Category: Australian

Quick Review – The Heart of the World by Amie Kaufman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Fantasy, Quick Review, Young Adult3 Comments

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia (Trade Paperback – 27 August 2024)

Series: The Isles of the Gods duology – Book Two

Length: 424 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s leading authors of young adult fiction, Amie Kaufman, presents a cool conclusion to The Isles of the Gods duology with the fun read, The Heart of the World.

Amie Kaufman is an impressive Australian author who has produced multiple entertaining and enjoyable series over the years, mostly in collaboration with other awesome authors.  For example, I best know Kaufman from the intriguing and addictive young adult science fiction trilogy she cowrote with Jay Kristoff, the Aurora Cycle trilogy, which proved to be particularly fun (see my reviews for Aurora Rising, Aurora Burning and Aurora’s End).  Kaufman’s latest body of work has been The Isles of the Gods duology, a great young adult fantasy series that follows several teenage protagonists who find themselves drawn into an ancient war between gods.  This series began last year with the first book, The Isles of the Gods, and has just come to an end with the compelling read, The Heart of the World.

Plot Synopsis:

Magic and sacrifice will collide as lovers and gods, enemies and allies vie for the fate of the world in this heart-pounding sequel to The Isles of the Gods, which Stephanie Garber called deliciously diabolical and full of heart.

When Selly and Leander began their treacherous voyage to the Isles of the Gods, the captain’s daughter and the playboy prince were strangers. But amid talk of war and a deadly attack on their ship, the unthinkable happened.

They fell in love.

Leander’s ritual at the island temple was meant to prevent a war between the gods. Instead, it nearly cost him his life, and drew the goddess Barrica back from exile. Now, as her Messenger, Leander is imbued with her deadly magic, and only Selly’s presence can stop it from consuming him.

But Barrica wasn’t the only immortal roused from sleep. The God of Risk, Macean, was awakened by an enemy all thought dead, and across the sea he’s calling for war.

The fight to save their world will take Selly and Leander from the gilded ballroom of the royal palace to the hallowed halls of an ancient library. Battle lines will be drawn, and bonds will break.

With the wrath of gods and the machinations of power-hungry rulers straining their loyalties, can their love withstand the trials that await them?

The Heart of the World was an exciting and moving book that did an excellent job wrapping up the storylines started in the first book.  Set immediately after the events of The Isles of the Gods, Kaufman presents an intense, character-driven narrative, as the teenage protagonists attempt to deal with the return of gods into their world.  Told from the perspective of five characters, you get some interesting storylines here, including Leander learning to control his power as his god’s Messenger while Selly tries to help him while also learning about the deadly politics of the realm.  Other character storylines of note include the scholar Keegan attempting to determine how to stop the oncoming chaos while also dealing with his many personal issues, the antagonistic Messenger of Macean, Laskia dealing with having power for the first time, and the conflicted Jude trying to determine where he stands in the world.

Kaufman does a great job blending these cool, character-driven storylines together into one compelling and exciting narrative with a very fast pace.  There is an excellent blend of politics, character growth and a deepening of personal relationships, as each of the protagonists react to the changes brought on by the events of the first book.  Things take a more urgent turn halfway through as the warring gods emerge and the characters find themselves desperately caught up trying to stop or control the destructive fight to come.  Featuring a countdown towards inevitable carnage, I liked how Kaufman kept the intensity and stakes of the second half of the book high without showing too much actual conflict and bloodshed, instead relying on compelling character moments thanks to a variety of unique interactions.  The protagonists are forced to overcome the consuming influence of their gods, both of whom want war, as they attempt to save their world, and I felt that the author came up with a well-written and cleverly set up solution to the entire plot.  The book ends on a satisfying and hopeful note, and I really had a fun time getting through this compelling story.

I really liked how The Heart of the World came together, and Kaufman ensures that it is accessible and enjoyable for a range of fantasy fans.  While I would recommend reading The Isles of the Gods first, new readers can probably dive into The Heart of the World straight away without too much prior context, as the author’s descriptive writing style and ability to effectively recap events really helps.  While some of the key fantasy elements from the last book aren’t as comprehensively covered in this sequel, such as spirit magic, Kaufman ensures that all the key features of this universe are well covered.  Indeed, there is a major religious focus throughout The Heart of the World, and it was fascinating to see various characters react to the direct influence and power of the two warring deities.

The resulting story moves at high speeds, and I honestly found myself powering through The Heart of the World every time I picked it up.  It helped that Kaufman made excellent use of quick and sharp perspective changes, and the jump from one short character-focused chapter to the next allowed for some quick plot progression.  As with the prior book in the duology, I felt that The Heart of the World was an excellent fantasy book that would appeal to a lot of readers, not just its intended young adult audience.  In particular, Kaufman sets up a lot of mature and intelligent themes and moments, most of the based around her complex protagonists, which I think will resonate with a teenage audience.  However, older fantasy readers can also enjoy The Heart of the World thanks to Kaufman’s clever writing and intriguing themes.

