Tag: HQ

Endgame by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 1 November 2024)

Series: Lexi Winter – Book Four

Length: 398 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Amazon

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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Vendetta by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller8 Comments

Vendetta Cover

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 15 November 2023)

Series: Lexi Winter – Book Three

Length: 392 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

One of Australia’s most impressive crime fiction authors, Sarah Barrie, returns with the third book in her gritty Lexi Winter series, Vendetta.

For the last couple of years one of my favourite new Australian crime fiction series has been the Lexi Winter books by Sarah Barrie.  Set in Sydney and central New South Wales, the series follows Lexi Winter, a vigilante hacker who bears a massive and righteous hatred for child molesters.  The first book in the series, Unforgiven, saw Lexi attempt to take down a serial killing paedophile with connections to her complex past in a dark and bloody read.  This first book in the series served as a great introduction to Lexi and her police supporting characters, while also giving some fantastic insights into the events that formed her.  The second book, Retribution, saw Lexi as a newly initiated police officer who still broke the rules, especially when it came to hunting down her nemesis and destroying everyone who helped him.  The first two books in this series are so damn good, and I have been keen to see how this series would continue.  I recently got my wish as I just finished off the third book in the series, Vendetta, which proved to be an exceptional and dark read.

After taking down a notorious crime family, maverick rookie police officer and occasional vigilante hacker Lexi Winter is riding high.  However, a sudden phone call is going to take her down a dark path that will force her to revisit some of the worst parts of her past.  Two old friends she owes deeply are in trouble with a well-connected local motorcycle club, Chaos Reigns, and the only way Lexi can save them is to go undercover and pretend to work for the gang.

However, as Lexi begins her new assignment, she finds herself confronting a long-hidden ghost from her past.  Years ago, Lexi found a family with another outlaw motorcycle club, the Combat Crew, who harnessed her natural talent with computers and taught her every dirty trick she knows.  With members of Combat Crew making up the senior levels of Chaos Reigns, Lexi finds herself forced to deal with hardened criminals who know more about her troubled history than anyone else.  Forced to assume her old persona, Lexi works to once again earn their trust, but not everyone is convinced that she is on the level, especially when her connections with the police are discovered.  Worse, members of her police team are convinced that her undeclared past with Combat Crew makes her too much of a liability and soon Lexi’s loyalties are tested like never before.

But suspicions and secrets are the least of Lexi’s problems when she finds herself in the middle of a series of explosive attacks aimed at the members of Chaos Reigns.  The former president of Combat Crew, Arthur Cronin, has been released from prison and is more than willing to blow up anyone he feels was responsible for the murder of his wife and child.  Caught between deranged bikies and suspicious friends, Lexi must use all her skills to survive and save who she can.  But as the case takes more from her and more of her colleagues begin to turn on her, Lexi will be forced to finally decide where her loyalties belong and what side of the law she truly exists on.

Sarah Barrie continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s fastest rising crime fiction stars with another powerful and gritty read.  Vendetta had one of the strongest plots of the entire Lexi Winter series so far, as not only did it present the reader with a great murder mystery/thriller plot but it also featured some intriguing character work.  Barrie does an excellent job of moving the plot of Vendetta away from the previous novels, and the interesting redirect towards a motorcycle club, a firm favourite villain organisation in Australian crime fiction, makes for an interesting change of pace.

The main story proves to be an intricate and compelling mixture of character driven narratives as the plot jumps across several excellent characters, most of whom were introduced in the prior novels.  The story primarily follows troubled protagonist Lexi Winter who is forced to go undercover in a motorcycle club to save some old friends.  Initially pretending to be a criminal, Lexi soon finds her cover blown and must work all sides as she tries to retain both the trust of her police colleagues and her old associates.  Having the protagonist forced back with the bikies who trained her was a masterstroke from Barrie, and I loved how conflicted it made both her and the reader, as you don’t know which way she’s going to turn.  Barrie really hammers home the importance of Lexi’s chapters by showing everything from her perspective in the first person, and you really feel connected to her adventure as a result.  The author makes things even more interesting by introducing a crazed bikie leader seeking revenge, internal police politics making things difficult for Lexi, and personal conflicts amongst the protagonists finally coming to the surface in some damaging ways.

The last half of Vendetta is probably the best.  After the great set-up at the start, Lexi is fully imbedded in Chaos Reigns and is committing all manner of criminal acts for them.  Watching Lexi at her worst was so damn powerful, especially as she appears to turn on her friends, and the resulting drama, anger and conflict made for some excellent reading.  You are constantly on your edge of your seat as the various story elements start to come together and the police start to close in on Lexi, Chaos Reigns’ criminal actions, and the mad bomber.  Things get pretty dark at times, and Barrie works in some big twists.  I saw a few of these coming, but the main reveals at the end were cleverly hidden and well set up in the first half of the book.  I loved the exciting and compelling end to the plot that allowed the protagonist to really shine and setting up some interesting future adventures.  Everything about this story was extremely awesome, and I really got invested in the high-stakes plot and the deeper personal aspects that resulted as well.

