Review: THE OTHER PASSENGER, Louise Candlish

• format Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 2869 KB
• Print Length: 296 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (June 25, 2020)
• Publication Date: June 25, 2020
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07YL9FYWZ
• Author website: http://www.louisecandlish.com/

Synopsis (Amazon)

It all happens so quickly. One day you're living the dream, commuting to work by riverbus with your charismatic neighbour Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn't turned up for the boat and his wife Melia has reported him missing.

When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends - ask Melia, she'll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives?

No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent.

Aren't you?

My take

An engrossing read.

Jamie and Clare have been living together for 10 years in a large house that Clare's parents bought her. Clare works for a real estate agent and works with Melia who lives with Kit in a rental property a couple of streets away. Jamie, well past middle age, commutes into London to work in a cafe, after some sort of nervous collapse. He meets Kit on a riverbus going to work, and the older couple become friends with the younger one.

While Jamie and Clare live comfortably, Melia and Kit are heavily in debt, spending all that they earn and more, and Kit is openly envious.

Just before Christmas in 2019 the commuters meet with fellow travellers for Christmas drinks and Kit never returns home. Just after New Year two detectives come to the house to question Jamie, intimating that he is somehow connected to Kit's disappearance, that someone has seen something that implicates him. Jamie knows that he has nothing to fear but what has this other person reported.

Clare becomes suspicious of Kit and Melia and thinks they somehow they have been targeting Jamie.

If you think I seem to have told you a lot about the plot, never fear, there is much more, and some incredible plot twists that will leave you catching your breath.

I'll certainly be reading more by this author.

My rating: 5.0

About the author
Hello and welcome! I am a novelist based in London. OUR HOUSE, my #1 bestseller in the UK with over 200,000 copies sold to date, was my debut in the US. Soon to be published in multiple languages, it won the British Book Awards 2019 Book of the Year: Crime & Thriller and was shortlisted for the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Best Crime Novel of the Year Award​ 2019 and the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2019. It was longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2019 and the National Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year 2018. OUR HOUSE is now in development for a major TV series by Red Planet Pictures, makers of the international hit drama 'Death in Paradise'.

Sunday Times bestselling author ​Louise Candlish was born in Hexham, Northumberland, and grew up in the Midlands town of Northampton. She studied English at University College London and worked as an illustrated books editor and copywriter before writing fiction. She is the author of thirteen novels, including the thriller Our House, winner of the British Book Awards 2019 Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and shortlisted for several other awards. A #1 bestseller in paperback, ebook and audiobook, it is in development for a major TV series with Red Planet Pictures. Those People, a novel about the neighbours from hell, is out now in paperback in the UK and hardcover in the US and reached #2 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.

Louise lives in Herne Hill in South London with her husband, teenage daughter, cat, and puppy. Besides books, the things she likes best are: coffee; TV; salted caramel; France (especially the Ile de Re); Italy (especially Sicily); tennis; lasagne; heavy metal; 'The Archers'; driving towards the sea (but not into it); anything at the Royal Opera House; white wine; Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (or, failing that, a Starbar); and using parentheses. Her favourite book is Madame Bovary.

Review: YOU DON'T KNOW ME, Sara Foster

• this edition published by Simon and Schuster Australia 2019
• ISBN 978-19-2566-536-7
• 353 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Who killed Lizzie Burdett?

Lizzie Burdett was eighteen when she vanished, and Noah Carruso has never forgotten her. She was his first crush, his unrequited love. She was also his brother’s girlfriend.

Tom Carruso hasn’t been home in over a decade. He left soon after Lizzie disappeared under a darkening cloud of suspicion, and now he’s back for the inquest into Lizzie’s death – intent on telling his side of the story. As the inquest looms, Noah meets Alice Pryce on  holiday. They fall for each other fast and hard, but Noah can’t bear to tell Alice his deepest fears. And Alice is equally stricken – she carries a terrible secret of her own. Is the truth worth telling if it will destroy everything?

A stunning new thriller about the burden of shame from blockbuster author Sara Foster.

My Take

Alice Pryce reminds Noah Carruso of his brother's girlfriend Lizzie Burdett who vanished one night twelve years before. Alice is in Thailand teaching English and Noah is having a holiday before attending an inquest back in Australia called to finally resolve what happened to Lizzie.
They fall in love as if their lives depend on it. Both have secrets about what has happened to them in Australia, and Alice is planning never to return.

Noah puts off his return to Australia as long as he can, but eventually he must return to Australia for the inquest and to face his brother Tom. After Noah has left for home Alice gets a visit from the Australian High Commission which means she has to return too.