I also need to quickly highlight the excellent character work contained within The Heart of the World, which I felt helped to turn this sequel into something special.  Kaufman does an outstanding job continuing to explore her five damaged protagonists, and there is some great continuation to the complex character elements set up in the first book.  This includes a compelling look of the romance angle between Leander and Selly, who are forced to deal with major obstacles, including Leander’s sudden uncontrollable power, while Selly is forced out of her comfort zone on the waves and into the deadlier wilderness of court life.  I also loved the storyline of Laskia, who’s experience as her god’s Messenger went in a darker direction, as she struggles with finally having power and the ability to control her destiny after a lifetime of being manipulated by others.  All of the other protagonists have their own unique moments as well, and I really appreciated how all their respective family issues became even more apparent in this second book, as all five of them experience some form of betrayal or disappointment at the hands of their family which they must overcome.  Throw in a particularly entertaining new supporting character in Kiki, a bubbly and unstoppable force of social energy, and the cast of The Heart of the World was particularly strong and resulted in some moving moments.

Overall, The Heart of the World was an amazing new novel from Amie Kaufman that I was glad I checked out.  Providing a great ending to The Isles of the Gods duology, The Heart of the World had a brilliant, character-driven narrative, that is so easy to get lost in.  A fantastic and very fun novel that is worth checking out, especially if you enjoyed Kaufman’s previous work.

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Waiting on Wednesday – Whisper in the Wind by Luke Arnold

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I check out an exciting and intriguing upcoming addition to a unique fantasy series with Whisper in the Wind by Luke Arnold.

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Back in 2020 I was lucky enough to get my hands on a very interesting fantasy book, The Last Smile in Sunder City.  The debut novel of actor turned author Luke Arnold and the first book in his Fetch Phillips series, The Last Smile in Sunder City was a dark and compelling fantasy book with an excellent hook to it.  The series is set in a fantasy realm where magic has been destroyed, and the various former magical creatures are now disfigured, depowered or dying, and the previously oppressed humans find themselves with an advantage.  Following the titular character of Fetch Phillips a depressed human private investigator and odd-jobs man with a desire to help the formerly magical creatures, The Last Smile in Sunder City saw him attempt to find missing children, while also discovering a potential cure for the lost magic.  This proved to be an outstanding book, especially with its unique setting and its compelling character arc around Fetch, who is shown to be personally responsible for the chaos engulfing the world.  The Last Smile in Sunder City ended up being one of my favourite debuts and top Australian fiction releases in 2020, and I had a wonderful time reading it.

Arnold continued to impress with his Fetch Phillips series as the years continued.  His second book, Dead Man in a Ditch, proved to be a worthy sequel, especially as it introduced a great overarching antagonist for the series, set up a great storyline about technology replacing magic and pushed the protagonist even further down a dark past.  This all cumulated in a brilliant third book One Foot in the Fade, which was probably Arnold’s best book in the series.  After discovering a former genie capable of returning magic to people, Fetch and several companions embark on an intense journey to recover an artefact that could empower her.  This resulted in a particularly gripping read, especially as Fetch’s obsession with undoing his wrong leads him along a particularly dark path.  Arnold ended One Foot in the Fade on an excellent note, as Fetch starts a new era in his journey and tries to find peace a different way.

Due to how much fun I have had with this series in the past, I have been keeping an eye out for another book from Arnold and I was happy to find out that he had a fourth Fetch Phillips book coming out next year.  This fourth book, Whisper in the Wind, is set for release in April 2025, and will set Fetch on another adventure despite his desire to live a simple life.

Plot Synopsis:

The fourth installment of Luke Arnold’s Fetch Phillips series, Whisper in the Wind, takes readers to a very different Sunder City. One where government corruption is rampant and tensions are rising.

Fetch is done being a hero. Once a detective, all he wants now is to run his cafe in peace. Sunder City is still recovering from the sudden and violent end of magic, and if one man can’t solve all its problems, he can at least stop some people going hungry. But when a kid on the run shelters in Fetch’s cafe, and a chain of gruesome murders begins among Sunder’s high and mighty, trouble is brought to Fetch’s door.

There’s a word whispered on the wind, and that word is revolution…

This sounds like another pretty epic entry in the Fetch Phillips series, and I am very interested to see how Arnold is going to continue the series here.  Based on the synopsis above, it seems that Whisper in the Wind is going to be set some point after the third book, with a retired protagonist forced back into his previous problems.  This should be an excellent and natural continuation of the story elements that the author previously set up in the previous books, and I assume we are going to see some of the recurring antagonists and corruption from the previous novels come back to the fore.  As such, I feel that Whisper in the Wind is going to be a very fascinating continuation to this series, and I am very curious to see how Arnold keeps his narrative going.

Due to the impressive quality of the previous novels in this series, I am definitely grabbing Whisper in the Wind when it comes out next year.  Luke Arnold has shown himself to be a particularly skilled fantasy author, and I have become a huge fan of his Fetch Phillips series as a result.  I cannot wait to see how this epic sounding book turns out and I have no doubt that Whisper in the Wind is going to be one of the more interesting fantasy novels of 2025.

