Tag: Penguin

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

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

Dark Corners Cover 2

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 8 August 2023)

Series: Rachel Krall – Book Two

Length: 352 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s fastest-rising crime fiction authors, Megan Goldin, returns with another awesome read, the moving and entertaining novel, Dark Corners.

Over the last few years, I have been really enjoying the works of talented Australian author Megan Goldin, whose releases have become something of a must-read for me.  Goldin has written some amazing books throughout her relatively short career, including the very gripping and intense The Escape Room (one of my favourite Australian books of 2019) and the brilliant psychological thriller, Stay Awake (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022).  One of Goldin’s best books so far was The Night Swim, which was one of my favourite Australian books of 2020.  The Night Swim followed protagonist Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster, as she investigated a notorious rape trial in a small American town.  This was a particularly moving and intense read that really showcased Goldin’s range.  As such, I was very interested when I saw that Goldin was releasing a second Rachel Krall book this year with Dark Corners, and I made sure to read a copy as soon as I could.

After returning from her latest recording exploit, famous true crime podcaster Rachel Krall finds herself dragged into another sinister case when a phone call from the FBI sees her flown to a maximum security prison outside of Daytona Beach, Florida.  A famous social media star has gone missing shortly after meeting with Terence Bailey, a notorious inmate serving time for a relatively minor crime, who many believe is a serial killer.  The only clue the FBI have is a message handed between the two requesting that the missing star seek Rachel out.

Unable to let go of such a curious and intriguing case that she is inexplicably linked to, Rachel resolves to remain in Florida until she finds the truth.  Checking into a massive influencer convention being held at Daytona Beach, Rachel looks to find out more about the missing girl and finds herself being dragged into the cutthroat world of influencers, Instagrammers and internet celebrities.  However, the more information she finds about the missing girl, the more she realises that there is something peculiar about the victim and her past.

Rachel’s investigation uncovers a series of sinister deaths and disappearances in the area, each of which may be connected to Terence Bailey, who is due to be released in a couple of days.  Racing against the clock, Rachel and the FBI must uncover the truth before Bailey gets out of prison.  But it soon becomes clear that there is another predator lurking around Daytona Beach, one who hides in plain sight and will do anything to cover their tracks, including taking Rachel out.

This was a very impressive new read from Goldin, who follows up The Night Swim in a big way.  Dark Corners is a fantastic novel that beautifully combines an intense narrative with some unique and entertaining elements to create an awesome read I easily powered through.

Goldin really comes out of the gate swinging with Dark Corners, and I was swiftly drawn into the clever mystery and intense, character-driven narrative that she pulls together for this follow-up read.  The author starts the reader off with the compelling mystery of a social media star who has been kidnapped after contacting an imprisoned convict.  With the protagonist dragged in thanks to her internet fame, this swiftly turns into an intense personal investigation, as Rachel and the FBI attempt to find the missing girl and solve several unsolved murders and disappearances.  Told through several key perspectives, including that of Rachel and a mysterious rideshare driver who has a dark connection to the case, the story evolves at a rapid and powerful pace, and the author sets up an intriguing series of mysteries both in the past and the present.  The story effectively unwraps all of these interlinked and compelling cases, and you are soon powering through the intriguing web of cases, desperate to find the conclusion.  With much of the story set to the fantastic background of an influencer convention, there are several great tangents and mysteries that emerge, especially as they provide some great alternate leads and red-herring suspects.  The final solution to the case is very interesting, if somewhat spoiled by one of the alternate perspectives, and the big confrontation is well set up and filled with intense moments.  While I was a little disappointed that some of the alternate cases were not as connected to the main mystery as they could have been, this was a very impressive and captivating story, and I had such a great time getting drawn in Goldin’s narrative web.

I really liked the captivating writing style that Goldin utilised for Dark Corners, which has some intriguing similarities and contrasts to the previous Rachel Krall book.  The use of multiple character perspectives, as well as excerpts from Rachel’s true crime podcast for context, work extremely well to tell an extensive and complex narrative.  I particularly liked the inclusion of a sinister antagonist perspective for much of the story, especially as it provides some compelling insights into the deadly case as they circle the protagonist like a shark.  Despite some similarities in style, Dark Corners has a very different tone to The Night Swim, with more of a faster edge given to the story, and less focus on traumatic character histories.  The story does still contain some powerful character moments, especially when the protagonist encounters several victims’ families, but the story was more thriller focused than the last book.  Despite the connections to The Night Swim, Dark Corners can easily be read as a standalone novel, and this actually serves as a great introduction to Goldin’s flexible writing style.  Dark Corners probably has the quickest pace of any of the Goldin books I have so far read, and you will really get drawn into this elaborate book as a result.

While the fantastic mystery and intriguing character-focused stories are great, I really must highlight Goldin’s entertaining take on the social media world as her protagonist attends an influencer convention at a glitzy beachside hotel.  It does not take long for the protagonist’s, and presumably the author’s, true feelings about the influencer crowd to emerge and there is a certain amount of amusing disdain there.  You really can’t help but laugh at Goldin’s mocking and somewhat over-the-top depictions of the typical social media stars’ day-to-day lives, including obsessively recording everything they do, exceedingly fake interactions, and hollow personal relationships.  Goldin really does not pull any punches here, which I personally deeply appreciated, and it added quite a humorous edge to the book, especially when combined with the protagonist’s exasperated reactions to the various scenarios she encounters.  Despite this somewhat critical edge, Goldin does include a lot of intriguing information about the community, such as the various types of influencers, their social makeup, the ins and outs of the trade, as well as the type of personalities that are attracted to the lifestyle.  There is even a quite nuanced take on several key influencers throughout the book, and it was quite compelling to see what sort of people they really are.  While this background setting is mostly entertaining and fun, it does serve quite a vital role in the story, and I felt that Goldin was able to weave quite an intriguing and unique mystery story around it.  This ended up being one of the best inclusions of the entire novel, and I really loved how Goldin made Dark Corners stand out even further with her clever, if slightly acerbic take, on social media personalities and their influence.

Overall, Dark Corners was another outstanding book from Megan Goldin, who continues to shine as one of Australia’s premier authors of thriller fiction.  Combing a clever mystery with an intriguing character focus and a unique background setting, Dark Corners was an addictive read from start to finish and I deeply enjoyed Goldin’s latest impressive novel.  Highly recommended!

Dark Corners Cover

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Quick Review – The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller10 Comments

The Last Orphan Cover 2

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 21 February 2023)

Series: Orphan X – Book 8

Length: 342 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The always impressive Gregg Hurwitz continues his amazing Orphan X series with the awesome and wonderful new addition, The Last Orphan.

One of my favourite spy thriller series at the moment is easily the exciting and cool Orphan X series by rising thriller author Gregg Hurwitz.  This fantastic series follows a former elite government assassin, Evan Smoak, codenamed Orphan X, who is forced to go rogue and hide himself away from his old employers.  Hoping to redeem himself after all the killing he’s done, Evan takes up a new identity, the Nowhere Man, a vigilante who helps the most desperate people in ways no one else can.  I have been a fan of this series for ages, ever since I read Out of the Dark, which pitted the protagonist against a deranged US President.  Since then, I have had an outstanding time reading the latest books in the series, including Into the Fire, Prodigal Son, and Dark Horse.  I always make it a point to pick up the new Orphan X book each year, and the latest entry, The Last Orphan, was another pretty awesome book that I was quickly able to power through.

Plot Synopsis:

As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out.

When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government’s radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers.

Until he makes one little mistake…

Now the President has him in her control and offers Evan a deal – eliminate a rich, powerful man she says is too dangerous to live and, in turn, she’ll let Evan survive. But when Evan left the Program he swore to only use his skills against those who really deserve it. Now he has to decide what’s more important – his principles or his life.


The Last Orphan was another outstanding entry in this great series and Hurwitz ensures that it features all his trademark features, including strong characters, a powerful emotional heart, and a ton of action and intrigue.

