Tag: Multiple Character Perspectives

Sins of the Fathers by John Byrnes

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction1 Comment

Publisher: Macmillan (Trade Paperback – 1 July 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 399 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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A rising author in the field of Australian drama and historical fiction, John Byrnes, had a very interesting book back in 2025 that I have been meaning to review for a while, Sins of the Fathers.

Byrnes is a relatively new Australian author whose work I have been rather enjoying in recent years.  Byrnes career started back in 2023 with his cool thriller Headland, a compelling modern crime fiction novel with some interesting dramatic twists around it.  Headland ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2023, and I made sure to read his next novel, the historical saga The Youngest Son (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2024).  It looks like Byrnes intends to continue his focus on Australian historical epics going forward, as his third book was the intriguing and exciting novel from last year, Sins of the Fathers, which followed several compelling characters through several major events of the 1910s.

Plot Synopsis:

In 1910s Australia, the sins of the fathers leave behind a bloody legacy in this historical epic saga, perfect for fans of Peaky Blinders.

Two fathers, their sons and the feud that binds them.

In the early years of the twentieth century, Billy and Tommy Smith are growing up on the mean streets of Sydney’s Millers Point. It’s a hungry, hard-scrabble life, made even worse when their violent father returns home from a long stint in prison.

In the wealthy eastern suburbs, Charles Davies is living an entirely different life, the beneficiary of his father’s business acumen and insatiable, unyielding greed. Charles wants for nothing – except perhaps his father’s approval.

When an incident on The Point leads to the deaths of both Charles’ and the Smith boys’ fathers, a hatred is born that will follow the three men through their lives. In an epic saga taking them from Sydney to Gallipoli and the killing fields of France in World War I, to the melting pot of Darwin and the opal fields at Lightning Ridge, the men’s paths all lead to one final revenge.

But in the end, what price must be paid for the sins of the fathers?

Sins of the Fathers was a very good historical fiction read that thrusts several damaged youths into the grinder of early 20th century Australian history.  Starting off strong, the book primarily begins in early 1910, when violent father of Billy and Tommy Smith is released from prison back into their already hard lives.  As the Smith children attempt to survive in harsh poverty, their lives take a dangerous spin when their father is murdered, and the evidence points to crooked businessman Arthur Davies, who soon also dies.  This leads to a life-long, mostly one-sided feud between the Smiths and the spoiled son of Davies, Charles, who is determined to get revenge for the slights against him.  This revenge plot also extends to the Smith’s young neighbour Angeline, who serves as a love interest to Tommy throughout the book.

After these early chapters, the plot of Sins of the Fathers keeps jumping ahead every couple of years, with the protagonists examining some key historical events that impacted Sydney in the early 1910s.  Naturally, this leads to the three male characters of the book getting enlisted in the Australian Army for World War I, with the Smiths and Charles Davies eventually ending up on the same battlefield, with disastrous results for all involved.  At the same time, Angeline remains in Sydney and serves as an interesting fourth point-of-view character, as she uses her business acumen to survive and gain status.  Back in Europe, the three male characters are eventually separated and start making their own way in the world in their own standalone adventures.  The exception is Davies, who continues to attempt to get revenge and gain money by attacking his apparent rivals.  Byres explores some interesting different historical locales and periods throughout the second half of Sins of the Fathers, with some intense and exciting adventures befalling the cast.  Everything eventually leads up to all the characters reuniting towards the end of the book, as the protagonists attempt to overcome one last plot from Davies.  The end result is a very compelling and intense standalone narrative, that drags you in with its fun characters and cool historical content.

At this point Byrnes has settled well into the historical fiction groove, producing a complex and layered narrative across several entertaining characters.  Making good use of a split between four key characters, Byrnes did an excellent job exploring the turbulent 1910s in Sins of the Fathers, with some great dives into key elements of early Australia and World War I.  This exploration of this crucial decade served as a captivating backdrop to the personal narratives of the four main characters, and the mixture of personalities and their separate struggles allows for a highly enjoyable read.

The resulting narrative is loaded with action, adventure and some excellent examples of personal determination, which allows for a very fast-paced read.  I also loved the thrilling intrigue that surrounds the book’s antagonist, Charles Davies, who is a devious and entertaining brat incapable of taking responsibility for his actions.  Byrnes did such a good job creating another repellent villain here with Davies, and watching his various schemes against the protagonists and others really amps up the stakes of the book as the reader is eager to see him fail.  I frankly had the most fun with Davies’s various chapters, and it was an entertaining foil to perspectives of the more likeable protagonists.  Throw in some interesting twists about the death of the Smith’s father and the resulting rivalry between them and Davies, and the entirety of Sins of the Fathers plot really comes together into a clever and deeply personal historical journey.

Overall, I was quite impressed with John Byrnes’s second dive into the historical fiction genre, and Sins of the Fathers proved to be a strong and highly exciting piece of Australian fiction that you could really sink your teeth into.  An addictive epic that expertly showcased some key Australian moments and locations in the 1910s, Sins of the Fathers was a great read, and I am excited for whatever historical adventure Byrnes comes up with next.

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Quick Review – Barren Cape by Michelle Prak

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Quick Review, ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (ebook – 2 April 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 352 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Michelle Prak takes aim at a serious issue in Australian society, with her intriguing standalone thriller, Barren Cape, a great book I had the pleasure of reading in early 2025.

Plot Synopsis:

An abandoned resort seems the perfect place to hide, but is Barren Cape a refuge or a trap?

Former housemates Mac and Erika are homeless.

Well, Erika is fine, she just has to live with her parents until she can find another rental. Mac’s situation is much worse – family isn’t an option and she’s surfing the couches of her increasingly exasperated friends.

Driving around one lonely afternoon, Mac discovers Barren Cape. Once destined to be a luxury escape, now it’s just wire fence and grey cement. It’s stark, but quiet. There’s no harm in staying here a little while …

From the bestselling author of The Rush, this is the chilling result of people pushed to the fringes of society and forced to make unthinkable choices.

Barren Cape was a very compelling read from Prak that combines a cool thriller narrative with an interesting look at the current dire housing situation in Australia.  Set around the city of Adelaide, Barren Cape follows three separate protagonists, including roommates Mac and Erika who find themselves homeless after losing their rental, and young teen Brex, whose family life forces her to leave home and try to find alternate accommodation.

All three point-of-view characters are eventually drawn towards the abandoned building development of Barren Cape, whose cement rooms appear to be the perfect place to hang out while the protagonists try to find their separate ways in life.  However, the interactions between the three protagonists leads to a great layer of drama within the plot, which is thrown into overdrive when another resident of Barren Cape is discovered.  This leads to a dark, conflict laden second half of Barren Cape, which only gets worse with every single mistake and bad decision the protagonists make.  Prak constantly twists the story around, ensuring that you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and resulting in a complicated ending, where the characters try to move on to better things after experiencing some trauma.

I felt that Barren Cape came together extremely well, especially when it came to the author’s compelling examination of Australia’s housing crisis and its impacts.  Showcasing various levels of the struggle in one city, Prak paints a pretty desperate picture around the lack of accommodation for vulnerable people, enough so that camping out an isolated and abandoned building site seems like a reasonable option.  I really appreciated how Prak explored the characters’ desperation around this key issue, and the lengths they will go to maintain even this level of housing security.  The drama that flows from this desperation, which includes some characters even overlooking murder, is intense, and its connection to a real issue ensures that all the character’s struggles are quite relatable.

One issue I had with Barren Cape was that parts of this narrative weren’t as exciting as I had hoped, with the plot mostly resolving around interactions between relatively normal characters.  However, I think that this perceived lack of excitement was more on me as I was expecting a horror/slasher story, with some dangerous figures stalking the protagonists.  It did feel that Prak was setting that up at times, especially with a scene around a dangerous group on the beach and a stalker for one of the characters, two story elements that never really went anywhere.  One scene where a female character, who spends most of the book bodybuilding at the gym, was wrestled down by children, also took me out of the plot a little, although it led to some interesting follow-up moments.  Still, the rest of the book with its complex interactions and clever take on a major modern issue helped to balance these issues out, and I ended up having a good time with this compelling novel.

Overall, Barren Cape was an excellent Australian novel from Michelle Prak, who produced an interesting and thought-provoking read.  Moving, intense and diving into something that is causing a lot of concern in modern Australia, Barren Cape is well worth a read, and I’ll be curious to see what Prak writes next.

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Kill Your Boss by Jack Heath

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery1 Comment

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

Series: Kill Your Brother – Book Three

Length: 368 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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The most relatable new Australian crime book for all office drones is the awesome and addictive Kill Your Boss by the always impressive Jack Heath, an exceptional read that proves very hard to put down.

There are a lot of talented and entertaining Australian authors writing outstanding novels these days, but one of my favourites due to his consistently clever and entertaining reads is the wonderful Jack Heath.  Hailing from my home city of Canberra, Heath has been entertaining Australian readers for years with his interesting combination of complex works.  I am a massive fan of his amazing crime fiction novels, which includes his spectacularly over-the-top Hangman series (including Hideout and Headcase).