Quick Review – Outrider by Mark Wales

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Quick Review, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia (Trade Paperback – 25 June 2024)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 354 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Former Australian soldier and current media personality Mark Wales presents a particularly exciting debut novel with the gripping thriller Outrider.  A gritty, intense, and absolutely action-packed dystopian thriller, Outrider is an awesome Australian novel readers will have a hard time getting away from.

Plot Synopsis:

Jack Dunne will do anything to save his son.

A violent civil war. An unstoppable enemy. One road to freedom.

In the wake of a global conflict, foreign forces occupy part of Australia, quashing all but a few pockets of local resistance. The tense stalemate ends in 2034, when Jack Dunne reignites the war.

Dunne is an Outrider, one of the last elite special operations soldiers in the Resistance. As the enemy prepare to eliminate the freedom fighters once and for all, he is tasked with his final mission.

If Dunne and his eleven-year-old son achieve the impossible, and survive, they’ll secure their future across the border in Free Australia.

But the road to victory will be bloody.

A cinematic action-thriller from bestselling author and veteran Mark Wales. Explosive and exhilarating, Outrider is a heartfelt father-and-son story of survival, resistance and hope.


Outrider was an intriguing and complex novel that envisions a dark near future for Australian and sets loose a bold new action hero into the resulting carnage.  Set after a Chinese invasion of Australia, Outrider follows formidable resistance solider Jack Dunne and his son, Harry, as they attempt to save the lives of the last standing rebel fortress in Victoria from an upcoming war.  Given a mission to journey across occupied Australia to recover a military asset who can provide specialised assistance in the upcoming battle to come, Jack and his son will need to run a gauntlet of bandits, Chinese soldiers and members of the collaborating Victorian militia working for them.

This was an intense and exciting piece of Australian fiction, and Wales really dug deep to present an authentic tale of desperation and war.  Quickly and effectively introducing the 2034 dystopian setting, Wales takes the reader right into the action with a series of brutal early encounters that also set the rest of the narrative in motion.  From there, the story turns into an intense, Mad Max-style road trip as Jack and Harry embark on their journey to reach the required military asset and bring them back before it was too late.  This proves to be an excellent continued sequence, as the protagonists encounter obstacles and conflict, while also endearing themselves to the reader with a dive into their motivations and the history of events that drive Jack on.  The second half of Outrider proves to be even more epic and intense, as the protagonists desperately attempt to overcome the deadly forces coming for them.  This all leads up to the massive and impressive full on war sequence, with the fate of free Australia in the balance.  Wales does not disappoint when it comes to this final massive fight sequence, and readers will be blown away by how impressive the carnage gets.

Wales really dug deep here and produced an outstanding and fantastic debut novel that I just could not get enough of.  Making excellent use of his initial plot idea of a futuristic invaded Australia, Wales launches into a sharp and exciting narrative, that keeps grown in intensity as the book continues.  Unsurprisingly, considering the author’s background, the action sequences in Outrider are particularly well written, and Wales does an excellent job portraying the carnage of combat to the reader.  Each of these action sequences are well paced out and highly realistic (well, besides the highly advanced weapons), and the reader gets really drawn into them as a result as you can practically feel every shot or explosion.  While the main appeal of Outrider is the action and exciting story, I really appreciated that Wales took the time to set up several complex and compelling characters.  I felt that his protagonist, Jack Dunne, was an outstandingly damaged and angry main figure, whose loss of his wife is still raw for much of the book.  These intense emotions, as well as the bond he continues to form with his young son as they journey across Australia, adds a powerful edge to Wales’ narrative, and it helped Outrider be more than just an awesome action novel.

The final fantastic element I want to highlight about Outrider is the intriguing background setting of an invaded Australia.  Wales paints a haunting and disturbing picture of how this potential invasion would occur and in what form it would look like, and I liked the dark realism behind his ideas.  I particularly enjoyed how he portrayed the Chinese as only occupying key sections of Australia, rather than the whole continent, which honestly makes a lot of sense, and it allows the protagonist to slip between different parts of the country as a result.  The dive into collaborators and traitor militias continuing most of the fighting against the resistance, with China and the US playing proxy wars in the background, also had a tinge of realism behind it, even if we’d like to think differently.  Finally, the grim details surrounding the invasion add an urgent edge to the plot, and you find yourself pulling for the protagonists even more, especially after a powerful scene where they witness certain train carriages going by.  All of this proves to be an incredible background to a particularly exciting and engrossing read, and I loved seeing Wales’ intense look into the future.

Outrider by Mark Wales proved to be a particularly cool Australian thriller that I had an awesome time getting through.  An inventive and intense debut novel from Wales, Outrider comes highly recommended, especially for fans of Australian fiction with a ton of action, and it is really worth checking it.

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Quick Review – The Youngest Son by John Byrnes

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction, Quick Review10 Comments

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia (Trade Paperback – 30 July 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 386 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Rising Australian author John Byrnes dives into a new genre with the fascinating and compelling historical fiction novel, The Youngest Son, which focuses an exciting and moving narrative around one damaged family.

Plot Synopsis:

On the unforgiving streets of 1920s Sydney, the Leach family have nothing but each other.

In a tale spanning decades, three children of the broken, working-class family find adventure, heartache and trouble as their lives drift apart.

