middle of the drought that just about broke everyone's spirit, but Rusty Bore is a town that's been hit particularly hard. Loss of people to the "Big Smoke" just down the road, loss of passing traffic, loss of money and even ... Read review

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