This latest Orphan X book has a very strong start to it as Evan is ambushed right at the beginning of the novel by a massive Secret Service detail, determined to finally bring him in after he went rogue on the President a few too many times.  Captured and trapped, Evan is forced to make a deal: kill mysterious industrialist Luke Devine or lose his own life.  However, Orphan X makes his own decisions about who he assassinates, and after escaping, he begins his own research into his target, hoping to determine if he deserves to die.  Investigating a mysterious death associated with Devine’s estate and the massive parties that go on there, Evan begins to make his own connections about the case and is forced to go up against Devine’s lethal and morally dangerous security detail.  There are some pretty intense scenes in this part of the book as Evan makes some curious discoveries about Devine and his company, while also being forced to protect potential witnesses from his target’s security.  At the same time, Evan begins to wonder if Devine actually deserves to die and must soon choose between his conscious and his peaceful life of anonymity.

This was a pretty good entry in this series, although possibly not the best that I have so far read (in my mind, that’s Into the Fire).  I really liked the awesome start to The Last Orphan, especially as the over-the-top and intense capture by the Secret Service was so damn cool and it was interesting to finally see Evan taken down by the Government.  However, this doesn’t last long, and once he rather easily escapes, the intensity and pace of the story kind of slows down a bit.  Don’t get me wrong; I did really enjoy the subsequent storyline set around the investigation into the mysterious industrialist and his security crew, but it was a bit of a step down after the initial excitement.  Still, this second half of the novel is a ton of fun, and Hurwitz presents his usual blend of fascinating spy thriller moments, particularly intense and brutal action, as well as the focus on Evan’s strained and unique personal life.

The villains of this story, Devine’s security detail, are some pretty over-the-top but genuinely threatening figures, and Hurwitz comes up with some excellent scenes around them, even presenting them as real threats to the protagonist.  At the same time, Hurwitz works in a very compelling morality edge to the story, as Evan tries to work out whether Devine is actually evil or just a political threat to the President.  The author makes this determination pretty hard, especially as Devine comes across as a very manipulative and unusual figure who manages to make even the legendary Orphan X doubt himself.  The big conclusion of this books is very good and features all the typical action and carnage that you would expect.  However, parts of the story go in some very surprising directions and I liked the unique ideas that Hurwitz presented here.

In addition to all the action and intrigue, quite a lot of The Last Orphan revolved around the compelling and moving emotional and personal concerns of the protagonist and his great supporting cast.  Evan has always been a very complex figure due to his unusual upbringing, his lack of personal skills, and his crippling OCD, and a fantastic recurring theme of the books has been him trying to overcome this and finally make some connections.  This continues extremely well in The Last Orphan, as he once again relies on his friends and his surrogate daughter/little sister to pull him out of the fire and keep his sanity.  There are some pretty emotional interactions between Evan and these figures throughout the course of The Last Orphan, especially as it appears that Evan might not be able to come back from his latest adventure, and I felt that this was another powerful and impressive evolution of some already deep character growth.  There are some other pretty big personal moments for Evan in The Last Orphan, including the seeming end of one relationship due to Evan’s fugitive status, and the potential development of another as Evan finally attempts to dive into his own complex past.  It will be fascinating to see how this develops in the future, and I am sure that Hurwitz has some very intense moments planned for all of us.  I honestly felt that the author got the right balance between action and emotion for The Last Orphan, and this ended up being a stronger book as a result.

Overall, The Last Orphan was a pretty awesome new entry in the great Orphan X series, and I really liked how Gregg Hurwitz continued his fantastic ongoing narrative.  Featuring an excellent blend of spy thriller fun and powerful character work, The Last Orphan was an addictive and clever read, and I am glad I got the chance to check it out.  Highly recommended, especially to established fans of the series, The Last Orphan is really worth the read.

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Quick Reviews – Dark Rooms, Essex Dogs and Blow Back

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Thriller5 Comments

In recent weeks, I have been trying to review several older books; especially ones that I read last year but never got a chance to publish about.  I am hoping to rectify that to a degree now by publishing brief reviews for three intriguing 2022 releases that I had a great time reading.

Dark Rooms by Lynda La Plante

Dark Rooms Cover

Publisher: Zaffre (Trade Paperback – 16 August 2022)

Series: Tennison – Book Eight

Length: 319 pages

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Over the last few years, I have had a great time getting through the amazing Tennison series by iconic crime fiction author Lynda La Plante.  A prequel series to the Prime Suspect television series, the Tennison books follows a younger version of Prime Suspect’s protagonist, Jane Tennison, as she works her way up the ranks while investigating several intriguing crimes.  There have been some awesome books in this series so far, including Good Friday, Murder Mile, The Dirty Dozen, Blunt Force and Unholy Murder, each of which is worth a read, especially for fans of the original show.  I managed to get through the eighth book in the series, Dark Rooms, last year, and it is high time I wrote a review for it, especially as the next Tennison thriller is out just around the corner.

Plot Synopsis:

Helena Lanark is an elderly woman, living in a luxurious care home. The heiress of an immense family fortune, she keeps the secret to the horror which once occurred within the Lanark family house.

Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark’s now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found, hidden in the walls of the shelter.

As the investigation and search for answers intensifies, Jane travels to Australia. There she discovers the dark secret, that the Lanark family has kept hidden for decades.  A secret, that not only threatens to bring down a family dynasty, but also places Jane Tennison in mortal danger . . .

This was a fairly compelling crime fiction novel from La Plante, although I must admit that it wasn’t my favourite Tennison novel.  Dark Rooms’ story has an excellent start to it, with Tennison investigating the sinister death of a young woman in an abandoned air raid shelter.  This mystery gets even more complicated when the body of a young baby is also found in the basement.  However, this strong start doesn’t last for as long as I would have liked, with the more interesting case about the dead young woman being solved relatively quickly (although with an extremely dark solution), leaving only the mystery of the dead baby behind.

This second case, while interesting in its own way, is simpler than I would have liked, and the mystery behind it is actually a bit obvious.  La Plante does insert some great dramatic elements behind it, especially behind the tragic nature of the events behind it, as well as the unreliability of the main witness, which increases the emotional impact of the story.  I also quite liked the quick journey to Australia that Tennison undertakes to get answers, which was a nice change of pace that I rather enjoyed.  However, none of this helps to make the case as interesting or suspenseful as it needed to be, and I did not get as attached to the second half of the book.  It also didn’t help that La Plante was a reusing a lot of story elements from the previous entries in the series here, with Tennison facing the usual sexist boss and police department, and the author spending too much time on the protagonist’s social life than was strictly needed.  As such, the story drags in the places, and the lack of a particularly substantive and complex mystery ensures that it never really picks up to the degree you hope it would.

Overall, Dark Rooms was a weaker Tennison novel from Lynda La Plante, and one that does not really stand out when compared to some of the more impressive books in the series.  While I am little critical of it, Dark Rooms did have its interesting and powerful moments, and is still worth a read, especially for established fans of the series.  I am hoping that the next book in the series, Taste of Blood, has a better story behind it, and I am still intrigued to see how this series continues.

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Essex Dogs by Dan Jones

Essex Dogs Cover

Publisher: Head of Zeus (Trade Paperback – 30 August 2022)

Series: Essex Dogs – Book One

Length: 456 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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One of the more intriguing historical fiction debuts of 2022 had to be the awesome action adventure novel, Essex Dogs by Dan Jones.

Plot Synopsis:

July 1346. Ten men land on the beaches of Normandy. They call themselves the Essex Dogs: an unruly platoon of archers and men-at-arms led by a battle-scarred captain whose best days are behind him. The fight for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe has begun.

Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crécy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations, and shape the very fabric of human lives. But first they must survive a bloody war in which rules are abandoned and chivalry itself is slaughtered.