John finds faith and love at a young age. The inevitable clash between the two leads him into a different kind of brotherhood as war clouds gather.

Maureen dreams of a life ‘just like the movies’ and waits to be swept off her feet. Yet at every crossroad, she makes the wrong choice.

Bob discovers a natural talent with his fists and an instinct for trouble. But with every win he earns the hard way, more enemies rise.

From police corruption and gambling dens to brothels and blood feuds, the Leach family toil in Sydney’s seedy underbelly and on battlefields far away. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Second World War, The Youngest Son chronicles one family’s mesmerising fate in a grand saga and a masterclass in epic storytelling.

The Youngest Son was a fast-paced and addictive novel that cleverly followed the youngest members of a disadvantaged working class 1920s Sydney family through the highs and lows of early 20th century Australian history.  Byrnes, who really impressed me last year with his first novel, the gripping modern thriller Headland (one of my favourite debuts of 2023), did an outstanding job diving into the historical fiction genre, and I enjoyed the excellent and personal story that emerged.

The plot of The Youngest Son works very well, as Byrnes follows the varied lives of the three Leach children, John, Maureen and Bob, as well as a raft of other entertaining and complex characters.  Starting in the 1920s and continuing towards the end of World War II, The Youngest Son’s narrative splits between each of these primary characters and follows the highs and lows of their lives.  This includes the criminal activities of the youngest son, Bob, whose career fighting for Sydney’s criminal underbelly leads him into trouble time and time again.  The oldest son, John, attempts to live a good life and join the church, but misfortune and deceit instead lead him towards the horrors of war.  Finally, the daughter of the Leach family, Maureen, tries to find the excitement and glamour missing from her working-class life, but finds only heartbreak and bad decisions as she is constantly led along the wrong path in life.  Each of these characters experience conflict, betrayal, and tragedy as they attempt to find their way in life, and it helps produce one hell of a story.

I really enjoy historical fiction books that follow the lives of multiple characters as they follow their own path amid the backdrop of real-life history, and it is a format that has served many authors, such as Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer and Peter Watt extremely well over the years.  Byrnes is another great author who perfectly utilised this story telling method, and I had a lot of fun getting to know the Leach family and their various friends and associates.  The author pulls together a great layered narrative, and I loved the mixture of story elements that emerged, including personal stories of self-discovery, a gritty war narrative, and a continued dive into the criminal underbelly of Sydney during the 1930s and 40s.  While all these major storylines are great in their own way, I personally found myself drawn more to Bob’s narrative, mainly because his dangerous dive into the world of underground boxing is full of excitement and action.

Each of the three main protagonists have intriguing journeys in their respective chapters, and I deeply enjoyed where each of their specific storylines go.  All their story arcs have a great mixture of success, tragedy and self-discovery, and you grow attached to all of them as a result.  The storylines also blend into a fantastic major narrative, and while for the most part they are kept separate from each other, they play off each other well, ensuring that readers get a good mixture of emotions and different experiences, as well as alternating character highs and lows.  Byrnes also makes excellent use of the 1930s and 40s background setting throughout The Youngest Son, and the author ensures each character’s story cleverly evolves to face the various changes occurring around Sydney.  The entire narrative goes in some interesting directions, and you willingly follow these characters wherever they end up, even if that leads you even deeper into tragedy.

While the three main characters are all entertaining in their own ways, I felt that the fourth perspective character Byrnes added in really helped to make The Youngest Son especially special.  This fourth character is the villainous Vince, a cowardly street thug who makes a big impact on the Leach family’s lives in different ways.  Vince proves to be a great recurring antagonist, and his slimy story of success blends in well with the alternating fortunes of the Leach children while also providing some real entertainment value.  You really cannot help but dislike Vince as he succeeds, but you really can’t look away as he succeeds, especially as his various dastardly and snivelling interactions with the other characters, primarily Bob and Maureen, prove to be excellent bridges between these protagonist’s respective storylines.  I really appreciate how Byrnes wove the story of Vince amongst the other major narrative threads of The Youngest Son, and the use of the excellent antagonist continuously moves the plot in the best direction, including with the big finale.

Overall, I felt that this was a great book from John Byrnes, who created an amazing and captivating novel with The Youngest Son.  A slick and easy-to-read novel with some real heart that makes excellent use of its impressive character-driven narrative, historical setting, and engaging protagonists, The Youngest Son is an awesome book to get lost in, and it was fantastic to see how Byrnes has grown as an author.

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Quick Review – The Death of Dora Black by Lainie Anderson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Quick Review5 Comments

Publisher: Hachette Australia (Trade Paperback – 28 August 2024)

Series: Petticoat Police Mystery – Book One

Length: 312 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Lainie Anderson presents a fun and compelling historical murder mystery that looks at a unique Australian historical figure with The Death of Dora Black.

Plot Synopsis:

Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.

When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora’s workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?

*In 1915, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.*


The Death of Dora Black was a particularly interesting and entertaining read from Lainie Anderson, who has struck upon a fascinating figure to set her book around.  The first book in Anderson’s new Petticoat Policy Mystery series, The Death of Dora Black was a clever novel that blended the real-life history of the infamous Miss Kate Cocks with the author’s own crime fiction narrative.