I kept wondering if this is really crime fiction, but in reality at least one crime needs to be resolved. But on another level it is a romance, but also an attempt to by the main characters to come to terms with shame and guilt.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read
4.3, ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US

About the author
Sara Foster has written five critically acclaimed novels: Come Back to Me, Beneath the Shadows, Shallow Breath, All That is Lost Between Us and The Hidden Hours. She was born and raised in England, and moved to Australia in 2004. She lives in Perth with her husband and two children.

Find out more at:
www.sarafoster.com.au
www.facebook.com/sarafosterauthor
www.instagram.com/sarafosterauthor
www.twitter.com/sarajfoster

Review: UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SKY, Anna Romer

• this large print edition published by Read How You Want
• first published in Australia by Simon and Schuster 2019
• 485 pages
• ISBN 978-0-36932-454-2
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Chilling secrets buried deep in wild bushland drive this thrilling new novel from bestseller Anna Romer

When an injured teenager goes missing at a remote bushland campground, local journalist Abby Bardot is determined to expose the area’s dark history. The girl bears a striking resemblance to the victims of three brutal murders that occurred twenty years ago and Abby fears the killer is still on the loose.

But the newspaper Abby works for wants to suppress the story for fear it will scare off tourists to the struggling township. Haunted by her own turbulent memories, Abby is desperate to learn the truth and enlists the help of Tom Gabriel, a reclusive crime writer. At first resentful of Abby’s intrusion, Tom’s reluctance vanishes when they discover a hidden attic room in his house that shows evidence of imprisonment from half a century before.

As Abby and Tom sift through the attic room and discover its tragic history, they become convinced it holds the key to solving the bushland murders and finding the missing girl alive.

But their quest has drawn out a killer, someone with a shocking secret who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

My Take

There are many mysteries to be solved in this novel with several story lines and the stories coming from several time frames. There are secrets to be uncovered. Abby Bardot has a history that she doesn't talk about, and there are several people who have hidden pasts. There is a man in jail for a murder he says he didn't commit. It all makes for a great tangle.

Underneath it all Abby the journalist wants to write about the secrets of Deep Water, about the girls who've disappeared, those who've died, and those who survived.

This book makes the reader work hard as the author changes the voice of the narrator almost at whim. There is little warning that this is going to happen and the narration can swap from third person to first person between paragraphs. There are at least four main narrators and several minor ones. I guess the intent is to make the reader aware of what particular characters are thinking, but it is not a device that I particularly like. In the earlier parts of the book I found it confusing.

Despite all that, an intriguing story, and one that kept me guessing.

My rating: 4.4

About the author
Anna Romer was born in Australia to a family of booklovers. She led a nomadic life for many years, travelling around Europe and Britain in an ancient Kombi van where she discovered a passion for history.

These days she lives in a little old cottage surrounded by bushland, writing stories about dark family secrets, rambling houses, characters haunted by the past, and settings that feature the uniquely beautiful Australian landscape. Anna’s debut bestselling novel was Thornwood House, followed by Lyrebird Hill and Beyond the Orchard. See AnnaRomer.com.au

Review: IN THE CLEARING, J. P. Pomare

• this edition published by Hachette Australia`2020
• ISBN 978-1-86971-339-3
• 326 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY?

Amy has only ever known life in the Clearing. She knows what's expected of her. She knows what to do to please her elders, and how to make sure the community remains happy and calm. That is, until a new young girl joins the group. She isn't fitting in; she doesn't want to stay. What happens next will turn life as Amy knows it on its head.

Freya has gone to great lengths to feel like a 'normal person'. In fact, if you saw her go about her day with her young son, you'd think she was an everyday mum. That is, until a young girl goes missing and someone from her past, someone she hasn't seen for a very long time, arrives in town.

As secrets of the past bubble up to the surface, this small town's dark underbelly will be exposed and lives will be destroyed.

My Take

The story opens with an extract from Amy's journal which ends with an intriguing phrase PROTECT THE QUEEN. (My brain immediately prompted the idea of a queen bee.)

Part One (GOOD GIRL, KEEP GOING!) opens with Freya and another intriguing phrase: Four days to go. Freya learns from the news that a child has been abducted. We learn that Freya learnt to behave by watching others. That she has a guard dog and that her suspicions are aroused by some young people camping on her land.

The story continues to evolve with Freya and Amy alternating as the narrators. We learn that Amy lives in a community called The Clearing. That Freya is a yoga teacher with a young son called Billy and that they live in rural Victoria.

This is a novel where clues are being dropped all the time. On the surface Freya is "normal" with an elderly mother in an aged care complex, and a brother travelling in Bali. Freya had some sort of trauma in the past when she "lost" another child.