Rooted in historical accuracy and told through an unforgettable cast, Essex Dogs delivers the stark reality of medieval war on the ground – and shines a light on the fighters and ordinary people caught in the storm.

This was a very fun and exciting historical read that followed a small band of soldiers, the titular Essex Dogs, as they find themselves in the middle of the initial campaign of the Hundred Years War.  Jones writes a very compelling and action-packed story with a huge focus on camaraderie and survival, as the small band works together to try and overcome the many obstacles before and around them.  Written in the same character and themes as Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan, Essex Dogs has a good mixture of compelling historical detail, intense action, and interesting character moments, as the full story unleashes itself upon the reader with some major dramatic moments.  Cleverly working these characters into the middle of all the key events that occurred between the English landing in France all the way up to the Battle of Crécy (with some intriguing real historical extracts to give a fun contrast included at the start of each chapter), you will get wrapped up in Jones’ awesome and electrifying story.

This was a very impressive overall read, and I loved how well Jones managed to bring to life several desperate soldiers and lead them through the chaotic historical events depicted in Essex Dogs.  The captivating action, deep character moments, and inherent tragedy of war really help to turn this into an outstanding read and a pretty great first outing from Dan Jones as an author.  This ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2022, and I am very interested to see how Jones will continue the story in the upcoming 2023 sequel, Wolves of Winter.

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Blow Back by James Patterson and Brendan Dubois

Blowback Cover

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 1 September 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 503 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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A great thriller that I had high hopes for in 2022 was the compelling James Patterson novel (co-written with Brendan Dubois), Blow Back, that featured a fun story about an insane US President.

Plot Synopsis:

He’s America’s most brilliant president ever. He’s also a psychopath.

US president Keegan Barrett swept into office on his success as director of the CIA. Six months into his first term, he devises a clandestine power grab with a deadly motive: Revenge.

President Barrett personally orders Special Agents Liam Grey and Noa Himel to execute his plan, but their loyalties are divided. As CIA agents they’ve sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all threats, both foreign and domestic.

When the threat comes directly from the Oval Office, that’s where the blowback begins.


Blow Back ended up being a very entertaining thriller that was extremely easy to read.  The authors deploy the typical Patterson style of short, sharp chapters, and several intriguing character perspectives to showcase the exciting tale, and I loved the great buildup that occurs in the first third of the novel.  Told primarily through the eyes of two US intelligence agents brought in to oversee the President’s planned intelligence revival, the first third of the book is pretty awesome as you watch them change the game in several exciting ways.  There is a ton of action-packed sequences and exciting espionage moments during this first half, as well as some frank and compelling assessments of the state of US, Russian and Chinese intelligence programs in America and across the world, all of which makes for some epic reading.  While the focus is primarily on espionage and the actions of the protagonists, there is also a tangible and compelling sense of dread building in the background as the reader gets closer and closer to seeing what the President is actually planning.

The eventual reveal of the President’s full duplicity and the evil schemes he has cooked up help change the tone of the second half of the book as the protagonists, who have been manipulated the entire way through, are now forced to work outside the system to try and save themselves and the entire world.  This makes for a pulse-pounding second half, and the cool story is loaded with chases, firefights and betrayals, all set around an apocalyptic scenario with a ticking clock behind it.  I honestly had a hard time putting the novel down, and the authors’ easy-to-read style really worked in Blow Back’s favour, producing a lightning quick read with a fun conclusion to it.  I did think that the story did not hit as hard as it possibly could have, and I might have preferred a few more twists or big moments towards the end.  I also didn’t get particularly invested in any of the major protagonists, although I did find President Barrett to be a very fun villain, especially when he completely loses his marbles and goes full evil warmongering tyrant on his enemies.

While I did think that Blow Back’s narrative did have a few issues and could have been a little tighter and more explosive in places, this was a still a very fun read and one that is guaranteed to keep thriller fans highly entertained and engaged.  The fast-paced story proves very hard to put down, and you will get really swept up in Blow Back’s ultra-exciting story of a psychotic and morally bankrupt President trying to destroy the world in his own compelling way.

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Quick Review – The Interpreter by Brooke Robinson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Quick Review, Thriller3 Comments

The Interpreter Cover

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Trade Paperback – 6 June 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 317 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Debuting Australian author Brooke Robinson presents an intriguing and captivating first novel with The Interpreter, which looks at a previously unseen player in the crime fiction genre, the person translating testimony in the background.

Plot Synopsis:

THE MOST DANGEROUS PERSON IN THE COURTROOM ISN’T THE KILLER…

Single mother Revelle Lee is an interpreter who spends her days translating for victims, witnesses and the accused across London. Only she knows what they’re saying. Only she knows the truth.

When she believes a grave injustice is about to happen, and a guilty man is going to be labelled innocent, she has the power to twist an alibi to get the verdict she wants. She’s willing to risk it all to do what’s right.

But when someone discovers she lied, Revelle finds the cost might be too high… and she could lose everything, including her son.


The Interpreter proved to be a very interesting book that I had a good time getting through.  Following the titular interpreter, Revelle Lee, The Interpreter had a very cool crime fiction story to it that contained both mystery and a compelling dark thriller element to it.  I loved how the story focused on an interpreter in the legal scene, and Robinson did a very good job of diving into this unique profession, especially as the author takes a ton of time to show how such individuals work and the range of scenarios they might find themselves in.  The author also provides the reader with a compelling introduction to the character of Revelle Lee, a dedicated interpreter with a past who is trying to learn the parenting ropes after adopting a boy from a troubled home.

The main story quickly dives into Revelle’s life as she balances her interpreting duties with being a single parent who nothing seems to go right for.  You soon begin to realise how complicated Revelle’s life is, especially as she is constantly worrying about her new child being taken away from her.  Initially shown to be necessarily neutral in the courtroom, Revelle becomes personally invested in a case when someone she knows becomes the victim of a terrible attack.  When she is required to interpret for the police in this case, she alters the witness’s testimony to ensure the potential suspect has no alibi.  I love this intriguing slide away from impartiality that she adopts, especially as it builds off some of her prior frustrations, and she starts to implement her new idea of justice into some of her other jobs.  However, this decision eventually brings some degree of regret when it turns out one of the people she worked against might have been innocent, and she tries to find out the truth.

It is around this time that the author works in a secondary point of view character, a mysterious figure who is stalking Revelle and her son, working from the shadows to destroy her.  This intriguing hidden antagonist works to increase the tension of the plot, and their eventual identity is tied to the secrets from the protagonist’s past, which is being simultaneously explored to give her more depth and a tragic background.  Robinson soon works these story elements together in a very interesting way, and the final third of the plot is loaded with particularly tense moments as the protagonist tries to deal with the attacks from unseen angles, as well as the increased demands on her interpreting ability as she tries to determine the right course of action to take.  I liked how the plot came together, although the identity of the mysterious antagonist did come a little out of nowhere.  Still, this was a well-crafted and intriguing story, and it was fascinating to see more details about interpreters.

While I did enjoy this fantastic novel, I did have some issues getting too attached to the protagonist, and this reduced my overall enjoyment a bit.  I appreciated the deep dive into the world of professional interpreters through Revelle’s eyes, as well as her complex past and desire to be a good parent, but I honestly had a hard time liking her.  This is probably because there was a certain narrative stupidity to her as she makes the worst decision possible for herself and her child time and time again.  While this is usually fine in fiction, I found myself getting a little annoyed at times with how she acted, and this impacted how much I wanted to see her succeed.  I did enjoy how Robinson tried to showcase through Revelle’s actions the importance of being neutral in the legal system, as her desire to get justice has major consequences for her.  However, the protagonist fails to learn from her mistakes, even at the very end, which was very frustrating.  This was probably the main issue I had with The Interpreter, and while it was mostly outweighed by the book’s positive features, these character elements really bugged me.