In recent years, some of Heath’s best work has been some amazing and twisted murder mysteries set in small-town Australia.  The series started with Kill Your Brother (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2021), a clever read that saw a damaged protagonist imprisoned and forced to choose between killing her guilty brother or dying alongside him.  I had an outstanding time with Kill Your Brother, and I eagerly dove into the loosely connected sequel, Kill Your Husbands.  Featuring two of the protagonists from Kill Your Brother as they get drawn into a devastating case involving a series of murders after some ill-advised partner-swapping.  I deeply enjoyed this fantastic sequel, and it ended up being one of my favourite Australian books of 2023.  Naturally I was very keen when I saw that Heath had a third book in this series coming out in late 2025 with the awesome title of Kill Your Boss.  I dove into Kill Your Boss as soon as I could, and it proved to be another great read with a very fun plot behind it.

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.

Kill Your Boss was a particularly amazing novel from Jack Heath and one of the better pieces of Australian fiction I had the pleasure of reading in 2025.  Featuring an extremely compelling crime fiction narrative with some fantastic dark humour behind it, Kill Your Boss was extremely fun to get through, and I had a brilliant time with this latest twisted offering from Heath.

Heath cleverly builds around the fantastic and entertaining concept of a villainous and wildly disliked boss getting murdered.  Once again set in the small Australian town of Warrigal, Kill Your Boss has an instantly great opening with the victim, Neville Adams, plummeting to the ground from the library roof, right in front of main police protagonist Detective Sergeant Kiara Lui.  Kiara, who previously served as a supporting character in Kill Your Brother and the main investigator of Kill Your Husbands, quickly takes charge of the case, locking down the library and hoping to identify the killer amongst the people trapped inside.  However, Kiara soon hits a wall with her investigation when it becomes apparent that everyone in the library, especially Adams’s employees, hated him.  With multiple motives and no witnesses, Kiara starts diving into the crime, assisted by rookie cop Ben Higgens.

This first part of Kill Your Boss sets the story up nicely, and you are soon quite hooked on the case, especially as the novel breaks apart to follow either the police or one of the suspects.  Thanks to this split, you get a good insight into the compelling investigation, while also examining the combined motives of the potential suspects, each of whom are covering something up, including involvement in an alternate case that the protagonist is familiar with.  Heath keeps the story moving quickly and effectively, and there is some additional grim humour as it becomes apparent that multiple characters tried to kill Adams, but only one succeeded.  This perfectly leads up to the final third of Kill Your Boss, as all the various motives come to light, and the various suspects are whittled down thanks to some additional gruesome killings before the big conclusion.  I think that Heath set up this entire mystery extremely well, and the various red herrings ensured you were guessing right up to the end.

Heath once again manages to pull together a brilliant book that is somehow fun and twisted at the same time.  Featuring a series of murders that starts with a very relatable sentiment around bad bosses, Kill Your Boss effectively builds up a complex mystery that has a lot of fantastic layers to it.  This mystery is then well supported by the author’s great use of multiple different perspectives, especially as you get invested in all the complex suspects and their lives.  This tight and entertaining story hits hard while also presenting the reader with dark humour, especially when it comes to motives for murder, and the result is a particularly addictive book that you can’t turn away from.  Heath also successfully endeavours to make Kill Your Boss a particularly open book to all sorts of readers, from those looking for an amusing Australian mystery with a great small-town setting, to those readers already familiar with the author’s wicked humour and aptitude for murder.

While part of a larger series that started with Kill Your Brother, Kill Your Boss is primarily a standalone read, which I honestly think enhances the story, as the various new characters, as well as the existing protagonist, get a lot more prominence without tying the narrative down to previous events.  Detective Sergeant Kiara Lui once again works extremely well as the book’s primary investigator, and it was interesting to see her take more of a leading role in this novel.  While Kiara was an excellent primary protagonist, as well as a mentor to a new police character, it is the other larger-than-life supporting characters who make Kill Your Boss very impressive.  This includes a truly despicable murder victim whom you honestly don’t feel too sympathetic to, especially after the flashbacks.  This excellent use of a villainous victim adds some great complexity to the plot, especially when it’s revealed that multiple people tried to kill him simultaneously.  This victim is well matched by the various suspects, who serve as supporting perspective characters in the plot.  Without giving too much away, each of the suspects in this novel is very entertaining, and the range of complex interactions and grudges they held made for a very entertaining read.  I particularly enjoyed the final revelation about why the main killer committed the first murder, which fits the overall entertaining mood of Kill Your Boss perfectly, and was a perfect endcap on these outstanding characters.

Jack Heath continues to showcase why he is one of Australia’s most entertaining crime fiction authors.  Featuring a brilliant plot loaded with outrageous revelations and supporting characters, Kill Your Boss was a wonderfully addictive novel from start to finish.  Compelling, twisted and just so much fun, Kill Your Boss is a very impressive read, and it was easily one of the top Australian novels of 2025.

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Broke Road by Matthew Spencer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Trade Paperback – 1 July 2025)

Series: Rose Riley – Book Two

Length: 389 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Matthew Spencer presented one of the best Australian crime fiction reads of 2025 with his outstanding and deeply impressive sequel novel, Broke Road.

Back in 2022, I had the great pleasure of reading the fantastic debut novel of Australian journalist turned author Matthew Spencer, Black River.  Featuring a compelling crime fiction narrative about a mysterious series of deaths around the Sydney river system, Black River was a wonderful novel that ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2022.  I had a lot of fun with Spencer’s first book, and I was very curious when I saw that he had a sequel coming out this year, Broke Road.  I made sure to grab a copy as soon as I could, and I ended up being blown away by how good this sequel was.

Plot Synopsis:

A late-night phone call is never good news for Homicide Detective Sergeant Rose Riley. This time she’s being sent up to the Hunter Valley, where a woman has been found dead in her home.

Rose grew up further along the valley. She knows that for every vineyard and golf course resort visited by tourists to the ‘wine country’ there are as many dilapidated fibro houses and drug dens, in the shadow of one of the state’s largest prisons.

A media hound points the finger at the husband, angering Rose but capturing the attention of journalist turned true crime author Adam Bowman. His book on the ‘Blue Moon Killer’ made him famous but the case nearly cost Rose her life, and she’s not sure how she feels about seeing him again.

Suspects abound, from the grieving husband to sinister business interests and suspicious locals. But when new evidence connects the crime to an old case, Rose realises they have no time to lose. The murderer is ready to strike again.

Broke Road was an amazing new novel from Matthew Spencer, who really impresses with this second outing, producing a complex and gritty Australian crime fiction narrative that really draws you in.  Intense, clever and featuring some likeable characters, Broke Road ended up being an incredible sequel to the author’s first book, and it was one that I deeply enjoyed.

Spencer made some very interesting narrative choices that worked extremely well to tell an elaborate and deeply personal crime fiction story.  Set after the climatic events of Black River, the novel initially follows main protagonist, Detective Sergeant Rose Bailey, as she travels to investigate a brutal murder of a married woman with connections to a successful local winery.  Transferring this book from the urban streets of Sydney to the iconic Hunter Valley in rural New South Wales, Spencer provides a whole new feel to this sequel, which allows Broke Road to do its own thing.  Initially set up as a typical small-town Australian murder mystery, with Rose investigating first the victim’s husband and other members of the nearby town, things take an interesting twist when Black River’s other protagonist, reporter Adam Bowman, arrives in town to investigate the case.

What follows is a complex and deeply captivating mixture of story elements as the protagonists are forced to deal with their complicated feelings towards each other.  Simultaneously exploring the traumatic aftermath of the events of Black River while also seeing both main characters investigate the case in their own way, the plot of Broke Road becomes extremely addictive.  A lot of this is due to how the author expertly raises the stakes as the plot continues, with the several related murders across the country coming to light, hinting at a deadly and notably chilling predator stalking the Hunter Valley.  I really appreciated how the book’s story threads came together, and Spencer throws in various alternative motives, clever red herring and some great personal interactions in the lead-up to the conclusion.  The eventual big reveal in Broke Road’s finale was extremely well handled, with an exciting confrontation well mixed with all the author’s clever clues coming together.  Spencer ends everything on a great personal note, which ties everything up quite nicely and resulted in particularly outstanding narrative.

I felt that Broke Road was an outstanding novel in many ways, especially as it worked well as both a complex standalone crime novel and as a sequel to Spencer’s first book.  While any new reader can easily jump into Broke Road, Spencer works the fallout of Black River’s plot into both the plot and the protagonist’s character arcs, with both main characters still dealing with their trauma and leftover feelings.  This allows for a much more emotionally rich narrative, especially when tied into other character elements, such as Rose’s past connections to the area surrounding the murder scene.  Spencer cleverly chose to focus more on Rose in this sequel, allowing her to develop more as a character after spending much of the first book in Adam’s shadow.