So, have I told you enough to whet your appetite? There are some very clever constructs in this novel and a rather surprising twist in the plot towards the end. But I am not going to reveal them to you here.
If you must, read on - there is a clue about one of them below the next paragraph.

My rating: 4.6

About the author
J. P. Pomare was raised on a horse farm in rural New Zealand where he lived until he was eighteen before deciding to travel. After years abroad, including a twelve months living in North America, he settled in Melbourne, Australia and has lived there since.

His debut novel CALL ME EVIE was released to critical acclaim and won the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Award for best first novel. IN THE CLEARING is his second novel.

Link: The Family
Quotation at the front of the book
I love children. Anne Hamilton-Byrne

Review: MR NOBODY, Catherine Steadman

•     Publisher: Simon & Schuster
•     ISBN: 9781471192265
•     Publication Date: 20/01/2020

Synopsis (publisher)

When a man is found on a Norfolk beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. From the hospital staff who find themselves inexplicably drawn to him; to international medical experts who are baffled by him; to the national press who call him Mr Nobody; everyone wants answers.

Who is this man? And what happened to him? Neuropsychiatrist Dr Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient. This is her field of expertise, this is the chance she's been waiting for and this case could make her name known across the world.

But therein lies the danger. Emma left this same small town in Norfolk fourteen years ago and has taken great pains to cover all traces of her past since then. But now something – or someone – is calling her back. And the more time she spends with her patient, the more alarmed she becomes. Has she walked into danger?

My Take

Dr. Emma Lewis gets a phone call from a psychiatrist in USA whom she looks up to, asking her to take over a case in Norfolk, of a man found on a beach with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

By the time she meets him, the hospital where Mr Nobody is have given him the name Matthew. But while he does seem to have amnesia and possible fugue, Emma accidentally discovers that he knows a little too much about herself.

And Emma has her own reasons why she hasn't been to Norfolk for 14 years, a past that has led to her and her family changing their names.

A really good read, but there was a spot about halfway through where I thought the author must have made significant changes to the direction of the plot.

My rating: 4.5

I've already read
4.2, SOMETHING IN THE WATER

Review: THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, Heather Morris

• Originally published in Australia by 2018
• ISBN 978-0-06-279715-5
• 262 pages

Synopsis (Good Reads)

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for more than two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

My Take

A departure from my usual fare of Crime Fiction (although crimes have definitely been committed)
A book I bought in LA at the airport when my electronic devices were running low in battery life.
It was billed in the book store as #1 and I had had it recommended in the last year by several people.

It was a very compelling read, an opportunity to read at first hand an inside story about the events of the Holocaust.
Lale Sokolov spent 3 years of his life as a prisoner in Auschwitz/Birkenau tattooing numbers on the arms of new inmates, taking the opportunity to undertake some black market trading exchanging jewels for food and helping keep fellow prisoners alive. Some saw Lale as a collaborator and occasionally reported his activities. Several times he nearly lost his life.

My guess is that there are some too who would see Lale as a lower level war criminal, but his experiences were harrowing.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
A native of New Zealand now resident in Australia, working in a large public hospital in Melbourne. For several years I studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an academy award winning Screenwriter in the U.S. In 2003, I was introduced to an elderly gentleman "who might just have a story worth telling". The day I met Lale Sokolov changed my life, as our friendship grew and he embarked on a journey of self scrutiny, entrusting the inner most details of his life during the Holocaust. I originally wrote Lale's story as a screenplay - which ranked high in international competitions - before reshaping it into my debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. 

Review: THE ACCUSATION, Wendy James

• this edition published by Read How You Want as a large print edition for Harper Collins 2019
• ISBN 978-0-36930-380-6
• 427 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Somebody is lying.

A bizarre abduction. A body of damning evidence. A world of betrayal.

After eighteen-year-old Ellie Canning is found shivering and barely conscious on a country road, her bizarre story of kidnap and escape enthrals the nation. Who would do such a thing? And why?

Local drama teacher Suzannah Wells, once a minor celebrity, is new to town. Suddenly she's in the spotlight again, accused of being the monster who drugged and bound a teenager in her basement. As stories about her past emerge, even those closest to her begin to doubt her innocence.

And Ellie? The media can't get enough of her. She's a girl-power icon, a social-media star. But is she telling the truth?

My take

Middle aged Suzannah Wells, once the star of a soapie on Australian television, has come to a small country town in Victoria to teach drama at a local high school. She has bought an old house on the edge of town, bringing with her her elderly mother Mary who has dementia. She and her mother have few friends in the town, and her mother has a carer drop in three days a week while Suzannah is at work.