Despite the central crime being unconnected to the main series antagonist, Vendetta was a great Lexi Winter novel that masterfully moved the series and characters along.  I honestly think that the series needed a book with a different investigative target at this point in the ongoing narrative, and it builds up anticipation for the next interaction with the main villain in future entries.  The change in focus also allows Vendetta to be enjoyed more as a standalone novel than the second book, although I did notice a few minor plot gaps from the previous entries that Barrie could have done a better job exploring.  Barrie also continues some of the prevailing themes of the previous book, including comparisons between vigilantism and official police work, as Lexi tries to decide what side of the law best works for her to get her required revenge.  Naturally, those readers who checked out the prior novels are probably going to get a lot more out of Vendetta, and indeed it helped to explain certain character actions from the previous book that never quite made sense to me.  However, Vendetta is honestly a great and gritty piece of Australian fiction anyone can enjoy.

Once again, a major highlight of this series is the outstanding cast of compelling and damaged protagonists, each of whom has their own unique stories.  This is particularly true of the series’ titular protagonist, Lexi Winter, who Barrie has turned into quite a conflicted and complex figure.  We have already seen quite a lot of Lexi’s dark past in the previous books, especially in Unforgiven, and Vendetta builds on this extremely well, giving us insights into her criminal past, including the origins of her hacking abilities.  I loved how well this past was explored and featured throughout Vendetta, and it gave this already fantastic character some extra layers, especially it explores why she is more reliant to do things on her own then go through official channels.  This complex past with the motorcycle club ensured that Lexi had a particularly compelling and exciting storyline in Vendetta as she finds herself caught between her prior loyalties and the friends she made in the last two books.  As such, the reader spends much of the story unsure whose side Lexi is truly on, especially when key police characters turn against her, and I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to see how this would turn out.  I think Barrie resolved this extremely well, as Lexi’s strong moral compass always guided her along the right path, and I also enjoyed how parts of Lexi’s narrative come full circle, especially when she finds herself a protégé.  There is also some intriguing examination of Lexi’s view on relationships and love, much of which is impacted by her past, and I appreciated the compelling and mostly tasteful way that Barrie explored this.  I cannot wait to see how Lexi’s story continues in the future, as she is without a doubt the best character in the series.

In addition to Lexi, Vendetta features a brilliant and compelling cast of additional characters, many of whom have appeared in prior novels in the series.  Barrier introduces some great development and personal drama to surround these characters and it works to enhance the already powerful story.  Detective Senior Sergeant Finn Carson is once again very solid as the male lead of the book, and Barrie makes good use of his unique friendship/relationship with Lexi to build up some serious drama as he tries to work out her actions and motivations.  Lexi’s mentor, Detective Inspector Rachael Langly, also proves to be compelling figure in Vendetta, especially as, after going to bat for Lexi time and time again, it looks like her protégé has turned on her.  Finally, I was particularly happy that we got some further developments around Detective Sergeant Lisa “Cass” Cassidy.  Cass was an interesting inclusion in the second novel, although for some unexplained reason her main character attribute was being dismissive and hostile towards Lexi.  Barrie expanded on this in Vendetta, as Cass was revealed to have a hidden connections to Lexi’s past which is explored in this current case.  As such, Cass spends much of the book trying to hide her involvement with Lexi and her prior mistakes involving the bikies.  This adds some major fire and drama to the plot, and while Cass proves to be one of the more unlikable characters in the story Barrie masterfully paints her as a victim, and I deeply appreciated her journey and the deeper pain behind her actions.  Throw in a great collection of bikies and other criminals, including her old mentor and protector, and the intense personal connections in Vendetta really jump up, resulting in an outstanding read.

Sarah Barrie continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s best current crime fiction authors with the outstanding third Lexi Winter book.  Featuring a particularly strong story that takes the reader on a dark journey in both the past and the present, Vendetta is a great read that had me hooked all the way to the end.  Loaded with violence, bad decisions and damaged characters, Vendetta one of Barrie’s best novels yet and I cannot recommend it enough.

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Quick Review – Retribution by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Thriller13 Comments

Retribution Cover

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 30 November 2022)

Series: Lexi Winter – Book Two

Length: 349 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Australian author Sarah Barrie brings back her awesome vigilante protagonist, Lexi Winter, for another intense and dark crime fiction read in Retribution.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the 2021 Australian crime release, Unforgiven.  An amazing novel by a talented Australian author, Unforgiven told the story of a former child abuse victim turned effective vigilante, Lexi Winter, who used her skills as a hacker to hunt down abusers online and bring them to justice.  Initially keen to do her own thing, Lexi is forced to work with the police detective who failed her as a child when evidence at a series of murders suggests that the monster who ruined her childhood might still be out there.  Unforgiven ended up being a shocking and captivating read that made great use of its darker subject matter to produce an addictive narrative.  Unforgiven ended up being one of my favourite Australian fiction releases of 2021, and I have been keen to see how Barrie would follow this book up.  Luckily, I received a copy of her sequel, Retribution, a few weeks ago, and it proved to be an outstanding read and a worthy sequel to Unforgiven.