Spencer also provides a very compelling change of scenery from his previous novel, taking the protagonists and readers into a much more rural setting.  Australia’s iconic Hunter Valley worked perfectly as a background to Spencer’s complex mystery, and the beautiful landscape, as well as its interesting mixture of inhabitants, added a lot to Broke Road’s impact and distinctive feel.  I also personally felt that Spencer provided a much more well-written novel with this sequel, which showcases his growth from the first book.  While the author does maintain his series’ grim tone, especially when it comes to the very disturbing killer, the story in this sequel was a lot sharper and the character arcs managed to hit a little harder.  I also think that the author brought all the story elements together a bit more concisely in the finale, allowing for a much more enjoyable journey to the end of the book.  All this really highlighted Spencer’s great development as a writer, and it will be interesting to see how he continues to improve going forward.

With some outstanding writing, clever storytelling and many grim murders, Broke Road was an exceptional book from Matthew Spencer, who really showcased his writing ability with this book.  An amazing sequel that also stands on its own feet, Broke Road is guaranteed to hook you early, and it was easily one of the best Australian crime fiction novels of 2025.

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Hotel Lucky Seven by Kotaro Isaka

On By The Unseen LibraryIn English Translation, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Trade Paperback – 12 November 2025)

English Translation: Brian Bergstrom

Series: Hitman – Book Four 

Length: 291 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Japan’s most entertaining thriller authors, Kotaro Isaka, presents a great new entry in his shared crime fiction universe, with the wonderfully unhinged and entertaining Hotel Lucky Seven.

Kotaro Isaka is an amazing author who has dominated the Japanese crime fiction scene for years, thanks to his amazing and over-the-top thrillers that are filled with distinctive characters and entertaining narratives.  In recent years, Isaka has gained more of a Western following as several of his books have been translated and released in English.  This includes his best-known novel, Bullet Train, which was adapted into a particularly entertaining film with Brad Pitt a couple of years ago.  While I loved the film, I am also a major fan of the original Bullet Train novel, which is very different from its adaptation in its own awesome way.  Having really enjoyed Bullet Train when it came out, I’ve tried to read the other translated Isaka novels that have come out in his Hitman series, including the cool prequel novel Three Assassins.  While I did miss out on The Mantis, I made sure to grab a copy of Isaka’s latest book, Hotel Lucky Seven (released in Japan under the title 777).  Serving as a direct sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven follows the terminally unlucky assassin Nanao, as he finds himself in a whole new mess.

Plot Synopsis:

A luxury hotel full of assassins – what could go wrong?

Nanao ‘the unluckiest assassin in the world’ has been hired to deliver a birthday present to a guest at a luxury Tokyo Hotel. It seems like a simple assignment but by the time he leaves the guest’s room one man is dead and more will soon follow. As events spiral out of control as it becomes clear several different killers, with varying missions, are all taking a stay in the hotel at the same time. And they’re all particularly interested in a young woman with a photographic memory, hiding out on one of the twenty floors.

Will Nanao find the truth about what’s going on? And will he check out alive?

In this original, gripping and inventive follow-up to the international bestseller Bullet Train, Kotaro Isaka demonstrates his unparalleled gift for unique characters and unexpected twists.

Hotel Lucky Seven was another very impressive outing from Isaka, as he once again wows with his outrageous array of assassins, fighting for their lives amongst a complex conspiracy narrative.  Slick, relentlessly entertaining and very addictive, Hotel Lucky Seven was an amazing read, and one that I powered through in less than a day.

Isaka created another very fun over-the-top story for Hotel Lucky Seven that quickly drags you in with its fantastic action.  Initially focusing on the main protagonist, Nanao, who has only recently recovered from his near-death experience on the deadly bullet train, the book sees the constantly unlucky character enter a hotel for a routine delivery, only to find himself in the middle of another quickly deteriorating situation.  Forced to kill someone while delivering a birthday present, Nanao soon find himself drawn into a larger confrontation involving Kamino, a young woman with an impressive memory, who is trying to escape her underworld boss.  Having accidently killed or incapacitated Kamino’s bodyguards while trying to flee the hotel to save his handler, Nanao soon finds himself reluctantly helping Kamino contend with a band of assassins known as the Six.  This proves to be a great central focus for Lucky Seven, which Isaka further enhances with intriguing chapters focused on other amusing characters like the killer team of Pillow and Blanket, two effective body removalists who are stalking the halls of the hotel on their own mission, as well as some interesting interludes around a famous politician in the restaurant who is being interviewed by an ambitious reporter.

These interlocking storylines come together nicely as the book continue, and I liked how well the various chapters flowed into each other.  Isaka keeps loading up the action as Nanao uses his unlikely combat skills against the various members of the slowly dwindling six as he desperately tries to escape the hotel.  After some very entertaining antics, as well as a couple of over-the-top deaths, the author sets up for the big conclusion, with the surviving characters coming together for a big confrontation.  While the story had been very fun, if relatively straightforward, up to this point, Isaka throws in an excellent twist that makes you re-evaluate the rest of the book.  There was a ton of great build-up throughout the entire story, with your perspective of one character completely changing in the best ways.  This really enhanced the overall impact of the entire story, and I came away very satisfied and intrigued by this impressive piece of Japanese fiction.

I really enjoyed the great style that Isaka utilised in Hotel Lucky Seven, which is reminiscent of the rest of the books in his Hitman series.  Made up of fast-paced chapters that switch between the several main characters, Isaka moves his exciting story along very effectively, quickly grabbing the reader’s attention with his complex characters, entertaining action, and great humour.  Serving as both an enjoyable sequel to Bullet Train and a fun standalone crime thriller, this is a very accessible novel for any reader to get into, even with its subtle yet noticeable Japanese aesthetics.  Indeed, I felt that Hotel Lucky Seven had more of a certain cinematic edge than Isaka’s previous novels, no doubt a result of the success he had with the Bullet Train film, and this help to make this book a lot easier to appreciate for new readers.  It also helped that some of the characters, such as killers known as the Six, would be fun to cast in a film adaptation, and the over-the-top figures terrorising a hotel with blowguns were particularly fun.

Speaking of awesome characters, I personally loved seeing the return of the unlucky killer Nanao, who was the best part of the original Bullet Train novel (where his role was a little less central than Brad Pitt’s in the film).  Serving much more a central role in this sequel, Nanao was the heart-and-soul of Hotel Lucky Seven, and it was very fun to see him continue to get in trouble while trying to do the right thing.  The rest of the characters are a little more serious, well as serious as people living in a world of killers can be, and I liked the certain philosophical edge that several of them had when it comes to their actions, especially the fun killer duo of Pillow and Blanket.  Throw in a couple of interesting additional villains, none of whom are really what they seem and who benefit from some layered backstories and misdirection with their intentions.  This extremely unique cast really fit the light-hearted vibe that Isaka loaded this excellent thriller with, and I had a wonderful time seeing their murderous antics and complex interactions unfold.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with Hotel Lucky Seven, which was one of the more entertaining and compelling thrillers I read last year.  A very worthy sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven was another incredible read from Kotaro Isaka that will keep you hooked right to end with his awesome action, brilliant humour and fantastic storytelling.  It honestly will be interesting to see if Hotel Lucky Seven gets a film adaptation at some point, which honestly could turn into something very fun if they get a good cast for it.

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Quick Review – Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 14 October 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 340 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The unique writing team of acclaimed author Harlan Coben and world-famous actress Reese Witherspoon present a compelling and very exciting thriller, with Gone Before Goodbye.

Gone Before Goodbye was a very interesting read, that caught my attention when it was first announced thanks to the combination of it being Reese Witherspoon’s debut novel, and my previous experiences with the always impressive Harlan Coben.  I have had a great time with some of Coben’s previous novels, including I Will Find You, Think Twice and Nobody’s Fool, so I was very curious to see how this book turned out.

Plot Synopsis:

Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink.

A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan … until it wasn’t.

Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.

Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement.

But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is … Gone Before Goodbye

Gone Before Goodbye proved to be an exciting and enjoyably fast-paced read that drags you in quickly thanks to its unique plot, multiple twists and compelling medical focus.  Starting off with some good introductions to the key characters and highly damaged protagonist, you are soon drawn into the damaged life of Maggie and the mysterious job she chooses to accept.  After some useful exposition sequences in the hidden Russian compound that help to highlight how far the protagonist is out of her depth, things inevitably go downhill, and Maggie is forced to flee with the help of some unexpected allies.

What follows is a quick paced sequence of events across the world as Maggie and her family attempt to uncover the dark conspiracy that has been woven around them.  The authors do a good job of tying the current events of the book into Maggie’s complex past, including the death of her husband and their controversial medical company, and the various threads come together nicely as Gone Before Goodbye nears it ends, with lots of action and character growth thrown in for good measure.  The dramatic conclusion wraps things up nicely, and I especially loved the fantastic final twist, which was a particularly dark, but clever, way to end this entire novel.

