All the Reviews

The Mammoth Book of International Crime, edited by Maxim Jakubowski

This is a fantastic collection of really good quality crime fiction from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.

The compilation is made up of 36 stories (too many to list here anyway) from a diverse range of writers and countries.  That's part of what's great about this collection - not just an opportunity to hear different voices and perspectives from a wide range of cultures, but to see how crime fiction is universal.  Add to that the fact that there really isn't a dud in the bunch, and I found this collection absolutely terrific and can't recommend it highly ... Read Review

Double Back, Mark Abernethy

I really really really hope that, in particular, local fans of spy and espionage thrillers are reading Mark Abernethy's terrific series.  Firstly because each of the stories is set in our own region, and secondly because Alan McQueen is such a quintessential Aussie bloke hero type.

Of course, just setting books in our region or taking current day events as a basis for your books doesn't qualify them as must reads.  What does that for DOUBLE BACK and the earlier books in the series is that they are extremely good layered high-action thrillers.  

Part of the ... Read Review

Dark Blood, Stuart MacBride

The problem with an author making it onto my "Pre-Order IMMEDIATELY list" is that once the book arrives I have that dreaded "do I read immediately or hoard" dilemma.  It's easier with some of my all time favourite authors - there's a few, well not to put too fine a point on it, aren't as young as they used to be.   Stuart MacBride, on the other hand, is a young man.  Last time I set eyes on him he looked to be in remarkably good health.  But still, you never know.  Publishers are queer folk and they may suddenly have a brain freeze, or worse still, Stuart may just get distracted by ... Read Review

Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is the story of a woman who wakes up every morning beside a stranger. She's completely forgotten the last 25+ years of her life.  A woman in her late 40's, she can remember her 20's but she only gets glimpses, erratic flashes of her life since then.  The man she wakes up beside every morning reminds her, yet again, that he is her husband Ben and that he will look after her.  The house has photos in strategic places, there are notes on the board in the kitchen to remind her what she needs to do.  What's particularly creepy about this scenario is that the reader is ... Read Review

The Priest, Gerard O'Donovan

Serial killer storylines.  We've all said it.  Over it.  One more serial killer storyline and I swear.....   So I'll adjust previous assertions and instead say I'm over SOME serial killer storylines.

THE PRIEST, the first crime novel from Irish author Gerard O'Donovan has a serial killer that actually doesn't kill all of his victims.  Instead they are horribly injured, disfigured, tortured and abused, but they don't all die.  And our serial attacker is one of those mad, bad, weird religious nutter types - the burns that he leaves his victim's with eventually reveal that ... Read Review

Like Clockwork, Margie Orford

Margie Orford lists, among many other activities, that she does Advocacy work for a Rape Crisis group in South Africa, so it's not very surprising LIKE CLOCKWORK looks very closely at the horrific consequences of rape and extreme violence against women.  Because of that there's nothing particularly easy about reading this book, but it definitely fulfils one of my major preferences in crime fiction - which is to inform the reader.  No matter how uncomfortable that information can sometimes be.

Dr Clare Hart is a police profiler who lives on Cape Town's Seapoint promenade, ... Read Review

The Priest of Evil, Matti Yrjänä Joensuu

Eurocrime is really a tremendous imprint, providing some real little gems of books from a range of different cultural backgrounds. These books provide the crime reader with a glimpse into another culture.  And make you realise that whilst some things are very different, more often it's the similarities that are surprising.

The things that THE PRIEST OF EVIL shows are the same in Finland, as they are where I come from, include the way that people can be invisible.  Sometimes it's because of age, often it's age and gender combined.  The other thing that seems to be ... Read Review

Black Ice, Hans Werner Kettenbach

BLACK ICE is the first of German author Hans Werner Kettenbach's novels to be translated into English, and it's taken me from it's original publication date of 2005 to read it.  Which is good in one way as there appears to have been more books since then.  Which are now on my immediate buy list and I know that is probably going to sound very strange, as this isn't a particularly straightforward book.

Scholten, the long-time employee of Erica Wallman, isn't a pleasant man.  He's probably one of the most unpleasant characters I've encountered in crime fiction for quite a ... Read Review

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, John Mortimer

Hilda is writing her memoir, so it's probably just as well that Rumpole doesn't know what she is doing locked away in the boxroom for hours on end.  But Rumpole is very busy telling his own story of how he nearly lost his livelihood (aka the Timson family clan), and found himself involved in the new world of Terrorism trials.

Despite being extremely concerned about the wherewithal to support both the ongoing requirement for furniture police, Fairy Liquid, scrubbing brushes and Vim alongside his own meagre indulgences in Chateau Thames, Rumpole's sense of justice is ... Read Review