Starting out in Adelaide, 1917, the book’s story sees formidable real-life police officer Miss Kate Cocks become embroiled in a deadly murder mystery when shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on the city’s beach.  What follows is an excellent story that blends the historical exploits of Cocks, which included helping the needy of Adelaide in her own unique way and attempting to save the morality of the young women of the city with her cane, with a gritty informal murder investigation.  This later investigation of course adds most of the meat to the story, as Cocks, and her junior constable Ethel Bromley, uncover a dark conspiracy of murder, drugs and kidnapping, with its roots deep in the heart of the city.

Anderson brings these disparate elements together into a fantastic overall read, and it was fascinating to see the more cozy and historical elements you would associate with Kate Cocks and her real-life actions blend with a darker murder plot.  I felt that Anderson’s main murder mystery was very well set out, and the resulting investigation by two underestimated women got quite thrilling and exciting.  There are some dark moments and intriguing twists featured throughout this plot, and Anderson produces a particularly powerful crime fiction narrative.  The entire murder mystery and the investigative arc came together extremely well, and I really enjoyed seeing Anderson’s unique protagonists trying to solve the case in their own unique way.  The background setting of Adelaide during World War I also added quite a lot to the narrative, and the author provided a complex and detailed recreation of the historical setting.

The real highlight of The Death of Dora Black was the intriguing main protagonists, Miss Kate Cocks and her junior constable Ethel Bromley.  The two protagonists play off each other extremely well throughout the course of the novel, and the blend of personalities, with the strict but caring Kate and the sassy and exceedingly keen Ethel, proved to be a winning combination.  Readers will particularly enjoy Anderson’s portrayal of Miss Kate Cocks in this book, especially as the author tried to capture all this unique figures’ quirks and historical reputation.  Anderson, who is a major expert on Kate Cocks, paints her as a particularly complex and conflicted figure driven by her religious principals but also willing to do the moral choice and help anyone in need.  It was fascinating to see Miss Cocks wander around historical Adeliade, distributing her moral judgement with her cane, while also solving problems no-one else can.  Anderson succeeded in capturing various aspects of her occasionally controversial history, and I really appreciated the way in which she converted her into a fearsome crime-fighting force, capable of hunting down murderers and drug smugglers.  The utilisation of this very distinctive figure helped to turn The Death of Dora Black into something very special, and I look forward to more exploits with Miss Kate Cocks in the future.

Overall, I felt that The Death of Dora Black was an amazing and highly entertaining novel from Lainie Anderson, who successfully brings her real-life historical protagonist to life and sets a wonderfully enjoyable crime fiction book around her.  Clever, fascinating, and with a lot of crossover appeal to many different readers, The Death of Dora Black was a great book, and I had a ton of fun getting through it.

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Waiting on Wednesday – Gunnawah and The Reunion

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday14 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight two intriguing upcoming Australian crime fiction debuts.

2025 is already shaping up to be a big year for Australian crime fiction debuts, as there are several compelling and epic novels from first-time authors set for release next year.  I always love checking out compelling Australian fiction from new authors, and it is fun to see these writers develop their style and produce complex reads set in our distinctive landscapes.  As such, I am very excited for 2025, especially with the focuses of today’s Waiting on Wednesday set for release right at the start of the year.

The first debut I want to highlight is the awesome and unique sounding novel, Gunnawah from new author Ronni Salt.  Set for release on 1 January 2025, Gunnawah is an interesting crime fiction novel, that will feature a rural mystery with a historical background setting.

Plot Synopsis:

It’s 1974 in the Riverina

The weather is hot

But the body in the Murray River is stone cold . . .

A captivating and compulsive crime thriller about guns, drugs and a young woman dead on the money

Riverina 1974:

When nineteen-year-old farmgirl Adelaide Hoffman applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, she sees it as her ticket out of a life too small for her. Its owner, Valdene Bullark, sees something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide.

Val puts Adelaide straight to work. What starts as a routine assignment covering an irrigation project soon puts Adelaide on the trail of a much bigger story. Water is money in farming communities, and when Adelaide starts asking questions, it’s as if she’s poked a stick in a bull ant’s nest. Violence follows. Someone will do whatever it takes to stop Adelaide and Val finding out how far the river of corruption and crime runs.

Shady deals. Vested interests. A labyrinth of lies. It seems everyone in Gunnawah has a secret to keep. But how many want to stop Adelaide dead?

Set deep in the heart of rural Australia during the era of Gough Whitlam, pub brawls and flared jeans, Gunnawah is a compulsive crime thriller of corruption, guns and drugs from Australian Noir’s most arresting new voice.

I feel that Gunnawah has a lot going for it, especially as Salt looks set to combine rural crime antics with Australia’s distinctive 1970s vibe.  The combination of 70s nostalgia, unique criminal activity, and plucky characters trying to get to the truth has some big potential, and I’m personally interested in seeing what sort of story Salt has planned here, especially with the focus seemingly on corruption around farmland irrigation.  This is one of the more distinctive crime fiction books coming out in 2025, and I have a feeling that Gunnawah is going to be a top debut of next year, and I cannot wait to see how Salt will impress us.