This book comes together quite nicely, and you can really see the interesting combination of styles between Coben and Witherspoon here.  The fast-paced, character-focused storytelling, loaded with sudden twists, thrilling action and complex dramatic moments is classic Coben, who endeavours to quickly grab the reader’s attention and hook them early.  On the other hand, the inclusion of a strong military doctor protagonist is clearly Witherspoon referencing her parents, and I liked how this new author utilised something close to her and her family in her very first novel.  The resulting medical scenes are some of the best parts of the book, especially as the authors endeavoured to provide some detailed realism to the resulting sequences, and I enjoyed how they tied into Gone Before Goodbye’s larger narrative.

Gone Before Goodbye is further enhanced by some excellent and distinctive characters, including the damaged protagonist, some fun villainous figures, and the very entertaining biker character Porkchop, Maggie’s father-in-law who steals the show with every scene he’s in.  I did think that Gone Before Goodbye did come off a little too cinematic at times, and you can tell that the authors are thinking ahead to the inevitable television adaptation, especially with memorable characters like Porkchop.  Still, this cinematic forethought doesn’t take the reader too much out of the story, and the resulting book is a compelling thriller that is a lot of fun to get through.

The team of Harlan Coben and the debuting Reese Witherspoon’s first outing was an amazing success as Gone Before Goodbye was an entertaining and captivating thriller read that will appeal to a lot of readers.  Clever, twisty and filled with some great characters, Gone Before Goodbye was a ton of fun to get through, and I cannot wait to see what both authors have to write going forward, either by themselves or as a very distinctive team.

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The Final Vow by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Constable (Trade Paperback – 12 August 2025)

Series: Washington Poe – Book Seven

Length: 390 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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One of world’s most outrageous and entertaining thriller writers, M. W. Craven, continues one of his best series in impressive fashion with The Final Vow, a captivating and highly addictive novel that I couldn’t get enough of.

M. W. Craven is an outstanding author who has written a truly interesting array of thrillers throughout his career. This includes his original Avison Fluke series, as well as the great action-focused Ben Koenig series, the latter of which I have deeply enjoyed in recent years thanks to amazing books like Fearless and Nobody’s Hero. However, his main body of work is his excellent Washington Poe series that started back in 2018 with The Puppet Show.  Following a grumpy but skilled detective who gets partnered with a brilliant prodigy to solve the country’s most complex crimes, the Washington Poe novels are quite exceptional.  I personally fell in love with the series when I read the dark and intense novel, The Mercy Chair.  A particularly clever read loaded with an overabundance of well-thought-out twists, The Mercy Chair was an exceptional read, and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2024.  As such, I have been quite eager to continue the Washington Poe books, and the seventh entry in the series, The Final Vow, was one of my most anticipated books of 2025.

The people of England are living in a constant state of terror.  A murderous sniper is stalking the nation, shooting people at random and leaving no evidence behind.  This brutal shooter has so far killed over a dozen people throughout various parts of the country, never missing and always killing those who least expect it.  With the entire population locked down and hiding in their homes, the police and government are  so desperate for results that they turn to the unconventional team of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and his genius partner Tilly Bradshaw.

After their last major case saw Poe reassigned to the worst position in UK law enforcement, and Bradshaw snapped up by the country’s intelligence services, the two seem like an unlikely choice to save the day.  But with the help of their squad leader, Detective Chief Inspector Stephanie Flynn, there is no duo who stands a better chance of finding a killer who seems to strike completely at random.

However, as Poe and Bradshaw begin their investigation, they find themselves tracking a particularly skilled and deadly killer seemingly capable of countering all their moves.  Forced to rely on unconventional methods and Bradshaw’s out-of-the-box conclusions, the duo soon finds themselves narrowing in on the shooter and identifying his sinister motives.  But identifying the killer and capturing him are two very different things, and if they want to take him down, Poe knows he’ll have to make things personal, no matter what it costs him.

Craven continues to showcase why he is one of the world’s best rising thriller authors, as The Final Vow was a particularly powerful and impressive read that I had such a brilliant time with.  Featuring a deeply compelling story, loaded with unique characters, complex motivations, and fitted with the author’s slick humour, The Final Vow was an incredible read from start to finish.  I flew through this book in less than a day, it was that damn good, and I’m still thinking about its cool twists and reveals.

The Final Vow proved to be an extremely entertaining read, and it had one of the more unique and memorable thriller narratives of 2025.  Starting off with a dark hint of events to come, Craven soon perfectly sets the terrifying scene for the novel, with the country shuttered by fear thanks to a deadly sniper.  With the government desperate to stop the killing, they reluctantly bring back Detective Sergeant Washington Poe, whose reintroduction here was particularly entertaining and does a good job highlighting his unorthodox style.  Once again teaming up with anti-social genius Tilly Bradshaw, Poe and his other police colleagues begin their unique investigation into the crime.  Using some very interesting tactics while the body count from the sniper continues to rise, Poe and Bradshaw are soon able to determine the killer’s focus, which allows them to identify who the shooter is.  However, uncovering their target’s skills, background and outrageously over-the-top motive completely changes the entire story, and forces the protagonists into a particularly deadly hunt.

Craven keeps up the intensity and complexity of the plot into the second half of The Final Vow, as Poe uses his new information to try and find the killer.  However, after some very tense scenes and some surprising tragedy, Poe decides on a risky gambit, and makes the killer very angry by publicly humiliating him in a glorious scene.  This results in an interesting final third of The Final Vow, which goes in some dark directions, while also setting up for a big final confrontation.  I must admit that while I did enjoy how this final third of the book came about, I saw the author’s big twist coming from a mile away, which removed a lot of the emotional impact Craven was hoping for.  Still, it was very entertaining and compelling to see this twist play out the way it did, especially as Craven also utilised an extended sequence showcasing the background behind the twist.  While this behind-the-scenes section of The Final Vow is a little self-indulgent, it does provide some interesting context and entertaining character interactions, while also showcasing how easy it is to control public perception.  This leads up to a heartfelt final sequence of the book, which is a nice reward after the very dark narrative that makes up most of The Final Vow, and readers will come away from this book very entertained and extremely satisfied.

The Final Vow proved to be another awesome read from Craven, who manages to ensure that this book is somehow simultaneously dark and thrilling while also being highly entertaining and a little light-hearted.  The entire set-up for The Final Vow is extremely shocking, with a calculating sniper killing seemingly at random, and creating a palpable atmosphere of fear across the entire country.  The tension and terror that inhabit the scenes where the killer strikes are quite exceptional, as is the impact his shots have on the witnesses and the public.  However, Craven matches this excellent tension with the outrageous and over-the-top, both in the actions of the protagonists and in the crazy motivation of the antagonist, which alters much of The Final Vow’s underlying feel, turning it into quite a zany book at times.  This underlying lightness does disappear at key moments, especially when the antagonist strikes at the main character’s heart, and there are some dark sequences throughout that will keep the readers on the edge of their seats.  Combine that with Craven’s constant fast-paced revelations, clever investigation elements and great character work, and The Final Vow turns into quite an addictive read where you never know what is going to happen next.

Despite being the seventh book in the Washington Poe series, The Final Vow works well as a standalone novel, which is how Craven generally intends his novels to be enjoyed.  New readers can easily jump into The Final Vow with no prior knowledge of Craven’s previous works and still get swept up in his entertaining storytelling, and this is a very fun author to read for the first time.  While a great standalone novel, established fans of Craven and this series will probably get a little more out of The Final Vow, mainly because those readers will have a little more knowledge of the damaged protagonists, and the established relationships that they have.  Watching these character elements, especially between Poe and Tilly, continue in this new novel hit a little harder if you’re already familiar with it, especially during some of the darker moments of the plot.  Craven also makes some compelling references to the previous novel in the series, The Mercy Chair, throughout The Final Vow, including the utilisation of a very distinctive character from this earlier book, who has a great Hannibal Lecter inspired role in the plot.  I felt this character’s inclusion was very fun, and readers familiar with their interactions with Poe in The Mercy Chair will appreciate how they continue to be used here.  Throw in the utilisation of a character from another one of the author’s series, and The Final Vow is a book that Craven fans are going to have a lot of fun with, while still appealing to a wider audience.