But their relatively comfortable life is shattered when Ellie Canning tells the police that she has been imprisoned for three weeks in the cellar of Suzannah's house. Suzannah can't work out why Ellie is telling such patent lies. What does she hope to gain by it?

The story results from a number of narrative sources: Suzannah herself, transcripts from interviews held with Ellie for a documentary series, and a friend of Suzannah's called Honor who eventually takes Ellie under her wing. The story begins in August 2018 when a local farmer finds Ellie in a derelict hut on his property, and continues into 2019.

It was only when I was talking to a friend about the plot of this book, that she told me that it was very similar to that of a book that she had recently read. I researched the name of the author that she gave me, and I found there was indeed a connection. And then confirmation came at the beginning of Part Three. And then in an Author Note at the end came indeed the final confirmation of what my Google research had implied. I realised too that there had been a quite major hint in the body of the novel, but until my friend told me of the similarity, I hadn't realised the significance.

But I'm not going to spoil the "story" for you - rather leaving it for you to discover for yourself.

My rating: 4.5


I've also read
4.8, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
4.8, THE MISTAKE
4.7, THE LOST GIRLS  

Review: A GRAVE FOR TWO, Anne Holt

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 4004 KB
• Publisher: Corvus (4 July 2019)
• Sold by: Amazon Australia Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07K1ND4K8
• Translated from Norwegian by Ann Bruce

Synopsis (Amazon)

Selma Falck has hit rock bottom. Having lost everything - her husband, her children and her high-flying job as a lawyer - in quick succession, she is holed up alone in a dingy apartment. That is until Jan Morell - the man who is to blame for her downfall - rings her doorbell, desperate to overturn a doping accusation against his daughter, Hege - Norway's best female skier. He'll drop his investigation into Selma, but only if she'll help... With just weeks until the Olympic qualifying rounds, clearing Hege's name, and getting Selma's own life back on track, seems impossible.

But when an elite male skier is found dead in suspicious circumstances, the post-mortem showing a link to Hege's case, it becomes clear to Selma that there is a sinister web of lies, corruption and scandals lurking in this highly competitive sport. As time starts to runs out, another person is found dead, and Selma realizes that her own life is at risk...

My take

The first instalment in Anne Holt's new crime series featuring Selma Falck.

It is December 2017. In February 2018 the Winter Olympics will be held in PyeongChang in South Korea, and Norway is looking to confirm its position as top of the tree in cross country skiing. Hege Chin Morell is the key to this success, but now she has returned a positive test to a banned substance. Norway's team is yet to be finalised.

Selma Falck, once Norway's top lawyer, has become addicted to gambling. And worse, she has embezzled funds from her clients  and particularly from Jan Morell. Now 50, Selma was also, in her day, a world class athlete. And she is also godmother to Norway's top male skier.

This novel features a very high level of complexity with several intersecting plot lines, plus a number of different narration techniques. To be honest, I found it pretty hard going, slow reading, for much of the time, but thankfully everything seemed to come together at the end.

My rating:4.5

I've also read
4.8, 1222
4.5, THE FINAL MURDER

Review: THE DAUGHTERS OF CAIN, Colin Dexter - audio book

• format audio: Audible
• Narrated by: Samuel West
• Series: Inspector Morse Mysteries, Book 11
• Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 12-14-17
• Originally published 1994
• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Digital Audio 

Synopsis (Audible)

Bizarre and bewildering - that's what so many murder investigations in the past had proved to be.... In this respect, at least, Lewis was correct in his thinking. What he could not have known was what unprecedented anguish the present case would cause to Morse's soul.

Chief Superintendent Strange's opinion was that too little progress had been made since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. Yet the police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive.

Within days of taking over the case Chief Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of Dr Felix McClure. When another body is discovered, Morse suddenly finds himself with rather too many suspects. For once, he can see no solution. But then he receives a letter containing a declaration of love....

My Take

Another excellent audio version with narration by Samuel West.
My respect for the writing of Colin Dexter grows. Morse is often convinced that his latest theory fits all the facts and then he finds that it doesn't. Lewis keeps asking questions, and then the aspect he doesn't understand of Morse's theory provides the springboard for a more acceptable explanation. Often Morse can't even explain what has given rise to his latest idea, but eventually, of course he is right.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
4.3, INSPECTOR MORSE: BBB Radio Collection
4.5, THE SECRET OF ANNEXE THREE -audio book
4.6, THE WENCH IS DEAD- audio book
4.3, SERVICE OF ALL THE DEAD - audio book
4.4, LAST SEEN WEARING  - audio book
4.6, THE RIDDLE OF THE THIRD MILE - audio book
4.6, THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS - audio book
4.8, THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS #10, audio book 

Review: DEAD MAN SWITCH, Tara Moss

• this edition published by Harper Collins Publishers 2019
• ISBN 978-0-7322-9063-8
• 361 pages
• source: my local library
• author website
• Booktopia Best Books of 2019 – Crime Fiction and Thriller

Synopsis (publisher)

She's a woman in a man's world ...