The other fascinating Australian crime fiction debut coming out in early 2025 that I want to highlight is The Reunion by Bronwyn Rivers.  Set in the iconic and beautiful Blue Mountains wilderness, The Reunion will see five isolated protagonists relive the sins of their shared past as the truth comes for them.  The Reunion has a very cool story concept around it that has really grabbed my attention, and I am quite keen to grab it in February 2025.

Plot Synopsis:

THEY’LL WISH THEY NEVER WENT BACK.

Ten years ago, six teenagers hiked into the Blue Mountains wilderness – and only five came out alive.

The survivors have barely seen each other since the tragic bushwalk. Yet when an invitation arrives to attend a 10-year memorial of their friend’s death, Hugh, Charlotte, Alex, Laura and Jack find themselves travelling back into the rugged landscape where it all began.

The weekend at an isolated homestead in the bush – no phone signal, no distractions – should be a chance to reflect and reconnect.

But each of the friends has been carrying secrets from the fateful hike. And someone will stop at nothing to get the truth.

This is another particularly cool sounding book, and I think that Rivers has an excellent story idea that is really going to pay off.  The classic scenario of isolated protagonists revisiting a traumatic event from years before is always a reliable basis for a story, and I am curious to see how Rivers will make it her own.  Unwrapping the separate and joint secrets of five protagonists has a lot of potential, and I cannot wait to see what sort of twists and compelling reveals this new author comes up with.  I am also very excited to see how Rivers will utilise the wilderness setting of the Blue Mountains in The Reunion.  I literally just got back from a holiday in the Blue Mountains, so I can imagine some of the elaborate bushland settings and locals that can be used to hide secrets, bodies and lies.

Overall, I think that both Gunnawah and The Reunion have a lot of potential and I am very excited to read them.  I cannot wait to see how these first Australian crime fiction novels from Ronni Salt and Bronwyn Rivers will turn out and they will probably be amongst my top debut novels of 2025.

Waiting on Wednesday – Endgame by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an epic upcoming Australian thriller that is bound to get very dark, with Endgame by Sarah Barrie.

Endgame Cover

Amazon

I have a lot of love for complex reads by my fellow Australians, and boy have there some great Australian crime fiction series coming out in recent years.  One of my absolute favourites has been the Lexi Winter series by impressive Australian author Sarah Barrie.  A dark and compelling crime fiction series, the Lexi Winter books follow the titular protagonist whose childhood was destroyed by a murderous paedophile.  Growing up rough, Lexi became a talented hacker and vigilante, who targeted suspected child abusers.  The first book in the series, Unforgiven, saw Lexi team up with several intriguing police characters when the man who ruined her life once again began killing young children.  Unforgiven was an extremely awesome and captivating novel, that effortlessly blended powerful character work with a dark thriller scenario that kept me on my toes the entire way through.  This ended up being one of my favourite Australian books of 2021, and I deeply enjoyed it.

Due to how good Unforgiven was, I ended up grabbing the next two books in the series the second they came out.  Made up of Retribution (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022) and Vendetta (one of my favourite Australian books of 2023), the Lexi Winter series went in some very interesting directions as Lexi attempted to make the jump from vigilante to legitimate police officer, while also facing off against criminals and demons from her past.  Both sequels were extremely compelling and exciting, and I have had so much fun with this great Australian series.

Naturally, I am very eager to see how this series is going to come to an end, and it looks like Barrie is about to put the finishing touches on her captivating story, with the upcoming book Endgame.  Billed as the fourth and final entry in the series, Endgame will force the protagonist to go up against her nemesis in a final game of cat and mouse that will destroy everyone around her.  Set for release in late October 2024, Endgame sounds extremely cool, and you can see that Barrie is going to bring the emotional pain to her readers in this finale.

Plot Synopsis:

Vigilante turned cop Lexi Winter is drawn into the investigation of a chain of apparently random murders. As the bodies pile up, Lexi realises she is a pawn in a psychotic – and deadly – game.

Lexi Winter is studying for her detective exams but her nemesis Vaughn is out there somewhere and her concentration is fractured. Just as she’s wondering if her hypervigilance is tipping over into madness, Vaughn resurfaces and issues a challenge. Five people will be dead by the end of the month. If Lexi can identify and save the last one before the deadline, he’ll turn himself in.

As Lexi’s colleagues scramble to untangle what it all means, Lexi is implicated deeper and deeper into the murders. On top of this, she begins to see a strange figure everywhere she goes. Branded as suffering from PTSD, Lexi’s credibility is in tatters with her colleagues, but Lexi knows it isn’t her mind that is the problem. A wicked game is afoot, and Lexi is just a chess piece in play – and she suspects that check mate will mean her death. There is only one thing that Lexi can do – play along, wait for the chance to strike back, and bring about the endgame…

Now this sounds like a very epic addition to the series as Barrie is definitely planning to end this story on a very dark note, which I am very there for.  A violent game of cat and mouse between the series’ big bad and a traumatised protagonist is an extremely strong basis for a story, and you have to know that Barrie is going to really dive into the dark side of Lexi’s mind in Endgame.  Having the protagonist once again isolated from all the new friends and connections she has made as they lose faith in her sanity is going to be very hard to watch, but I am confident that it will lead to a great overall story.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Endgame is going to be an extremely awesome piece of Australian crime fiction.  Sarah Barrie has been absolutely killing it with her Lexi Winter books the last couple of years, and this dark conclusion she has been building towards is going to be epic.  I am even more excited for Endgame after the above plot synopsis, and this may end up being one of the most compelling and emotionally charged novels I read this year.

