Tag: Australian Crime Fiction

Waiting on Wednesday – Kill Your Boss by Jack Heath

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Waiting on Wednesday3 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.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight an excellent upcoming piece of Australian crime fiction from one of my favourite local authors, with Kill Your Boss by Jack Heath.

Fans of over-the-top crime fiction will be quite familiar with Australian author Jack Heath, who has produced some very interesting and memorable novels over the last several years.  The author is probably known for excellent Timothy Blake series, which follows a murder-solving cannibal as he attempts to solve complex cases while also finding his next gory meal and I have deeply entries such as Hideout and Headcase.

In addition to these fun books, Heath has also written some gripping pieces of Australian crime fiction, including the outstanding novel, Kill Your Brother, which saw a damaged protagonist imprisoned and forced to choose between killing her guilty brother or dying alongside him.  This was an amazing book, and I loved the intense and twist laden story that emerged.  Kill Your Brother ended up being one of my favourite Australian novels of 2021, and I was very excited when Heath subsequently produced a sequel to it in 2023 with Kill Your Husbands.  A particularly memorable sequel to Kill Your Brother that brought back some of the novel’s original protagonists, Kill Your Husbands had a powerful plot involving brutal murders following an ill-advised bout of partner swapping.  This very entertaining sequel proved to be just as clever as Heath’s previous entry in the series, and Kill Your Husbands ended up being one of my favourite Australian novels of 2023.

Due to how impressive Heath’s last several novels have been, as well as the fact that he is consistently one of the best authors of Australian crime fiction, I am naturally keen to read any new novel he releases.  As such, I was particularly stoked to find out that he had a new book coming out later this year with Kill Your Boss.  Set for release in November 2025, Kill Your Boss will see the main police protagonist from Heath’s previous two Australian novels investigate the murder of a hated manager of the local library, who everyone had a motive to kill.

Plot Synopsis:

What would it take to turn you into a killer?

Detective Sergeant Kiara Lui has just broken up a loud brawl between two blokes in front of the Warrigal Public Library. But just as she’s about to leave the scene, a man inexplicably plummets from the sky and slams into the bike rack right in front of her, dead.

Neville Adams was the head of library services, hated by staff, borrowers, or in fact anybody who had ever met him. Kiara quickly seals the building, trapping everyone who might have pushed him off the roof. She expects to have someone in custody within minutes.

Instead, the investigation becomes the most challenging and dangerous of her career as it spirals outward, ensnaring half the town. It seems that Neville was connected to the disappearance of Emmylou Chisholm – a case that Kiara could never solve, and that has haunted her ever since.

If the killer isn’t found fast, the first two victims won’t be the last . . .

Compelling, propulsive and darkly funny, this is a perfect follow-up to Jack Heath’s bestselling Kill Your Husbands.

Very interesting! I must admit that I really like the sound of the above plot synopsis, and it looks like Heath has pulled together another twisty and complex Australian murder mystery.  Focussing the case around a very dislikeable manager figure should make this a very relatable case for the average office worker, and you just know that Heath is going to have fun turning his murder victim into a despicable figure that everyone hates for good reason.  Indeed, I get the feeling that Kill Your Boss is going to have a somewhat humorous tone to it, and it is going to be very interesting to see how Heath balances this with the more serious crime fiction elements.

Based on the synopsis above, it sounds like Kill Your Boss is going to initially become some sort of looked-room mystery with all the suspects contained in the same location.  I think this has a lot of potential, mainly because that’s not an extremely common trope in Australian crime fiction (with Benjamin Stevenson’s Ernest Cunningham books being an obvious exception), and I cannot wait to see how a bunch of likely over-the-top library staff and patrons trapped in the building will react to the whole scenario.  It looks like Heath is going to take this one step further by expanding the murder investigation to encapsulate a cold case that the protagonist has a particular connection to, which should make this quite an intense and powerful read.  The whole scenario sounds particularly intriguing, and with the highly entertaining Heath at the helm, it is likely to result in a very impressive and addictive novel.

Overall, Kill Your Boss sounds like quite a fantastic upcoming novel, and it’s one I pretty darn excited for.  Jack Heath has really impressed me in recent years with his elaborate and outrageous crime fiction novels, and it will be interesting to see how he continues to utilise the protagonists from Kill Your Brother and Kill Your Husbands.  Kill Your Boss will likely end up being one of the top Australian releases of 2025, and I anticipate that it will be a particularly incredible novel.

Waiting on Wednesday – Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Waiting on Wednesday10 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 post, I highlight an incredible upcoming piece of Australian crime fiction with the sure-to-be hilarious novel, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson.

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For the last few years, the Australian crime fiction scene has been soundly dominated by the highly talented Benjamin Stevenson.  A comedian and performer, Stevenson started writing back in 2018 when he debuted his first crime fiction novel Greenlight (also released as Trust Me When I Lie and She Lies in the Vines), which Stevenson expertly followed up a year later with the great sequel Either Side of Midnight.  While these initial books were really good, for me Stevenson’s best work has been his Ernest Cunningham novels.

The Ernest Cunningham series follows the titular character, a crime fiction expert from a notorious family, who finds himself caught up in some real-life whodunit situations.  The first book in the series, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone, was particularly impressive, and it cleverly combined the author’s great sense of humour with a compelling mystery.  I really enjoyed this exceptional book (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2022), especially as the author successfully played to his comedic background to produce an outstanding read that satirised classic crime fiction conventions.  Stevenson continued to impress the following year, with the amazing book Everyone on this Train is a Suspect.  One of my favourite books and pieces of Australian fiction of 2023, Everyone on this Train is a Suspect was a worthy sequel to the first Ernest Cunningham book, and I loved how the author took the opportunity to further parody various crime fiction subgenres.  Stevenson even released a short, but impactful, Christmas entry in the Ernest Cunningham series last year with Everyone this Christmas has a Secret, which saw a Christmas variety show get very bloody, and which ended up being one of my favourite pieces of Australian fiction in 2024.

Due to how exceptional, clever and funny the last few books from Stevenson have been, I have been eagerly waiting for a 2025 novel from him and the author has just released details about his next awesome novel, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief.  A new entry in the Ernest Cunningham series Everyone in this Bank is a Thief will once again force the author’s unlucky protagonist to investigate a classic whodunnit when someone is murdered.  However, Stevenson has come up with a very interesting hook, as Ernest will need to find the killer while a hostage in the middle of a bank robbery.