The characters of The Final Vow were also a great highlight of this novel, and I loved how entertaining and outrageous they are at times.  The continued antics of maverick cop Washington Poe and his unlikely offsider and best friend Tilly Bradshaw result in most of the book’s fantastic humour, especially when the characters are forced to interact with police and characters unfamiliar with their style.  However, I really do have to highlight the antagonist of The Final Vow as my favourite character of the book.  The deadly sniper who has single-handedly terrorised England with their killings works well as a fantastic villain for Poe and Bradshaw, especially as you quickly become aware of how clever and deadly they are, and they prove to be a great equal to the protagonists.  However, it is their underlying motivations that really showcase just how despicable they are as a villain.  While I don’t want to give too much away here, as discovering their motivations is such a fantastic part of the experience of The Final Vow, the sheer pettiness behind their actions really goes to showcase just how twisted and dark they really are.  Combine that with their desire for revenge at any perceived sleight, and the lengths they will go to destroy their opponent, and this killer truly is an outstanding villain for the narrative, who you can’t help but be impressed with.  This great combination of wacky protagonists, an over-the-top antagonist, and an excellent collection of supporting characters, including some recurring figures from the previous books in the series, and The Final Vow’s cast added a lot to the overall impact of the book, and it is going to be interesting to see where some of these characters go next.

M. W. Craven continues to shine as one of the more inventive and entertaining thriller writers currently release awesome tales. His latest novel, The Final Vow, was a particularly fun and exciting read, that perfectly combines its tense and deadly narrative, with the fun antics of its outrageous cast. I powered through The Final Vow in no time at all, and this was such a great novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next Washington Poe novel later this year, and I’m sure it’s going to be another exceptional read.

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The Blackfire Blade by James Logan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy1 Comment

Publisher: Arcardia (Trade Paperback – 11 November 2025)

Series: The Last Legacy – Book Two

Length: 583 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for adventure, intrigue and some fantastic character dynamics in the outstanding 2025 fantasy novel, The Blackfire Blade by James Logan.

Back in 2024 I had the pleasure of reading the outstanding The Silverblood Promise, which was the debut of author James Logan.  A cool fantasy novel and the first book in the author’s The Last Legacy series, The Silverblood Promise followed the banished scion of a noble house, Lukan Gardova, who finds out that his estranged father had been murdered.  Determined to find out who killed him, Lukan follows the one clue his father left him and winds up in an enticing Mediterranean-inspired fantasy city teaming with its own secret problems.  Needing to uncover a conspiracy deep within this setting before he can achieve his goals, Lukan finds himself teaming up with a brave street urchin and a talented master thief to save the day.  I really loved this awesome first novel from Logan, and The Silverblood Promise ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2024.  As such, I have been looking forward to Logan’s second novel for a while, and I was very happy to get my hands on The Silverblood Promise’s sequel a few weeks ago.  This sequel, The Blackfire Blade, was another amazing read with an outstanding and highly entertaining plot behind it.

Plot Synopsis:

Winter has come early to Korslakov, City of Spires, and Lukan Gardova has arrived with it. Most visitors to this famous city of artifice seek technological marvels, or alchemical ingenuity. Lukan only desires the unknown legacy his father has left for him, in the vaults of the Blackfire Bank.

But when Lukan’s past catches up with him, his key to the vault ends up in the hands of a mysterious thief known only as the Rook. As Lukan and his companions race to recover the key, they soon find themselves trapped in a web of murder and deceit. In desperation, Lukan requests the help of Lady Marni Volkova, scion to Korslakov’s most powerful family.

Yet Lady Marni has secrets of her own. Worse, she has plans for Lukan and his friends. Plans that involve a journey into Korslakov’s dark past, in search of a long-lost alchemical formula that could prove to be the city’s greatest discovery . . . or its destruction.

The Blackfire Blade was another extremely awesome fantasy adventure novel from James Logan, who showcases his growth as a writer with this excellent sequel.  Following three loveable, if chaotic, protagonists as they explore a new intricate urban fantasy setting, The Blackfire Blade was an exciting blast from start to finish, and I cannot get enough of this amazing series.

James Logan produced another particularly entertaining adventure narrative for The Blackfire Blade, which quickly drags you in with its fun excitement.  Effectively reintroducing you to the three main protagonists, Lukan, the former street urchin Flea and thief Ashra Seramis, better known as Lady Midnight, as they finally reach their destination of Korslakov.  Hoping to uncover the clue to Lukan’s father’s murder that is hidden within Korslakov’s Blackfire Bank, the group finds their mission imperilled when a drunken Lukan immediately has the vault key stolen by a mysterious thief, known as the Rook.  With no other way of accessing the vault, Lukan and his companions desperately search for the Rook with the help of some unlikely friends within the city.  However, they soon run afoul of some of Korslakov’s elites and become indebted to Lady Marni Volkova, a minor character from The Silverblood Promise.

This first part of the book nicely sets the scene for the rest of The Blackfire Blade’s plot, and I found myself really drawn into the various political intrigues and complex feuds that make up high society in Kroslakov.  Logan also does a great job setting up some interesting dynamics amongst the protagonists, which allowed the characters to come together as a more cohesive family going forward.  The second half of The Blackfire Blade was all excellent action and adventure, as the protagonists find themselves continuously forced to take on even more dangerous escapades to pay off their debts and recover the key.  This includes a particularly deadly job navigating the most dangerous parts of the city, to find an alchemical formula.  This part of the story was so damn fun, and features a great mix of scary monsters, fast-paced action, and some very interesting details about the city.

The final third of The Blackfire Blade features a range of fantastic sequences that really showcase the author’s imagination when it comes to unique obstacles and threats.  Highlights include an excellent heist sequence, manipulations of the city’s warring elite, and encounters with a secret society determined to keep the formula out of anyone’s hands.  Logan throws in a lot of great twists and turns here, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see what chaos will be unleashed next.  Everything leads up to the entertaining and destructive finale, where all the lies and secrets come to light, and the protagonists are forced to come together against a truly overwhelming opponent.  Logan clearly has fun detailing the resulting insanity that emerges, and it led to an impressive and deeply entertaining continuous action sequence.  The Blackfire Blade wraps up with Lukan finally getting some details about the larger series narrative, which looks set to lead to some awesome additional adventures, and readers are guaranteed to come away from this book extremely satisfied.

I really enjoyed how The Blackfire Blade came together as a novel, and it is very clear that Logan has developed his skills when it comes to writing action-focused, fast-paced fantasy adventure narratives.  Working extremely well as both a standalone novel and a great sequel to The Silverblood Promise (thanks to a great summary of the first book included at the start), The Blackfire Blade continues in a similar vein to the first Last Legacy novel, with the protagonists forced to explore and understand a new city before they can continue their main quest.  While some readers might not appreciate the requirement for each book in this series to devolve into side quests before the main storyline can be explored, I really liked how it turned out in The Blackfire Blade, as the resulting intrigue, exploration of the city, and following deadly adventures, made for some outstanding reading.  It helps that Logan excels at writing awesome and intense action sequences, and there are a lot of extremely fun moments scattered throughout this novel.  Throw in some very moment sequences where Logan continues to develop his protagonists and their unique relationships, and The Blackfire Blade was a very worthy sequel to the author’s first book, and I felt it was actually a stronger overall novel.

One of the things that most impressed me about The Blackfire Blade was the way that Logan built and introduced a whole new unique fantasy city that the protagonists were forced to explore and understand.  Serving as a fantastic contrast to the sunny and crime-infested Saphrona, the setting of The Silverblood Promise, Korslakov is a grim and snow-shrouded city of power, invention and alchemical might.  The gloomy, purple fire covered spires of Korslakov, perfectly matches the mood of the book’s main characters as they attempt to find their feet in this new local, and the subsequent exploration and understanding of this new urban setting, are some of the best parts of the book.  It’s impressive how effortlessly Logan moves his characters through the various elements of Korslakov, from the decadent battles of the high society to the terrifying abandoned section of the city, infested with flesh-eating monstrosities.  All these detailed and well-written elements of Korslakov play a compelling role in The Blackfire Blade’s narrative, and the city feels like a major character in the book, with the protagonists and the reader, needing to fully understand and appreciate its place in the narrative.  It will be very interesting to see what awesome new city Logan comes up with in his third Last Legacy book, but it’s going to be hard to top the setting he utilised here.

The final element of The Blackfire Blade that I want to highlight here are the complex and likeable central protagonists that Logan bases his story around.  The three main characters, Lukan, Ashra and the very entertaining Flea, are excellent figures, each of whom are dealing with their own issues, such as Lukan’s drunken depression, Flea’s fear of abandonment and Ashra’s constant worry about vengeful enemies coming after her.  Logan ensures that all three of these characters are well utilised in The Blackfire Blade, with a mostly equal balance of perspective chapters where they can work out their separate issues.  While in some ways these protagonists, mainly Lukan, have lost a little of the development from the first book, Logan works through that again, which ensures they come out of this latest adventure stronger.  However, the real magic of these protagonists is the way that Logan has morphed them into unconventional and dysfunctional family unit, that never ceases to entertain.  While they may bicker, argue and misunderstand each other throughout the book, the reader is never in doubt that they care for each other, and this allows them to be an extremely likeable bunch who you constantly root for (especially Flea).