Overall, I felt that The Interpreter was a pretty solid debut from Brooke Robinson, who has an interesting future in crime fiction.  While the plot and the characters did have some issues, this was a compelling and intriguing read, especially as Robinson expertly captured the experiences and insights of professional interpreters in the legal and criminal justice fields.  I really enjoyed seeing how The Interpreter unfolded and this book is well worth the read for people interested in a fantastic crime fiction novel with a distinctive hook to it.

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Fire With Fire by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller7 Comments

Fire With Fire Cover

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia (Trade Paperback – 4 April 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s most exciting and compelling crime fiction authors, Candice Fox, returns with another intense and impressive novel, the powerful and memorable Fire With Fire.

Over the last several years, few Australian authors have dominated the crime fiction market as effectively as veteran author Candice Fox, who has produced some outstanding reads.  Fox is a very interesting author who started off focusing on the Australian market with several books set out in the wilds of Australia, including her Archer and Bennet series and the Crimson Lake books, the latter of which was recently adapted into the Australian television show, Troppo.  However, in more recent years, Fox has moved on to the larger international audience and has produced several great books set in America, as well as collaborating with legendary author James Patterson for their Detective Harriet Blue series.  I personally know Fox more for her international work rather than her Australian fiction, as I have been lucky enough to receive copies of her last few books, including the gritty standalone read Gathering Dark, the elaborate prison break novel The Chase, and the fantastic and heartfelt 2 Sisters Detective Agency co-written with James Patterson.  Each of these novels has been fun in their own way, and 2 Sisters Detective Agency ended up being one of my favourite Australian books of 2021.  Due to excellent books like these, Fox is now a key addition to my yearly reading schedule, and I just had to grab a copy of her latest novel, Fire With Fire, especially as it had a pretty epic plot behind it.

What starts as a normal day at the understaffed Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Centre in Los Angeles swiftly turns deadly when two people take over the lab, holding three people hostage.  However, this is no ordinary hostage situation, as the kidnappers are husband and wife Ryan and Elsie Delaney.  Two years earlier, the Delaneys’ daughter Tilly went missing at the Santa Monica beach, which the police eventually ruled an accidental drowning.  However, Tilly’s body was never found, key evidence was lost, and her parents never believed the official story and resented a lacklustre police investigation.

Now, desperate for answers, the Delaneys offer the LAPD an ultimatum: find Tilly dead or alive within 24 hours or they will destroy evidence in several major cases, all but destroying key investigations.  Armed with uncanny knowledge of which evidence is the most vital to the LAPD and which samples are too valuable to lose, the Delaneys appear to hold all the cards against the police.  However, the LAPD have no intention of validating the Delaneys’ actions by searching for Tilly.

However, one LAPD detective, Charlie Hoskins, has more motivation to save the evidence in the lab than the rest of the department.  Hoskins has finished up a gruelling five-year undercover stint within the ruthless Death Machines biker gang, an experience he barely survived.  All the evidence that he collected against the gang is now sitting in the lab, and if it goes up in flames, everything he tried to accomplish would be for nothing.  With the rest of the police force angling for a more lethal solution to the Delaney problem, Hoskins decides to find Tilly himself.

Helped by recently fired rookie Lynette Lamb, the woman responsible for blowing his cover with the Death Machines, which saw him literally thrown to the sharks, Hoskins begins a new investigation into Tilly’s disappearance, hoping to find any evidence that can convince the Delaneys that their daughter really did drown.  However, the more they dig, the more Hoskins and Lamb begin to realise that there is something far more sinister behind Tilly’s disappearance.  With time running out before his evidence is destroyed, and with the Death Machines hunting him across LA, can Hoskins find out what happened to Tilly before it’s too late and a lethal gang of killers are set free?

This was another excellent novel from Fox that featured an outstanding and captivating story.  Fox sets the entire narrative up perfectly, first introducing the main characters of Hoskins and Lamb by showing them on the very worst days of their life, as Hoskins is tortured out by the gang he infiltrated, while Lamb is fired on her first day as a rookie cop for being responsible for the leak.  From there, the story focuses on the start of the lab siege as the Delaneys take over and send the police their demands.  I really love this cool main scenario for the Fire With Fire as it is such a brilliant way to gain leverage over a police force.  Fox uses this to great effect to engage the major storylines of the book.  Firstly, there is an intriguing and intense siege storyline as police, led by LAPD Chief of Police Saskia Ferboden, attempt to resolve the situation without the destruction of evidence.  Fox examines many different sides of this situation, from the desperation of the Delaneys, the fear of the hostages in the lab, the emotions of the Delaney’s remaining daughter outside, and the growing hostility of the cops as they watch their evidence get destroyed.  This leads to a captivating series of events as Saskia and her FBI negotiator try to resolve the situation peacefully, only to hit setback after setback, as the Delaneys get violent, the hostages try to be heroic, and all her cops get mutinous at her decisions.

While the storyline around the siege is pretty intense and emotionally powerful, the real meat of the story focuses on Hoskins and Lamb as they attempt to find the Delaneys’ missing daughter, Tilly, before it is too late.  This entire storyline falls together extremely well as the unlikely partnership of Hoskins and Lamb are forced to work together and soon form an entertaining team as they simultaneously investigate the disappearance while also dodging the vengeful gang gunning for Hoskins.  The investigation angle takes them into some interesting directions, and I liked the compelling mystery that Fox wove together for this part of the book.  The author loads in a ton of misleads, alternate suspects, and problematic witnesses, each of whom muddy the water and ensure that the ultimate solution to the case isn’t too clear until the end.  The confrontation between Hoskins and his former gang also forms a great part of this story, especially as there are some excellent twists involved there, and the resulting carnage adds some major danger to the book.  However, the best part of this storyline is the partnership between Hoskins and Lamb, which steals the show with its genuineness and fun moments.

Fox has a highly readable writing style that I felt lent itself to this story and helped to turn it into an enjoyable read.  Pretty much everything about this book, including its flow, its pacing and the balance of story elements is set up really well, and I had a fun time getting through it.  The fast-paced and sharp chapters really move the plot along quickly, and you find yourself reading page after page, trying to see what awesome or intense event will occur next.  I liked how Fox split the story focus around Fire With Fire and the constant changes between the investigation for the missing girl and the deadly siege at the lab, really helps to amplify the intensity of the plot and keep the stakes very high.  I was also very impressed by the excellent blend of mystery, intense drama, high-octane action, and powerful character development, that were the primary features of the plot.  There is a barely a page where Fox isn’t portraying something pretty damn interesting or moving, and you are constantly intrigued with what is going to happen to the characters or the plot moving forward.  This ended up being a pretty amazing read, and I had such a great time getting through it.

One of the major writing highlights of Fire With Fire has to be the complex and damaged characters who formed the basis for much of the story.  There are some exceptional and well-written characters featured throughout this book, and Fox does a great job of showcasing their inner pain, motivations, and compelling personal pasts to the reader as the focus switches between them.  Two of the most notable are the characters of Detective Charlie Hoskins and Lynette Lamb, who serve as the main figures of the investigate arm of the plot.  Hoskins is a tough and independent figure who spent five years infiltrating a deadly criminal gang trying to find evidence to put them all away for murder, only to be discovered at the last minute and tortured.  Barely recovered from his ordeal, Hoskins spends the book trying to protect his hard-won evidence by finding the missing girl.  There is a lot of desperation behind Hoskins as he tries to make all the sacrifices and bad things he did over the last five years matter, and this leads to some great character moments throughout Fire With Fire.  There is also a major trauma component behind Hoskins, as he tries to get over the dark things he experienced during his torture and escape, which leads to him making some reckless decisions.