Waiting on Wednesday – High Wire by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday8 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I look at an awesome upcoming piece of Australian fiction from an author who is having a particularly good 2024, with High Wire by Candice Fox.

High Wire Cover

Amazon

This really is the year of the Fox as Australian author Candice Fox introduces her third epic thriller of 2024 with the exciting sounding High Wire.  Fox is an author who I have come to really appreciate over the years, especially as she has wowed me with some truly amazing reads.  This includes her great standalone novels, Fire With Fire, Gathering Dark and The Chase, as well as the novel she cowrote with James Patterson, 2 Sisters Detective Agency.  All these novels feature some intriguing and clever concepts that Fox works into effective and powerful stories that you can’t turn away from.  This was particularly true in 2024 as Fox’s other two books from this year, The Murder Inn (with Patterson) and Devil’s Kitchen, were extremely impressive and really drove home how good an author Fox is.

As such, it is little wonder that I am excited for Fox’s new novel, High Wire, which is currently set for release in late September 2024.  High Wire sees Fox return her focus to the Australian outback, as two people get caught up in all manner of trouble in the very worst place you could imagine.

Plot Synopsis:

You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.|

A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.

Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.

The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew – and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.

Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop’s night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare’s trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.

And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .


High Wire sounds like it is going to be a pretty full-on and intense read, which I am totally here for.  An explosive race across the country with murderous intentions, dangerous games, and two apparently innocent people trapped in badly escalating situation has all the potential to be an amazing story, especially with a talented author like Candice Fox at the wheel.  Throw in the author’s ability to bring the wild outback Australian setting to life, as well as some great and intriguing characters, and I feel that High Wire is going to be a pretty epic book.

Honestly, after the 2024 that Candice Fox has been having, there is no way that I will not be picking up High Wire when it comes out later this year.  Fox’s other two books this year have been extremely impressive, and High Wire looks set to follow that trend.  This upcoming book has such an exciting and over-the-top plot behind it, and I fully believe that Fox will turn it into something special.  This is easily one of my most anticipated pieces of Australian fiction coming out in the second half of 2024 and I cannot wait to read it.

Devil’s Kitchen by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller9 Comments

Devil's Kitchen Cover

Publisher: Bantam Australia (Trade Paperback – 26 March 2024)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Amazon

One of Australia’s very best thriller authors continues her hellacious 2024 with the outstanding and epic read, Devil’s Kitchen.

Candice Fox is a very impressive author who has been doing an amazing job representing Australian authors on the international stage with her epic thrillers.  Starting off with some intriguing outback thrillers, including her Archer and Bennett series and Crimson Lake books (the latter of which have been adapted into the Australian television series Troppo), it didn’t take long for Fox to gain worldwide appeal, especially once she started collaborating with James Patterson.  Fox with Patterson has written several amazing reads, including the Detective Harriet Blue series, The Inn, 2 Sisters Detective Agency, and Fox’s other 2024 read, The Murder Inn.  Fox has also been writing some amazing standalone thrillers in recent years, including Gathering Dark, The Chase and Fire with Fire.  I have had an amazing time with these outstanding books, and they usually end up being some of the top books by an Australian author each year.  However, Fox’s latest novel, Devil’s Kitchen, might be her best thriller yet.

Everyone knows firefighters are heroes, and in the FDNY, no team is more daring or brave than the members of Engine 99.  For years this tightknit band of firefighters has stood against the worst blazes New York has to offer, working together to save lives and keep the city safe.  However, beneath this heroic façade, the four members of Engine 99 harbour a dark secret: they are ruthless and successful thieves.

Utilising their knowledge of fire to create opportunities and destroy evidence, the Engine 99 crew have pulled off several impressive heists and stolen millions of dollars.  With their loyalty, skills and ability to work within the system, the team seems unbeatable.  However, that changes when the family of one member of the team, Ben, goes missing.  Convinced that someone else on the Engine 99 crew had something to do with their disappearance, Ben attempts to make a deal with the law to save them.  However, Ben is unprepared for the carnage his actions will bring down.

Andrea ‘Andy’ Nearland is a professional undercover operative with a dangerous past.  She has spent years learning to get close to people to learn their darkest secrets and will do anything to bring her targets to justice.  Joining the team after obtaining intensive firefighting training, Andy begins the arduous task of gaining the rest of the team’s trust with Ben’s reluctant help.  However, getting through the web of secrecy surrounding the rest of Engine 99 and finding out what happened to Ben’s family will be difficult, especially as the team plots their most ambitious heist yet.  With tensions running higher than ever and her obsessive employer trying to drag her out, can Andy find out all of Engine 99’s dark secrets before it’s too late, or will her tangled web of lies and emotional connections bring her down?

