Review: THE CARETAKER, Gabriel Bergmoser

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, supplied by my local library
  
• ISBN: 9781460763131
• ISBN 10: 1460763130
• Imprint: HarperCollins AU
• On Sale: 28/07/2023
• Pages: 336 
• Finalist, Best Novel, 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards
  

Synopsis (publisher)

An isolated, empty ski resort in the off-season. A woman who doesn't want to be found. A man who may not be who he appears to be. A game of cat and mouse - with deadly consequences.

On the run from a controlling husband and his underworld associates in Melbourne, Charlotte has adopted a new identity and found a job as an off-season caretaker in a tiny, deserted alpine resort. Some dangerous people are looking for Charlotte and so she's lying low, tending to the lodges, happy to be alone, but jumping every time a floor creaks or the wind whistles through the empty buildings. She's trying to convince herself she's okay, that she got away. But then strange things start happening around the resort. And Charlotte starts to realise that every escape route is being sealed off, one by one.

From Gabriel Bergmoser, the master of propulsive, page-turning storytelling, The Caretaker will have readers second-guessing themselves at every turn. What's real and what isn't? Who's dangerous and who isn't? And who will survive? A menacing, nail-biting, nerve-racking psychological thriller.

My Take

I was well engaged in the initial part of the novel, plenty of mysteries in the plot. I wanted to know why Charlotte was on the run, who she was hiding from, what she had been accused of, who it was who was looking for her.

But the author lost me with the level of violence in the final part of the story. I also thought Charlotte's character didn't ring true. She seemed to have developed some odd skills, particularly for one so young. It seems setup for a sequel, if I am reading the final pages correctly, but not for me.

My rating: 4.3

About the author

Gabriel Bergmoser is an award-winning Melbourne-based author and playwright. He won the prestigious Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award in 2015, was nominated for the 2017 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing and went on to win several awards at the 2017 VDL One Act Play Festival circuit. In 2016 his first young adult novel, Boone Shepard, was shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Prize. His first novel for adults, The Hunted (2020), became a bestseller and a film adaptation is currently in development. Since then he has published the thrillers The Inheritance (2021) and The Caretaker (2023), along with the YA coming-of-age novel The True Colour of a Little White Lie (2021) and the middle-grade adventure Andromache Between Worlds (2024).

Review: WILD DOGS, Michael Trant

• 
   this edition supplied by my local library
  
• published Penguin Random House Australia 2022
• ISBN 978 1 76104 677 3
• 355 pages  

 Synopsis (publisher) 

Wild Dogs is a page-turning action thriller set in the WA outback, introducing Australia’s answer to Jack Reacher

In the drought-ridden rangelands of Western Australia, Gabe Ahern makes his living trapping wild dogs for local station owners.

Still coming to terms with his wife’s death – and the part he played in it – the old bushman leads a solitary life. Until one morning, when he rescues a young Afghan man, Amin, from certain execution.

Now, with a gang of people smugglers on his tail and the lives of Amin's family on the line, Gabe is drawn into a ruthless game of cat and mouse. His main opponent is Chase Fowler, a kangaroo hunter with bush skills as wily and sharp as his own.

As the old dogger and roo-shooter go head to head, Gabe will need all his cunning to come out of this alive…

My Take

The author really hits his straps in this novel. Strikes both political and social chords. The "dogger" Gabe Ahern comes across a people smuggling operation in northern WA when he rescues Amin who has come to Australia on an illegal boat. Amin wants to rescue his wife and son but says that he knows that bent cops are assisting the people smugglers.

This novel is a thriller from the get-go. The setting feels authentic and the characters loom large.

Very impressive.

My rating: 4.7 

I've also read

4.4, RIDGEVIEW STATION

Review: GRAVELY CONCERNED, Rhys Dylan

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B7P8ZTNY
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wyrmwood Books (November 1, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 322 pages
• Book 5 of 17  

Synopsis  (Amazon)

Predators watch. They’re patient. And strike when it’s least expected.

In broad daylight, on a quiet rural road, six-year-old Osian Howells disappears from his own front garden. In the blink of an eye he’s a missing person, taken, in the words of a headline hungry press, for nefarious purposes.

DCI Evan Warlow knows that the first hours after an abduction are crucial. Decisions have to be made quickly. Evidence can get lost or compromised, persons of interest need to be interrogated. And one or two have the team’s antennae twitching.

Worse, the abductor’s deviousness seems to know no bounds as cruel taunts pepper the investigation. With emotions at boiling point, and under pressure from family, the press and his superiors are all ‘gravely concerned’ for the boy’s welfare.

As always in such cases, the clock is ticking. Warlow and the team need answers and soon, before a kidnapping turns into something infinitely worse.

Gravely Concerned is the fifth book in the DCI Warlow bestselling series of fast-paced thrillers by Rhys Dylan. Set in the heart of wild Wales, this dark murder mystery full of action and pathos will keep you guessing.

My Take

Another cracking read. The abduction of a child from his front garden spurs an investigation with a strict timeline. Red herrings abound. And the pressure on Evan Warlow mounts as the hours progress.

The urgency and the characterisation are both very well done.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE ENGINE HOUSE - #1

4.5, CAUTION: DEATH AT WORK -#2

4.6, ICE COLD MALICE - #3

4.5, SUFFER THE DEAD - #4

4.6, THE BOWMAN - #15

Review: THE BOWMAN, Rhys Dylan

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DJ5N28GZ
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wyrmwood Books (January 21, 2025)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 310 pages 
• DCI Evan Warlow Crime Thriller Book 15 

Synopsis (Amazon)

In the wild heart of Wales, terror stalks the open moor.