Plot Synopsis:

Once a vigilante, she’s now a cop … but she still plays by her own rules. A fast-paced, suspenseful thriller for readers of Candice Fox and Sarah Bailey.

Ace hacker, ex-prostitute, Jack Daniels drinker and part-time vigilante Lexi Winter returns, now working with the police – mostly – with a new enemy in the target and an old foe at the back of her mind.

Most probationary constables would baulk at chasing a drug dealer into a train tunnel in the dead of night. Not Lexi Winter. She emerges injured but alive, to face the wrath of her boss. Lexi may now be in uniform, but she has as much trouble with authority as ever, and is quietly using her hacking skills to investigate a notorious drug-dealing Sydney crime family with links to her old prey, the paedophile Damon Vaughn.

Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Finn Carson investigates a death on a Sydney building site … which oddly enough, leads him to the picturesque Wondabyne station on the Hawkesbury River, and Inspector Rachael Langley oversees an investigation that could tie it all together. Lexi holds the key … if only she’ll toe the line …


Retribution is an excellent follow-up to Unforgiven that provides the reader with an interesting continuation of the main character’s journey.  Starting out about a year after the events of the first book, Barrie immediately introduces a new element to the story by having Lexi now an official member of the New South Wales police.  However, despite her position, Lexi is the same reckless rebel who is using her spare time and hacker skills to mess with members of the infamous Hamill crime family, who are actively hiding her nemesis, the paedophile Damon Vaughn and his former police officer accomplice, Debbie Reynolds.  Her efforts soon tie into the work of her friends, Detective Sergeant Finn Carson and Inspector Rachael Langley, who are not only involved with the official search for Vaughn and Reynolds but are investigating the murder of a successful businessman in a Sydney building site that has connections to the main case.

Barrie features a ton of distinctive plotlines in Retribution, and I really appreciated how she was able to keep up the darker tone that was such a distinctive feature of the previous book.  The central focus on Lexi’s attempt to take down a notorious crime family was an awesome part of the book’s plot, and I felt that Barrie did a good job tying them into the previous book and making them a sensible continuation target for the protagonist.  While they weren’t as despicable as the original antagonists of this series, they proved to be just as dangerous, and Barrie did an amazing job building them up quickly and making them a major threat.  At the same time, the murder investigation that the other characters are involved in adds some fantastic mystery elements to the book.  Not only does this result in a very compelling investigation with additional bodies, but it also ties into the rest of the story extremely well, especially when it is revealed that the murders have connections to the Hamill family.  These two major storylines, as well as some interesting character development, blend well as the story continues and then end up becoming a fantastic joint case.  The Hamills prove to be extremely impressive villains with some deadly plots they unleash against the police, and I loved seeing the protagonist take on a family, rather than a single potential threat.  At the same time, the murder investigation slowly reveals a fantastically dark motivation that results in some great and memorable twists that I particularly enjoyed.  Everything pulls together for an explosive conclusion which not only wraps up this narrative extremely well but also sets up a great potential sequel that I am quite excited for.

There was some good character work in Retribution as Barrie carries over all the major characters from the first book and keeps developing her central protagonist.  As I mentioned before, the main character, Lexi Winter, goes through some major changes in this book as she moves from being a lone investigator to a member of the New South Wales police force.  However, she still maintains her rebel attitude and her determination to solve everything herself.  This, and her own deep trauma and desire for revenge, sees her attempt her own rogue mission against the Hamills, with some deadly consequences.  I felt that this was a good natural progression of Lexi’s character, especially as she finds herself relying on other people especially after experiencing even more trauma in this second book.  While I feel that Barrie is making some progress with Lexi, she still maintains a lot of rough edges, which I am sure will get addressed in the future.  I did think that the repetitive reckless actions did get a little tiring as the book continued, but it generally results in some excellent storylines.  The rest of the characters form an amazing supporting cast to Lexi, and there are a few interesting new characters that I really enjoyed.  I must admit though that I didn’t massively care about Finn’s personal issues regarding his ex-wife, and I felt it was a bit of a distracting story element.  I’m also not sure why Barrie introduced a hostile rivalry between Lexi and the new female member of the main police team, especially as it didn’t result in any major revelation or come to a good conclusion.  Apart from that, I had a great time with the characters in Retribution and I look forward to seeing what happens to them in the next book.

Sarah Barrie’s excellent dark Australian crime fiction series gets an outstanding second book in Retribution.  Combining some of the fantastic thriller elements from Unforgiven with a very clever murder mystery, Retribution continues the Barrie’s compelling narrative and results in a captivating and powerful read that will keep you hooked right up until the end.  I had an incredible time with Retribution and I can’t wait to see how this intense series continues in the future.

Amazon

Unforgiven by Sarah Barrie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Five-Star Books, Thriller21 Comments

Unforgiven Cover

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 1 December 2021)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Talented Australian author Sarah Barrie presents one of the darkest and best Australian thriller novels of 2021 with Unforgiven, a powerful and captivating read that sets determined protagonists against the very worst of human monsters.

