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Remember Me This Way, Sabine Durrant15/09/2017 - 3:31pmIt's getting to the stage now where you'd be forgiven for wondering if we're at peak "how well do you know those nearest and dearest to you" psychological thrillers, particularly those that concentrate on the relationship between husbands and wives. Which makes REMEMBER ME THIS WAY a noteworthy novel - standing out as extremely memorable in a very crowded peer group. Right from the outset there is something profoundly unsettling about REMEMBER ME THIS WAY. From the time that Lizzie is heading for the spot where her husband Zach died it's an odd situation. When the bunch ... Read Review |
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Pachyderm, Hugh McGinlay14/09/2017 - 4:13pmPACHYDERM is the second outing for milliner Catherine Kint and her best friend (strictly platonic) Boris. The novel follows on from JINX although not so closely as to make the earlier one mandatory reading, but they are both definitely highly recommended. Set in inner hipster Melbourne, littered with coffee shops, bars and pubs, Kint is one of those accidental detectives who has a minor super-power in turning just about anything into a crime scene. Attending a glittering social function at the Melbourne Zoo goes from an opportunity of mixing a bit of business with pleasure ... Read Review |
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Mrs Kelly: The Astonishing life of Ned Kelly's mother, Grantlee Kieza13/09/2017 - 1:24pmA sensationalised combination of fact, speculation, assumption and extremely over the top fictionalisation, MRS KELLY by Grantlee Kieza is a grand undertaking that seems to be telegraphing a lot more than it actually delivers. If it was called a story of the Kelly Family, including some speculation about Ellen herself, then it might be more satisfying, but to flag it as "The Astonishing life of Ned Kelly's mother" and then contribute a lot of conjecture and bizarre fictionalisation to what little there is on her in a massive tome is somewhat misleading and therefore more ... Read Review |
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And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic06/09/2017 - 8:55pmEmma Viskic explores difference, and its consequences, in this sequel to Resurrection Bay. Reviewed at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Closing Down, Sally Abbott05/09/2017 - 2:48pmCompassionately and carefully constructed to be something quite precious, CLOSING DOWN is a novel that does not attempt to create an fantastical and unbelievable landscape of future Australia. Instead, it takes concerns already present in our current debate and presents their possible eventualities, some of these being the erosion of our national identity, the issue of climate change, and the strangulation of enterprise by unnecessarily pedantic overview and the repeated lashings of bureaucratic red tape. Presenting a possible composite result of where our cultural fears may lead us ... Read Review |
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After I've Gone, Linda Green04/09/2017 - 2:43pmYou'll need to clear a little time in your schedule to read AFTER I'VE GONE as it is quite likely that you will not want to put it down once you've dived in. This novel battles between hope and hopelessness in that the stakes are so very high; Jess has seen the face of her child and she desperately wants that little life to come into the world. Thinking a little too pragmatically, it would definitely be easier for Jess to let the fantasy go and to seek out safety for herself, letting go of the possibility of a phantom future child. AFTER I'VE GONE soon becomes ridiculously ... Read Review |
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Pancake Money, Finn Bell02/09/2017 - 2:13pm Finn Bell made quite an impact on the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards with two shortlistings - his first novel DEAD LEMONS in Best First Novel, and PANCAKE MONEY in Best Crime Novel. Grouped together as The Far South Series, these aren't series books as such, so you can read them in any order, but read them you most definitely should. PANCAKE MONEY features police detective Bobby Ress, who did have a cameo appearance in DEAD LEMONS. He's a straight-forward sort of cop, loves his wife and daughter, has a successful marriage even though they married young and ... Read Review |
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The Direction of Our Fear, David Briggs23/08/2017 - 4:30pmTHE DIRECTION OF OUR FEAR is such an interesting idea - multiple characters living separate lives, getting on with their day to day existences, moving through place and time without knowing each other, or even being aware that there will come that intersecting point - a morning commuter train in Wellington. It's an appealing idea as we become increasingly aware of the randomness of fate in our modern day world. As the individual stories of the characters are built, alongside the shadowy world of surveillance and external threat, the reader is left constantly wondering not ... Read Review |
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Please Do Not Disturb, Robert Glancy23/08/2017 - 1:57pmPLEASE DO NOT DISTURB comes with a wonderfully evocative sense of place and people, delivered with an affectionate comic touch. There's something reminiscient in here of lots of these styles of novels set in developing nations, where the people in positions of power and leadership are over the top, the worker's invariably put upon, hard working and blessed with bucket loads of patience and understanding, and everything seems to sort of muddle along in a way that would drive incomers mildly mad if you didn't see the funny side of it. Glancy does a terrific job here at ... Read Review |
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The Last Train, Michael Pronko21/08/2017 - 4:19pmBeing a huge fan of Japanese crime fiction I admit to being particularly intrigued by THE LAST TRAIN. Set in Tokyo the viewpoint of this novel, written by an ex-pat American professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuin University who has now lived in that city for twenty years, was a large part of this appeal. Whatever elements there are that feed into THE LAST TRAIN, they have combined to create a fascinating police procedural / serial killer with a reason novel interwoven with aspects of Japanese tradition and culture. Things get underway pretty quickly, when we're ... Read Review |
