Review: THE TRAP, Catherine Ryan Howard

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BPGFT141
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital (3 August 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 372 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger. It's the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well - but what other choice does she have?

As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief - one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he's a monster. But when he delivers her safely to her destination, she realizes her fears were unfounded.

And her heart sinks. Because a monster is what she's looking for.

She'll try again tomorrow night. But will the man who took her sister take the bait?

My Take:

Lucy lives in the same house as her sister's boyfriend. Her sister Nicki did not come home several months ago and there has been no trace of her. Lucy is convinced her sister is one of a number of Irish girls who have been abducted in the last three or four years, that there is a serial killer at work. Lucy cannot accept that she is never going to see Nicki again. The boyfriend Chris is convinced it is time they let go and moved on. He wants to get on with his life, and says Lucy needs to do that too.

We see the action from several points of view: Angela who works in the Missing Persons Unit; Denise a Gardai attached to a special task force searching for 3 missing women in particular; and someone who appears to be abducting women.

The story explores the motives behind setting up a special task force, why some missing women warrants searches and others don't, and we inch closer to finding out what happened. 

There are a couple of unexpected twists right at the end, that make you feel the story has started all over again.

My rating: 4.4 

I've also read

• 4.4, DISTRESS SIGNALS
  
• 4.7, THE LIAR'S GIRL
• 4.7, THE NOTHING MAN
• 4.4, REWIND  
• 4.7, 56 DAYS
• 4.4, RUN TIME

Review: VANISHING POINT, Pat Flower

• 
  this novel first published 1975
  
• this edition published by Wakefield Crime Classics 1991
• ISBN 1-86254-292-9
• 209 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

Cruel, egotistical Noel, a thistledown, a cheap balloon whisking willy-nilly away from the piercing, deflating needle of her fine judgement.

Geraldine needs to keep her cool through the highs and the lows, but it's maddening when Noel keeps missing the point.

The trek up north was gruelling, yet every plant and bird she saw, every sweaty, purposeless mile she crossed, convinced her that they were made for each other.

Back home in Sydney, when there's still a gap between them, he has to be made to see.

The Wakefield Crime Classics series revives forgotten or neglected gems of crime and mystery fiction by Australian authors. Many of the writers have established international reputations but are little known in Australia.

additional blurb (Sapere Books) - more revealing (almost a plot spoiler)

When Geraldine Blaine embarks on a gruelling expedition through the remote Cape York Peninsula with her husband, she hopes it will be the trip of a lifetime.

Noel is becoming ever more emotionally distant … and, she suspects, unfaithful. Perhaps a holiday is just what they need?

But Noel never wanted Geraldine on the trip in the first place, and amidst the simmering menace of the wilderness their threadbare marriage swiftly begins to unravel.

When Noel delivers the bombshell that he’s returning home early, in defiance Geraldine stays behind. But when she finally returns home to Sydney, her husband is more indifferent than ever — and clearly infatuated with beautiful young Nerida Jessop.

It’s the final straw for Geraldine – and as her obsessive love turns to murderous rage, she’s driven to terrible extremes…

In flight from the consequences of her actions, she finds herself journeying through the unforgiving Peninsula once more. But as her new travelling companions turn against her, Geraldine’s about to learn that some secrets aren’t so easy to bury…

Why is her new travelling companion, Jim Oates, so hostile? And why are he and the mysterious Ralph Turner so interested in Geraldine’s past?

And as the net begins to close in on her, what desperate measures will she resort to?

My Take

Set in 1974, a thriller set around a trip from Sydney to Cape York. I found this a demanding read. It is written from the point of view of Geraldine Blaine who sees herself very differently to the ways other people see her. Her husband Noel really marries Geraldine for her money, which she never quite understands. By the time they undertake the trip North, Geraldine's hold on reality has become very stretched.

Eventually Noel drives Geraldine to an extreme act, but she thinks she has got away with it. 

The final pages of the Wakefield Crime Classic version of this novel contains a thought provoking review by editors Michael J. Tolley and Peter Moss.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Pat was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England and moved to Australia with her family in 1928. She originally worked as a secretary, writing radio plays and sketches in her spare time. She eventually moved on to writing crime novels and TV scripts.

She wrote so many episodes of the ABC TV series Australian Playhouse one critic called it “The Pat Flower Show”.

She was married to Cedric Flower, an actor, costume designer, designer, playwright, director, playwright, producer and set designer.

Pat passed away in 1977.