Plot Synopsis:

The new instalment of the million-copy bestselling mystery series. What if an Agatha Christie style murder mystery happened inside OCEAN’S ELEVEN…

Ten suspects. Ten heists. A puzzle only Ernest Cunningham can solve.

I’ve spent the last few years solving murders. But a bank heist is a new one, even for me. I’ve never been a hostage before.

The doors are chained shut. No one in or out. Which means that when someone in the bank is murdered, hostages become suspects.
THE BANK ROBBER
THE MANAGER
THE SECURITY GUARD
THE KID
THE FILM PRODUCER
THE PRIEST
THE RECEPTIONIST
THE PATIENT
THE CARER
ME

Turns out, more than one person planned to rob the bank today. You can steal more from a bank than just money.

Who is stealing what? Are they willing to kill for it? And can I solve the crime before the police kick down the door and rescue us?

This sounds like another particularly fun book from Stevenson, and I love the new scenario that the author came up with for his next Ernest Cunningham book, especially as he once again works to cross a classic whodunnit with a more modern crime fiction storyline.  Coming up with a murder amid a high stakes bank heist and filling the vault with an array of characters that would fit into any Agatha Christie novel is an awesome idea, and I cannot wait to see how the author deconstructs all the tropes surrounding the scenario as he builds up a clever and entertaining mystery.  The oncoming police intervention also adds a certain interesting time crunch element to the plot, and it will be interesting to see the protagonist try to solve the murder before all the suspects are set free.  As such, this should be a particularly awesome story and I look forward to unwinding the entire complex mystery.

Based on what Stevenson has featured in his previous Ernest Cunningham novel, I am expecting this mystery of Everyone in this Bank is a Thief to be matched with some fantastic humour.  A lot of this will be due to the protagonist’s internal narration, as he deals with an array of over-the-top figures, while even more will be due to the writer’s funny, yet loving, takedowns of classic murder mystery and whodunnit tropes and overused plot devices.  I am also assuming there will be a bit of a takedown of heist novels with this book, and I cannot wait to see what fun the author will have with a compelling bank robbery plot.  I have no doubt this great humour will mesh well with the main crime fiction elements of the story, and I cannot wait to see what outrageous events and complex webs emerge as a result.

I cannot emphasise just how happy I am that Benjamin Stevenson is continuing his Ernest Cunningham series, and I was always going to be excited at grabbing the next entry in the series. However, I must admit I’m even more excited now that I’ve gotten some plot details for Everyone in this Bank is a Thief, which sounds like it is going to be a truly awesome read.  I cannot wait to see crazy shenanigans and clever jokes Stevenson slips into this excellent upcoming novel, and I have a feeling that Everyone in this Bank is a Thief is going to be one of my top reads of 2025.

Pacific Heights by S. R. White

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery5 Comments

Publisher: Headline (Trade Paperback – 25 March 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 279 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Over the last couple of years one of the more compelling authors of Australian crime fiction has been S. R. White.  A former member of the UK police, White has been writing intriguing crime fiction novels since his move to Australia.  His main body of work has so far included excellent reads like Prisoner, Red Dirt Road and White Ash Ridge (part of the Detective Dana Russo series), which featured complex mysteries centred around layered suspects.  I really enjoyed the compelling way in which White’s investigators break down the motivations and personalities of the suspects and the victim to get to the truth, and the author has a unique and striking writing style.  As such, I was eager to read his 2025 novel, Pacific Heights, which is a standalone spin-off of White Ash Ridge, featuring one of the supporting characters from the previous book in a more substantial role.

Plot Synopsis:

FIVE WITNESSES. FIVE DIFFERENT STORIES. WHO IS THE KILLER?

In the courtyard of the Pacific Heights building, a local waitress is found dead.
Five apartments overlook the murder scene. Five people witnessed a crime take place.
Finding the killer should be simple.

Except none of the witnesses’ stories match.
They all saw something – from a different angle, at a different time.
None of them saw everything. Anyone could be the killer.

Detectives Carl “Bluey” Blueson and Lachlan Dyson, each with their own careers in peril, must solve what others assume is a straightforward case. But to unmask a killer they must unpick a complex puzzle – where the motivations of the witnesses are as mystifying as the crime itself.

How can you solve a crime if anyone could be lying?

This was a very clever and addictive Australian crime fiction read that I had such a blast getting through.  White wove together a very compelling mystery narrative for Pacific Heights that cleverly explored a range of great characters and examined how people view events differently.

White starts Pacific Heights off well by introducing the detective protagonists and swiftly bringing them to the scene of the crime, where they attempt to ascertain the events leading up to the victim’s death by interviewing several people who either witnessed part of the murder or knew the victim.  The author takes his time with these initial interviews, ensuring that readers get a complete picture of what the witness’s account of events, as well as how they knew the victim.  It doesn’t take long for the reader and the protagonists to realise that the witnesses’ stories don’t match and none of them can definitively say who the murderer was.

By this point in the book, you’re strongly hooked, especially as the author has raised some interesting question about the victim and you are very intrigued by the main five witnesses and their potential secrets.  White rewards your interest with a series of insightful re-interviews, as well as bringing in new suspects and additional investigation methods to paint a larger picture of events, none of which quite fits together.  There is a great methodical style to the investigation, as the police chip away at all the inconsistencies and questions, although they are never quite as close to an answer due to the conflicting testimonies.

Everything leads up to the final third of Pacific Heights, which I honestly thought was a tad rushed, but which presented a solid and very clever ending.  Thanks to a brilliantly laid-out series of clues throughout in the plot, the protagonists are eventually able to solve the case, and I felt that the solution was extremely smart.  While I did predict who the killer would be, getting to their motivations behind the murder, as well as finding out how events unfolded, ensured that this was a powerful conclusion that fit the rest of the story really well.  I especially loved the twist around which of the witnesses were lying, and it tied in nicely to the complex character profiles White provided for the supporting cast, as well as utilising the protagonist’s own prejudices.  The result was an extremely impactful and captivating crime fiction story that I couldn’t stop reading and managed to power through in a couple of short days.