Years ago, the city of Sydney was haunted by a terrible paedophile and murderer known as the Spider, who kidnapped, molested and killed young girls, all on camera.  His reign of terror was ended suddenly one violent night thanks to two women, a determined rookie police officer, Rachael Langley, and one of the Spider’s young victims, Lexi Winter, who disappeared never to be seen again.

Now, after years of living on the street, Lexi has grown up tough and hard, determined to escape the tortures of her childhood through alcohol while trying to reconnect with the sister she was forced to leave behind.  However, Lexi is still obsessed with taking down monsters, and with her impressive hacking skills she spends her days tracking paedophiles, entrapping them, and ensuring they are captured by the police.  However, when her latest target proves to be particularly illusive online, she makes a fateful decision to break into his house, only to witness him being murdered.

At the same time, Rachael Langley is now a successful detective inspector, solving some of the toughest crimes in Sydney.  Still lauded for her role in stopping the Spider, Rachael lives in regret for being unable to save Lexi all those years before.  However, everything changes when a man calls her, claiming to be the real Spider and providing proof by horrifically murdering another child on camera.  Quickly establishing a police taskforce, Rachael and her team must determine if the killer is a copycat or whether Rachael captured the wrong man all those years ago.  To solve this case Rachael is going to need help from the last person who wants to see her, Lexi, but can these women work together after everything they have been through?  And what happens when their killer learns that Lexi is still alive and hunting for him?

This was an intense, grim and deeply compelling Australian crime fiction read from Barrie, who has written an amazing and powerful story that proves very hard to put down.  Unforgiven was the first of Barrie’s books that I have read, although several of her other Australian crime fiction novels are quite intriguing and I might try and read them at some point after being so captivated by this epic and moving read.  This was such an addictive novel that it gets a full five-star rating from me.

Barrie has come up with a very impressive and intense narrative for Unforgiven that sees several damaged characters dragged into the web of a dangerous and clever criminal.  The story has a great start that showcases the lives of the main protagonists, Lexi, Rachael and Rachael’s nephew and fellow police officer Finn, as well as giving some hints at the events of the original Spider case that so deeply impacted the female main characters.  After this quick set-up, the story advances in all its dark and powerful glory, as two fascinating plot lines develop.  Lexi, who has become an online vigilante hunting paedophiles on the dark web, finds herself caught up in a brutal murder when one of her targets is murdered by a mysterious figure while she is sneaking into his house.  Most of her early story involves her continued attempt to hunt paedophiles while also trying to find a way to hide the body of the murdered man, for which she gains some help from an interesting source.  At the same time, Rachael and Finn become involved in a brutal case when the man claiming to be the real Spider calls Rachael and leads them to murdered young girl, forcing them to once again dive into the unsettling world of paedophiles.

Both storylines advance at a quick and compelling pace, with each of the main protagonists facing massive challenges as they attempt to achieve their objectives.  I liked this initial separation of the storyline, and the two plotlines work well together in tandem, with the reader getting pretty caught up in both narrative threads.  At the same time, the author drip-feeds in bits and pieces of Lexi and Rachael’s pasts, especially the events that led up to the arrest of the Spider and the disappearance of Lexi.  This deepens the audiences’ connections to the two protagonists so that when their storylines inevitably connect it really enhances the impact of the scene.  Unforgiven shifts into high gear once these plotlines are joined, with all three protagonists working towards the same goals, although Lexi maintains her secrets.  Barrie starts throwing in some real curveballs here, providing a complex and intriguing case that throws the protagonists through the emotional wringer as they get closer to the big and powerful conclusion of the novel.  There are some great twists in the last half of the book and while I saw a couple of things coming, there were some fantastic surprises that really threw me.  This ends up being an outstanding and complex story, and the readers will be left wanting more, especially as Barrie leaves it open for a sequel, which I really hope she does.

While I deeply enjoyed the captivating and intense story contained within Unforgiven, this was a bit of a hard novel to read at times due to its very, very dark content.  Unforgiven focuses on the hunt for a murderous paedophile and his child exploiting friends, which inevitably leads to some depictions of the terrible acts they commit, not only to children in the current storyline, but to the protagonist Lexi back in her childhood.  Barrie really does not pull any punches here, and the book contains some very dark and grim moments that really stick in the mind.  These powerful and shocking scenes really raised the stakes of the book and ensured that the reader becomes extremely invested in seeing the protagonists achieve justice through their actions.  While I really appreciated that Barrie was trying to raise awareness and showcase just how evil some people can be, I will admit that some of these scenes did get to be a bit much at times, forcing me to stop and put the book down.  Readers are warned that Unforgiven has very strong themes of violence and abuse against children and young people.  However, if you can get past that, it is worth it, as Barrie does an excellent job telling this rough story about true human evil.

