Lea, Catherine (2024) Better Left Dead. David Bateman.
When Lizzy Bean is found dead in her rundown and rubbish strewn beach house, garrotted with a piece of wire, DI Nyree Bradshaw and her team of Northland detectives set out to solve the case. As they follow the clues they uncover a series of linked crimes involving a kidnapping, gangs, methamphetamine use, mental health issues, the foster care system and child trafficking. Meanwhile Nyree is feeling guilty and has a new challenge that will upset her solo life. Second book in a series. Empathetic and twisty page-turner with strong character development.
Rating: 4/5
Rowell, Rainbow (2024) Slow Dance. W. Morrow.
Shiloh and Cary were quirky high school best friends that everyone believed were destined to end up together. But the pair had other ideas for their futures, firstly to escape North Omaha – Shiloh wanted to go to college and become an actress and Cary to join the navy. They promised each other that they would always be friends. Life however had other ideas. They did not talk again for fourteen years. In the meantime Shiloh returned home got married, had babies and got divorced, whilst Cary sailed the ocean blue. When they connect again their confused passion for one another ignites and we have an epic romance. Delightful tale, told in dual timelines, of two flawed people and of love lost then found.
Rating: 4/5
Atkinson, Kate (2024) Death at the Sign of the Rook. Doubleday.
In paying homage to Agatha Christie’s detective fiction Atkinson doesn’t quite hit the mark. Her star, ex-detective Jackson Brodie, is a bit player in a stolen paintings poser and a country house murder mystery weekend. Although the narrative is entertaining in places, and characterisations clever, the story overall is confusing and wanders. Disappointing.
Rating: 3/5
Haig, Matt (2024) The Life Impossible. Canongate.
When Grace, a retired mathematics teacher, unexpectedly inherits a house from a long-ago friend on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza she immediately becomes part of a strange mystery. As she seeks to uncover how her friend died she is captured by a powerful light, La Presencia, that gives her supernatural gifts thus changing her life forever. A novel for the anthropocene age with fantastical eco, and alien, adventures. I didn’t feel the magic!
Rating: 3/5
Hickey, Margaret (2024) The Creeper. Bantam.
Ten years ago in Victoria’s high country five hikers were shot by notorious bushman, Bill ‘Creeper’ Durant, in a murder-suicide. As the anniversary of the tragedy approaches, and media attention is focussing, Senior Constable Sally White, the sole-charge officer at the mountain-town of Edenville’s police station, undertakes to review the case files after claims of police persecution are made. As she sifts through the original investigation she finds some disturbing connections between the murdered hikers. Atmospheric and tense page-turner, engaging young woman cop too. Another great addition to Aussie bush-noir.
Rating: 4/5
Alberta, Tim (2023) The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. HarperCollins.
Trump a divine emissary? Journalist Alberta, a practicing Christian, investigates the evangelical movement in the US and how conservative political ideologies have taken root since Trump’s election in 2016 and captured the message of Jesus Christ in the battle for an earthly kingdom. The disconnect from the scriptures, cultural displacement, perpetual scandals and corruption, and the worshipping of America’s special covenant with God, all come under his purview. He tells a behind the scenes story of faith, fear and distrust imparted to him in interviews with church insiders. Highly readable. An alarming and compelling insight into the world of US religious extremism and the GOP.
Rating: 5/5
Yarros, Rebecca (2023) Iron Flame. Little Brown.
In this fantastical sequel to Fourth Wing we again meet Violet Sorrengail, her dragons and the gang at Basgiath War College, except now it is all ramping up as century old secrets begin to emerge. At its heart is a new vice commandant who tries to bring Violet down a peg or two, but her remarkable resilience, her lover, dragons, comrades and family rally round as they seek to save a doomed Navarre from its enemies (inside and out). Yarros has built a brutal universe of war and death, with some seemingly immortal humans, magical wards and lots of mythical creatures. Got sucked in but it is overhyped and far too long. Don’t think I have it in me to read a third book in what could be a never-ending series.
Rating: 3/5
Hammer, Chris (2024) The Valley. Allen & Unwin.
Detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic are back. A local entrepreneur is murdered in a remote NSW valley town and Nell and Ivan are unexpectedly called in to handle the investigation. When it is discovered that Nell has a DNA link to the victim police hierarchy ignore the conflict of interest and insist they carry on. This a rollicking tale of corruption, greed, thievery, secrets and double dealing, with dodgy lawyers, swindlers and bent politicians, told in two timelines, set in an evocative landscape. Twisty mystery on an epic scale. Stamina needed.
Rating: 4/5
7:30 Bookclub 