In the remote and unforgiving Cambrian Mountains, two bodies are found, sparking fears that a long-buried nightmare has returned. DCI Warlow is plunged into a chilling mystery, hunting a murderer who disappeared without a trace—leaving only blood and silence behind.

As Warlow’s team battles against mounting pressure, they face a haunting question: is this the work of a twisted imitator, or has The Bowman, a ruthless killer thought to be gone forever, resurfaced?

With each dark discovery, they’re pulled deeper into a case where the land itself seems to conspire against them—and the answers may come at a deadly cost.

Edge of the seat crime fiction. The Bowman is the 15th riveting novel from bestselling crime author, Rhys Dylan, perfect for fans of JD Kirk, Simon McCleave, and Peter Robinson

My Take

Oh dear! I've jumped the gun a bit (see below for my list of books read) by reading this title, the 15th in the series, when I should have read the 5th. Never mind, I fully intend to correct that in the near future. I did have some trouble in catching up on what has happened in the series since #4.

I have become thoroughly immersed in the books each time though. The characters are great and the scenarios believable.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.6, THE ENGINE HOUSE - #1
• 4.5, CAUTION: DEATH AT WORK -#2
• 4.6, ICE COLD MALICE - #3
• 4.5, SUFFER THE DEAD - #4
  

Review: RIDGEVIEW STATION, Michael Trant

• 
   this edition supplied by my local library as an e-book on Libby
  
• ISBN:978176029420
• Publisher:Allen & Unwin
• Imprint:Arena
• Pub Date:28 Jun 2017
• Page Extent:336  

Synopsis (publisher) 

A vast outback property. An unforgettable season. A family's fight to save their livelihood. A sweeping tale of love and loss, and the highs and lows of life on the land, from an utterly authentic new voice in rural fiction.
Many of Peter and Kelsie Dalton's friends thought they were crazy when they bought Ridgeview Station. But five years on, their hard work, help from Kelsie's parents, and record rainfall have them in high spirits as the summer muster approaches.

Realising they're going to need more help this season, Peter rings around the neighbouring stations to try and find a good worker. After a glowing recommendation, Alexi arrives to give them a hand - and is not at all what they'd expected ...

Everything is going smoothly with the muster before disaster strikes and the Dalton's find themselves battling to save their livestock, their property and their lives.

An entertaining yarn set on a vast outback property peopled with colourful and authentic characters, Ridgeview Station is about love, loss and the spirit of the bush.

My Take

Please note- not crime fiction. But if you are looking for something authentic about life on an Australian outback station then this might be just the book for you.

My rating: 4.4

 Author bio:

Michael Trant been involved with agriculture for most of his life. After 16 years running a sheep station, he took up writing to report on the live export controversy from the farming side. Michael currently lives in Perth. Ridgeview Station is his first novel.

Review: THE RIVER HOME, Hannah Richell

• 
  this edition supplied by my local library
  
• published by Hachette Australia 2020
• ISBN 978 0 7336 4366 8
• 359 pages
• author website
  

Synopsis ( author website)

A gripping family drama about sisterhood, secrets and forgiveness.

‘There’s something I need to tell you.’

Eight years ago, Margot Sorrell left the crumbling family home in the Somerset countryside under a dark cloud, hoping never to return. And until she tells her two sisters why she ran away, they refuse to forgive her...

But with her sisters' perfect lives starting to unravel, Margot knows she must go back. The river by her home has kept her secret all this time - as well as the memories of the terrible night that tore her family apart.

As the past threatens to surface, will the truth destroy the Sorrell family - or bring them back together?

My Take

Not really crime fiction, although a crime has occurred. But certainly it has strong elements of mystery.

Margot has thought she would never return to her family home but her sister is getting married, and then there is the message that she needs her. She also dreads facing her mother. None of them really understand why Margot left and she is resolved to never tell them the truth. 

Engrossing.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

5.0, THE SEARCH PARTY

Review: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle
  
• first published 1926
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046A9MRW
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Masterpiece Ed edition (October 14, 2010)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 210 pages 
• already reviewed 2008 and 2021

Synopsis (Amazon)

Agatha Christie’s most daring crime mystery – an early and particularly brilliant outing of Hercule Poirot, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, with its legendary twist, changed the detective fiction genre for ever.

Roger Ackroyd was about to be married. He had a life of wealth and privilege. First he lost his fiancée – and then his life.

The day after her tragic suicide he retires upstairs to read a mysterious letter, leaving his closest friends and family to eat dinner below.

Just a few hours later he is found stabbed to death in a locked room with a weapon from his own collection.

Was he killed for money? For love? Or for something altogether more sinister?

The truth will out.
But you won’t see it coming.

My Take

I have read this book again having read it at least twice in the last 20 years ( 2008 and 2021). This time I am reading it with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group. It is our 3rd Hercule Poirot this year and I'm sure the group will find plenty to discuss.

It is a relatively short novel. But it was considered controversial because it subverted what many considered one of the golden rules of crime fiction.  Hercule Poirot has retired to the country, where he is tending marrows. Captain Hastings has gone to Argentina where he has apparently made some unwise investments. Poirot is missing him more than he had expected to.

Almost everyone in this novel has something to hide. Does this confuse readers as they try to work out who killed Roger Ackroyd?

I found some quizzes which ask questions about each chapter.

My rating: 4.5 

See all my Agatha Christie reviews