Hoskins is well matched up with his young and somewhat naïve partner Lynette Lamb.  Lamb is a rookie cop who was targeted without her knowledge and used to find information that exposed Hoskins to his gang.  Fired on her first day on the job, Lamb manages to find Hoskins out of both guilt and determination, hoping that he can get her job back.  Thrust together by circumstance, Lamb stubbornly partners up with Hoskins and works with him to find the missing girl.  There are a lot of great elements to Lamb’s storyline, and out of all the characters in Fire With Fire, she has the most growth as she tries to prove she is tough and capable enough to be a police officer.  The pairing of Hoskins and Lamb is an excellent highlight of the book and I loved how Hoskins reluctantly takes Lamb under his wing and tries to toughen her up., quickly realising there is far more to her than he initially though.  The two make an outstanding team, and they both cover the other’s weakness extremely well.

Aside from Hoskins and Lamb, some of the other standout characters include Ryan and Elsie Delaney, who take over the forensic lab and hold the evidence and people there hostage.  Fox does an outstanding job portraying the desperation behind these two characters as their obsession about finding their missing daughter, bought on by guilt and anger, drives them to extremes.  These two are some of the most complex figures in the entire book, especially as their actions, while bad, are understandable.  Other characters, such as Chief Ferboden and Hoskin’s entertaining friend Surge, help to round out the excellent cast of this book and I felt that these great figures really helped to turn Fire With Fire into a powerful and highly enjoyable read.

Overall, this was an amazing novel from Candice Fox, who once again shows why she is one of Australia’s premier crime fiction authors.  Fire With Fire had an outstanding and clever narrative to it that really drew me in and kept me extremely engaged the entire way through.  The excellent blend of intense narrative, amazing characters and a unique crime fiction scenario was highly effective, and I had a wonderful time reading this awesome book.  Fire With Fire comes highly recommended, and you will get really drawn into this great standalone crime fiction novel.

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Quick Review – The Investigators by Anthony Hill

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

The Investigators Cover

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 7 March 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 349 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The always compelling Anthony Hill returns with another highly detailed dive into Australian history with The Investigators, a fascinating and extensive read that focuses on a truly unique historical voyage.

Fans of Australian fiction will be well aware that there are a ton of outstanding authors out there at the moment who seem dedicated to exploring some of the more obscure or deeply interesting moments in colonial Australian history.  Due to the attention these books get from Australian publishers I tend to read a few of these each year and I always appreciate the love these authors clearly have for the country’s history and their desire to set interesting stories about it.  One of the more notable of these is Canberran author Anthony Hill, who has written several novels that cover different figures and events connected with the European settlers in Australia.  I have enjoyed a couple of his books over the years, including last year’s intriguing read, The Last Convict, which told the life story of Australia’s last surviving convict.  His new book, The Investigators, takes a new path as it focuses on a particularly noteworthy nautical voyage, that of Matthew Flinders and the HMS Investigator.

Plot Synopsis:

‘Our discoveries have been great, but the risks and misfortunes many.’

John Franklin always wanted to be a sailor. As a volunteer in the Royal Navy at age fourteen, he found himself in the Battle of Copenhagen, but nothing could prepare him for the adventure of a lifetime, when he set off in 1801 with his cousin Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator as it sought to chart the first circumnavigation of Australia.

Taking on responsibility for the chronometers, under the jealous eye of Flinders’ younger brother, the young midshipman found all the action, adventure and excitement he’d hoped for in his new life at sea. It inspired him to become one of the great navigators and explorers of the 19th century.

However, he wasn’t quite so prepared for the other challenges that life onboard had in store – the rivalries with fellow shipmates, the shortages of food, and the harsh realities of what they encountered in the colonies. Danger, disease and death seemed to follow in their wake, and even the Investigator herself was at serious risk of destruction, having to flee to Koepang in present-day Indonesia for repair.

The history books tell us that the first circumnavigation of Australia was completed on this voyage – but award-winning and bestselling author Anthony Hill tells us how it was achieved. The Investigators is an unforgettable story of high adventure, exploration, shipwreck and survival as a young sailor comes of age.

This was a pretty interesting book from Hill that I personally had a great time getting through, even though I know it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.  As you can tell from the plot synopsis, The Investigators tells the complete story of the HMS Investigator, under the command of Matthew Flinders, as it made its incredible journey to circumnavigate Australia, the first recorded voyage to do so.  Told from the perspective of young midshipman, John Franklin, who himself goes on to become a notable captain and explorer, The Investigators covers the entirety of the voyage, including its delayed beginning and chaotic conclusion in extreme detail, focusing on every major occurrence that was recorded in the historical record.

Now, I must admit that this is a part of Australian history that I was not particularly familiar with, which is a shame, as it was pretty extraordinary.  However, that is no longer the case, as Hill really goes out of his way to showcase the voyage in all its historical detail.  No stone is left unturned as Hill takes the reader through the entire course of the voyage, and it proves to be extremely interesting to see just what the crew went through.  The full extent of this journey is exceedingly fascinating, and while most of the voyage is focused on exploration and cartography, which is interesting in its own way, there are more exciting features such as disasters, deaths, feuds, politics, first contacts, starvation, disease, the French, and even a major shipwreck.  This naturally results in quite the intense narrative, and I found myself hooked as I continued on trying to find out what happened throughout this voyage.

While the voyage of the HMS Investigator is pretty interesting, I will admit that Hill’s writing style was at times rather dry.  This is mainly because he was determined to fit as much historic detail into his book as possible, and this often bogs down the flow the story.  For portions of its run, The Investigators felt more like a non-fiction history book or a biography rather than a novel, especially when some of the sections are filled with substantial amounts of historical context or details about what future impacts certain events or discoveries would have.  It also did not help that some of the dialogue was lifted from quotes in historical journals, all in the name of realism, which produced some of the clunkiest moments in the book.  While Hill does try to mitigate this at times, such as by focusing the story on a young, eager character with his own exciting future rather than the complex captain on his most iconic voyage, it did get hard to get through the detail rich text at times.  As such, this is going to be a harder novel for some readers to enjoy, especially if you were looking for an exciting story rather than a historical treatise.  Still, I personally found it to be compelling and I loved how deep that Hill went into the events.  The highly detailed examinations of everything, even day-to-day events on the ship or the many intricacies of exploration, proved to be quite fascinating, and I loved seeing absolutely everything that occurred on this voyage and Hill’s take on them.

Overall, The Investigators by Anthony Hill is an interesting and complex read that fans of Australian or nautical history are going to have an amazing time with.  Hill really dives into this extraordinary tale out of history and readers come away with a complex appreciation for every single aspect of this epic trip.  While Hill’s writing will probably not be for everyone, the sheer amount of history within is well worth the read and I had a great time learning more about the HMS Investigator.  This will be a great book for those with a love of history.

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Unnatural History by Jonathan Kellerman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery12 Comments

Unnatural History Cover 2

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 28 February 2023)

Series: Alex Delaware – Book 38

Length: 303 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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A shocking murder, a mysterious motive, and two intriguing investigators on the case, it sounds like it’s time for another Alex Delaware novel from bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman with Unnatural History.

For the last few years one of my favourite long-running crime fiction series has to be the Alex Delaware books from the always impressive Jonathan Kellerman.  Set in Los Angeles, this excellent series follows the exploits of psychologist Alex Delaware and his best friend, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, as they investigate strange murders throughout the city.  This is a very solid and captivating series, and I personally love all the clever and distinctive mysteries that Kellerman keeps coming up with.  All the Alex Delaware novels I have so far read, including The Wedding Guest, The Museum of Desire, Serpentine and City of Dead, have been just outstanding, and the complex and fascinating murder investigations have all been very strongly written and particularly compelling to follow.  As such, the Alex Delaware books are one series that I will always make sure to grab as soon as it is out, and this includes the latest entry, Unnatural History.  The 38th book in this long-running series, Unnatural History was another exceptional read with a fantastic case behind it.

When the body of a photographer is found murdered in his studio, brutally shot to death, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis is quick to bring in his friend and consultant, psychologist Alex Delaware, to help with the investigation.  The victim, Donny Klement, was a controversial photographer whose latest project saw him photographing members of the local homeless population as they pretend to achieve their greatest dreams.  To complicate matters even further, Donny was the son a mysterious and elusive billionaire whose family members have a habit of dying young.