Pacific Heights proved to be an excellent read, and I really appreciated the intricate, character-focused mystery that White came up with.  Featuring a similar style to his Detective Dana Russo novels, the investigation is primarily based around understanding the people associated with the case, including the victim, witnesses, and other potential suspects.  This ensures that the author spends a lot of time carefully constructing and utilising his cast of supporting characters, and the array of motivations, personal issues and hidden histories, results in a particularly complex and emotionally charged read.  The focus on the various witnesses blends well with the character arcs surrounding the detective protagonists, and there is also a complex dive into the life of the victim, Tahlia Moore, even though she never actually appears alive in the plot.  Thanks to the protagonists diving into every aspect of her life, Tahlia comes to life through the descriptions of the other characters, and you soon begin to realise that she wasn’t as innocent or perfect as you are initially led to believe.  While I did feel that the author could have revealed some key history around certain witnesses earlier, for the most part I really appreciated how well White set up these compelling characters, and it helped to create a very powerful novel with some heavy emotional edges to it.

I also must commend how White worked this character-focused plot into Pacific Height’s police investigation narrative, as the protagonists are forced to wade through the conflicting testimonies to get the truth.  There is a certain amount of gritty realism to how White examines witness testimony and people’s motivations that really enhances the impact of Pacific Height’s plot, and I liked the underlying theme about how the way we see the world is flawed.  This focus on witness testimony blended well with the additional investigative tools featured in the plot, and this entire story came together extremely well. These combine nicely with the series of subtle clues that White lays down throughout the course of the book, and I loved how effectively this mystery came about.  While I did once again have minor issues with the author’s vagueness around where in Australia this book was set, this was honestly a very impressive crime fiction read that works well as both a standalone novel and a continuation of White’s existing series. 

Loaded with great characters, a deeply addictive mystery, and an excellent story hook, Pacific Heights was a very impressive read, and I had such an amazing time with this new novel from S. R. White.  Pacific Heights is White at his very best, and I really cannot recommend this book enough.

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The Reunion by Bronwyn Rivers

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller3 Comments

Publisher: Constable (Trade Paperback – 11 February 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 360

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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New author Bronwyn Rivers bursts onto the Australian crime fiction scene in a big way with her impressive debut, The Reunion, a compelling and highly addictive read set in Australia’s iconic Blue Mountains that brings up dark secrets from the past.

Plot Synopsis:

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.

The Reunion was an impressive first novel from Rivers, who brings together a powerful, character-focused mystery that drags her protagonists through trying times in both the present and the past.  Intense, captivating and filled with great twists, The Reunion was an excellent Australian debut that I had an amazing time reading.

This was a very exciting and intricate Australian crime fiction book that follows several damaged characters as they navigate their darkest secrets.  Following five school friends reuniting for the 10-year anniversary of their friend Ed’s death, The Reunion starts with a necessary introduction of the characters in the present and their current issues.  Cut with flashback chapters to the fateful group hike where Ed died, the initial 50 pages of the book are a tad slow to start with, although there is some very useful set-up here, as Rivers establishes the key characters and the scenario they are getting into.  However, I didn’t think things really get started until the protagonists find themselves trapped in Ed’s family homestead in the Blue Mountains, caught up in a desperate plan by his grieving mother, who is convinced that there is more to the story then they ever told.

Suddenly finding themselves alone on the homestead with no water, no communication, and no ability to safely leave the property, the five friends start to find their secrets coming to light around them, which they must confront before Ed’s mother will let them leave.  The protagonists’ attempts to survive at the homestead are perfectly cut with a variety of flashback chapters that showcase both the events of the hike and look at other key events of the protagonists’ lives that give them potential motive for killing Ed all those years ago.  The blend of past and present storylines works extremely well to tell a complex story of lies, secrets and dark events, and you soon become obsessed with working out what really happened all those years before, as well as how the current scenario plays out.  I felt that these storylines came together extremely well, as not only is there an intriguing end to the flashback sequences in the bush, but the main story ends with some intense and dangerous moments as the well-written and complex protagonists face the consequences of their actions.  Featuring a surprisingly fast-paced but satisfying end to the captivating narrative, The Reunion came together extremely well, and I personally really liked the final twist, which wraps everything up in a fantastic way.

I felt that Rivers pulled together The Reunion quite nicely, and this ended up being a tight and powerful crime fiction read that really grabs the reader’s attention.  Featuring an excellent narrative that perfectly oscillates between the present storyline and the various glimpse of the past, Rivers was able to provide a very moving and thrilling read that cleverly explored the history and psyches of the damaged characters and provided greater context for the main plot.  The switches each chapter between the five characters worked well to expand each of their roles, and it was fascinating to see the differences between all the protagonists in the past and the present.  While Rivers could have possibly made it a bit clearer who each chapter was focussing on (say by putting the name next to the chapter number), the switch between characters allowed for a highly personal read, as you experience each character’s growth and current damage.  The author also ensures that the reader gets some interesting alternate views of the hike’s missing person, Ed, especially as the more you see of him the more you realise several characters may have had very valid reasons to kill him, which helps to deepen the mystery.  Throw in the excellent use of the beautiful Blue Mountains setting as background for this story, which Rivers lovingly brings to life with her effective descriptions, and this was a very cool standalone crime fiction read that had a lot of impressive layers to it.

An overall sharp, captivating and well-thought-out Australian crime fiction debut, The Reunion was an outstanding first book from Bronwyn Rivers that proved hard not to enjoy.  Featuring great twists, damaged characters, and excellent use of flashback chapters to paint a complex story of secrets, betrayal and tragedy, The Reunion comes highly recommended, especially for those readers keen for an impressive new talent.

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The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery5 Comments

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Trade Paperback – 4 March 2025)

Series: How to Kill a Client – Book Two

Length: 432 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Impressive new Australian author Joanna Jenkins presents another captivating piece of crime fiction with the gripping and emotionally charged read, The Bluff.

Back in 2023 I had the very great pleasure of reading the fantastic legal thriller, How to Kill a Client.  The debut novel of Australian author Joanna Jenkins, How to Kill a Client followed various members of a prestigious Australian law firm who are forced to deal with the fallout of the murder of one of their biggest clients, a man who everyone in the firm had a motive to kill.  Jenkins produced an outstanding story in her first novel, and How to Kill a Client ended up being one of my favourite debuts and pieces of Australian fiction of 2023.  Due to how good her first book was, I have been keeping an eye out for anything else from Jenkins and I was very happy to see she had a new book coming out in 2025 with The Bluff.  A surprising sequel to How to Kill a Client, The Bluff has been on my to-read list for a while, and I was very glad that I finally got the chance to check it out.

Plot Synopsis:

People like Dash didn’t die. He was only what? Mid-thirties? Well off. Adored. By some anyway. World at his feet. Well, Myddle at his feet, which was his world.

Ruth Dawson has taken a break from big city law to fill in for a few months at a mate’s small-town legal practice in Myddle. It’s not what she’s used to . . .