Review: HOLDING, Graham Norton

• 
  this edition published by Hodder & Stoughton 2016
  
• made available by my local library
  
• ISBN 978-1-444-79199-0
• 312 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn't always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn't always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn't always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke - a former love of both Brid and Evelyn - the village's dark past begins to unravel.

As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore - with searing honesty - the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

My Take

You will note that this is the second time I have read this novel. My earlier review is here ( I first read it about 3 years ago) 

This time I am reading it for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group. This is the first book we are reading this year, and I think they will enjoy it.

We will be basing some of our discussion on some questions listed at The Reading Agency (listed on Amazon)

Duneen is a quiet place, far enough from the big towns to have kept its own rhythms. Its residents include cast down policeman PJ who lives a lonely, uneventful life punctuated only by the next meal – until now; the beautiful and mysterious family of three spinster sisters each with their own secrets and
sorrows; and of course, the town's gossip who think she knows the answers. When a grim discovery is made on a building site up by the old school, it becomes the catalyst for half lived secrets and seething rivalries to come to light and this silent, once innocent and repressed-seeming town is revealed to have
a much darker, hungrier undertow

The other resources that I've found which we may use in our discussion are some short You Tube videos:

• Graham Norton reading an extract
• Character introduction : Evelyn Ross
  

Both of these videos comment on the significance of the novel's title. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.6, HOME STRETCH

Review: ROGUE'S GALLERY, G.R. Jordan

• 
  this edition an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• #21 in the Highlands and Islands series
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (10 September 2022)
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 228 pages
  

Synopsis (Amazon)

Foreign royalty found dead on an island estate. A fractious gathering provides a plethora of suspects. Can Macleod and McGrath sort the treasure from the driftwood to reveal who truly gains the most from the duke's death?

DI Seoras Macleod is ordered away from his recovering partner Jane, to investigate the suspicious death of a foreign duke at the estate of his mother. Found naked and deceased in a small loch near the family's holiday estate, the duke is not short of enemies at the milestone gathering of his remaining parent's birthday. Amidst bluster and genuine loathing, Macleod, and his faithful Sergeant McGrath, must hunt down a killer who seems ready to destroy an entire lineage.

Blood runs thicker than water, every drop!

My Take

A small European royal family has been allowed to set up a sequestered embassy on a remote Scottish island. MacLeod and his team have been ordered by the British government to investigate the murder of the head of the family. But MacLoed is far from happy. He is very restricted in the way in which he can carry out the investigation.

And then the weather closes in and the team becomes isolated on the island, and then more murders take place. MacLeod can't understand why he has been assigned this case. In addition he has been taken away from his partner who suffered mental stress in the last case. He thinks Jane needs him more than this case does.

What is the British government hoping he will achieve, or do they have another agenda?

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #11 
• 4.3, CULHWCH ALPHA - #12
• 4.5, FAIR MARKET VALUE - #13
• 4.5, THE COACH BOMBER -  #14 
• 4.7, THE CULLING AT SINGING SANDS - #15
• 4.6, WHERE JUSTICE FAILS - #16 
• 4.5, THE CORTADO CLUB - #17
• 4.5, CLEARED TO DIE - #18
• 4.5, MAN OVERBOARD - #19 
• 4.6, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR -#20

Review: ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, G.R. Jordan

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• #20 in Highlands and Islands series
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B21SCJCQ
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (17 July 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 228 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

A youth is found dead at a children’s playpark. A stolen car burnt out with the joyriders inside. Can Macleod discover the avenging angel brutally restoring the highland’s peace and quiet?

When a spate of deaths indicating teenagers as targets sends Macleod and McGrath into a very public hunt for killer, they must walk in view of the hottest debate of the day. But when Hope believes she sees an angle that points the blame at those who responsible for the nation’s safety, Macleod must trust his Sergeant’s instincts while dodging a career ending bullet.

It was all easier back in the day, or was it?

My Take

Set in Inverness. Gangs from two council estates appear to be at war. In one night 5 young people dead in two separate incidents. Macleod's DCI wants a public campaign with Seoras as the figurehead. He protests, that is not his job. His is finding out who is responsible for the murders.

Besides, he and his team are not convinced that gang conflict is the root of the problem. The weapons being used, including a grenade, are too sophisticated.

Another excellent read.