Sydney, 1946. Billie Walker is living life on her own terms. World War II has left her bereaved, her photojournalist husband missing and presumed dead. Determined not to rely on any man for her future, she re-opens her late father's detective agency.

Billie's bread and butter is tailing cheating spouses - it's easy, pays the bills and she has a knack for it. But her latest case, the disappearance of a young man, is not proving straightforward ...

Soon Billie is up to her stylish collar in bad men, and not just the unfaithful kind - these are the murdering kind. Smugglers. Players. Gangsters. Billie and her loyal assistant must pit their wits against Sydney's ruthless underworld and find the young man before it's too late.

My take


Here we have what appears to be the beginning of a new series, a female investigator in Sydney, and ex-soldier as her associate, and a historical setting to boot.

Billie is asked to look for a young 17 year old man, who disappears after visiting a Sydney night club to talk to a well known wealthy auctioneer.

The novel opens with a Prologue which appears to be an account of what has happened to the young man.

As befits the first novel in a series readers are given a lot of background about Billie and Sam, her associate, and the background material continues throughout the novel. The year is 1946 and Australia is beginning to recover from the aftermath of World War II, but there is a lot of opposition to Billie taking on what is seen as men's work.

A well told tale with strong adherence to historical setting if not strictly factual.

My rating: 4.5


About the author

She is a mother, a wife and a dual Canadian/Australian citizen, and currently resides with her family in Vancouver, BC.
Moss is an outspoken advocate for human rights and the rights of women and children, has been a UNICEF Australia Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 and since 2013 has been UNICEF Australia’s National Ambassador for Child Survival, and has visited Australian hospitals, maternity wards, refuges and schools as well as Syrian refugee camps in her UNICEF role. In 2014 she was recognised for Outstanding Advocacy for her blog Manus Island: An insider’s report, which helped to break information to the public about the events surrounding the alleged murder of Reza Barati inside the Australian-run Manus Island Immigration Detention Centre.

In 2015 Moss received an Edna Ryan Award for her significant contribution to feminist debate, speaking out for women and children and inspiring others to challenge the status quo, and in 2017 she was recognised as one of the Global Top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, for using her position in public life to make a positive impact in diversity, alongside Malala Yousufzai, Angelina Jolie, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet and more.

Review: THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE, Felicity McLean

• this edition published by Harper Collins Publishers 2019
• ISBN 978-0-36930-151-2
• 354 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Part mystery, part coming of age story, The Van Apfel Girls are Gone is set in a distant suburb on the encroaching bushland, over the long hot summer of 1992. It's the summer of the school's Showstopper concert. The summer Tikka never forgot. The summer the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. Blackly comic, sharply observed and wonderfully endearing.

'We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song and when one came back, she wasn't the one we were trying to recall to begin with.'

Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long hot summer of 1992 - the summer the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. Hannah, beautiful Cordelia and Ruth vanished during the night of the school's Showstopper concert at the amphitheatre by the river, surrounded by encroaching bushland.

Now, years later, Tikka has returned home to try and make sense of the summer that shaped her, and the girls that she never forgot.

Blackly comic, sharply observed and wonderfully endearing, this is Picnic at Hanging Rock for a new generation, a haunting coming-of-age story with a shimmering, unexplained mystery at its heart.

My Take

Twenty years on, Tikka Molloy has always been haunted by the disappearance of the Van Apfel sisters. Were there things that she and her older sister should have told the investigating police at the time?

There is a strong Australian setting to this novel - not just the commentary in the background
of the Lindy Chamberlain case, but the heat, the bushland, and the flavour of the description. I thought there was also a touch of Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird), of things observed but not necessarily understood. And the story leaves us with more questions, the opportunity to write our own ending, to come to our own conclusions.

An excellent read.

My rating: 4.8

About the author
Felicity McLean is a writer and a journalist.  Her writing has appeared in The Good Weekend, the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Big Issue and more. She has written fiction and non-fiction books and has been published by HarperCollins Publishers, Allen & Unwin and Black Inc. Her latest book, Body Lengths, was co-written with Olympian Leisel Jones. It won the 2016 Australian Book Industry Awards 'Reader's Choice' for Small Publisher Adult Book of the Year, and it was Apple iBook's 'Best Biography of 2015′. As a ghostwriter she has collaborated with celebrities, sports stars, business leaders and others.This is her first novel.