So when she hears the front door of her office open she’s expecting a weird demand, or a question she doesn’t know the answer to. But it’s Bea Baulderstone’s mum, worried that she hasn’t seen her seventeen-year-old daughter for five days, and Constable Gazza Parker is refusing to report the girl missing.

Ruth tries to find Bea, but Myddle is a wall of indifference. Then Dash Rogers is found at his farm gate, dead from a gunshot wound, and suddenly the town is very interested in Bea’s whereabouts.

An unputdownable thriller of deception and greed, The Bluff reveals an enmeshed web of family and community loyalties, set in the lush rural hinterland of east coast Australia.


The Bluff was an extremely captivating and complex Australian thriller from Joanna Jenkins that stands on its own feet while also serving as a great sequel to How to Kill a Client.  Featuring a fantastic character-driven story loaded with mystery, impressive storytelling and an excellent rural setting, The Bluff had me hooked very quickly, and I ended up powering through it in a day.

I really enjoyed the amazing story that Jenkins came up with for The Bluff, as she provides both an intriguing mystery, and some great character development.  A mostly standalone plot set after the events of How to Kill a Client, the reader is reintroduced to high profile layer Ruth Dawson, who is taking a break from the high-flying life to manage a small law firm in the small New South Wales town of Myddle.  This change in setting and story focus towards a rural thriller, rather than the big-city legal thriller of Jenkins’ previous book, proved to be quite effective, as was the very clever way the author set out The Bluff’s story.

Jenkins ensured that readers get dragged into The Bluff’s tale almost immediately, with two very quick sequences at the start: one that showed a key moment of the plot without any context, and then a subsequent scene where the protagonist is reintroduced and then finds out about the narrative’s two main mysteries, a missing girl and a murder.  With these important bits of information in your brain, the reader is then transported back six months and is shown all the events that occurred over this period that led up to the disappearance of Bea Baulderstone and the murder of Dash Rogers.  Through this six-month period, you become acquainted with all the key players around Myddle and observe their interactions with the victims and the protagonist, and you begin the appreciate the complex web of relationships, problems and personalities that surround the case, as well as the many potential motivations for the book’s main crimes.

This dive back in time was an outstanding writing choice by Jenkins that allowed the reader to really appreciate the full breadth of the relationships and troubles that accompany the crime, all while perfectly utilising The Bluff’s excellent rural setting.  With every brick of plot laid down to hint at the events to come, you find yourself becoming more and more involved with the plot as you try to picture how and why the murder will occur and which of the many interesting and emotional characters may commit it.  The inclusion of a countdown at the start of each new chapter gives a great ticking clock vibe to The Bluff, and you become more and more anxious and excited as you get closer the plot’s principal event.  The reader also begins to appreciate just how despicable the main murder victim is, and that allows for an even more compelling read, as you can see just how many potential people have a motive to kill him, as well as cause the disappearance of the missing girl.

The final third of The Bluff is probably the best, and I flew through it to find out how the story ends.  The final series of events leading up to the pivotal killings are particularly dark (and potentially triggering for some readers), and it was fascinating to see everyone’s emotional state in advance of this crime, especially as there are so many potential suspects.  However, rather than show the killings there, Jenkins instead jumps back to the timeline from the front of the book and spends the last 100 or so pages dealing with the subsequent investigation, with the protagonist pulling events together.  I liked this delay, as it provided an excellent trickle effect for the twists and also allowed the protagonist to shine as she uses her knowledge of events and her own skills at deduction to identify the culprit and protect her friends in the town.  The eventual solutions for the mysteries were very clever, and Jenkins did such a great job subtly dropping the clues throughout the backstory of the plot and setting up the various motivations.  I really appreciated the many complex and compelling twists which fit into the plot perfectly, especially the last one that really made you think.

This entire brilliant story is wrapped up in some great character arcs, as Jenkins features a range of protagonists and potential suspects, each of whom were quite compelling and brought different shades of drama to the plot.  I loved seeing their complex relationships and interactions throughout the plot of The Bluff, especially those that could lead to them committing the book’s main crimes.  There are some really great characters here, and it was especially interesting to see more of series protagonist Ruth Dawson, who is not only continuing to move on from the personal trauma and loneliness that was a key part of How to Kill Your Client, but is also trying to figure out where her life is going after the collapse of her previous law firm.  These character arcs come together in a very satisfying manner at the end of The Bluff, and a lot of this book’s complexity and strength came from how relatable and compelling Jenkins’ made these various characters, especially when it comes to their anger, fear and potential ability to commit murder.

Overall, The Bluff was an exceptional and deeply impressive sequel from Joanna Jenkins that I think was even stronger than the excellent first book.  Featuring a very clever and well-written narrative that brings together powerful character storylines and a great rural setting with complex mystery, The Bluff proved to be extremely captivating, and you will become engrossed in uncovering the full extent of the plot.  One of the best Australian crime fiction books of 2025 so far, The Bluff comes highly recommended and is really worth checking out.

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Quick Review – The Wrong Man by Tim Ayliffe

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller3 Comments

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Trade Paperback – 3 July 2024)

Series: John Bailey series – Book Five

Length: 335 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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From one of my favourite Australian crime fiction authors, Tim Ayliffe, comes the fantastic 2024 novel, The Wrong Man, which sees the author’s damaged protagonist investigate a dark new crime in Sydney.

For the last few years, I have become a major fan of Australian author Tim Ayliffe, who has been producing some excellent books as part of his John Bailey series.  Utilising his experience as a journalist, Ayliffe has pulled together a series of compelling and complex crime fiction novels as part of a series that follows his journalist protagonist, John Bailey, as he finds himself part of a series of dark crimes.  Many of these books, which include The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within and Killer Traitor Spy, cleverly reference or utilise real-world elements that have been impacting Australia, such as terrorism, espionage and the rise of right-wing extremism, to enhance their narratives, and I have really enjoyed the captivating Australian stories that emerge.  The fifth book in this series, The Wrong Man, presents the reader with a cool new case as Ayliffe expands his series with an excellent new protagonist.

Plot Synopsis:

The fifth novel in the John Bailey thriller series. Bailey is trying to solve two murders, ten years apart – unfinished business from his former flame Sharon Dexter. But will it cost him his life?

When Sydney socialite Tottie Evans is found dead at a house in Palm Beach, Detective Holly Sutton is called in to investigate. She immediately suspects the boyfriend, a millionaire property developer and ex-mercenary soldier, who refuses to cooperate with police.