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #11 
• 4.3, CULHWCH ALPHA - #12
• 4.5, FAIR MARKET VALUE - #13
• 4.5, THE COACH BOMBER -  #14 
• 4.7, THE CULLING AT SINGING SANDS - #15
• 4.6, WHERE JUSTICE FAILS - #16 
• 4.5, THE CORTADO CLUB - #17
• 4.5, CLEARED TO DIE - #18
• 4.5, MAN OVERBOARD - #19

Review: MAN OVERBOARD, G. R. Jordan

• 
  this edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• #19 in the Highlands and Island series
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09WVJVP9P
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (May 29, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 219 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

A Coastguard’s nightmare repeats. The fledgling tourist season is in tatters. Can Macleod and McGrath find the killer amongst the hordes of holidaymakers?

When the Coastguard note an increase in drownings from travellers falling overboard from passenger vessels, Macleod is called in to satisfy an itch that these may not be innocent accidents. When the victims are all found to be from troubled marriages, the team must seek the hidden orchestrator of spring mayhem. Can Seoras and Hope find the killer before widow maker of the seas strikes again?

To jump or not to jump, sometimes it’s not a choice! 

My Take

While the people apparently committing suicide by jumping into the sea from the top deck of a ferry are all on different ferries, they are all ferries being run by the same company. So is somebody trying to put the company out of business? 

These suicides are too much of a coincidence for Macleod, but the investigation is hampered by the fact that most of them don't surface and the bodies are not able to be retrieved.  But then they get "lucky" and a body is retrieved and the pathologist is able to determine that it is a case of murder.

The team gets stretched very thin by the locations of these incidents, and by also tracking down the people that these "bodies" have been interacting with before they jumped.

Another very engaging read! I am very much enjoying the variety in these stories, and the fact that they are so readable.

My rating: 4.5

I have read the following:

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #11 
• 4.3, CULHWCH ALPHA - #12
• 4.5, FAIR MARKET VALUE - #13
• 4.5, THE COACH BOMBER -  #14 
• 4.7, THE CULLING AT SINGING SANDS - #15
• 4.6, WHERE JUSTICE FAILS - #16 
• 4.5, THE CORTADO CLUB - #17
• 4.5, CLEARED TO DIE - #18

Review: MOLE CREEK, James Dunbar

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C8T3DB2Q
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Echo (August 1, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 332 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

A hellish war. A deadly secret. Fifty years on, in a small Tasmanian town, the truth unfolds and the killing begins again …       

Betrayal cannot be buried forever.

In the tiny Tasmanian town of Mole Creek, retired Australian cop and Vietnam veteran Pete McAuslan has retreated to his fishing cabin to write his memoirs. In Sydney, his grandson, journalist and trashy true crime author Xander, learns that Pete has taken his own life, begging forgiveness in a suicide note.

Arriving in Mole Creek in the aftermath of Pete's death, Xander discovers that his grandfather's laptop is missing. He begins to suspect that something is wrong, refusing to accept the facts as presented. With the local police not interested in investigating an apparently open-and-shut suicide, Xander sets about uncovering the truth of what happened to his grandfather.

In the process, he discovers long-buried secrets from Pete's time serving in the Vietnam war: secrets that Pete has withheld from him and everyone else for fifty years; secrets that powerful people would prefer to stay buried. Ensnared in a web of betrayals that began a generation before, Xander finds himself on the hitlist of a clinically violent assassin. Now he must race to identify the connection between the seemingly unremarkable death of an old Australian soldier and the imminent reactivation of the most powerful and potentially destructive 'sleeper' in the history of espionage - before the truth catches up with him. 

My Take

When Xander McAuslan refuses to believe that his grandfather Pete, a retired policeman and ex-Vietnam veteran has committed suicide, he unleashes a can of worms.

Pete has never told Xander very much about what he did in the Vietnam war. Xander know he was in the military police, and was sent home wounded, but little apart from that. Xander knows that his grandfather was supposedly writing his memoirs but hadn't kept in touch very well. However things about his grandfather's death don't sit well, and there are a number of puzzles: like, where is his laptop? Once Xander begins to investigate, things begin to happen.

This story was written mainly in two times frames, 50 years apart, producing a many stranded plot, which was for the main part fairly easy to follow. In the long run though, at the end, I think the author had a problem in pulling it all together, and it felt a bit rushed.

My rating: 4.2

About the Author

James Dunbar is a journalist, television scriptwriter, travel writer, university lecturer and website editor. Mole Creek is his first venture into the serious crime thriller and espionage genre. Published under Jimmy Thomson, he is also the author of two crime ‘caper’ novels and two true-crime memoirs, as well as several books about Australian army engineers (sappers) during the Vietnam War.