Sorted on book title (not in series order)
When a 9 year old boy is found murdered at the bottom of a well, an immigrant peddlar is accused of the crime.
Guido Guerrieri has had problems of his own, with a distingrated marriage, a bad dose of anxiety attacks and a life spiralling downwards, but he finds himself taking...Read more
Berlin in 1939 is not an easy place to be if you're not a supporter of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Being the Chief Auditor in the Reichsbank, right at the centre of the Party's finances would always be a tricky assignment, but if you're only there to try to stop the advance of the Third...Read more
And every favour has its price
Paid not in coin
But in flesh
Slice by slice
Sometimes a favourite novel by a much loved author isn’t their best, welcome to my latest Summer Favourites review, Peter...Read more
Wouldn't be too quick to classify this one as a psychological thriller as there is very little simmering tension in watching the lead character disintegrate a little day by day. The whole tone of the book is rather desultory, which fits in well with the remote country town setting where...Read more
AN ISOLATED INCIDENT is one of those books I've been trying to read for a ridiculously long time now, so being able to finally get to it in the context of our f2f bookclub gathering was an added bonus.
This is such a fascinating book, one that worked particularly well for our...Read more
In Aoife Clifford’s third novel, the death of a local celebrity brings two old schoolmates together to answer some troubling questions. Full Review at: Newtown Review of BooksRead more
THE JACK IRISH QUINELLA brings together the first two (of the present four) books in Peter Temple's Jack Irish Series. Both books were originally published in 1996 and 1999 respectively.
Jack calls himself a suburban solicitor, although these days he mostly...Read more
A gynaecologist, a physicist, a violinist and an actress all walk into a pub and help a Maori leader evade the police. With no apologies to anyone for the pun because really, that's part of what THE JADED KIWI is all about. An absolutely madcap plot, peopled with a cast of seeming thousands...Read more
THE JADED SPY is the second in the Jaded Trilogy (the first being THE JADED KIWI), a series of stand-alone-ish (so far) manic thrillers with a strong sense of tongue-in-cheek humour and sense of place and time. Set in 1976 the earlier book concentrated on the war on drugs in New Zealand....Read more
THIS REVIEW Written by Chloe: 10 years old note: Chloe kindly agreed to read this book and write a review for me.
The book is about a young girl who becomes a fabulous spylet. I didn't like the book at the beginning but then I liked it when Janey Brown became Jane Blonde, a...Read more
It's been a long time since I was eight years old, and I did grow up in the time of Trixie Belden, The Famous Five and Alfred Hitchcock mysteries, so JANE BLONDE SENSATIONAL SPYLET has come as more than a bit of a surprise.
I can see that the idea of plain mousey little Janey...Read more
Recently awarded a Golden Dagger for his second book in the series, Silence of the Grave, Arnaldur Indriadason's first book Tainted Blood, or Jar City as it was originally titled in English, is a taut, sparsely written police procedural set in a grey, cold and wet Reykjavik, Iceland....Read more
Somebody called Jess Lowther has been demanding that I post reviews of a couple of Mike Boshier's books that were entered in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards. These reviews have been queued up on the site for sometime now, and I've been resisting posting them as there's nothing much I can...Read more
Set within the hipster world of inner Melbourne lane-ways, cafes and bright young things, JINX is the debut crime fiction novel from local musician and writer Hugh McGinlay. A light-hearted, comedic styled novel, JINX introduces ex-police investigator, now accidental amateur detective,...Read more
'We're spies,' said Lamb. 'All kinds of outlandish shit goes on.'
Like the ringing of a dead man's phone, or an unwelcome guest at a funeral . . .
In Slough House memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking...Read more
In 2006 THE CLEANER was released and the opportunity to review it provided this reader with a life-long obsession with Paul Cleave's books (and a sneaking suspicion he was trying to scare me half to death!)
In my review at that time...Read more
JUST PLAY ALONG is Megan Daymond's debut novel, and she's taken on quite confrontational subject matter. A double date that turns into a snuff film, with one of the girls fighting back and killing one of the attackers in the struggle to survive. From there things go from bad to worse as...Read more
Nothing like Japanese crime fiction to remind you to expect the unexpected, although to be fair, I wasn't too sure what to expect when I plucked this book from the want to read lists. I also, freely confess, I have no memory of it going onto that list so something must have tweaked interest...Read more
Along with a lot of other readers around the same age, I started out reading Espionage thrillers with John le Carré's George Smiley, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, Ian Fleming's James Bond and the novels of Frederick Forsyth and Len Deighton. George Smiley was always a particular favourite,...Read more
The winner of the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Award for Younger Readers, KATIPO JOE is an almost pitch perfect vehicle for older kids (12+) to get some insights into the reality of war, and how identity can come with consequences, and loyalty is hard.
A 12 year old New Zealand boy living...Read more
It must take real writing skill to create a novel around 3.5 of the most unpleasant, conflicted, dysfunctional and frequently flat out awful people you'd ever read about, and make it as compelling and downright fascinating as KEEP HER SWEET.
The premise is quite the...Read more
There's a new Wyatt on the way, and that means it's as good a time as any to do a little tidying up of the back catalogue.
Wyatt is a very careful man, because he has to be. Wyatt robs banks, lifts payrolls, gets girls, leaves girls, lives the life of a loner, trusts few,...Read more
THE KILL BILL is the second book in the Referendum Series by ex-politician Richard Evans, and boy can you pick that this author knows all about the back-room machinations that go on in the political world.
In this case we're talking about those around changes to the...Read more
Plan for the best, expect the worst, note the exit points.
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...Read more
Bit of background to commence - KILL YOUR HUSBANDS is billed as a follow up to KILL YOUR BROTHER, which I've not read / listened to yet. None of which seemed to matter a jot, although I understand there is some character crossover it's definitely didn't feel like I should have read these in...Read more
KILL YOURS, KILL MINE (aka SEVEN SISTERS) is a standalone novel from Katherine Kovacic, a beautifully written, powerful, provocative take on the concept of justice and vengeance, coming from a place of grief, guilt and the failure of the justice system. It's based around the deaths of women...Read more
A thriller set in what's becoming the familiar territory of Iraq and Afghanistan, Pakistan's status as a nuclear nation plays into the action in KILL ZONE.
The idea of nuclear devices the size of briefcases going missing isn't a new one in thriller world, and to be frank I've...Read more
This review is ridiculously and embarrassingly overdue. The notes for it have been sitting in my queue for way too long, especially as I have always been sorely tempted to gobble read anything by this author as soon as I can get my hands on it. He's one of those authors that knows how to...Read more