Diving into the case, Alex and Milo soon discover that their victim was a curious figure.  Damaged by a neglectful father, a scattered family, and a dead mother, Donny’s life was anything but easy, even with his vast family fortune.  His latest photographic vision looked set to make him a major star in the arts scene, but was his death related to his seemingly disrespectful photos or to his family and their wealth?

As Alex and Milo attempt to find a motive for Donny’s killing, a second body is found that appears connected to their first case, suggesting that their killer is taking out all the potential witnesses.  It soon becomes apparent that Alex and Milo are dealing with a deranged serial killer whose anger lies somewhere in Donny’s life.  To solve the case, Alex and Milo need to uncover all the victim’s secrets and use them to catch the killer before he strikes again.

This was another excellent and captivating novel from Kellerman, who presents the reader with an impressive and well-set-out mystery that really draws you in and keeps you hooked.  Like most of the Alex Delaware novels, Unnatural History quickly works to set the scene for the case, with the reader immediately introduced to the murder victim, Donny Klement, and his unfortunate circumstances.  The story moves into the investigative stage with Alex and Milo beginning the task of identifying the relevant people associated with Donny’s life, including his family, his girlfriend, and the people he interacted through with through his photography.  This raises quite a few interesting avenues of inquiry as the victim was both the scion of a mysterious billionaire whose family has already suffered multiple deaths, and an idealistic artist who showed great naivety in dealing with the city’s homeless population.  This leads to quite a deep dive into the victim’s life, and you soon build up a quite an intensive view at who Donny was and the many problems he faced in life.

Kellerman keeps the investigation going strong the entire way through Unnatural History, and the reader is directed along many interesting plot threads as the author lays down false trails and red herrings.  There are some great alternative theories and potential motives spread out for much of the book, and the case gets even more complicated when additional bodies are found throughout the city, all of them connected to Donny in some way.  This really throttles up the pacing of the book, and the reader is gifted with some intriguing revelations as Kellerman revisits details that previously seemed unimportant and cleverly fits them even further into his case.  The eventual reveal about the killer is pretty brilliant, and I liked how Kellerman was able to tie the motivation into several existing different story threads, which allowed for a complex and intense picture of who they are and what evils they committed.  This ended up being a very strong mystery, and I honestly did not see the full extent of the motivations coming.  Everything leads up to a big confrontation which doesn’t go how you’d expect, and which results in some very dark moments.  I did like how this confrontation revisited events from several books ago and it helped some of the characters gain a measure of closure.  I ended up being really impressed with how the author managed to bring everything together in his story, and I was firmly hooked the entire way through.

As always, I really enjoy Kellerman’s unique style when it comes to his compelling murder mysteries, and this helped me power through Unnatural History.  I love the sharp pacing and focus on the characters, both the protagonists, and the victim, that occurred throughout Unnatural History and you are swiftly drawn into their unique lives and the process of their investigation.  The blend of solid investigative focus, character moments, and major twists is pretty spot on, and there honestly aren’t any slow moments at any point of this book, as the reader is constantly learning more interesting bits of information about the case.  All his characters have a very distinctive way of talking/interacting with each other, and it is something that always drags me in, especially with the fun banter.  I did find a few of these conversations, especially with deliberately annoying witnesses, to be a little odd, but they all added to the general theme and feel of the book.  Like all the Alex Delaware novels, Unnatural History is fairly accessible to new readers, and anyone interested in this book who hasn’t read anything from Kellerman can easily dive in here without any issues.  While there are references to prior events scattered throughout Unnatural History, none of them are too relevant to the plot, and Kellerman always does a good job of making his novels almost feel standalone in nature, as he recaptures the series’ unique feel each time.  That being said, fans of some of his last few books will no doubt enjoy some of the story elements between Alex and one of the supporting characters that come full circle after several books, and it was something I was very happy to see.

One of the things that I always particularly enjoyed about the Alex Delaware novels is the way that Kellerman presents a more grounded style when it comes to how his detectives solve the crime.  Unlike in some of the flashier crime fiction novels out there, Kellerman’s characters are more realistic in their investigative approach, and each Alex Delaware novel has a major focus on talking to witnesses, doing research, hammering out theories and doing the legwork to find out everything you can about the victim and the various suspects.  The protagonists are constantly following up leads and talking to multiple people associated with the case, even if they only tangentially knew the victim, to find out every fact or theory that they can.  This leads to a much more comprehensive examination of the murder, which allows the reader to build up a captivating picture of everything that led up to the killing.  This more methodical and realistic method of investigation always really works for me, and I love seeing the protagonists earning their solve and battling through all manner of obstacles.  I felt that the investigation in Unnatural History was particularly good, especially when they combine multiple cases from across the city to get the full picture, and the way that they efficiently weed out the unlikely scenarios and find the truth was deeply addictive and really worth checking out.

I also need to highlight the impressive characters who are the focus of Unnatural History, especially when it comes to the two protagonists, Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis.  These two protagonists, the calm psychologist and the veteran detective, complement each other perfectly when it comes to their skill set, and you can see why they are such an effective team.  At the same time, Kellerman has really built up their relationship over the series, so the two are good friends, which results in some fantastic dynamics and interactions between the two.  The banter and discussions fly thick and fast between them, and you really appreciate just how close they are as they solve the crimes together.  There is a pretty major moment that occurs between these friends at the end of Unnatural History that I felt was handled extremely well and which is likely to impact their dynamic going forward.  I am very intrigued to see how Kellerman handles that, and I am sure it will make his next novel even more interesting.

The other character that gets quite a lot of focus in Unnatural History is the main murder victim, Donny Klement.  As with most of Alex Delaware novels, Kellerman’s ensures that the story spends substantial time diving into the victim’s life, as the police try to find out why he is murdered.  This allows the reader to get a fascinating, outsiders perspective of who Donny was, which proves to be quite fascinating and compelling.  Kellerman’s portrayal of Donny as a lonely man trying to escape his father’s shadow while also dealing with other family trauma allows the reader to get very attached to the victim and you become even more invested in solving the case.  This post-mortem portrayal of Donny was excellent, and I loved how effectively Kellerman showed his complex and unusual life.  Throw in a very fascinating and complex murderer, a good collection of unique witnesses, and the usual supporting detectives in Milo’s squad, and Unnatural History has a great collection of characters who add a lot to the overall story.

Jonathan Kellerman once again delivers an amazing and compelling murder mystery with his latest Alex Delaware novel, Unnatural History.  This fantastic novel features another brilliant mystery that dives deep into the life of a complex victim and paints a powerful picture around him.  This was a deeply entertaining and captivating read, and I loved every second I spent getting through Unnatural History.  I cannot wait to see what happens next in the Alex Delaware series, one of the strongest, long-running crime fiction series currently out there.

Unnatural History Cover

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3 Days to Live by James Patterson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Short Stories, Thriller1 Comment

3 Days to Live Cover

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 31 January 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 372 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Those in the mood for a quick and very fun series of thriller stories should check out the intriguing new book from the legendary James Patterson, 3 Days to Live, featuring three great short stories co-written by some impressive talents.

I have been really getting into James Patterson’s books over the last couple of years, and there is a reason that he is always leading the thriller field.  At this point, I have mostly read books that Patterson has co-written with several other authors, including the fun Doc Savage sequel The Perfect Assassin (co-written by Brian Sitts), the impressive mystery loaded with family drama 2 Sisters Detective Agency (co-written by Candice Fox), the compelling thriller Lost (co-written by James O. Born) and the addictive and freaky Death of the Black Widow (co-written by J. D. Barker and one of my favourite books of 2022).  As such, I am always keen to read more from Patterson and when I received a copy of 3 Days to Live, I quickly dove into it knowing I would have a great time with it.