Felicity will be sharing the stage with Michael Robotham at Adelaide Writers' Week 2020.

Review: THE RECKONING, Jane Casey

• this edition published by Minotaur Books 2012
• ISBN 978-0-312-62200-8
• 373 pages
• source: my local library
• Maeve Kerrigan #2

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

To the public, he's a hero: a killer who targets convicted paedophiles.

Two men are dead already - tortured to death.

Even the police don't regard the cases as a priority. Most feel that two dead paedophiles is a step in the right direction.

But to DC Maeve Kerrigan, no one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Young and inexperienced, Kerrigan wants to believe that murder is murder no matter what the sins of the victim. Only, as the killer's violence begins to escalate, she is forced to confront exactly how far she's prepared to go to ensure justice is served...

My take

This turned out to be a very complex, and rather slow read. Told mainly by Maeve, but also through a second character. The complexity of the plot was nearly its undoing.

Someone is targeting paedophiles within a fairly confined geographic area, trying to get the truth out of them as they are slowly tortured and eventually killed. But what is the truth that the person is looking for? Is it about revenge or personal justice, or is he looking for someone? Eventually the killer makes a mistake and is caught, but then the second part of the hunt begins. A race against time to find at least two missing girls.

Maeve Kerrigan is assigned to a new DI who seems to regard her as decoration, not required to comment or use her brain. It goes right against how Maeve sees herself.
 
My rating: 4.5

I've also read
4.6, THE MISSING - stand alone, debut title
4.3, THE BURNING #1
4.5, LET THE DEAD SPEAK #7
4.6, CRUEL ACTS #8   

Maeve Kerrigan - series (Fantastic Fiction)
   0.5. Left For Dead (2013)
   1. The Burning (2010)
   2. The Reckoning (2011)
   3. The Last Girl (2012)
   4. The Stranger you Know (2013)
   5. The Kill (2014)
   6. After the Fire (2015)
   7. Let the Dead Speak (2017)
   7.5. One in Custody (2019)
   7.6. Love Lies Bleeding (2019)
   8. Cruel Acts (2019)
   9. The Cutting Place (2020)

Review: EYES LIKE MINE, Sheena Kamal

• this edition published in 2017 by Zaffre Publishing
• ISBN 978-1-78576-255-0
• 297 pages
• #1 in the Nora Watts series

Synopsis (publisher)

Nora Watts is about to discover that you never really put your past behind you.

The call comes in just after five in the morning. I am immediately on guard because everyone knows that nothing good ever happens before seven. I've never heard the name Everett Walsh before, but according to him I may know something about a missing girl.

Troubled, misunderstood, and with more than enough problems of her own, Nora doesn't want to get involved. But then she sees the photograph. A girl, a teenager, with her eyes. How can she turn her back on her?

But going in search of her daughter brings Nora into contact with a past that she would rather forget.  As she begins to investigate she uncovers a dangerous conspiracy and embarks on a harrowing journey of deception and violence that takes her from the rainy streets of Vancouver to the snow-capped mountains of the Canadian wilderness and, finally, to the island where she will face her greatest demon: a shadowy figure from her own dark past.

My Take

Nora Watts works as a research assistant to a prominent investigative reporter. She lives, unconventionally, in the basement of the building in which she works.

Over fourteen years ago something dreadful happened to Nora, which she only partially remembers. She was left for dead in a ditch, and was in hospital in a coma for several months. When she emerged from the coma she was five months pregnant, too late for an abortion. Her doctors considered her a danger to her unborn baby, and she was put into protective custody. Her baby daughter was put up for adoption. All the details were supposed to be secret, but now someone has found her. Not only that, her daughter is missing.

Nora is a very striking character, not particularly likeable, but likely to resort to violence if it suits her.

I found the pattern of the novel un-settling - several very short chapters followed by much longer ones. There is no consistency. The "voice" of the missing girl is introduced without warning, although the book is mainly written through Nora. Occasionally there is third person narration.

However it is the search for the missing girl that keeps you reading, although the reasons why she is missing were a little hard to believe, and the final chapters almost impossible.

My rating: 4.4

About the author
Sheena Kamal holds an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, which she attended on Canada's most prestigious scholarship, received for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness in Toronto. She went on to work in the film and TV industry, most recently as a researcher for a crime drama series being developed for television. Her research into crime and investigative journalism inspired Eyes Like Mine.

Review: NINE ELMS, Robert Bryndza

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 939 KB
• Print Length: 416 pages
• Publisher: Sphere (1 November 2019)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group (AU)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07PLNY832

Synopsis  (Amazon)

A breathtaking, page-turning novel about a disgraced female detective's fight for redemption. And survival.

Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly became a nightmare.

Fifteen years after those catastrophic, career-ending events, a copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, continuing the ghastly work of his idol.

Enlisting her brilliant research assistant, Tristan Harper, Kate draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster. But there's much more than her reputation on the line: Kate was the original killer's intended fifth victim . . . and his successor means to finish the job.

My Take

Kate Marshall knows the Nine Elms Cannibal scenario better than most: she was, after all, the one who discovered the true identity of the killer, 14 years ago. She is also the mother of his son.

Since then Kate has left the police force and is struggling with alcoholic addiction.

Now she is a successful university lecturer and this story introduces a new investigative duo : a university lecturer (formerly a detective) and her assistant.  Kate is consulted by a pathologist who thinks he sees some similarities with a recent victim, to the original Nine Elms cases.
At the same time Kate is contacted by parents of a girl who disappeared 15 years ago, asking her to help them find out where their daughter is buried.

Both these cases present real challenges for Kate, stirring up memories she would rather not have.

Here is your chance to be in at the beginning of a new series, by a well established author.
Be warned though - some descriptions are pretty grisly.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
4.8, THE GIRL IN THE ICE #1
4.8, THE NIGHT STALKER #2
4.6, DARK WATER #3
4.8, LAST BREATH #4
4.7, COLD BLOOD  #5
4.6, DEADLY SECRETS #6   

Review: WHO KILLED RUBY? Camilla Way

• this edition published by Harper Collins UK 2019
• ISBN 9-780008-280994
• 311 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

You never know what’s going on behind closed doors…

If you passed it on the street, you’d see an ordinary London townhouse. You might wonder about the people who live there, assume they’re just like you.

But inside a family is trapped in a nightmare. In the kitchen, a man lies dead on the blood-soaked floor. Soon the police will come, and they’ll want answers.

Perhaps they'll believe the family’s version of events – that this man is a murderer who deserved to die.

My Take

Thirty two years ago Vivienne's sister Ruby, aged just 14, and heavily pregnant, was killed by her boyfriend. Vivienne was just 8 and her testimony was responsible for putting Ruby's boyfriend Jack behind bars for over 20 years.

Jack insisted he was innocent and his family persecuted Vivienne and her mother Stella. Jack is now out of gaol and it is the anniversary of Ruby's death.

Vivienne has moved on, rebuilt her life, and has her own daughter who is nearly 14, but she still has nightmares almost every night, featuring her sister's killer, but she never sees his face.

This is a tightly plotted page turner and it won't be the only book by this author that I will read.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Camilla Way was born in Greenwich, south-east London in 1973. Her father was the poet and author Peter Way. After attending Woolwich College she studied modern English and French literature at the University of Glamorgan. Formerly Associate Editor of the teenage girls' magazine Bliss, she is currently an editor and writer on the men's style magazine Arena. Having lived in Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Clerkenwell, she now lives in south-east London.

Review: THE PASSENGERS, John Marrs

• this edition published by Penguin UK 2019
• ISBN 978-1-78-503888-4
• 406 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?

My take

PROLOGUE
UK NEWS
House of Lords votes unanimously in favour of driverless vehicles on British roads within five years. Ban on non-autonomous vehicles within a decade.

Driverless buses introduced in Australia 2019

 

Within minutes of beginning their journeys in autonomous driverless vehicles, 8 Passengers notice that the coordinates of their destination have been changed, and a voice tells them that in 2 hours and 30 minutes they will very likely be dead.

Libby Dixon is not in car however. She is beginning the second day of jury duty with a panel that looks at vehicle accidents in which driverless vehicles have been involved. The previous day had made her very angry. The rest of the panel were permanent employees who all knew each other and were all dismissive of any contribution to discussion that Libby tried to make.

The panel uses video footage of accidents to make their decisions. Shortly after they begin on the second day, their video screens are taken over, and begin to show the 8 driverless cars on their way to the undisclosed destination, and a voice, the Hacker, tells they will need to decide who will live.

Video thumbnails from each of the vehicles are displayed on the screens and the Passengers are introduced.

An engrossing read.  Related to the role of Artificial Intelligence in our technologies. But also related to reality TV and the technologies like Twitter and Instagram that we use to assess public opinion.

There were several reference to the underlying theme of Marrs' earlier novel 4.6, THE ONE (that was the one about matching DNA) but that doesn't spoil the possibility of reading THE PASSENGERS as a stand-alone

My rating: 4.8

I've also read
4.6, THE ONE 

Review: THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS, Lisa Jewell

• this edition published by century 2019
• ISBN 978-1-780-899206
• 446 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Booktopia)

In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They’ve been dead for several days.