Aside from the three main protagonists, The Blackfire Blade is loaded with a highly entertaining and often outrageous collection of supporting characters, all of whom add a lot to the book’s impact.  Primarily focused on the elites of Korslakov, who the protagonists need to deal with to achieve their goals, you are introduced to an interesting array of backstabbing nobles and self-important lords, whose intrigues and squabbles are a key part of the plot.  My favourites include grizzled general Leopold Razin, who proves to be a particularly entertaining, if tragic, ally to the protagonists.  There was also the imposing Lady Wretzky, the Iron Dame, who more than lives up to her title during her interactions with the main cast.  I also need to highlight the deadly Lady Marni Volkova, an ultra-wealthy heiress who Lucan finds himself indebted to and whose appearances are always quite entertaining as she pulls the main character’s strings.  There was also the briefly featured Clank, a great character whose inclusion reveals one of Korslakov’s biggest secrets, while also having some amazing interactions with Flea.  I’m honestly only barely scratching the surface of all the very entertaining and compelling characters featured in The Blackfire Blade, and I was really impressed with Logan’s ability to create and then utilise this amazing cast in his second book.

James Logan continues to shine as one of fantasy fiction’s newest rising authors.  His second novel, The Blackfire Blade, was a wonderful and highly entertaining read, that serves as an outstanding sequel to his amazing first novel.  Exciting, powerful and extremely addictive, The Blackfire Blade really showcased Logan’s amazing ability as an author, and I honestly could not get enough of this incredible fantasy read.  This second book from Logan was so damn good, and I cannot wait to see what adventures, revelations and heartfelt moments await us in his next entry in The Last Legacy series.

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Cold War by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, LGBT+, Science Fiction3 Comments

Publisher: Blackstone Audio (Audiobook – 14 October 2025)

Series: NecroTek – Book Two

Length: 19 hours and 33 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The insanity and complex storytelling of Jonathan Maberry’s incredible NecroTek series continues in 2025 with the impressive and deeply intense sequel Cold War.

2025 has been a pretty awesome year for fans of Jonathan Maberry, as we have not only gotten the new Joe Ledger/Rogue Team International novel, Burn to Shine, but Maberry also continued his excellent NecroTek series.  Released in collaboration with the iconic Weird Tales magazine, the series started last year with the amazing novel, NecroTek (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024), this series saw Maberry combine compelling science fiction elements with his love for Lovecraftian horror, when, in the near future, a space station of scientists and soldiers is transported across the galaxy and forced to fight eldritch horrors.  As the book continued, several of the human characters to become the titular NecroTeks, undead pilots of gigantic alien war machines, who are forced to risk the destruction of their souls to fight back against the monsters coming for them.  Due to how powerful, compelling, and occasionally scary this novel got, I have been keen for the sequel, Cold War, for quite some time, and I made sure to check it out the amazing audiobook version of it a few weeks ago.

Plot Synopsis:

In NecroTek, Asphodel space station was accidentally teleported to the far side of the galaxy, where they became embroiled in a never-ending war against ancient cosmic horrors.

But there is much more to the story …

On Earth, scientists uncover an alien spacecraft buried for millions of years beneath Antarctic ice. Inside are terrible secrets and a creature desperate to escape.

Soon the scientists studying the Artifact begin to have terrifying dreams, driving many of them to madness and acts of shocking violence. Dr. Evie Cronin and her team struggle to find answers, fully aware that they may only be found out among the stars. Their investigation brings them to the orbit of Jupiter moments before the WarpLine gun misfires. Destiny is a vicious and devious thing.

On Asphodel Station, the newly created ghost-driven NecroTek fighting machines are engaged in a desperate battle for survival against the deadly shoggoth fleets. But a new and far more dangerous race of creatures is poised to attack, both with their own fleets and with nightmares forced into the minds of the dwindling human defenders.

The group of scientists from Antarctica and the survivors on Asphodel are pitted against an unstoppable enemy. If they fail, Asphodel Station will fall, and the Outer Gods will be free to wage a war of conquest across the galaxy—to Earth itself.

Jonathan Maberry once again delivers an impressive read with his outstanding and complex Cold War.  Featuring an intense, character driven story that takes its protagonists to hell and back, Cold War was a powerful, horror-laden science fiction novel that refuses to let you go.  I loved this book so much, and it gets a very easy five-star rating from me, and I have recently featured it on my recent favourite sequels and audiobooks lists of 2025.

Maberry produced a very exciting and captivating narrative for Cold War that goes in a very different direction than I would have expected after NecroTek, but which works as a very effective and expansive sequel.  Initially showcasing the events in the aftermath of NecroTek and the first big battle for Asphodel Station, the reader is quickly and effectively reintroduced to the key characters from the first book and given an update on how they have continued to adapt to being transferred across the universe.  The early chapters of Cold War also take the reader back in time a few years before the events of the first book, when a group of scientists uncover an ancient alien artifact in the Antarctic snow, keeping it secret from the world and all the protagonists of the first book.

Cold War’s narrative soon develops an interesting and noticeably uneven split in the storylines.  While a good chunk of Cold War continues to showcase the figures on Asphodel and their multiple struggles, including the slow reveal of a new terrifying group of antagonists, much more focus is given to the Antarctic research plot line, with longer chapters dedicated to this part of the book.  While this move away from the established plot is surprising, I personally thought it was very clever, as it allowed Maberry to further expand both the cast and the lore around the threats humanity was facing, while also bringing the story back to Earth.  The cool exploration and first-contact scientific elements of this Antarctic storyline were also deeply compelling, and I got extremely absorbed in this part of Cold War’s narrative as the book continued.  While there was more of a focus on the Earth-based narrative, the story around Asphodel was still very impressive, with some complex character development, multiple ultra-exciting sequences of space combat, and a growing sense of dread as dark forces stalk the protagonists.

The final third of Cold War sees the book’s two separate storylines come together in very direct way, which allows many of the unique characters developed in both NecroTek and Cold War to come together.  While the transition to this part of the book is quite sudden, it allows for a very exciting end run of the book, as Maberry pumps up the action, and takes the protagonists through hell and back.  Maberry brings out all his best horror writing as the now combined cast are forced to contend with a terrifying array of monsters and eldritch creatures, including another zombie substitute (Maberry loves his zombies).  All the storylines from the first half pay off in this final part of Cold War, and while there aren’t too many surprises, you’re constantly on your feet as you wait to see who’s going to survive and which side characters are going to get killed off.  The author leaves Cold War on a very interesting note, and I’m already extremely curious to see where he takes the NecroTek series going forward.

Maberry utilised his distinctive and well-honed thriller writing style in Cold War, which combined nicely with the science fiction story and the overarching horror vibes to create a brilliantly intense and fast-paced read.  Once again breaking the story up into a series of short and sharp alternating perspective subchapters, Maberry constantly jumps Cold War’s story between multiple key protagonists, as well as some antagonists, to produce a wonderfully layered and powerful narrative that constantly has multiple awesome interlocking storylines on the go.  This quick-paced style works well to enhance both the book’s horror and science fiction elements, and the constant jumps also increase the tension of the plot and produce some excellent action sequences, including some truly unique and ultra-impressive space combat sequences.  There were also some new delightfully terrifying horrors determined to kill the protagonists both in their dreams and real life cleverly introduced in this novel, and Maberry did an amazing job building them up as a threat the entire book.  Maberry also effectively splits his book into two separate narratives for much of Cold War’s runtime, with alternating chapters diving between the events in the present at Asphodel Station and the prequel storyline in Antarctica.  This cool split really changed the feel and focus of Cold War compared to NecroTek, and while Maberry allowed both storylines to run mostly independently, they also worked well to support each other.  All these great writing techniques and narrative choices allowed Cold War to really stand out as a sequel, and I liked how much stronger Cold War turned out as a result.

While Cold War does work extremely well as a sequel, with the author’s excellent storytelling choices and alternating timelines really adding a lot to the story from NecroTek, it does mean that this book is probably not as accessible to new readers as some of Maberry’s other works.  Maberry does do his usual excellent job of recapping key events in the text as the book continues, so new readers do get a pretty good idea of what happened and who the key figures are.  However, the full emotional impacts of events, as well as the significance of some of the revelations coming to light in Cold War’s big prequel narrative in Antarctica really aren’t going to hit readers as hard if they haven’t read the first book.  Indeed, Cold War might be best read by established fans of Maberry, who will appreciate the author’s continued utilisation of Lovecraftian elements, as Maberry continues to showcase his love for the classic horrors with some fun science fiction twists.  Experienced Maberry readers will also be more used to the author’s extreme content, as Cold War is as dark and disturbingly over-the-top as many of his books, with some very adult horror moments.  Readers should also be on the lookout for easter eggs to some of Maberry’s works, including a fun reference to the antagonist of the Joe Ledger novel Dogs of War.  As such, this is very much a book for those readers familiar with the author, although I think new fans would be in for an excellent time.