3 Days to Live is a captivating book that contains three separate short stories, including the titular story 3 Days to Live, as well as Women and Children First and The Housekeepers.  Patterson wrote each of these short stories with a separate co-author, and the talented Duane Swierczynski, Bill Schweigart and Julie Margaret Moulin each add their own flair to these great stories.  I haven’t read anything from these three authors before, so 3 Days to Live proved to be an excellent and fun introduction.  All three stories are roughly the same length, and they each have their own elaborate and intelligent narratives told utilising Patterson’s fast-paced style.  There is a very fun collection of different storylines with each of these entries, and I loved the sheer variety of scenarios these great authors came up with.

The first of these short stories is 3 Days to Live, which was co-written by Patterson and Swierczynski.  This is a very exciting and clever spy thriller that serves as an excellent and distinctive introduction to the entire collection.  The story is told from the perspective of Samantha Bell, a young, recently retired CIA agent, who has just eloped with her new husband, Kevin Drexel.  Honeymooning in Berlin, tragedy strikes when Kevin is lethally poisoned at the hotel alongside a Russian Oligarch and his daughter.  Samantha manages to survive the attack but is also dosed with the poison, which will end up killing her in less than three days.  Weakened, dazed, and heartbroken, Samantha sets out to find out who killed her and her husband and is forced to contend with both the CIA and the Russians, before discovering the terrible truth behind her own murder.

This was a very impressive and enjoyable story that I particularly enjoyed getting through.  Patterson and Swierczynski came up with a great story that perfectly utilises its fun storyline about a poisoned individual trying to find their killer before they die, which was reminiscent of films like D.O.A, Crank, and Kate.  The authors set the scene for 3 Days to Live’s story extremely well and you are soon deeply engrossed with Samantha’s story as she utilises all her knowledge and skill as a CIA agent to find out who killed her and why.  The story goes in some very fun directions, and you really connect with Samantha as she balances her grief over her husband’s death with her need for vengeance and control of the situation.  The authors do a good job of showcasing the character’s slowly declining physical health, and the weakness and loss of control she feels becomes an outstanding part of the plot, especially as you begin to worry that she won’t be able to achieve her goals.  There are some fun twists and swerves throughout this short story, and while the identity of the poisoner is a little obvious, the full motivations and set-up for it works perfectly.  I was extremely engrossed by this captivating story and I managed to power through all 110 pages in very, very short order.  Readers interested in checking this book out are in for a lot of fun with this first impressive entry and it honestly was my favourite story in the entire book.

The second story is the great read Women and Children First, which was co-written by Bill Schweigart.  This intriguing second story follows security specialist and former elite soldier Chase Weldon, who has been hired by a massive corporation to test their systems and find any potential breaches.  However, during Chase’s initial investigations a series of deadly cyber security breaches occur, and it becomes clear that someone is targeting the company and its eccentric CEO.  Initially an observer, Chase is dragged into the chaos when the saboteurs contact him and coerce him to convince his employers to pay a substantial ransom.  But when Chase attempts to push back, the saboteurs place him in a terrible situation, one where killing his wife and kids seems to be the only option.

This was another awesome and electrifying story that serves as a wonderful and compelling second entry in 3 Days to Kill.  Moving from spy thriller to corporate espionage is a fun change of pace, and I liked the unique and clever story that emerges.  Patterson and Schweigart do a great job drawing the reader in, especially after an entertaining introduction to the protagonist that also serves to highlight the tactics of the baddie.  The stakes steadily rise as the book continues and watching the protagonist get desperate enough to consider killing his family really added to tension of the plot.  The subsequent interactions with the arrogant tech CEO make for some great scenes, and while I was able to see most of the story’s big twists coming, it was still a ton of fun getting through it, especially with all the action that unfolds around them.  There are some fantastic family dynamics worked into the plot, and while the family are portrayed as way too overwhelmingly talented, you still get caught up in their gripping adventure.  The authors end up telling a very concise and entertaining story through the course of 121 pages, and I was hooked enough to read the entire thing in one sitting.  Women and Children First also serves as a great follow up to 3 Days to Live, and readers following on straight away from the first action-packed story will find another excellent read that keeps the blood pumping while telling its own distinctive and enjoyable story.

The third and final story in 3 Days to Live is the powerful and intense thriller, The Housekeepers, which was co-written by Julie Margaret Moulin.  Following several distinctive characters, The Housekeepers sees Russian housekeepers Sophie and Masha on the run from the Russian mob who intend to kill Sophie’s son Nikolai.  Desperate for a place to hide, they secrete themselves in the pool house of Masha’s boss, Dr Elizabeth Parks.  However, Dr Parks is going through her own issues, including family drama and police concerns around a gang violently targeting her clients to steal their prescription medication.  When circumstances drive them together, the doctor and the housekeepers need to work together to survive all their deadly problems.

This was another compelling story and probably the most moving and powerful of the bunch.  Rather than the fast-paced action of the first two stories, The Housekeepers is more character driven, and Patterson and Moulin do a wonderful job of efficiently setting up the major problems impacting all the distinctive protagonists.  Each of these issues, including Russian gangsters, problematic teenagers, intruders, family tensions, and even a pack of coyotes, come crashing down around them and it results in some complex and dramatic interactions.  The authors really lay down an excellent and intelligent narrative in The Housekeepers and I loved how dark it got, especially with those great twists at the end.  All the complex characters have their own dark issues, and it was really impressive how Patterson and Moulin where able to effectively set them out and resolve them during the course of this short story.  I came away from The Housekeepers deeply satisfied, if slightly saddened, and this proved to be an awesome and moving finale to this volume.

This was an overall excellent and captivating collection of short stories from Patterson and his co-writers, and I am really glad I got the chance to read them.  All three fast-paced stories really draw the reader in with their well-established and thought-out narratives and unique scenarios, and the authors played them out perfectly.  Each story really stood on its own feet while also adding to the entire volume.  I personally enjoyed the differences in tone and focus that each story contained, and I think that 3 Days to Live serves as a good example of Patterson’s style and ability to work with different authors.  I would strongly recommend 3 Days to Live to established Patterson readers or thriller fans who are interested in seeing what sort of ideas Patterson and his cohorts are working with these days.  I can’t wait to read more Patterson books in the future.

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Quick Review – Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Comedy/Satire, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Quick Review26 Comments

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone Cover

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 29 March 2022)

Series: Ernest Cunningham – Book One

Length: 384 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s fastest rising crime fiction stars, comedian turned mystery writer Benjamin Stevenson, returns with an outstanding standalone book that might be one of the best Australian crime fiction reads of 2022, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

One of my favourite Australian crime fiction authors now is the exceedingly talented Benjamin Stevenson, who has written some amazing works over the last couple of years.  Stevenson’s writing career began in 2018 when he released the amazing murder mystery Greenlight (which was subsequently released as Trust Me When I Lie and She Lies in the Vines outside of Australia).  A fantastic Australian crime fiction book with true crime elements to it, Greenlight followed a successful television producer who reinvestigates a murderer who was freed thanks to his show.  Stevenson followed Greenlight up in 2020 with the epic sequel, Either Side of Midnight, which saw the same protagonist investigate an impossible murder in what was one of my favourite Australian books of 2020.  Both these readers were pretty damn impressive, but Stevenson has saved his best work for the 2022 release, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, which luckily has an outstanding story that matches the very cool title.

Plot Synopsis:

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let’s get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me

As the title and the intriguing plot synopsis above suggests, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is an awesome read that sees Stevenson serve up an addictive narrative that is one part insane family drama and one part homage to classic detective novels.  I had an incredible time reading this book early on in 2022 and I honestly should have written a review for it well before now.