Unforgiven’s already brilliant and powerful narrative is enhanced by the impressively written and complex central characters contained within.  Barrie has gone out of her way to introduce several very damaged and compelling protagonists, each of whom add so much to the overall plot thanks to their excellent backstories and substantial development.  The most prominent and interesting of these characters are the two female leads of the book, Lexi Winter and Detective Inspector Rachael Langley, whose lives became irreparably entangled all those years ago.  These two characters serve as two of the three main point-of-view characters, with most of the story told from their perspectives.

Lexi was a great character, and I was deeply impressed with the amount of work that Barrie put into her complex and damaging past, as well as her distinctive current personality.  There were so many interesting aspects to Lexi, who immediately stands out as a protagonist thanks to her damaged personality, strong sense of deduction and observation, her badass ability with a computer and the fact that she is the only character whose chapters are told in the first person.  I loved the intriguing contradictions in her life as Lexi makes a living as an escort while devoting most of her personal life to being an online vigilante/hacker extraordinaire who specialises in taking paedophiles down.  This makes for such a distinctive character, especially once you figure in all the major impacts of her childhood that has left her such an emotional mess.  Barrie does a good job of slowly revealing all the horrors of her early life, and while some of the scenes are pretty brutal, it is amazing to see everything that the character has risen above to still be such a strong figure.  The reader swiftly gets attached to Lexi as a protagonist and it will be fascinating to see what happens to her next if Barrie decides to turn this into a series.

The other central character that I must talk about is Rachael, the veteran detective inspector whose career was built off the success of the Spider case.  Rachael is a great police protagonist, a confident, intelligent and strong figure who is able to keep most of her people in line and pursue a vigorous investigation.  However, Barrie builds in several great aspects to her character that really impact this protagonist throughout the course of Unforgiven.  Firstly, there is the guilt that Rachael still feels over her past with Lexi, especially as Rachael failed her in a way which is slowly revealed over the course of the book, especially once the two reunite and have an awkward relationship.  The other aspect is the doubt that slowly creeps into Rachael as the case proceeds, especially as the possibility that the original person convicted in the Spider case might be innocent.  This doubt, coupled with the guilt over the fact that she could be responsible for the latest deaths by not actually catching the real Spider, starts to impact her throughout the book and proves to be an intriguing motivator for some of her decisions.  These complex aspects really helped enhance the emotional power of Unforgiven and I really appreciated the intense storyline that Barrie wrote about people living in the past and accepting one’s mistakes.  I really enjoyed seeing both Lexi and Rachael in this novel, and they had some great storylines in this book.

Aside from Lexi and Rachael, there are several other great characters in Unforgiven I should mention.  The most prominent of these must be Detective Senior Sergeant Finn Carson, Rachael’s nephew and second-in-command of the investigation, who ends up being the third major point-of-view character.  Finn was an excellent male police character who serves as an interesting counterpoint to the two female protagonists.  While not as damaged as the other two, Finn has his own issues, and his viewpoint really added to the overall quality of the book.  I was also a big fan of Lexi’s neighbour Dawny, an eccentric older woman who assists Lexi in several matters, including disposing of a body (what are good neighbours for?).  Dawny was one of the funniest characters in the book and it was great to see the protagonists be completely baffled by her knowledge and ability to come up with effective solutions to problems while maintaining the batty old lady routine.  I quite liked the eventual reveal of who Dawny really was, as it fit in well with the other characters in the book, and it will be fun to see if Barrie brings her back at some point in the future.  Finally, I definitely need to highlight the villain of the book, the Spider, who is one of the most despicable fictional antagonists I have seen: a sordid child abuser and murderer who films their grisly crimes.  You quickly feel a lot of hate towards this character, even if you don’t know who they are for most of the story.  The eventual reveal and the various twists around them were quite clever and I had an amazing, if disturbing, time finding out who this monster was.  An overall exceptional character driven novel, you will quickly find yourself getting stuck following all these fascinating and compelling figures.

Unforgiven by Sarah Barrie is an outstanding and impressive read that takes the reader of a gritty and vicious ride.  Filled with a disturbing narrative and some brilliantly damaged central characters, Unforgiven is an utterly captivating read that is near impossible to put down or forget about.  Easily one of the best Australian thrillers of 2021, Unforgiven comes highly recommended and I am extremely excited to see what other incredible novels Barrie comes up with in the future.

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Quick Review – The Codebreakers by Alli Sinclair

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Drama, Historical Fiction, Quick Review1 Comment

The Codebreakers Cover

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 3 March 2021)

Series: Standalone

Length: 460 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Interested in a fantastic historical fiction novel that looks at a unique and overlooked part of Australia’s history?  Then make sure to check out The Codebreakers by bestselling author Alli Sinclair, an amazing and dramatic novel that I found to be extremely captivating and powerful.

Synopsis:

1943, Brisbane: The war continues to devastate and the battle for the Pacific threatens Australian shores. For Ellie O’Sullivan, helping the war effort means utilising her engineering skills for Qantas as they evacuate civilians and deliver supplies to armed forces overseas. Her exceptional logic and integrity attract the attention of the Central Bureau-an intelligence organisation working with England’s Bletchley Park codebreakers. But joining the Central Bureau means signing a lifetime secrecy contract. Breaking it is treason.

