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The Secrets She Keeps, Michael Robotham11/12/2018 - 3:46pmThe thing with a Michael Robotham thriller is that even when he's working in territory that's been extensively explored, there's always something extra about his interpretations. So it is with THE SECRET SHE KEEPS, where again there's complexity and nuance in the portrayal of both "good" and "bad". The narrative in THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS switches between two main female characters. Both are eight weeks pregnant, both have secrets they are keeping to themselves, yet they are very different people. Agatha is struggling on her own, poor and clearly underprivileged she's ... Read Review |
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The Last Witness, Denzil Meyrick11/12/2018 - 1:45pmThere's something about the accents of some narrators that just make things so easy to listen to and David Monteath is doing a terrific job with the DCI Jim Daley series. There's enough wry, dry humour here, alongside some reasonably gritty plot lines to keep the reader engaged, although the series does have a hefty dose of the personal as well if you're a fan of that sort of thing. Daley has a complicated sort of a lovelife with a wife he doesn't exactly trust, a new position in a small Scottish town (introduced in book 1 in the series: Whisky From Small Glasses) and a ... Read Review |
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The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett10/12/2018 - 5:09pm2nd in the Discworld series - listened to during the year, this time narrated by Nigel Planer - another perfect 6 hours and 54 minutes of listening pleasure :)Read Review |
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The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett10/12/2018 - 4:37pmAnybody paying attention might have noticed I've been revisiting a lot of favourite series in audible format recently. Lots of time in the car = lots of listening time and local radio is now so dire it's been the perfect kick in the pants to go back and re-listen to many favourite series. A lot of the enjoyment depends on the narrator and Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs doing the full-form novels, and Tony Robinson doing some of the abridged versions are firm favourites. If you've never listened to the Discworld series (or even read them) then in audible format they are perfect ... Read Review |
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Equal Rites, Terry Pratchett10/12/2018 - 1:34pmThe third book in the Discworld series, this time it was an abridged version (2 hours, 54 minutes) narrated by Tony Robinson - which made the listening great, but it would have been nice if it had have been the entire book as Robinson does such a great job.Read Review |
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The Lost Man, Jane Harper07/12/2018 - 5:43pmI'm going to start this review in an odd way, by declaring that I didn't like Jane Harper's second book FORCE OF NATURE as much as I had been expecting to. Initially I thought this was because it read like an idea that Aaron Falk had been hammered into it later on, weakening the plot, motivations and sense of place to the point where they seemed to sort of float along to an inevitable ending. Having now finished Harper's third (non-Falk book) THE LOST MAN, the reasons are clearer. Harper is at her best when she's writing about people at the absolute and utter edge and THE ... Read Review |
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My Name is Revenge, Ashley Kalagian Blunt07/12/2018 - 1:49pmA real act of terrorism in Sydney in the 1980s inspired Ashley Kalagian Blunt to write My Name is Revenge (a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award*). This work is in two parts – a novella, and an essay reflecting on the motivations and background of the fiction. The scene is set in the opening paragraphs of the novella On 17 December 1980, at 9:47 am, two men shot the Turkish consul-general to Sydney and his bodyguard near the consul’s home in Vaucluse. The assassins aimed, ... Read Review Newtown Review of Books |
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Kill Shot, Garry Disher06/12/2018 - 5:34pm
Good bit of general life advice this, although at the time Wyatt is standing, motionless, waiting for any signs his entry into the house he's about to rob has been noticed. Perhaps not a recommended scenario for the rest of us. Mind you, Wyatt doesn't get noticed that often, and even when people think they know who he is, pinning him down will always prove more difficult than they could possibly imagine. Even going home is an exercise in watching for Wyatt: ... Read Review |
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The Lewis Man, Peter May04/12/2018 - 1:26pmAfter listening to the first two books in the Lewis Trilogy pretty much one after the other, I've done it at all the wrong time of the year. I'm a bit partial to listening to, or reading, books from cold, wet climes in the heights of our summer, and all predictions are indicating we're in for a stinking summer. Hot, dry as a chip and dangerous. So I'll be looking for some seriously cold, wet reading material - including the third book in the trilogy to come. Aside from the climactic conditions, this is a wonderfully atmospheric series, with some seriously beautifully ... Read Review |
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Transcription, Kate Atkinson03/12/2018 - 3:51pmIn wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.’ Winston Churchill There are some writers who you’d like to read but just never seem to get around to. Until I’d read Transcription, in my case Kate Atkinson was one of those authors. For crime/mystery fans Kate Atkinson wrote the Jackson Brodie novels which were adapted for television as Case Histories with Jason Issacs in the lead role. Having enjoyed Case Histories, I’d planned to read the Jackson Brodie novels but just never did. Even with ... Read Review |
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Redemption Point, Candice Fox30/11/2018 - 2:50pmThis second book in the Ted Conkaffey series clearly demonstrates why Candice Fox has won two Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing. Following on from Crimson Lake, Redemption Point is dark, dry, funny, cleverly plotted and populated by wonderfully real, often eccentric characters. If you haven’t caught up with this series yet, Ted Conkaffey is an ex-cop accused of the violent abduction and assault of a young girl, yet never charged, never tried. His life and his marriage have fallen apart, and he’s run to the far north of Queensland to ... Read Review Newtown Review of Books |