As with most of Maberry’s writing, one of Cold War’s big strengths is its excellent contingent of complex and often highly damaged characters, whose unique interactions and experiences during these terrifying times frame the book’s captivating narrative.  Cold War contains an interesting mixture of returning figures from NecroTek and a new batch of protagonists who end up taking over a good part of the plot.  This includes Professor Evie Cronin, the leader of the expedition who discovers the alien artifact in Antarctica.  Evie serves as a great new major protagonist for the series, and Maberry’s choice to set much of Cold War’s narrative around her, ensures that the NecroTek books continue to have a strong scientific basis to their narratives.  The author really tries to capture the shock, excitement and fear that would accompany the discovery of an alien ship through Evie’s experiences in Cold War, and she serves as a relatable and likeable major focus for much of the book’s plot.  Maberry also works in a nice romance angle between Evie and shooter Jenny Spears, that serves as a big emotional part of Cold War’s plot, and which added to the stakes and impact of some of the high-tension sequences.  Of the remaining new characters introduced in Cold War, my favourite was probably Dr Torquil Brollachan, a government scientist who takes over the investigation of the alien artifact.  A complex and guarded figure, Dr Brollachan serves as an interesting foil to Evie and his secret motivations and dangerous priorities turns him into a bit of a Dr Frankenstein figure at times (an apt comparison that Dr Brollachan would appreciate), resulting in some fantastic reveals in the second part of the book.

While these new characters are impactful and have some very compelling storylines around them, their inclusion does mean that the cast introduced in NecroTek don’t get as much time to shine as they previously did.  Still Maberry keeps many of their storylines going, and all of them serve as a key part of the book’s plot.  This includes the main character from the first book, Dr Lars Soren, whose steady presence continues to be a great part of Cold War, and I enjoyed how Maberry further explored his cosmic philosophy ideas in the interludes.  The continued inclusion of the dead characters brought back as NecroTeks was also very compelling, with their experiences, including that of Bianca Petrescu, providing some complex existential elements to the plot.  I also liked how Maberry choice to focus a lot more on pilot character Lieutenant Commander Veronica Roland, better known as Calisto, who was forced to step up and lead the human pilots defending Asphodel Station.  Calisto’s struggle to become a leader, as well as the distinctive and beautifully written fighter combat sequences, are another amazing highlight, and I appreciated how well her scenes were written in this sequel.  Throw in the entertaining Irish necromancer, Lady Jessica, who spends much of the book recovering from the events of NecroTek, and the cast of Cold War was a very awesome part of this book, and I personally cannot wait to see where all their captivating and haunting personal stories go from here.

Like I have with all the other Maberry novels I have had the pleasure of reading, I ended up enjoying Cold War on audiobook, which I find is the best way to enjoy the author’s thrilling narratives.  I always find that Maberry’s dark tales and intricate and exciting writing style always translate nicely to the audiobook format, and they tend to be some of the best listens each year.  Indeed, as I mentioned above, Cold War was one of my favourite audiobooks of 2025, and I ended up powering through this new audiobook’s 19-and-a-half-hour-long runtime.  Much of Cold War’s epic success on audiobook once again lies in the narration of Maberry’s long-time audiobook collaborator, Ray Porter.  Porter, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, always perfectly matches the dark and sinister tones of Maberry’s writing, and I really love the sense of menace and intensity he brings to audiobooks like Cold War, as he conveys the underlying threat and fear Maberry weaves into his tales.  Porter also expertly delivers all the book’s awesome action, great humour, and other deeper emotions, to the listener and there is always a great synchronisation between Porter’s narration and the intent of Maberry’s writing.  Porter also has an outstanding array of distinctive voices for the book’s characters, and I love how he always manages to bring the best out of Cold War’s complex casts.  All these voices, including for the various new characters introduced in this sequel, were extremely fitting for their respective cast member, and I appreciate how effectively Porter portrays each figure’s emotions.  Porter also does an exceptional job voicing the sinister monsters and other eldritch figures haunting the protagonists, and the impressive array of creepy voices really emphasises the dark nature of Cold War’s story to the listener.  All this results in quite an exceptional listen, and it’s one that I cannot recommend enough.  Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to be possible for me to ever not enjoy a Maberry novel on audiobook, especially if Porter is narrating, and there is a reason these epic listens always top my best audiobook lists each year.

Maberry’s outstanding NecroTek series continues in extremely strong fashion with the extremely captivating Cold War.  Cleverly expanding on the story from the first novel, NecroTek, Cold War effortlessly kept up the terrifying tension as multiple compelling characters continue to experience the dark horrors the universe has in store for them.  I had an exceptional time with Cold War, and I have no problem letting you know that this book will be appearing in my favourite novels of 2025 later this week.  I’m also extremely excited as a Maberry fan for 2026, as not only do we have the new Joe Ledger book, Red Empire, coming out in March, but the NecroTek series will also thankfully be continuing, with a third novel, Ghosts of the Void, tentatively set for release towards the end of the year.

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Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel3 Comments

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 11 November 2025)

Series: Star Wars

Length: 15 hours and 27 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for a dive to the dark side with the captivating and impressive new Star Wars novel, Master of Evil by Adam Christopher.

2025 has been a pretty good year for Star Wars fiction, with several awesome new books introduced to the existing canon.  My favourites have so far been The Mask of Fear by Alexander Freed and Sanctuary by Lamar Giles, although I have also just finished the outstanding and deeply compelling new release, Master of Evil.  The second Star Wars book from tie-in fiction author Adam Christopher, whose Stranger Things novel, Darkness on the Edge of Town, I previously had the pleasure of reading, Master of Evil is an exciting and complex book that I have been looking forward to for a while.  A very interesting read set in one of the best periods of Star Wars lore, Master of Evil had a great plot behind it, as well as a particularly epic cover.

Plot Synopsis:

After Revenge of the Sith, a newly forged Darth Vader hunts for the secrets of life and death under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine.

In the wake of Emperor Palpatine’s rise to power, the true nature of his most sinister enforcer remains a mystery. Darth Vader is a dominant yet illusive figure: the shadow cast by a malignant Imperial regime, unknowable to even its top officials. But even as his humanity gives way to myth, Vader remains haunted by the promises of the dark side, seeking the ultimate power that his master has hinted at but withheld—the power to conquer death itself.

On the volcanic world of Mustafar, Vader undertakes a dark ritual, bleeding a kyber crystal to forge his lightsaber. This act unleashes a power far greater than he anticipated, giving him a glimpse into the limitless potential of the Force.

Vader is determined to follow this vision, even if it means defying his master’s orders. Yet he finds the Emperor is suspiciously supportive of his mission, even sending Vader to the Diso system to investigate rumors of a Force-wielding shaman able to raise the dead. At his side are a cadre of the Emperor’s scarlet-robed Royal Guard, led by Colonel Halland Goth—a decorated soldier with a very personal interest in Vader’s mission.

Even as the Emperor’s true motivations reveals themselves, Vader falls deeper into obsession. His journey takes him far across the galaxy, chasing rumors and phantoms. But no matter how far he travels, he cannot escape the shadows within his own soul. Haunted by the echoes of his past, Vader circles the true resolution to his quest: only once all weakness is purged can he become a master of evil.

Adam Christopher presents one of the more unique and compelling Star Wars novels of 2025, with the awesome and complex Master of Evil.  Following several highly damaged characters as they move towards a dark collision course, Master of Evil had me hooked very early on, and I had an outstanding time with this novel, especially on its audiobook format.

I really enjoyed the exciting story Christopher came up with for Master of Evil, which drags the reader in with captivating Star Wars lore and some very personal character elements.  Starting off with an interesting prologue set around Count Dooku, the story soon skips to immediately after the events of Revenge of the Sith, focusing on the early days of the Empire.  While some early scenes are shown from the perspective of Vader, much of the novel is primarily shown through the eyes of new character Colonel Halland Goth, a Royal Guard assigned to Vader.  Tasked with reporting back on Vader’s actions, Goth accompanies him on his quest to find a Force-wielding shaman and learn more about the dark side of the Force.  While there is less of a direct focus on Vader and his inner thoughts than you’d expect based on the synopsis, Christopher does an excellent job of setting up Vader as a sinister and conflicted personality in this novel, especially with a cool scene on the planet Diso, where Vader clashes with the shaman. 

Following this first part of the book, the middle of Master of Evil slows down a little, as Christopher continues to develop his new characters and their motivations, as well as set up an interesting investigation arc as Goth tries to find out who or what Vader is.  There is a less direct Vader here, but I really got stuck into this part of the book and enjoyed the author’s compelling examination of his protagonists and their personal growth, as well as the early politics of the Empire and the manipulations of the Sith.  This eventually leads to an extended final third of Master of Evil, where several different groups attempt to find an abandoned Separatist spaceship filled with various secrets.  There is an excellent mixture of storylines here, with Goth chasing Vader and his chance of survival, other interested parties trying to get the treasure of the ship, and Vader accessing dark power hidden within.  While much of Vader’s adventures are told through the eyes of others, including clone troopers assigned to him, there are several fantastic scenes here where we directly see Vader access the dark side of the force hidden in the ship.  These scenes are particularly powerful, as we are given direct access to Vader’s conflicted mind, and the resulting Force visions give some outstanding insights to his psyche.  The other big character-driven storylines of Master of Evil also go in some fascinating directions, and Christopher loads them with action, self-discovery and tragedy, all of which is quite moving and addictive.  The conclusion of Master of Evil is particularly emotionally charged, and the novel ends on some complex notes that dedicated Star Wars fans are going to really appreciate.