Across the city, old-school reporter John Bailey – still haunted by the death of his girlfriend, former cop Sharon Dexter – gets a call about a break-in. It leads to the unearthing of an old case file on a murder at the men-only Sydney Club that Dexter had been pursuing a decade earlier. Her notes reveal a link between that murder and the killing of Tottie Evans.

Suddenly, John Bailey and Holly Sutton have the same mission. And for Bailey, this is a chance to finish a job for the woman who saved his life.

The only problem: a serial killer is already serving a life sentence for the Sydney Club murder.


The Wrong Man was a very impressive addition to the John Bailey series that sees the protagonist dragged into a series of dark murders.  Ayliffe pulls together an intense, compelling and character-focused narrative that makes great use of its protagonists to tell a layered and complex story of murder, secrets and redemption.

The plot of The Wrong Man is cleverly told from the perspective of three central characters, each of whom have their own unique contribution to the overarching story.  The central character is John Bailey, Ayliffe’s damaged series protagonist who has managed to rebuild his life after the trauma of the earlier books and now serves as a mostly balanced figure, determined to uncover the truth no matter what.  Forced to investigate two murders, including a recent slaying and an older killing that his dead former love interest solved, Bailey finds old pain coming to the surface again and must also face interference from one of his only friends, CIA spy Ronnie Johnson, who is trying to stop Bailey’s investigation into a prominent military contractor.  Bailey is backed up in this book by his current love interest, reporter Annie Brooks, whose own journalistic interest in the case is supported by her connection to one of the suspects.  The two of them prove to be an effective team, although I felt that the third central protagonist, Holly Sutton, was the one who stole the show.

Holly Sutton is a new police protagonist who is assigned to investigate the murders Bailey and Brooks are looking into.  Another highly damaged protagonist who has issues with debts and her own past, Sutton proves to be a jaded figure in the investigation.  This is enhanced by her realisation she has a dark connection to the case, especially when a cover-up she was inadvertently involved with forces her to keep key facts hidden from her boss.  This adds an additional element of secrecy to the plot, which works well alongside the complimentary storylines of the other protagonists.  Ayliffe presents a tight and exciting narrative for the entirety of The Wrong Man that goes in some intriguing directions.  I felt that the compelling mystery comes together extremely well, and the character-driven storylines are brought together in an exciting and high-stakes manner.  I felt that this was one of Ayliffe’s stronger stories, and I honestly powered through it in no time at all.

As with his preceding narratives in the John Bailey series, Ayliffe cleverly utilises some real-life Australian issues and themes in The Wrong Man, which I always enjoy, and which I feel gives some extra realism and impact.  This includes some interesting references to current Pacific politics and alliances, with the protagonist’s ability to interrogate a potential suspect impacted by the CIA, who have a vested interest in the area.  Ayliffe also provides some examinations of police corruption in the story, with the long-term impacts of cover-ups, conspiracies and other darker elements of the police, such as sexism, having a compelling role in the plot.  Other compelling inclusions examine the roles and responsibility of journalists in modern society, as well as some interesting references to reality television stars.  I really felt these elements worked well alongside the crime fiction storyline, and Ayliffe expertly utilises and explores these in the plot.

Overall, The Wrong Man was a fantastic and powerful piece of Australian fiction that once again highlights Tim Ayliffe’s ability to tell a compelling and intense narrative.  Cleverly continuing the author’s series while also exploring cool new protagonists, The Wrong Man was an excellent and captivating read that I had an outstanding time getting through.

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High Wire by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller5 Comments

Publisher: Bantam (Trade Paperback – 24 September 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s top authors of crime fiction finishes of 2024 with a massive bang as Candice Fox presents the powerful thriller, High Wire.

Few authors had the awesome year that Candice Fox did in 2024, as the author released three impressive crime fiction reads.  The first of these was the fast-paced crime fiction read, The Murder Inn, which Fox cowrote with the legendary James Patterson.  The sequel to their previous book, The Inn, The Murder Inn was a fantastic book that once again highlighted how well Fox and Patterson work together (see my review for their other book 2 Sisters Detective Agency).  Fox also released the intense character-driven thriller, Devil’s Kitchen, that saw two highly damaged characters attempt to uncover the secrets of a seemingly heroic group of firefighters with a true dark side to them.  Both The Murder Inn and Devil’s Kitchen were outstanding reads, and I was very happy I checked them out.  However, Fox decided to provide us with even more fun before the year was over with the standalone novel High Wire.  Taking the author back to her home country, High Wire was a compelling and deeply intense Australian thriller that takes you hostage and refuses to let go.

Out in the outback of Australia lies a notorious unmarked track known as the High Wire.  Cutting across the country from Broome to Sydney, the High Wire is a lawless road full of small towns, unregulated trails and mobile phone blackspots.  A favourite hangout of smugglers, hijackers and criminals, only the desperate, the dangerous and those looking for trouble use the High Wire.

Harvey Buck, former soldier and current recluse, knows all about the dangers of the High Wire, but desperation forces him to travel along it to reach his dying girlfriend.  Despite knowing better, he stops to pick up a hapless traveller, Clare Holland, whose car has broken down on the road.  However, Clare isn’t the person he should be worried about, as the two are soon ambushed by a masked assailants with their own sinister agenda.

Strapped into bomb vests, Harvey and Clare are forced into a twisted game by vengeful figures from Harvey’s past seeking to ruin his life and reputation.  Forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions across several small towns, the two prisoners try to work together to escape and stop the insanity going on around them.  Harvey and Clare’s only hope may be Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, one of the few police officers stationed on the Wire, and who soon begins to follow the trail of destruction being left in their wake.  But Edna has her own problems, especially when Clare’s husband arrives on the scene with his own dark plans.

High Wire was another awesome book from Candice Fox that provides readers will some of the best Australian thrills and action that there were likely to get in 2024.  Featuring a bold, compelling and powerful character-driven tale of revenge and escape, High Wire was an outstanding read from one of my favourite Australian authors and one that I cannot recommend enough.

Fox hits the ground running hard with High Wire’s excellent narrative, and I honestly was hooked early on thanks to the compelling and intense story.  Quickly introducing the protagonist, Harvey Buck, as well as the High Wire, the lawless road that serves as an intriguing background setting for the plot.  After a quick introduction to a secondary protagonist, the mysterious Clare Holland, the main plot of High Wire takes off as the two are ambushed by a group of armed attackers, who take them prisoner after a bloody shootout, and strap them into elaborate bomb vests.  Fox keeps the tension running high here, as it becomes clear that the kidnappers know Harvey and are seeking revenge for some past misdeed.  Around the same time, the readers are introduced to the other major point-of-view character, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, who finds herself on the trail of Harvey, Clare and the kidnappers without knowing who is responsible and with an unlikely teenage sidekick helping and hindering her in equal measure.