With her country’s freedom at risk, Ellie works with a group of elite women who enter a world of volatile secrets; deciphering enemy communications to change the course of the war. Working under immense pressure, they form a close bond-yet there could be a traitor in their midst. Can the women uncover the culprit before it’s too late?

As Ellie struggles with the magnitude of the promise she’s made to her country, a wedge grows between her and those she holds dear. When the man she loves asks questions she’s forbidden to answer, how will she prevent the double life she’s leading from unravelling?

The Codebreakers was an amazing and well-written historical drama from Australian author Alli Sinclair, who has previously penned several other great historical novels.  This latest book from Sinclair tells the impressive and captivating tale of some of the most unique women in Australia’s storied war history, the secret codebreakers of Central Bureau.  This proved to be an impressive and captivating read that I powered through in a quick amount of time, especially as Sinclair came up with a clever and compelling narrative.

Throughout this outstanding tale, Sinclair not only covers the intricacies of a fascinating group of female codebreakers, also known as the Garage Girls (they worked out of a garage), but also includes some excellent character-driven drama as the protagonist is forced to come to terms with the secrecy of her work as well as the various tragedies that befall her and her friends as the war takes it harsh toll.  Throw in an intriguing spy thriller angle, as the Garage Girls find out that one of their own may be a traitor, and this becomes quite an intriguing and exciting read.  I loved the great blend of excitement, adventure and tragedy that the author produced, and I really liked how she not only showed the protagonist’s entire tenure with the Garage Girls but also featured the tragic aftermath of the war, where the consequences of the protagonist’s decisions and the loneliness of missing friends and colleagues forces her to choose a different path.  Readers will swiftly find themselves very attached to the main protagonist and her amazing story, and I had a great time seeing this entire tale unfold.

I must highlight the excellent historical aspects of The Codebreakers as Sinclair has clearly done some intense research on this period.  I really enjoyed the intriguing examination of the Central Bureau codebreakers who were active in Brisbane during WWII and who helped to decrypt transmissions and provide vital information to the Allies.  Throughout this great book, Sinclair really goes into great detail about the work the codebreakers would have done and some of the impacts of their work.  She also tries to examine the mentality that surrounded these codebreakers, both in their work and outside it, as each codebreaker was forbidden to talk about their work to anyone, both during the war and after it.  This proves to be an intriguing and intense central part of the novel’s drama, and it is apparently based on interviews that Sinclair did with surviving members of the real-life Garage Girls.  This was an impressive and amazing basis for this great story and I deeply enjoyed learning more about this fascinating and formerly-secret women.

I also enjoyed the way in which the author perfectly captured the feel of mid-war Brisbane throughout The Codebreakers’ story.  Sinclair laces her narrative with a lot of fascinating discussions about various military attacks that hit Australia, wartime polices and general thoughts and feelings about the war and the people involved with it.  However, I was most impressed with Sinclair’s attempts to capture the mentality of the people on the home front in Brisbane at the time.  Not only did you get the frustrations of the common Australian citizen/soldier as they dealt with the deployed American soldiery, but there is also the sadness and regret of those that survived.  You could almost feel the despair of several characters in this book, especially after the deaths of some of their loved ones, and it was a truly moving inclusion in this fantastic and powerful read.  All of these historical inclusions were really remarkable, and I had an outstanding time exploring Sinclair’s vision of this intriguing and momentous period of Australian history.

The Codebreakers by Alli Sinclair was an awesome and moving historical drama that proved to be an exceptional examination of a truly unique group of Australian women.  Sinclair makes perfect use of the amazing historical basis for her novel and turns it into quite an exciting and captivating tale of resilience, friendship and romance, which comes highly recommended.  I really enjoyed this fantastic novel and I loved learning so much about the codebreakers of Australia’s Central Bureau.

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Where Fortune Lies by Mary-Anne O’Connor

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Drama, Historical Fiction2 Comments

Where Fortune Lies

Publisher: HQ Fiction (Trade Paperback – 23 March 2020)

Series: Standalone

Length: 394 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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From bestselling Australian author Mary-Anne O’Connor comes another fun and intriguing Australian historical drama, Where Fortune Lies, which tells a multi-layered story of people seeking their fortunes in colonial Australia.

1879, Ireland. Anne Brown is a beaten-down young lady, hoping to escape the harsh life of poverty and misery she sees the rest of the women in her family experience. After a particularly cruel night which sees the one good thing in her life taken away from her, Anne flees her hometown, hoping to make a new life for herself in far-flung Australia.

Several months later in London, young gentleman Will Worthington and his sister Mari are shocked to discover that their recently deceased father has changed his will. Instead of the modest inheritance they were expecting, they find that all his money has been left to a mysterious pregnant painted lady who intends to resettle in Australia. With their social standing in London destroyed, Will and Mari, along with Will’s loyal best friend, artist Charlie Turner, follow their father’s mistress to Australia to seek their fortunes.

