McTiernan, Dervla (2024) What Happened to Nina? HarperCollins.
When Simon returns home without Nina, his longterm girlfriend, after a weekend stay at his family’s rural property in Vermont, Nina’s parents become anxious and call in the police. Simon’s explanation doesn’t make any sense. What has happened to Nina? Simon’s affluent parents rush to protect him, calling in lawyers and PR professionals. As the story goes viral the truth becomes muddied and sides are chosen. Nina’s parents finds themselves under siege. However they are determined to do whatever it takes to find Nina. An intelligent and exciting mystery – McTiernan at her finest. Unputdownable.
Rating: 4/5
Quindlen, Anna (2024) After Annie. Random House.
The sudden death of Annie from an aneurysm leaves her husband, four children and best friend bereft. Annie has been at the centre of all their lives and their grief is all-consuming. Husband Bill is so over-whelmed that he leaves his thirteen year old daughter Ali to take care of them all. But Ali is grieving too and has challenges to navigate in her own life. The spirit of Annie is woven throughout the story as her survivors, over the course of a year, battle to find a path ahead. A slowly developing, but sharply observed, domestic drama with plenty of heart. Emotionally persuasive.
Rating: 4/5
Crighton, Anna (2024) Still Standing: A Memoir. Canterbury UP.
Anna Crighton is a doyen of Christchurch’s heritage and arts scene. In her lively memoir we are taken on a journey from her wild adolescence to her advocacy of built heritage, active political life, and a damehood. Her unexpected adventures in the Christchurch of her youth, includes a stint at the infamous Mount Magdala Convent in Halswell to “straighten her out”. The biggest drawback of this book is the light font – what were you thinking Canterbury University Press! A Christchurch who’s-who targeted at a local audience.
Rating: 3/5
Ranganath, Charan (2024) Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters. Doubleday.
Memory is more than a record of our past. It frames our everyday lives. Knowing how memories work helps us shape how we experience our world, from perceptions of reality to decision making and multiple remembering tasks. But why we remember cannot be simply explained. The ways we use memory has evolved over hundreds of years and science does not yet have the answers, but it is asking better and more revealing questions, challenging assumptions. Ranganath in his narrative weaves science with his personal story. Big read targeted at those who want to better understand our brain’s memory system.
Rating: 3/5
Cantor, Jillian (2023) The Fiction Writer. Park Row Books.
Olivia’s second novel, a retelling of Rebecca, has failed to find a readership, so when she gets a ghost writing opportunity she jumps at the chance so she can pay her bills. Ash, a ‘hot’ billionaire, wants her to write his grandmother’s story claiming she was plagiarised by Daphne du Maurier. But, when Olivia’s research begs more questions than answers she finds herself tangled up in sinister family obsessions and secrets. Her own reputation is on the block. Underdone.
Rating: 2/5
Pease, Amy (2024) Northwoods. Atria.
Eli North is suffering from PTSD after his deployment in Afghanistan. He is addicted to alcohol. His marriage, and career as an elite investigator, are over. His mother, the local sheriff at the small northern Wisconsin resort town of Shaky Lake, has employed him as a deputy, in her under-resourced department. When he is called to investigate a noise disturbance at an empty holiday cabin he discovers the body of an adolescent boy and later learns that the boy’s girl friend is missing. The story unfolds in the wake of the opioid crisis involving an upmarket local drug rehab centre, a financially troubled resort, and a prescription drug company. A complex mystery with afflicted characters and several unresolved plot lines.
Rating: 3/5
Buist, Anne, Simsion, Graeme (2024) The Glass House. Hachette.
This is a novel about the Australian mental health system, written by psychiatrist Anne Buist and The Rosie Project author Graeme Simsion. Although the cases and characters in this book are fictional it provides a glimpse into the challenges of mental health care in a public hospital. Psychiatry registrar Hannah Wright, who has a past trauma of her own, has moved from the Emergency department to the psychiatric ward of Menzies Hospital. Everyday she and her fellow trainees are presented with patients with a wide range of disorders, from post-partum psychosis to suicide ideation, providing treatment whilst they learn on the job. This is a slow-burn novel told with empathy and gentle humour.
Rating: 3/5
Michaelides, Alex (2024) The Fury. M. Joseph.
Former movie star Lana Farrar invites family and friends to her private Greek island for the Easter weekend. As the story unfolds we get Agatha Christie vibes, but no such luck! This is a story with a destination of its own, narrated by Elliott Chase, a rather nasty and unreliable fellow and peopled with a cast of unbelievable characters. At the heart of the story is a badly-kept secret that will see one of their number murdered. Slow and uneven plot which fell well short of its promise. Don’t waste your time!
Rating: 2/5
Disher, Garry (2024) Sanctuary. Text.
I’m a great fan of Disher’s Hirsch series but his latest didn’t grab me in the same way. Grace is a thief on the run. She was raised in foster care and taught to relieve the rich of their valuables, but she is sick of her watchful solitary life, always on the move. When an opportunity arises to find employment with Erin, the owner of a rural antiques shop in the Adelaide Hills, she jumps at the chance for a normal life. But both Grace and Erin are being stalked by dangerous men. A sequel in the offing, maybe? A story with many characters and crimes.
Rating: 3/5
7:30 Bookclub 