The plot soon becomes even more intense on several levels, as Fox works several intriguing storylines and elements simultaneously to tell a complex and exciting narrative.  The main plot around Harvey and Clare proves to be quite intense, as the two are forced to commit a series of brutal crimes while also trying to escape or take out their captors.  Fox carefully doles out intriguing background on both Harvey and Clare to the readers, and you soon discover both have complicated pasts, as Clare is running from her suddenly murderous husband, while Harvey’s past connection to the kidnappers is revealed in a series of dark flashbacks.  These flashbacks help to paint the main storyline in some different shades of grey, as you begin to realise that Harvey isn’t the moral hero you initially believed he would be, and while the antagonists are worse, you begin to doubt that Harvey deserves to survive.

At the same time, the focus on Edna and her intriguing supporting cast goes in some interesting directions, as she follows the carnage left behind by the kidnappers and their unwilling pawns.  Not only is Edna forced to deal with her hard-headed charge Talon, but she finds herself in all manner of trouble when Clare’s husband, Gareth Holland the Northern Territory Police Commissioner, arrives on the scene looking for his wife.  Instantly suspicious of Gareth, Edna is forced off the case due to police politics but continues to try and investigate, determining that she needs to get to Clare first.  Edna’s storyline, which I personally enjoyed the most in High Wire, goes in some fantastic directions, and she soon finds herself forced to survive the murderous attentions of Gareth, while also trying to solve the clues being left behind by Harvey.  Fox does an excellent job running these somewhat separated storylines simultaneously, and they tie into each other just enough to create an amazing overarching narrative.  Fox wrapped these various storylines up in a very effective way, with a satisfying moment in the Edna storyline, while the main narrative goes out on a very dark note, which I felt was a powerful result to some of the character work that Fox had been building up.  This honestly ended up being an epic and compelling standalone thriller, and I really appreciated how Fox held back no punches to create this powerful read.

Fox did another amazing job bringing this intense and complex narrative together, and I felt that High Wire was one of her more hard-hitting and enjoyable novels.  I loved how the author imbued High Wire with a very dark edge, and between the intense action, despicable villains and deadly plot you really come away not wanting to visit central Australia.  The setting of the “High Wire”, a semi-secret road running the length of Australia proved to be an awesome background, and Fox’s strong descriptions of the red-earthed, isolated road combined with its inherent lawlessness and dangerous inhabitants, gave me some major Mad Max vibes as I was reading the book.  I felt that Fox utilised this setting perfectly throughout High Wire, and it helped to give this novel a very distinctive feel.  The author also made great use of splitting the story across several intriguing central characters.  The two main storylines, the one involving Harvey and Clare and the one following Edna and Talon, played off each other extremely well, and having Edna constantly behind the other protagonists and their captors allowed for a great chase narrative, as they tried to interpret all the events going on in front of them.  Information from Harvey and Clare also cleverly increased the tension in the other storyline, especially as you learn in advance just how deadly secondary antagonist Gareth Holland is, which allows you to fully appreciate his manipulations and darker agenda.  The balance between these two storylines was extremely effective, even with the additional flashback chapters, and this ensured that High Wire had a great pace to it that easily keeps the reader’s attention.

High Wire’s intense and compelling story was greatly enhanced by several fantastic and complex characters whose unique, and often dark narratives, provided some nuanced and complicated tales of personal growth and survival.  The main protagonist, Harvey Buck (a great uber-masculine name btw), is a former soldier who spends the book trying to survive the plans of his attackers and save as many people as possible.  While Harvey seems to be a good character, Fox makes excellent use of flashbacks to dive into his history with the antagonists, which provides some added complexity to the plot, as both sides have committed atrocities against the other.  The same can be said for secondary protagonist, Clare Holland, a seemingly helpless figure inadvertently dragged into events.  While Clare is portrayed as a victim for much of the plot, she eventually reveals an intriguing backstory to Harvey that ties into her complicated marriage, which implies she isn’t as innocent as she seems.  The character I most got drawn to was local cop, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, who comes away as one of the few legitimately decent people in the book.  Thanks to her caring personality and clever insights, Edna is a protagonist you can get behind 100%, and even when elements of her past are brought up, it proves hard not to still see her as the best figure in the book.

Aside from these key characters, Fox features several intriguing supporting figures in High Wire, including some impressive antagonists.  The main supporting character that is featured in the book is Talon, a teenager who is taken under Edna’s wing after she arrests him.  An initially annoying and impulsive figure, Talon grows on you as the book continues, especially with his entertaining imagination and surprisingly accurate insights.  However, it is the villains of the High Wire who I think stole the show here.  The two kidnappers who take control of Harvey and Clare with bomb vests prove to be despicable, if highly damaged figures, and it was fascinating to see how much their current behaviour is due to previous rough treatment from Harvey.  Clare’s husband, Gareth Holland, proves to be an excellent secondary antagonist, especially as he has his own murderous agenda and uses his position as Northern Territory Police Commissioner to get away with his goals.  In some ways Gareth was a better villain than the kidnappers, especially as he is far more soulless figure who ends up being quite smug and controlling.  I really enjoyed the entertaining way that Fox wrapped up Gareth’s storyline in this book, and it was quite satisfying to see him get what he deserved.  These character deeply enhanced Hire Wire’s narrative, and it was awesome to see their various storylines unfold.

High Wire ended up being an incredible and thrilling piece of crime fiction from one of Australia’s best writers Candice Fox.  Dark, brutal and filled with some complex and damaged characters, High Wire quickly gets you hooked, and you are in for an outstanding time with this brilliant read.

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Quick Review – Gunnawah by Ronni Salt

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Quick Review6 Comments

Publisher: Hachette Australia (Trade Paperback – 1 January 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 328 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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New Australian author Ronni Salt presents a compelling new crime fiction debut with the fantastic novel Gunnawah, an intriguing and distinctive read that explores an intriguing period of rural Australian history.

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

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. The paper’s owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide, puts her 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 like she’s poked a bull ant’s nest. 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. And too many are already dead quiet.

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.