The plot of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is pretty bonkers as it follows a very damaged protagonist, teacher and crime fiction mega-fan Ernest Cunningham, as he attends one of the most awkward family reunions in history.  Written from Ernest’s perspective as part of an in-universe book, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone sees Ernest reunite with the fellow members of the infamous Cunningham family at an isolated ski resort.  The black sheep of a dark family with criminal connections, Ernest has been invited to attend a special event: the release of his brother Michael from jail after Ernest testified against him.  However, once his brother arrives, a series of murders start to strike the resort, killing off several people.  With the ski resort cut off from the outside by the snow, it falls to Ernest to discover who is killing the remaining guests at the lodge.  However, everyone in his family is a suspect, as all of them have killed someone before, including Ernest, who has just as much motive as the rest.  As the book continues, it becomes very clear that someone in the Cunningham family has killed again, it’s just a matter of finding out which one did it.

I have to admit that I was pretty in love with this book from the opening pages, especially as it becomes clear early on that Stevenson planned to blend the book’s mystery with some great humour and brilliant homages to classic murder mysteries.  Stevenson lays out this story in a fun way that simultaneously focuses on the infamous main family, their complex past and relationships, while also presenting a compelling murder investigation that intentionally steals a lot of cues from classic whodunnits.  Stevenson introduces an outrageous cast of complex characters for the story, and they were very intriguing to follow, especially as they all have deeper issues brought on by the deaths they are responsible for.  The story at time transforms into a very moving and entertaining family drama, which helps to make the story richer and even more amusing.  The mystery itself is very clever, and I loved the multiple compelling twists and reveals that accompanied it as the protagonist is forced to dive back into every terrible event his family has been involved in, including murder, robbery, police corruption and kidnapping, all of which leads to final, devastating solution.  While the identity of the killer is a tad obvious, the reveal of why they are committing their crimes more than makes up for it, and Stevenson came up with one doozy of a motive.  However, the real highlight of the book is the way in which Stevenson sets out Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone in the manner of an in-story chronicle written by the protagonist, which simultaneously takes on every established trope and rule of old-school detective novels and moulds it into itself.

As I mentioned a few times above, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone also acts as a homage to classic crime fiction novels, as Stevenson goes out of his way to simultaneously parody and revere the iconic detective genre.  The book starts with two intriguing elements: the membership oath of the Detectives Club (a secret society of classic crime fiction writers), and Ronald Knox’s ’10 Commandments of Detective Fiction’.  Both of these inclusions acknowledge the general tropes and rules of golden-age detective fiction, and they actually end up being used by the protagonist, and by extension Stevenson, as the main guideline for the mystery.  The author continuously refers back to this list as the novel continues (he even suggests folding this page down so you can revisit it when needed), and I loved how this mystery came together as the author tried to avoid breaking any of these rules.  The author also cheekily informs the reader in advance when in the book someone is going to die with an accompanying page number, ostensibly to allow the reader to jump ahead if needed.  However, as most people will continue through at the normal pace, it heightens the suspense a little as you get closer and closer to the page on which you know a death is going to occur.  Various elements like this, as well as a ton of self-referential internal monologues and discussions about the rules of whodunnits, gives this book an incredible meta feel, which Stevenson uses to full effect to tell a particularly hilarious story.  The author’s background as a comedian is on full display here as he creates an incredibly funny book, even with the continued murders and human tragedy.  These clever references are a great love letter to the classic detective novels, especially as he addresses them in such a satirical way, and all mystery lovers will get a real kick out this book as a result.

Overall, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is an absolutely outstanding book that I cannot recommend enough.  While I have enjoyed Benjamin Stevenson’s mystery novels in the past, I think that Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is where he finally reveals his full potential.  Not only is the mystery itself brilliant, loaded as it is with compelling characters and a dark family history, but Stevenson finally showcases his impressive comedy skills and uses them to produce a truly delightful and incredibly addictive novel.  The combination of mystery, humour and a clever homage to the classics, is an intoxicating mixture, and it was near impossible to put this book down once you started reading it.  As such, I must give Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone a full five-star rating, and it was one of the most entertaining books I read in all of 2022.  I have so much love for this book and I was very excited when I heard that Stevenson is releasing a sequel in October titled Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect.

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Quick Review – Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller4 Comments

Stay Awake Cover 2

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 16 August 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 352 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s most talented crime fiction writers, Megan Goldin, returns with another powerful and captivating read, Stay Awake, a unique and gripping novel that deals with memory, murder and a ton of traumatic suspense.

Over the last few years, crime fiction fans have been getting more and more impressed with the outstanding writings of Australian author Megan Goldin.  Goldin has so far written several epic and clever thrillers, and I have had a lot of fun reading two of her most recent books, The Escape Room (one of the best Australian books of 2018) and The Night Swim (one of the best Australian books of 2020).  Both of these books had outstanding plots, whether it was The Escape Room’s twisty tale of revenge or The Night Swim’s deep and emotionally charged story of justice for women, and I cannot recommend them enough.  After having such an epic time with her previous novels, I was very excited when I received a copy of Goldin’s latest book, Stay Awake, last year.  Featuring an outstanding story with an awesome hook to it, Stay Awake was an epic read that lived up to all my expectations.

Plot Synopsis:

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers―a stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing, and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget―permanently.

In the vein of SJ Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep and Christopher Nolan’s cult classic Memento, Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that plays with memory and murder.

This was a fantastic and captivating read by Goldin that really highlights her amazing ability as an author.  Stay Awake is a fast-paced and exceedingly addictive novel that grabs your attention early on and refuses to let go thanks to its very clever story.  Starting off with the main character, Liv Reese, finding herself covered in blood and with everything she thought she knew gone or altered around her, Goldin sets up an incredible introduction that sets up an amazing follow up story.

The book gets even more interesting once the author introduces Liv’s peculiar situation: thanks to a past trauma, her mind resets itself each time she goes to sleep and she cannot remember anything from the past two years.  This results in a brilliant story, which features three separate intriguing perspectives of events.  Not only do you get the exciting main story of a confused Liv running through New York City, attempting to get to grips with her lost life, but you also see events from two years in the past which led up to the trauma that claimed her memory.  At the same time, the book also follows Detective Darcy Halliday, who is assigned to investigate a dead body connected to Liv, and soon becomes obsessed with finding the amnesiac protagonist.  These three major plot lines are expertly weaved together as the book continues and you soon find yourself drawn into the exciting mystery of who Liv is and whether she committed the murder that Darcy is investigating.  Goldin also amps up the story by having Liv being chased by a mysterious figure who is intent on finding and killing her to protect their secret.

However, the real highlight of Stay Awake’s story has to be the continued memory lapses experienced by the protagonist throughout the course of her chapters in the present.  Due to her condition, Liv actually loses her memory several times throughout the course of her storyline, causing her mind to completely reset to two years in the past.  This is a very fascinating character element, and I felt the author used it extremely well.  It is very compelling and a little scary to watch Liv make the same mistakes and visit the same people repeatedly, especially as she has no knowledge of the last two years, such as certain deaths or relationships.  Watching her come to grips with her chaotic life, only to lose it again in the next chapter, is simultaneously heartbreaking and fascinating, and you honestly cannot tear yourself away from this gripping book.  Thanks to the killer using Liv’s condition against her, the story further devolves into a dark and unique game of cat and mouse, with Liv forced to find answers about her life while avoiding a danger that she unaware exists.  Everything comes together extremely well as the book concludes, and I loved the clever solution to the main mystery of Liv and the various murders, especially as the hints to it are subtly laid down in the three alternate plot lines, even if the protagonists doesn’t remember them.  A truly awesome crime fiction narrative that is expertly written by its talented author, who has produced another very unique crime story.

Overall, I was once again deeply impressed with Goldin, and I felt that Stay Awake was a particularly great novel from her.  Goldin really pulls together a distinctive crime fiction story in this standalone thriller, and I was really glad that the amnesia angle of her plot paid out so effectively.  Stay Awake really helps to cement Goldin as one of Australia’s, and the world’s, most inventive new authors, and I cannot wait to read her next book, Dark Corners, which is set for release later this year.

Stay Awake Cover

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