Upon their arrival in Melbourne, Will Mari and Charlie quickly befriend local businessman Tom McIntosh and his beautiful daughter, Alice, who Will falls in love with. While Will and Mari enjoy the opportunities afforded to them in Melbourne, Charlie spends time in the Victorian Alps with Alice’s brothers, Harry and Richie, and their wild group of friends, who show him how to live the rough colonial life. While there, Charlie finds his artistic inspiration through his work with the McIntosh boys and their wild horses, as well as his love for a mysterious exotic dancer. However, danger lies on the horizon, as Harry and Richie have been covertly engaging in the deadly trade of bushranging. Soon the fates of all these young people will hang in the balance, as tough choices, dangerous loyalties and harsh heartbreaks will impact them all.

Where Fortune Lies is another fantastic read from O’Connor, who has written some exceptional historical dramas in her five-year career. I read my first Mary-Anne O’Connor book last year, In a Great Southern Land, which told an excellent story about a group of people coming to Australia in the 1850’s to participate in the gold rush and subsequent uprising at the Eureka Stockade. I quite enjoyed In a Great Southern Land and I was rather pleased that my review of it was quoted on the back of the copy of Where Fortune Lies that I received. This latest novel follows a similar concept to O’Connor’s last book, with a diverse group of characters journeying to opportunity-rich Australia in order to seek a better life, and O’Connor is once again able to weave together a rich and compelling story of love, family drama and action in the Australian wilds, and I quite enjoyed the fun blend of story elements that the author was able to come up with.

Where Fortune Lies contains a strong character-based story that follows the lives and adventures of several characters who are drawn together by fate, love and family. O’Connor does a wonderful job of introducing these key point-of-view characters, whose story the reader finds themselves getting quite attached to. I really enjoyed the way that the author spaced out the various character threads, taking the time to explore the lives of each of the separate characters. While some of the character arcs do cross over quite a bit (for example, Charlie Turner directly interacts with all the other major characters and serves as a major bridging character), other characters are kept relatively separate from each other, with only a few scenes together. However, these characters arcs still have some subtle interactions, with their actions indirectly impacting other characters’ lives, or the two characters meet or discuss each other without realising who the other person really is. I liked the method of storytelling, as it allowed the reader to get to know each character individually and see the various struggles and difficulties that they are facing, as well as how they overcome them and evolve as people. I really enjoyed each of the character arcs that O’Connor explored, and I think that all of them came to a satisfying conclusion, especially as the various threads combine together at the end of the book with all the main characters finding their final fates. Each of these character-driven storylines had a good blend of adventure, adversity, romance and drama, which I think came together extremely well as an overall narrative.

I really liked the way that O’Connor once again dived back into Australia’s past, this time looking at the turbulent 1870s, and presenting the reader with another view of the country’s iconic colonial history. Where Fortune Lies contains some fantastic examination of various parts of old-school Victoria, including the busting metropolis of Melbourne, and it was interesting to see O’Connor’s depiction of the crossing to Australia and the things that immigrants back in this period would have experienced. Most of the story, however, takes place in the rugged wilds of outback Australia, particularly in the wilderness and small towns of the Victorian Alps. O’Connor presents a fascinating exploration of these communities, and I really enjoyed her depictions of people capturing the wild horses a la The Man from Snowy River. However, the highlight of this jaunt back into history has to be the author’s focus on the bushrangers, the dangerous highwaymen who stalked the Australian outback. A good part of the book’s plot revolves around some of the characters getting involved in bushranging out of desperation or greed, and it was rather intriguing to see how society perceived these criminals. There are a number of references to real-life bushrangers, such as the Kelly Gang and Captain Thunderbolt, and I really enjoyed the parts of the book that focused on this exciting part of Australia’s history. All of this serves as an incredible background to this fun story, and I look forward to seeing what amazing part of Australia’s past O’Connor will explore in her next book.

Where Fortune Lies is another terrific Australian historical drama from O’Connor, who once again combines a captivating, character-driven narrative with an excellent depiction of Australia’s rich and vibrant history. This turned out to be an elegant and enjoyable read that features amazing romantic and dramatic plots, as well as an intriguing dive into the infamous bushrangers of Victoria. A fantastic new novel that once again sees O’Connor continues to shine as one of the most talented authors of Australian historical dramas.

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In a Great Southern Land by Mary-Anne O’Connor

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Drama, Historical Fiction

In a Great Southern Land Cover

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback format – 18 March 2019)

Series: Standalone

Length: 416 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Historical drama author Mary-Anne O’Connor once again presents the readers with a powerful and moving journey through a number of iconic moments in Australian history with her fourth book, In a Great Southern Land, which focuses on Australia’s colonial history and the chaos surrounding the infamous Eureka Stockade.

In 1851, the colonised but still mythical continent of Australia represents many things for many different people.  For the Clancy family living in Ireland it represents freedom, as they seek their own land away from the British aristocracy that controls their country.  For young Eve Richards it represents a harsh prison; she is unfairly transported as a convict after losing everything that she cares about.