Gunnawah was an excellent first book from Ronni Salt that was an amazing and entertaining bit of Australian fiction to start 2025 on.  Cleverly examining the unique landscape of Australia’s Riverina area in the 1970s and diving into its controversial history, Gunnawah was a fast-paced and surprisingly complex read that blended big characters with an addictive crime fiction narrative.

The book has an interesting, if slow, start to it, as the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Adelaide Hoffman, as well as the various other memorable inhabitants of the town.  Much of the first third of Gunnawah is dedicated to building these figures up, while also hinting at the many secrets surrounding the town.  While readers don’t get a lot of excitement off the bat in Gunnawah, I felt that this slow burn start was vital to the book’s later impact, especially as Salt loads up a ton of clues and hints about the later events of the book.

Things begin to heat up when the protagonists discover that there is a darker side to their small town, especially when it becomes clear a vital new irrigation project has ties to a local drug operation, while other crimes remain hidden in the shadows.  There are some tense scenes as Adelaide, Val and their offsider Wayne begin to uncover what’s really going on around Gunnawah.  However, it is the last third of the book that really ensures Gunnawah sticks in the mind.  Starting off with a big event that is reminiscent of a particularly infamous Australian crime, the protagonists are soon thrust into greater danger and are forced to fight back like the battling Australian farmers they are.  There are some awesome scenes here, especially as damaged protagonist Adelaide shows how badass she is, and I liked some of the satisfying conclusions that occur to the main story.  Salt also cleverly ties up some other intriguing mysteries that have been running alongside the central plot, and I liked the solutions that emerged, especially as the resulting reveals were well built up in the earlier parts of the book.  Readers come away very satisfied with how Salt concludes Gunnawah, and there is some potential to continue this book as a series if the author wants to.

Salt pulls together an intriguing book for her debut that blends a fantastic crime fiction read with some cool historical inclusions and a subtle web of humour that proves hard to get away from.  Featuring a mass of interesting perspective characters, Gunnawah’s plot revolves around finding out all their relevant secrets and working together the storylines of the various big personalities in the town.  These multiple perspectives help to create a complex and layered narrative, and they often backup the fantastic central characters of Adelaide and Val.  The author builds up some excellent character development and human moments throughout Gunnawah, especially as there are some complex and damaged protagonists featured throughout.  For example, Adelaide comes into the narrative traumatised by a previous incident that is expanded on as the book continues, and it was great to see her regain her confidence as Gunnawah continues.

The rest of the characters in the novel are an excellent combination of outrageous small-town folk, and a lot of Gunnawah’s humour is built from the fantastically funny interactions between these entertaining figures.  For example, Val and Wayne, long-time friends who have history with the seedier side of Sydney before coming to small-town Gunnawah, prove to be a highly entertaining duo, and I enjoyed how they took events into their own hands, especially when it comes to protecting Adelaide.  Other great humorous figures include the ambitious, if slightly hapless, mayor of Gunnawah and his social-climbing wife, whose antics in face of the serious crimes going on around town prove to be a lot of fun.  These figures, as well as a range of other great exaggerated small-town folk in Gunnawah, add a lot to how entertaining Gunnawah proved to be, and I am curious to see if Salt will revisit them in any future books.

Another amazing aspect of Gunnawah that I really enjoyed was the fantastic historical background surrounding the main setting of the plot.  Salt did a great job emulating a Riverina town for this book, and you really got the sense of a small Australian town in the 1970s, with the mixture of farmers, local politics and other country folk.  Small towns always work well in Australian crime fiction, especially as readers love to see antics out in the bush, and Salt makes her story stand out by tying the narrative into real-life crime aspects of 1970s Australia.  In particular, the narrative features representatives of a criminal organisation active during the period, and one of the major events of the books is highly reminiscent of the Donald Mackay incident.  The author also includes a lot of references to larger events occurring around Australia during the period, especially rampant police corruption in New South Wales, as well as a focus on Australian politics.  I personally enjoyed seeing the references to the Gough Whitlam era, and Salt actually includes a visit from Whitlam to Gunnawah as part of the plot, which proves to be quite a fun scene, especially when two of the book’s more entertaining personalities become involved.  These intriguing historical inclusions give Gunnawah some real authenticity, especially if you are familiar with how bad things got in the Riverina area during the period, and I appreciated how Salt worked it into her narrative.

Ronni Salt comes out of the gate swinging with her first novel as Gunnawah proves to be an outstanding and compelling piece of Australian fiction.  An amazing debut to start 2025 on, Gunnawah featured a great blend of crime fiction and historical inclusions to create a gripping and entertaining read.  I had an awesome time reading Gunnawah, and I look forward to seeing what Salt writes next.

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Endgame by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 1 November 2024)

Series: Lexi Winter – Book Four

Length: 398 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Outstanding Australian author Sarah Barrie brings her dark and powerful Lexi Winter series to a compelling conclusion with the exceptional novel Endgame.

Over the last couple of years, I have been really enjoying Australian author Sarah Barrie’s epic Lexi Winter crime fiction series.  One of the darker Australian series I have had the pleasure of reading, the Lexi Winter books follow a former vigilante turned police officer as she takes down some of the worst criminals in Sydney, including a deadly paedophile ring.  This series started with the amazing read, Unforgiven (one of my favourite Australian books of 2021), and continued with the excellent follow-ups Retribution (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022) and Vendetta (one of my favourite Australian books of 2023).  Due to this, Endgame has been one of my most anticipated books of 2024, and I was very eager to see how this novel would unfold, especially as it was marketed as the final book in the Lexi Winter series.

Former vigilante hacker Lexi Winters finally has her life together.  Now a decorated police officer studying to take her detective exams, Lexi’s biggest challenge is balancing her career with her hectic personal life, especially when it comes to looking after her ward, the former runaway Cait.  However, despite her best efforts at normalcy Lexi can never truly relax, especially as she knows her nemesis Vaughn is waiting to get revenge on her.

When a series of brutal murders begins around Sydney, Lexi finds herself brought aboard when it becomes clear they are connected to a resurfaced Vaughn.  Determined to prove that he is better than her, Vaughn challenges Lexi to a very public game of murder.  Five people will be killed by the end of the month, but if Lexi can identify and save the final victim, Vaughn will turn himself in.

With the eyes of nation on them and public support seeming to lie on Vaughn’s side, Lexi finds her sanity tested like never before.  The more she digs into Vaughn’s dark crimes, the further she finds herself slipping over the edge, especially as she begins to see strange figures and ghosts wherever she goes.  With Vaughn’s attacks on her becoming even more personal and her own colleagues losing faith in her, Lexi has no choice but to keep playing her nemesis’s twisted game, even if it will lead to her death.  But Lexi has come too far to lose now, and she will do whatever she must to force an endgame between her and Vaughn.