I felt that Adam Christopher did an excellent job pulling together a compelling, character-driven Star Wars novel that was part adventure, part intriguing lore dive, that makes full use of its setting and examination of complex figures from the films.  The excellent story moves along at a swift clip throughout the entire book, and you really get dragged into the well-balanced mix of action, intrigue and emotionally charged pieces of Star Wars lore.  While parts of the book are a little slower to build up future story elements, for the most part Master of Evil was a very compelling novel that didn’t have any real wasted space. Despite some reservations I had before I read this book that Master of Evil was going to be way too lore-heavy for casual readers, I felt that Christopher produced a Star Wars novel that was actually pretty accessible.  Anyone with a good basic knowledge of Star Wars (or who has at least watched the original and prequel trilogies) will be able to follow this story along closely and have an excellent time with it. 

While I do think that Master of Evil is accessible to new readers, Christopher does feature some deep cuts into Star Wars lore that will primarily appeal to established fans of the series and its associated tie-in books and comics.  There are a lot of references to various bits of Star Wars fiction set before and after the events of Master of Evil, and Christopher has fun mentioning other books and comics.  For example, there are multiple references to the events of Charles Soule’s Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic, the first volume of which mostly takes place just before this novel.  Indeed, Christopher replicates one of the key sequences from this comic in one of Master of Evil’s opening scenes, which honestly made for a gripping read, especially on the audiobook format.  There are also a ton of clever references to the main films either side of this book, Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, including some re-enactments of a couple of major scenes from another character’s perspective.  I also loved some of the vision sequences associated with Vader’s hunt for the dark side where he envisions alternate versions of established events, many of which come out in darker and more sinister ways.  This combines well with the book’s fascinating look at the early Empire era of Star Wars history, and this was a very awesome novel for those readers who love a lot of lore in their tie-in fiction.

While I had a lot of fun with the story, Christopher’s obvious strength as a writer in Master of Evil was the impressive and complex characters that he was able to utilise in the plot.  This excellent book featured an array of compelling characters throughout the plot, including a mixture of new protagonists and some iconic figures from the films.  I personally really liked the dynamics of characters that emerged, even if there were less appearances from established figures as I would have expected.  These new characters ended up providing a great outsiders perspective for the reader, and it was fascinating to see their associated views about the Empire and Darth Vader, especially when they start digging deeper into the mysteries of the Sith.

Of these characters, the most prominent is Commander Halland Goth, a Royal Guard, who finds himself enmeshed in the chaos of Vader’s quest.  Halland proved to be a compelling and complex character, whose evolution of perspective throughout Master of Evil was a powerful part of the book’s emotional depth.  A loyal soldier who wants to serve the Empire, Halland is slowly dying due to a painful disease, which forces him to make various compromises to achieve his goals.  However, the more he comes to see of Vader and the true nature of the Empire, the more Halland changes, and Christopher wrote a good redemption arc around this protagonist as the book continued.  While Halland is a great character, my favourite was his loyal protocol droid TC-99, also called Nines.  Nines, who has been heavily modified by Halland, has a very distinctive personality, which is a mixture of the established timid protocol droid mentality, and that of a close confidant to Halland ready to help him as he slowly dies.  Nines quickly steals the show with his sassy humour, caring personality and various quirks, as well as his ability to upload other droid minds and skills to help Halland achieve his goals.  Throw some other fun supporting characters including a manipulative ISB agent, a couple of clone troopers uncertain of their place in the new Empire, and two conflicted minor Force users, and this was an exceptional cast of new characters that Christopher wraps a unique narrative around.

While much of this book’s focus is on the new characters, this is still a Darth Vader novel, and he unsurprisingly turns out to be an excellent part of this book.  While there is a lot less direct focus on Vader and his perspective of events as you’d expect, he was still a consistent presence in the novel as he went about his own goals.  While I know some readers will dislike the minimalisation of Vader’s direct appearances in the plot, I personally enjoyed how Christopher set him as a mysterious and intimidating monster whose thoughts you can’t easily guess at.  It was fascinating to see all the other characters have no idea how to deal with him or his role in the Empire, and the constant threat and fear that felt as they talked to him was palpable at times.  While he was mostly shown from other characters’ viewpoints, there were a few chapters that do feature Vader’s direct perspective, which tended to be some of the book’s best sequences.  Many of these direct scenes involved Force visions or explorations of the Vader’s psyche, and it was quite powerful to see him interact with figures from the past in his mindscape.  Christopher tries to show a somewhat conflicted Vader in Master of Evil, one who has embraced his desire for power, but who still has some flashes of good in him, occasionally helping his subordinates.  Despite that, some of the later scenes show Vader making a very final choice about his place in the galaxy, which allowed for some impressively heartrending moments.  As such, I felt that Christopher did an exceptional job of showcase this iconic figure and his unique motivations in Master of Evil, and he served as a great dark centre to the story.

While I did receive a physical copy of this novel, I instead sought out an audiobook copy of Master of Evil.  Master of Evil is a particularly good example of how epic a Star Wars audiobook could be, as Christopher’s amazing story is deeply enhanced by the combination of an outstanding narrator and the wonderful use of classic Star Wars sound effects and music.  I always enjoy how well the iconic audio features from the films are utilised in Star Wars audiobooks, and especially impressive in Master of Evil.  The always awesome score from John Williams was perfectly inserted into various chapters of the books, often at climatic and key moments of the plot, and the resulting boost to the emotional impact of these scenes is always quite impressive to behold.  The inclusion of various distinctive Star Wars sound effects was particularly important to the ambience of Master of Evil, with crowd noises, blaster fire, spaceship sounds and the thrum of the lightsaber helping to drag the listener into the plot.  However, the most effective sound effect utilised in Master of Evil are the respirator sounds of Darth Vader.  The iconic breathing sounds add some major impacts to the story, especially in the scenes where the various perspective protagonists are attempting to describe the intimidating nature of this awesome villain, and there is a certain level of dread that invades the audiobook whenever Vader can be heard.  The sudden appearance or lack of this sound in scenes involving Vader is also quite impactful, and I really appreciated how the effect was modulated and altered to back up some key story details.

While the impressive music and sound effects are a major factor in why Master of Evil’s audiobook is so damn good, much of the credit for its success needs to go to narrator Marc Thompson.  Thompson is easily one of the best regular Star Wars audiobook narrators (and one of my favourite overall audiobook narrators) due to his outstanding vocal range and ability to replicate many key characters from the films and television series, and he has previously impressed me with his work on Thrawn, The Rising Storm, Scoundrels and Dark Disciple, just to name a few.  His work in Master of Evil was just as exceptional as always, perfectly voicing the book’s cast, and moving the story along at an exciting and tense pace.  I felt his voice for some key Star Wars characters, such as the Emperor and Count Dooku, was particularly impressive, and he also managed an outstanding Darth Vader, with the help of some vocal enhancements.  His excellent voice work was particularly useful for several sequences where iconic quotes from the films were read out in the context of this story, giving them the emotional weight they had in the original films.  There were even some moments where Thompson needed to have alternative character say these lines (for example, Anakin and Obi-Wan switching dialogue from one of their Revenge of the Sith scenes in a vision), and the narrator’s take on both actors’ dialogue was just perfect.  Even some of the voices that Thompson used for the new members of the cast, such as Holland Goth, were powerful and effective, and I liked how he presented them.  My favourite was the voice he used for Nines, which was entertainingly similar to Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO from Rogue One.  I particularly loved how well Thompson changed Nines’s voice to reflect the different droid personalities he uploaded into himself, and it helped turn Nines into one of the more entertaining, and heartfelt, characters in the book.  This unsurprisingly outstanding performance from Marc Thompson let me effortlessly fly through Master of Evil’s 15-and-a-half-hour runtime, especially with the cool music and sound effects, and I had such a great time listing to this audiobook.  As such, the Master of Evil audiobook comes very highly recommended, and it is a guaranteed hit, especially for those who already know and love the Star Wars audiobooks.

With some outstanding action and cool characters, Master of Evil proved to be an excellent and compelling Star Wars novel, and one I had an amazing time getting through.  Adam Christopher excelled at diving into some interesting bits of Star Wars lore, and I really enjoyed his fantastic take on this compelling period of Star Wars history.  While some readers will probably be disappointed in chapter’s focusing directly on Darth Vader, Christopher still tells an impressive narrative for those who are open to it.  An overall awesome new Star Wars novel that resulted in one of the better audiobooks of 2025.

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