You know those books that pop up so often on your feeds that you begin to feel that the universe (and lots of very savvy literary publicists) would really like you to read them? This is how I came to read The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. Having heard many good things, and with Foley’s…
Choosing the remote island of Lark to relocate to is a decision made by the Kendricks in the wake of enormous loss. Viola and her mother Deborah will never be the same again now it is only the two of them, and the safety offered by the tiny community of Lark seems heaven sent at…
As the author herself explains first up, having a dozen rules for life seems a bit light on. Humans are complex beings, and we’re not all blessed with common sense either hence there wouldn’t be the need for as many as 488 Rules for Life to be laid down by the pen of the ever-sensible…
Pandemics, post-apocalyptics, zombie dramas, dystopians – choose your preferred genre label here – generally seem to go all out large or small and intense. If you are one of those readers who simply must have delivered a very finite scientific explanation of how the world all goes to hell, you may find that you tend…
Snake Island, like other notable Australian mentions published in the last couple of years, straddles a literary space between dark drama and crime fiction. The term literary thriller has of late been used to describe such works. Acts of violence committed in small or otherwise closed communities offer rich opportunities for intensive explorations into what…
“Have you ever wanted to solve a murder? Gather the clues the police overlooked? Put together the pieces? Identify the suspect?” Where have we heard of this writer? For this reviewer, it is due to the riveting new true crime podcast, The Murder Squad, which Jensen co-hosts with former police detective, Paul Holes. The two…
Don’t play games you can’t afford to lose. We all know them. Those pushy people who come into established groups such as book clubs and attempt to impress themselves upon everybody in the room immediately upon entering. They seek to change the agendas without any prior knowledge of the practices of the group. We loathe…
It’s a bit daunting knowing that in order to try a new-to-you series author (that everyone else raves about), a reader faces ploughing through quite a long back catalogue. It was good news to discover that the award-winning author Ann Cleeves has created a fresh protagonist for this brand new British crime series. Crime and…
Girl in the Rearview Mirror is a very modern American novel in all the best ways and invites its readers into the sparkling arena of the rich that is rarely experienced by most of us. Think paid staff, exhibition openers, political campaigns and designer dresses and this is the privileged world of the Martins, Arizona’s…
Bush crime, or rural noir if you prefer, is having quite the moment as we all know. The challenges of such extreme geographic isolation in the hostile environment of outback Australia lends itself well to works of crime and dramatic fiction. It’s possible there is going to be no one around to witness the occurrence…