Barrie continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s most compelling crime fiction authors with this shocking and powerful final Lexi Winter novel.  Featuring a complex and captivating story loaded with dark moments and intense character work, Endgame was an exceptional novel that I honestly could not get enough of.

Endgame has an excellent and layered narrative behind it that not only stands on its own but helps to bring the entire Lexi Winter series to a powerful end.  Starting off with an interesting and horror-esque introduction that initially seems detached from the main plot, you quickly get drawn into the main narrative when Lexi discovers that her old nemesis, the long-feared Vaughn, has returned to finally get his revenge on her.  Barrie ensures that the story gets very addictive very early as you are drawn into the villain’s challenge, stop him murdering five people and he will turn himself in.

The resulting story moves at a fast and powerful pace as the protagonists do their best to try to find Vaughn and uncover his murders, all while he seems to be one step ahead of them utilising the media to his advantage.  The author keeps increasing the stakes for this main case again and again as Lexi is attacked close to home (literally and figuratively), and she finds herself a desperate mess as well as a constant target by the public.  At the same time, Endgame features a parallel plot involving the mysterious deaths of several teenagers that appear to have been committed by a vengeful spirit.  This secondary storyline, whilst initially a bit odd in the wider context of Endgame’s main narrative, works pretty well, and I liked the unique directions it helped to take the plot, and it links into the main case very well by the end.  Barrie ends up producing quite a fascinating and complex mystery for the protagonists to unfold and I loved some of the intriguing twists that unfold as a result.  While I was able to predict a few things, many of the major reveals were pleasantly surprising and I really appreciated the way in which Barrie layered the relevant clues and hints throughout the earlier plot.  Everything leads up to the big conclusion, which constantly has you on the edge of your seat and serves as a fitting finale to this amazing Australian series.

As with the previous entries in the Lexi Winter series, Endgame is a particularly intense character-driven murder mystery with a very gritty edge to it.  Making good use of its Australian urban setting, Endgame features a powerful plot that both stands on its own, while also serving as a compelling conclusion to the rest of the series.  While Barrie provides more than enough background in the main plot to allow new readers to come in and read Endgame as a standalone novel, for the most part readers are advised to read the rest of the books in the series first, especially as that allows you to get the full emotional impact of the book thanks to the great conclusion of several ongoing storylines and character arcs.

The overall narrative of Endgame is complex and moving, and I appreciated how it was told through several intriguing character perspectives that allowed for a multi-layered view of events.  The way in which the two separate murder plotlines and the multiple character arcs are brought together works extremely well, and Barrie ensures readers are constantly left guessing about how events are going to unfold.  The author also keeps things very dark, as not only are there multiple references to rape and brutal murders but the protagonist endures a range of attacks on herself and those closest to her that are guaranteed to shock most readers.  I appreciate how Barrie doesn’t hold back when it comes to highlighting the impacts of these various crimes, although I can imagine some readers may have a hard time with it.  Throw in some interesting modern commentary about how manipulation of social media and the tabloids allow monsters to become heroes to certain people, and Endgame proved to be one of the more intense Lexi Winter entries, but one that perfectly fits the series’ uncompromising themes and content.

One of the best things about Endgame was the multiple intriguing characters who the plot was set around.  The most prominent of these is series protagonist Lexi Winter, who has had a unique and damaging storyline throughout the series.  However, thanks to the help of her friends and family who she has learnt to let in, Lexi has managed to pull her life together to where it is now.  While Barie does continually make Lexi way too combative and unreasonable, for the most part she is a great protagonist to follow, and I have really appreciated seeing her grow throughout the series.  It was particularly moving to see her take on the role of mentor and guardian in this final book for the runaway Cait, especially as she seeks to help her ward avoid the same mistakes she made when younger.  There is also a good end to a long-running will-they, won’t-they romance arc, which I felt got handled well and which allowed for some additional stakes for the plot.  Much of Endgame revolves around Lexi trying to hold onto her new happiness when her enemy reappears, and the resulting battle to stay in control and not give in to her old habits makes up much of the books dramatic core.  I felt that Barrie did an outstanding job showcasing her protagonist’s battle for self-control in the face of great adversity and trauma, and the author made sure to really build on the dark events of the previous novels.  As such, you get a compelling bit of character work in Endgame around this distinctive and damaged protagonist, which really helps to turn this final entry into something extremely moving.

In addition to Lexi, Endgame also features an array of compelling supporting characters, which includes a mixture of established figures from the previous books, and several new characters who come into this story for this final entry.  Most of these characters proved to be quite interesting, and while a couple, such as Olivia, prove to be quite hard to like in a detrimental way to the plot, for the most part they add a lot to the book.  Highlights for me include Lexi’s ward, Cait, who proves to be a fun addition to the story, especially as she serves as a great foil to the now more serious Lexi.  Lexi’s biker associates were also interesting, especially as they allowed for some memorable interactions with the various police characters, while a new police bodyguard for Lexi ended up being a great addition to the plot.  However, it’s the villains of the narrative who really shine here.  This includes a group of wild teenagers, whose dark behaviour dives into a certain modern societal problem.  Another hidden antagonist added some interesting horror flair to the book, and I appreciated how well Barrie inserted them into the plot.  Finally, the main villain, Vaughn, was such a brilliant and impactful overarching antagonist that you could not wait to see get taken down.  Barrie has used Vaughn as an intimidating bogeyman figure since the first Lexi Winter book, and his long-awaited reappearance here really did not disappoint, especially as he creates a cult of personality around himself as he terrorises the protagonist.  Vaughn proves to be a particularly despicable figure, driven by his own ego to finally beat Lexi, and his nefarious use here was a key part of why Endgame was so impactful.

Overall, Endgame was a deeply captivating and impressive piece of Australian crime fiction that I could not get enough of.  Sarah Barrie did an excellent job bringing her Lexi Winter series to a powerful end, and Endgame’s unique mystery and compelling high stakes really helped to drag readers in.  This was one of the better pieces of Australian fiction this year, and I cannot recommend this series enough to those looking for a darker crime fiction read in the Australian setting.  While I am sad that the Lexi Winter series is over, I am glad we got such an impactful final entry, and I look forward to seeing what Sarah Barrie writes next.

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