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Rather Be the Devil, Ian Rankin19/08/2017 - 12:45pmIt's quite possible that there will be a few moments during the reading of this novel where you will want to punch the air in pride. Our man Rebus still has the sharpest wit around and eases his way around tricky situations with the practiced air of one who expects little of others but demands much of himself. The acceptance of DI Siobhan Clarke and DI Malcolm Fox that Rebus will always a part of their investigative lives is well and truly established in RATHER BE THE DEVIL; it is both sweet and savvy of them both. The Rebus novels remain fiendishly clever and there's that ... Read Review |
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Six Tudor Queens - Anne Boleyn the Kings Obsession, Alison Weir18/08/2017 - 5:23pmThe charm with having also read the first "Queen" book in this series (about Katharine of Aragon) is that the timelines do cross over. Each Queen has knowledge of the next so we will be receiving their own individual viewpoints in each subsequent book; the events that lead to their downfalls are relayed via their own interactions and also via those of their supporters. It is fascinating to see what each Queen might have thought of the other, and also of the various affairs that King Henry VIII carried on with whilst married to each of them. Of course there seems to be a ... Read Review |
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Good Cop Bad Cop, Gus Mitchell18/08/2017 - 3:20pmA take on a noir romp with stylised good cop / bad cop characters, humour is a huge part of GOOD COP BAD COP. Therein lies probably the biggest problem - find it funny and it's going to work really well. Find it somewhat forced and the misogyny and objectification comes across as a bit creepy. Tackling a range of current day issues - from meth addiction to sex trafficking, there's a lot of sexual politics at the heart of GOOD COP BAD COP into the bargain. Whilst there's an interesting dynamic going on between the Good and the Bad cop of the title, you will need to deploy a hefty ... Read Review |
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A Confidential Agreement, Rita Ryan18/08/2017 - 11:56amA CONFIDENTIAL AGREEMENT is one of those books that you really want to work. Populated with some really engaging characters, built around a strong central premise, it's let down in the end by a lack of firm editing and direction. Overly wordy, there's a tendency to disappear off on tangents and down rabbit holes of diversion which detract too often, and too overwhelmingly from the main plot lines, hampering the reader's ability to connect with that central premise.Read Review |
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The Assassin on the Bangkok Express, Roland Perry17/08/2017 - 3:33pmTHE ASSASSIN ON THE BANGKOK EXPRESS is the second book in a series sub-titled "The Honourable Assassin", the first (with that title) released in 2015. Set, needless to say in Asia, they feature Vic Cavalier as the central protagonist. Cavalier is a newspaper reporter and freelance secret agent, with a long history of working in Asia. Long enough to have a daughter with his now ex-wife, a Thai doctor, his daughter having been kidnapped by the head of a Mexican Drug cartel with tendrils into Thailand, and Bangkok in particular. If you've not read the first book there's ... Read Review |
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Revealed in Mist, Jude Knight16/08/2017 - 11:14amREVEALED IN MIST is weighted heavily on the romance side, with a tendency towards a showy style of descriptive text to reinforce the period setting. Possibly one for fans of historical romance as opposed to crime fiction, and definitely not for those who like their crime front and centre of the novel's main purpose.Read Review |
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Hush Little Baby, Joanna Barnard10/08/2017 - 2:18pmDigging into the parental guilt that is heaped upon all new parents, HUSH LITTLE BABY is that needling little voice in your head telling you that you're not doing it right, and that someone else could probably do it better. Sally's character alternates between maternal confidence and maternal guilt; we're never quite sure if she is genuinely apathetic, guilty, or simply exhausted. The speed at which her child is taken from her is frightening, and the lack of real support she has shown to her is heartbreaking. This novel does much to illustrate that success is often just a facade, ... Read Review |
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Dr Jekyll & Mr Seek, Anthony O'Neill08/08/2017 - 2:16pmThere is something of a huge comfort in picking up a book that possesses that air of gentility which was common to works written in the latter part of the 19th century. The first pages of DR JEKYLL AND MR SEEK instantly catapult the reader into a murky world where deception and nefarious acts are committed by intelligent yet desperate men. DR JEKYLL & MR SEEK is a delightfully immersive read that quickly draws us into a world we never knew we had been missing. A relatively short foray back to 1800’s England, this book wastes no pages in being overly descriptive and ... Read Review |
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Burn Patterns, Ron Elliott08/08/2017 - 2:14pmPartly a story around Iris Foster, partly a story around arson, BURN PATTERNS puts a complicated woman at the heart of a story about complicated offenders. Known as "The Fire Lady" Foster is a psychologist with a messy past that she's tried to put behind her. Until mid consultation with patients nothing to do with fires, she's hauled out by the police and taken straight to the site of a bomb planted at a local school. It doesn't matter how hard Iris tries to step away from her role as "Fire Lady" she's dragged back in - particularly as the initial bomb explosion leads to a range of ... Read Review |
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Ruby and the Blue Sky, Katherine Dewar07/08/2017 - 2:42pmComing at an eco-thriller from the point of view of the activists, RUBY AND THE BLUE SKY is part thriller, part exploration of "celebrity" culture, and part do good chick lit novel. The idea at the core is that fame can be used in positive ways - in this case a pro-environment, anti consumer-culture stance with a hefty dose of women's rights and empowerment. To that end the central character Ruby is band leader, conscience and activist, pursued by eco-groupies, determined to ensure she uses a sold-out tour as a venue to push the messages. Needless to say message is a ... Read Review |