This was a particularly epic book from Fox that I couldn’t put down.  Featuring an ambitious and powerful narrative that pushes the boundaries of relationships, loyalty and doing the right thing, Devil’s Kitchen had me hooked the entire way through, and this was truly an outstanding read.

I really cannot emphasise enough what a great story Devil’s Kitchen had, and this ended up being a dark and compelling thriller.  Featuring a gripping prelude that ensures you get drawn into the story, Devil’s Kitchen is quickly split between the perspectives of main characters Andy and Ben, as Andy begins her infiltration of the Engine 99 crew after Ben contacts the authorities about his crew’s criminal actions.  Joining as a new member with a romantic connection to Ben, Andy attempts to gain their trust, while the crew begins planning a new heist with destructive potential.  What follows is an intriguing game of cat and mouse as Andy uses her skills at infiltration to try and find out all their secrets, even the ones that Ben doesn’t want her to know, all while the rest of the crew battle their suspicions about her motivations.

The plot goes in some intriguing directions as Devil’s Kitchen continues, as all the team’s dark secrets and Andy’s troubled past come to light.  Andy proves to be a very smooth operator as she gets closer to finding out the truth, while Ben is a complex and haunted figure, desperate to save those he cares about, while also hoping to keep his worst secrets to himself.  I loved the many layers of deception, personal struggle and compelling personalities contained within the story, as the protagonists attempt to discover what happened to Ben’s missing family and how it ties into his heist work.  At the same time, Andy and Ben get closer, and Andy is forced to deal with her overprotective employer and former lover, whose jealousy and concern about the situation causes more trouble for her.  The last third of the story is particularly epic, as the truth in all its forms gets out, and everyone is thrown into some desperate directions.  Fox pulls together some excellent twists and turns here, and all the big reveals were suitably shocking and intense.  This was probably one of Fox’s best conclusions, and all the elaborate story threads come together perfectly, ensuring that the reader comes away satisfied with the various solutions to the book’s big mysteries.  At the same time, there are some dark and shocking moments, and I honestly did not expect how tragic Fox would make her conclusion.

I have a lot of love for how Fox brought her story together, and this proved to be a very well-written book.  The intense back and forth between the two perspective protagonists presents the reader with a dramatic and complex read, especially as both have hidden motivations and desires.  In many ways this is almost a psychological thriller, especially as Fox does an outstanding job diving into why Andy desires connections in every identity she takes on, while Ben is caught between his intense loyalty to the crew and his desires to save his loved ones.  This balance of thriller storyline and character arcs really works, and I ended up invested in both Andy and Ben’s unique storylines, even if that threatened to lead to tragedy.  Fox keeps up a fantastic and fast pace for this novel, and I honestly couldn’t put Devil’s Kitchen down at times, I was so engrossed in seeing the next dark turn or compelling character moment.

I have mentioned Andy and Ben a few times, and they really were the tortured heart and soul of the team.  Fox portrayed Ben as an outstandingly complex figure, and you really get invested in his motivations for both staying quiet and trying to end his crew’s heist careers.  Ben is forced to experience some major moral dilemmas in Devil’s Kitchen, and despite his criminal focus, you can’t help but feel bad for him.  While I enjoyed Ben’s chapters and story arc, I found Andy to be the more compelling character and I loved the idea of a master infiltrator who can go undercover and get close to people.  Fox does an excellent job of expanding out her motivations and insights while ensuring that the reader will be interested in finding out more about her past.  These gradually reveal some intriguing details into why she is so good at taking up new identities and her dangerous habit of getting too close to her targets becomes a recurring theme.  I found Andy’s clever perspective to be some of the best parts of Devil’s Kitchen, and her various techniques for getting closer to her targets were extremely clever.  I think there is a lot of potential in an extended series focused on Andy (or whatever her name will be in the future), especially as there are some open doors when it comes to her past.

Aside from Andy and Ben, I have to highlight the three antagonists of the story, the other members of Engine 99.  Made up of a damaged veteran firefighter, an unhinged fixer, and a young trainee with a gambling problem, they, along with Ben, have become a tightknit group, loyal only to each other and dedicated to earning a sufficient retirement.  Due to the story requiring Andy to get closer to them and learn their secrets, you get drawn into their tangled relationships and connections, especially as the secret to what happen to Ben’s family, as well as their latest plot, lies in uncovering that.  I really enjoyed getting to know these three additional figures, especially as you get drawn into their dark motivations and outlooks on life.  They prove to be suitably complex and intriguing antagonists for the story, and it was fascinating to see how Andy and Ben navigate their interactions with them.

Overall, I felt that Devil’s Kitchen was a pretty amazing novel from Candice Fox, and it was one of her most impressive thrillers so far.  Featuring a particularly intense, character-driven storyline focused on lies, deception and misdirection, Devil’s Kitchen had me hooked from the very beginning and I could not rest until I uncovered every single clever twist and outrageous reveal.  An exceptional read from one of Australia’s best authors, I cannot wait to see more from Fox, especially as she has yet another book coming out later this year.

Devil's Kitchen 2

Amazon