Publisher: Harper Collins (Trade Paperback – 1 August 2025)
Series: Standalone/The Hunted spin-off
Length: 309 pages
My Rating: 4.5 out 5 stars
Prepare for carnage as rising Australian author Gabriel Bergmoser presents a high-octane and beautifully brutal thriller, High Rise, an outstanding and deeply entertaining novel with some real intensity behind it.
Gabriel Bergmoser is an intriguing author who has written some compelling and exciting pieces of Australian fiction over the last few years. Originally known more for his work as a playwright, Bergmoser has been more active as a thriller author in recent years with his Hunted books, as well as the standalone novel The Caretaker. High Rise serves as continuation of Bergmoser’s previous Hunted books, The Hunted and The Inheritance, as well as some of the author’s separately released Audible Originals, and follows a supporting character from The Inheritance on his own brutal adventure.
Plot Synopsis:
After a year of searching, rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin has finally found his estranged daughter, Morgan, holed up in the top floor of a rundown, grimy high-rise building. The trouble is, Jack’s unconventional policing and information-gathering methods in the past has made him some serious enemies. And what Jack doesn’t know as he heads into the building, intent on saving his daughter, is firstly, that Morgan doesn’t want to be saved – particularly not by him – and secondly, that the entire criminal underworld in the city are on their way too… There’s a bounty on his head, and they’re after his blood – and they don’t mind if Morgan is collateral damage.
As bounty hunters and gang members converge on the building, father and daughter are thrown into a desperate fight for survival through fifteen storeys of deadly enemies – with only each other to rely on. Die Hard meets The Raid, but the funnier, grittier Australian version. Fast, furious and ferocious, this is thriller writing at its nail-biting, unputdownable best.
Now that was a load of fun. High Rise was a highly entertaining and relentlessly exciting Australian novel, as Bergmoser unleashes one of his dangerous protagonists on a horde of criminals. Featuring a continuous blast of action, violence and family drama, High Rise was an amazing and addictive novel that I absolutely powered through.
I had a great time reading the ultra-exciting narrative featured within High Rise, especially as Bergmoser eagerly created an Australian thriller in the same vein as some classic over-the-top action films. Starting off fast with an effective reintroduction to protagonist Jack Carlin, Bergmoser sets up the main points of the narrative extremely well, and you soon get stuck into the main part of the book, with Jack finding himself trapped on the top floor of a high-rise building filled with petty criminals, bikies, thugs and even some professional hitmen. What follows is an entertaining blitz of outrageous and brutal action as Jack, and his daughter Morgan, attempt to fight their way downstairs.
Unsurprisingly for an action-packed brawl against criminals and killers, the plot of High Rise moves at a very quick pace. Bergmoser does a good job splitting the narrative between the two main protagonists, Jack and Morgan, which allows the author to dive into their strained relationship, as well as their own complicated pasts. Thanks to some creative splitting up, both characters have some interesting solo moments in the middle part of the novel, which also features some unlikely allies. The climax of the story comes on fast, and there are a couple of good twists there, as well as the appearance of a figure fans of Bergmoser will be very familiar with. While the identity of the main antagonist of the novel isn’t too surprising, some of the supporting villains were quite fun, especially as the author made good use of the character history he introduced in this novel. Everything leads up to an intense and emotionally charged finale, which features even more over-the-top action for the reader to enjoy, including some very unique weaponry for an urban Australian setting. The conclusion of the High Rise was quite poignant and served as a good wrap up to the character development Bergmoser had been exploring throughout the book. This was an overall exciting and intense narrative that has a lot of great moments for action fans.
Bergmoser did a great job of showcasing his action-packed story throughout High Rise, and this proved to be a very entertaining and addictive read as a result. The many, many fight sequences I have already gushed about are well-written, and readers can easily visualise these brutal battles and over-the-top sequences thanks to Bergmoser’s descriptive style. The author also successfully kept up his frenetic pace the entire way through, which allowed me to easy power through this book quickly. There is a certain level of humour to High Rise, especially with a range of clueless goons and other entertaining characters, and things do get a little ridiculous at times. This bit of comedic charm is well balanced by the deeper personal issues of the two protagonists, whose dysfunction is further showcased by various flashback sequence, which Bergmoser works into the plot without slowing the pace of the book down. As such, there are no impediments to powering through this book quickly, and I guarantee most readers will knock this off in only a few sessions.
As I mentioned at the start of the novel, High Rise serves as an extension to the author’s Hunted series. The protagonist has previously appeared in some of Bergmoser’s previous novels and audiobook releases, most prominently The Inheritance, while another of the author’s protagonists is reintroduced later in the novel. Despite being part of a larger series, any reader interested in checking out High Rise should be able to follow the plot of this novel without any issues. Indeed, I personally haven’t had the chance to read Bergmoser’s previous books, and I was able to enjoy High Rise quite easily. While there are references to previous events from the series, and the author is a little cagey at first about the protagonist’s connections to Maggie, the main character of The Hunted and The Inheritance, Bergmoser quickly fills in any necessary gaps with his accessible writing, and new readers should be able to follow along easily. As such, High Rise is a great book for any thriller reader, and indeed it works quite well as an introduction to Bergmoser and his writing style.
While I did decide to read High Rise mainly because of its fun-sounding plot and the excessive violence it promised, I came away appreciating the great character work that Bergmoser featured. Most of the book follows main protagonist Jack Carlin and his daughter Morgan, both of whom have a troubled past and a tense relationship with each other. The author does an excellent job diving into their complex personal history, especially with the novel’s regular split in perspective, and you get some intriguing insights into their pasts, much of which impacts their current motivations and reactions. This includes Carlin’s regretful history as a corrupt cop, much of which impacted his relationship with Morgan, who herself suffered a dark childhood due to her mother, as well as her own alcohol induced mistakes. These character elements become cleverly entwined with the main narrative, and the antagonism and mistrust between the two added to the drama of the plot. I think that Bergmoser handled this troubled relationship very well, and it was a great highlight of High Rise’s plot, especially attempt to address it in their own troubled way.
While High Rise is primarily focused on Jack and Morgan, several other characters do get their moment to shine. This includes Maggie, the protagonist of several of the author’s previous books, who has a more supporting role in this novel after appearing later in the plot. Due to her lack of perspective chapters, Maggie does have less of an impact than the author’s previous novels, but her intense personality and unique friendship with Jack ensure she stands out. Other key figures, including a Swedish assassin and the violent former member of a bikie club that Jack and Maggie previously destroyed, add some interesting flair to the plot, especially when some unlikely alliances form, and both had some memorable histories and appearances here. Throw in an army of low-level thugs and criminals who also attempt to claim the bounty on Jack, including some who have history with him, and High Rise features a very entertaining cast of characters, and it was very fun to see them try to kill each other.
Gabriel Bergmoser continues to produce extremely thrilling and entertaining Australian crime fiction content with his latest novel High Rise. A relentlessly brutal novel, loaded with action, bloodshed and some fantastic emotional depth, High Rise was a great read that I had an amazing time getting through. Highly recommended!
The Unseen Library 