Review: THE CARNIVAL IS OVER, Greg Woodland

• This edition published by Text Publishing Australia 2022
  
• ISBN 9781922458698
• 403 pages 
• Shortlisted, Best Crime Fiction, Ned Kelly Awards, 2023

 Synopsis (publisher)

1971—Hal is seventeen, with dreams of escaping from Moorabool to a life in the city. But right now he’s on a good behaviour bond and stuck in a job he hates, paying off the car he ‘borrowed’ and crashed. Hal’s packing-room job makes him a target for workplace bullies and the friendship of the older, more worldly Christine is all that makes each day bearable. So when she doesn’t turn up for work, he’s on the alert.

So is Sergeant Mick Goodenough. But he already knows what’s happened to Christine: the same thing that happened to the newly elected deputy mayor. When another gruesome ‘accident’ occurs in Moorabool, Goodenough suspects there’s something sinister going on behind the scenes at the abattoir.

Mick and Hal are both determined to dig up the truth. Before long each of them is going to find himself in mortal danger and running for his life. 

My Take

As with the first novel in this series I was struck by the similarity in style and setting to Garry Disher novels. It highlights the problems of growing up in Australian rural towns, as well as the problems and limitations of rural economies in Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The novel is set five years after the earlier one, and shares some of the same characters.

Characters are well drawn and the scenarios believable.

My Rating: 4.6

I've also read 4.6, THE NIGHT WHISTLER

Review: THE HONEYMOON, Kate Gray

• This edition published by Welbeck Fiction 2023
• ISBN 978-1-80279-373-4
• 406 pages

Synopsis

Two British couples on honeymoon meet in Bali and seem to hit it off at once. But on the night before they leave a man is killed and everything changes.

My Take

Once they get back to England neither couple seems to be able to forget the death in Bali. One couple was actively involved in the death, while the wife in the second couple is a journalist and she cannot help thinking that here is a story she can exploit.

Both couples have secrets that we have not been aware of before their arrival back home.

A very interestingly constructed book which results in a real page turner.

My rating: 4.7

Review: DARK MODE, Ashley Kalagian Blunt

 Again another brief “review”.

This is a very dark story focussing on the dark web, which so few of us know anything about.

Reagan Carson, plant shop owner, has managed to keep most of her life offline, or so she thinks. Ten years ago she had a bad experience with a stalker who also just happened to be a policeman. So she has focussed on using the internet as little as possible and has avoided social media.

 But now out jogging in the early morning in Sydney she has stumbled across a murder victim who looks just like her. Similar murders occur and she becomes paranoid that they have been perpetrated by her former stalker. She avoids talking to the police but then starts to get nasty emails. She has a car accident and forms a friendship with a man who seems to be just what she needs.

A really harrowing story.

My rating: 4.7

Review: THE COACH BOMBER, G.R. Jordan

 Once again apologies for the brevity of this”review”. I am still reduced to writing posts on my iPad but hopefully will have a new computer in a day or so.

This is the 14th book in this series.

“ When an airport bus is blown apart on the main road out of Inverness, DI Macleod finds a press backlash when they name their own suspect. With the undercurrent of an ongoing drug war upping the ante, Macleod must rely on his Sergeant Hope McGrath to infiltrate the organisations and help bring the real killer to the light.

Don’t miss your stop on the way to boomtown! ‘

I felt this book brought a grittier dimension to the story. A gangland boss is amongst the 30 or so dead after a bomb explodes on a coach near the airport at Inverness. At first the fear is that this is the start of a war between rival gangs, but Macleod dismisses this theory when the head of a rival gang protests that it has nothing to do with him.

Macleod’s new DS Urqhart who was added to the team in the 13th title because of her knowledge of antiques becomes a surprise package because of her ability to meet violence with violence.

When the series first started I thought it bordered on the cozies but now the titles are getting much closer to thrillers. In each too there is an element of surprise.

My rating: 4.5

Review: CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS, Agatha Christie

This book was first published in 1959 and is basically set in a girls school in England although part of the plot stems from a middle Eastern country with a young progressive leader. An insurrection results in the young man sending an item to England but unfortunately he doesn’t make it back there himself.

I am reading the book for discussion with my U3A Agatha Christie reading group. We have a month to read the book, copies provided for everyone by our local library. We spend about an hour or so discussing what they, a group of 12, have thought of the book. We have been fortunate enough this year to have library also able to supply a video of a tv version of the story, so we watch that after our discussion.

Meadowbank is a very prestigious girls school suddenly struck by murders of 3 of its mistresses. The first half of the book gives us the main story and then it becomes a Poirot investigation.

I am looking forward to our discussion.

A good read.

My rating: 4.4

Review: DON’T BELIEVE IT, Charlie Donlea

 This is the second book that I’ve read by this author and I’m certainly on the alert for me.

Grace Sebold was convicted 10 years ago by a local jury of the murder of her boyfriend at Sugar Beach. 

Filmmaker Sidney Ryan makes the case the focal point of a 10 week true crime television series which goes over all known evidence and investigates things with new intensity. The television audience gets the impression that they are learning things almost as the investigator discovers them. 

The tv series is immensely popular, increasingly in the size of the audience with each episode. And just as you think Grace’s innocence has been proved, new accusations come to light.

Really a roller coaster ride.

My rating: 4.8

Review: FAIR MARKET VALUE, G. R. Jordan

 With my computer still out of order, I am reduced to writing very basic reviews, but I don’t want to get any more than I need to.

This the 13th in the Highlands and Islands and Detectives series which I am really enjoying. I encourage you to read the books in order so you get the full background and character development. Each book has a different setting in the Highlands and Islands and different issues are raised.

What we see in this one is a change in the team headed by Detective Inspector Seoras Macleod. DC Stewart has left and the team is missing her diligence and tough work. This time an auctioneer north of Inverness has been beaten to death with his gavel. Macleod is convinced the central clue must be related to an item that was sold during the auction the day before. He is also aware that that his team is in desperate need of an expert in ancient artifacts which is what was in the auction.  And so he adds a new woman to the team with that she might join permanently. Macleod is almost offended when he finds out what the item was.

My rating: 4.5