Once in New South Wales, Eve briefly encounters the wild but kind Clancy brother, Kieran, who manages to save her from a harsh life in the Tasmanian colonies.  Following a bad experience as he left Ireland, Kieran is wondering around Australia in search of a new purpose, while his family, including his brother, Liam, and his sister, Eileen, settle in Orange.  Despite the love of his family, Kieran’s temper and thirst for adventure leads him down to the goldfields at Ballarat, close to where Eve is employed as a convict servant.

It does not take long for Kieran and Eve to find each other again, and the two are soon drawn together romantically.  However, their plans for their future and a life together are imperilled by events occurring around the goldfields.  The corrupt colonial regime is imposing harsh taxes on the miners attempting to scratch a living at the fields, and resentment and hostility is growing.  When several shocking events become a catalyst for revolt among the miners, Kieran finds himself being forced to choose between supporting his friends or marrying Eve.  Can Kieran and Eve’s relationship survive the chaos of the Eureka Stockade, or will tragedy once again strike them both?

This is the fourth book from Australian author Mary-Anne O’Connor, who specialises in historical dramas set in the backdrop of significant events in Australia’s history.  Her 2015 debut, Gallipoli Street, features aspects of World Wars I and II as well as the Great Depression.  Her second book, Worth Fighting For, is set in World War II, while her third book, War Flower, focuses on Australia in the 1960s, including the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War.  In a Great Southern Land is the author’s first foray into a 19th century setting, and her love and dedication to recounting parts of Australia’s complex and chaotic history once again shines through.

At its heart, In a Great Southern Land is a dramatic story of several individuals who are searching for a new beginning, and find love, loss and upheaval in their new home.  I have to admit that dramatic novels are not usually the sort of book that I am naturally drawn to, but something about this book really appealed to me and I had a great time reading it.  The main characters are extremely sympathetic and realistic, and the reader can not help but get drawn into their story.  A lot of bad stuff affects all of them, especially Kieran and Eve, and you are left hoping that they can hang on and find the happiness that they deserve.  I quite enjoyed the romance angle between Kieran and Eve; it came about quite naturally and had quite a satisfying conclusion.  I really got into this fantastic story and I was impressed by how this fantastic dramatic tale was woven so effectively into the book’s amazing historical elements.

One of the things I quite liked about this book was O’Connor’s ability to examine and bring several aspects of Australia’s colonial history to life.  Several iconic parts of the mid-19th century Australian experience are explored by the author, including the transportation of convicted criminals from England to Australia, the often terrible convict lifestyle, the resettlement of Irish settlers to various parts of Australia and the trials and tribulations of those seeking their fortunes in the goldfields.  On top of that, O’Connor also explores various Australian locations, including historical Sydney, Melbourne, Orange and Ballarat.  All of these examinations of history are deeply fascinating, and I really enjoyed reading about them.  The author has obvious skill at portraying all the historical aspects, and the reader gets a real sense of what it would have been like to experience these historical events, ordeals and locations.

The most significant historical event that occurs within this book is the Eureka Stockade, which plays a huge role in the overall story.  O’Connor does an amazing job examining this interesting and often venerated piece of Australia’s colonial history and explores so many of the key elements surrounding the event.  As such, the reader gets an excellent idea of what events led up to the Eureka Stockade, and why the participants thought it was necessary to organise as they did.  The actual battle at the Eureka Stockade is pretty brutal and tragic for the reader and becomes one of the major parts within the book.  I quite liked the examination of the aftermath of the event, especially the rather entertaining, but apparently accurate, courtroom sequence, which I was not as familiar with.  O’Connor does a fantastic job brining the Eureka Stockade to life, and I was quite impressed with how it was utilised in the telling of the book’s dramatic storylines.

I really enjoyed the author’s underlying examination of freedom and control that seemed to permeate a large amount of In a Great Southern Land’s plot.  Throughout the story, the main characters experience high amounts of oppression or prejudice, often from upper-class English characters, due to a wide range of social factors.  For example, before the Clancy family leave for Australia, they are oppressed by the rich, English family who controls their land and whose greed takes something precious from Kieran.  Eve is taken advantage of by the son of the household she works for and is then cast out when the affair is discovered without the son standing up for her.  Even when they reach the promised land of Australia, the characters are still oppressed.  The Clancy family still face discrimination for being Irish, with the police targeting Kieran, and one particularly dislikeable doctor refusing to leave a party to treat someone from Ireland.  Eve, on the other hand, is treated poorly as a convict, and even after she finds work with a nice, wealthy family, she and Kieran are forced to act a certain way with Eve’s employers in order to gain permission to marry.  This underlying oppression and the resentment and anger that these characters felt plays wonderfully into the events that led up to the Eureka Stockade, and it was intriguing to see how these events affected the characters’ decisions in relation to these events.

In this book, Mary-Anne O’Connor has produced another outstanding historical drama that the reader really gets drawn into.  The main story is deep and emotive and ties in well with O’Connor’s rich and detailed depictions of historical events that represent key points in Australia’s colonial history.  In a Great Southern Land is an amazing and powerful read that I was quite happy to find myself really enjoying.  I ranked this book 4.5 stars, and I will be quite interested to see what period of Australian history O’Connor decides to explore next.

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