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Murder at Myall Creek, Mark Tedeschi QC29/11/2018 - 3:23pmFollowing on from Terry Smythe's Denny Day Mark Tedeschi QC picks up the story of the aftermath of the Myall Creek Massacre, concentrating on events and the participants around the trial of the perpetrators of the massacre of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children in 1838 in northern New South Wales. The cover of the book refers to it as the "trial that defined a nation" and it's hard not to agree 100% with that statement. Whilst it could be said that the book concentrates considerably more on the outcomes and surrounding civil changes that occurred at the time of the trial ... Read Review |
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Kolymsky Heights, Lionel Davidson29/11/2018 - 2:54pmWelcome to the second in my series of favourite books which I’ll be reviewing over the summer. Lionel Davidson’s Kolymsky Heightsis one those books which I, although I hestitate to say it, would put in the ‘best you’ve never heard of’ category. I know that’s a cliché but it’s how it was described to me when I was first given it to read in 2008, the person who gave it me probably had the same conversation with the person who gave it to them and so forth. After reading Kolymsky Heights the first time I didn’t disagree The novel begins with a Prologue which appears ... Read Review |
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The Ottoman Conspiracy, Thomas Ryan27/11/2018 - 5:02pmIf you're a fan of fast paced, fun thrillers and haven't clued into the Jeff Bradley Thrillers from New Zealand based author Thomas Ryan yet then you are in for a treat. Action packed, set in interesting places with excellent plots and a great central character in Former Special Forces soldier Jeff Bradley - this third book in the series sees the place become primarily Turkey, the plot about the hunt for nemesis and master criminal, sidelined when an old mate calls for help. He's trapped on an explosives stuffed tourist bus, hijacked by terrorists and it's heading fast ... Read Review |
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Man at the Window, Robert Jeffreys27/11/2018 - 1:45pmThere's something very satisfying about the emergence of a new crime series set in Australia - this time 1960's Perth. This one includes a hat tip to a number of the older stylised detectives of popular TV series in that Detective Cardilini's is portrayed as, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit of a grumpy old sod. He's got a reputation for being lazy and a drunk; and a recently deceased wife and a young adult son that he doesn't get on with (and who doesn't have much time for his father). This makes for a life that feels more stalled than lived, mostly via self-inflicted causes ... Read Review |
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Villain, Edward Berridge26/11/2018 - 4:09pmOne reader's darkly comic domestic noir is another reader's vegan sausage. Which is a really bad way of saying I just didn't get VILLIAN. Not for a moment, and try as I might I'm not even sure I can explain it adequately. At the core it's a very "current day" idea - what would drive an ordinary person to kill? Injustice? Revenge? Notoriety? Heartbreak? Post separation anxiety? Whole desperate experience of internet dating? Clickbait headlines? For Alistair, it could be all of those things, piled on top of each other. Good questions all of them - we could probably add ... Read Review |
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Live and Let Fry, Sue Williams26/11/2018 - 1:52pmThere are times in life when you just need something frivolous, fun and slightly tongue in cheek. Australian readers are lucky to have the Cass Tuplin series from Sue Williams to fulfil that need. The tongue in cheek bit is the important thing to remember when it comes to Cass Tuplin books - from the titles: MURDER WITH THE LOT / DEAD MEN DON'T ORDER FLAKE and now LIVE AND LET FRY you can kind of gather there's a good old-style fish and chip shop somewhere in the mix here. In this case in the fictional Victorian Mallee town of Rusty Bore, just down the road from Hustle, ... Read Review |
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Denny Day, the Life and Times of Australia's Greatest Lawman, Terry Smyth23/11/2018 - 12:34pmIt's been way too long for such this book to garner a mention hereabouts. Circumstances have intervened which means I've got notes, review documents, and bits and pieces of things that should have been done stacked up to the ceiling and am now going to really make an effort to get my act together. DENNY DAY is an account of the lawman who, amongst other things in his life, tracked down the perpetrators of the Myall Creek Massacre which occurred on the 10th June 1838. Details of Denny Day himself might be a tad on the sketchy side, but that is more than made ... Read Review |
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Quite Ugly One Morning, Christopher Brookmyre23/11/2018 - 11:42amMy return to series in the car is currently alternating between Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and all of Christopher Brookmyre's early work. Both of them are an utter joy to listen to, and a potential threat to life and limb. Car journeys here are, by necessity, long. Everywhere is around an hour away - at 100ks, on country roads, dodging potholes big enough to lose the car in, huge grain or hay hauling trucks, assorted wildlife from the kill you type (kangaroos) to the don't you dare kill them ones (echidna's and blue tongue lizards at this time of the year). It ... Read Review |
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The Girl in Kellers Way, Megan Goldin22/11/2018 - 2:51pmThere's some disquiet about the place these days over the use of "Girl" in titles of books. We all know where it comes from and the marketing decisions that seem to be feeding it. Suffice to say it's a trend that makes me (an old old woman) a bit squeamish. Especially as neither Julie or Mel, the protagonists in Goldin's debut domestic noir - THE GIRL IN KELLERS WAY are girls.They are women dealing with a very real experience that confronts many women - the creepy, controlling behaviour of a man in their lives and violent death. Told in two main narrative streams, THE ... Read Review |