Who has been looking after the baby?

And where did they go?

Two entangled families.
A house with the darkest of secrets.

My Take

One of the incredible things about this book is the variety of narrators.

First of all, in the first person, someone whose identity we eventually come to surmise, more by a process of elimination.
Then the story of Libby, the baby who has now turned 25, and learns that she has inherited a mansion in Chelsea, that has lain empty for nearly her whole life.
Then Lucy's story. At first we are not sure who Lucy is, but clearly she is important.
And then Miller Roe, a journalist who recently wrote an article about the events that occurred in the mansion in Chelsea.

At first the reader has to deduce the narrator from clues given in the context, but eventually recognition of who has taken over the story becomes automatic.

The threads of the narration weave together, the story bubbles along, and we learn finally the truth of what happened in 16 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
4.4, THEN SHE WAS GONE
4.6, I FOUND YOU  

Review: THE SHELLY BAY LADIES SWIMMING CIRCLE, Sophie Green

• this edition published by Hachette Australia 2019
• ISBN 9-780733-641169
• 427 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

The author of treasured Australian bestseller THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB returns with a novel perfect for your book club

It's 1982 in Australia. THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER is a box office hit and Paul Hogan is on the TV.

In a seaside suburb, housewife Theresa takes up swimming. She wants to get fit; she also wants a few precious minutes to herself. So at sunrise each day she strikes out past the waves.

From the same beach, the widowed Marie swims. With her husband gone, bathing is the one constant in her new life.

After finding herself in a desperate situation, 25-year-old Leanne only has herself to rely on. She became a nurse to help others, even as she resists help herself.

Elaine has recently moved from England. Far from home and without her adult sons, her closest friend is a gin bottle.

In the waters of Shelly Bay, these four women find each other. They will survive bluebottle stings and heartbreak; they will laugh so hard they swallow water, and they will plunge their tears into the ocean's salt. They will find solace and companionship, and learn that love takes many forms.

Most of all, they will cherish their friendship, each and every day.

My take

Occasionally I branch out into something that is not crime fiction.

Four very different Australian women find friendship through swimming each morning at a local beach. Through their friendship they find the strength to confront their demons and battle their problems. Over a period of two years their friendship strengthens and their lives all change.

A delightful read.
If you are thinking of it for your book club, the author has provided a list of questions for discussion in the final pages.

My rating: 4.6

I've also enjoyed
4.4, THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB

Review: BROKEN BONE CHINA, Laura Childs

• this edition (large print) published in 2019 by Gale
• ISBN-13 978-1-4328-5914-5
• 435 pages
• #20 in the Tea Shop Mystery series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon rally. The view aloft is not only stunning, they are also surrounded by a dozen other colorful hot-air balloons. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out. As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them.

An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers. Sirens scream, first responders arrive, and Theodosia is interviewed by the police. During the interview she learns that one of the downed occupants was Don Kingsley, the CEO of a local software company, SyncSoft. Not only do the police suspect Kingsley as the primary target, they learn that he possessed a rare Revolutionary War Union Jack flag that several people were rabidly bidding on.

Intrigued, Theodosia begins her own investigation. Was it the CEO's soon-to-be ex-wife, who is restoring an enormous mansion at no expense? The CEO's personal assistant, who also functioned as curator of his prized collection of Americana? Two rival antiques' dealers known for dirty dealing? Or was the killer the fiancee of one of Theodosia's dear friends, who turns out to be an employee-and whistle-blower-at SyncSoft? INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

My take

An easy gentle read to start the new year with, but probably just a bit too cozy for my tastes, although there is plenty of action and plenty of mystery.

This is the most recent in a long series related to tea and mystery with a well established sleuth. I was fascinated by the linking to modern technologies: mobile phones and email are in frequent use, the "murder weapon" is a drone, and there are references to local terrorism.

My rating: 4.3

About the author

Author Laura Childs is a New York Times bestselling [prolific] author known for penning down the famous mystery series’ including the Cackleberry Club Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries and the Tea Shop Mysteries. The name Laura Childs is actually a pseudonym used by author Gerry Schmitt for writing her novels.... The first series written by her, the “Tea Shop Mysteries” is set in the district of Charleston [Virginia], which has a historical background. The series is based on the life of the main character Theodosia Browning, who is the owner of a tea shop named Indigo Tea Shop.
....Laura has described Theodosia as a savvy businesswoman and the care taker of her dog Earl Gray. She is also an amateur sleuth and likes to solve several crimes based on her intelligence without relying on the insufficient police work or coincidences. The series goes on to show various historical and mysterious aspects of the district of Charleston in a highly atmospheric, rife and charming manner.