Tag: Standalone

Warhammer 40,000: Chem Dog by Callum Davis

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, WarhammerLeave a comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 27 March 2026)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 9 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The Warhammer 40,000 universe continues to grow with an outstanding debut novel from new author Callum Davis, Chem Dog, a cool and intense read with a great plot behind it.

Readers of this blog will know that I have so much love for the awesome Warhammer 40,000 franchise, which produces so many amazing and unique books each year.  Part of the reason this works so well is that the Black Library makes use of an intriguing collection of new and established authors to tell tales of this complex and grim dark universe.  This includes a range of first-time authors, many of whom have a compelling Warhammer 40,000 book as their debut novel.  I have had a blast reading several of these debuts over the years, and the latest one I want to highlight is the impressive Chem Dog by Callum Davis.  The very first full novel from Davis, Chem Dog is a follow up to his previous short story, Those Without Mercy, and tells a gripping story of war, mistrust and unlikely camaraderie amid a brutal campaign.

Upon the vital, war-torn planet of Kruxx, disaster has struck the Imperium of Man.  Under attack by ruthless ork invaders, Kruxx’s most heavily defended fortress, the Bastion Ajaxus, has fallen.  Overwhelmed by hordes of brutish aliens, the defenders have been brutally cut down, and the bastion reforged into a crude but deadly ork fort.  To ensure victory on Kruxx, the remaining Imperial soldiers need to retake the bastion at any cost, but the fate of the war may lay in the hands of the most unlikely of soldiers, the Savlar Chem-Dogs.

The refuse of an infamous prison world, the Savlar Chem-Dogs are a notorious and unreliable penal legion.  Killers and thieves given the chance to die on the field of battle, the Chem-Dogs are an unlikely group of defenders for humanity whose only incentive to stay in the fight is the promise of loot taken from the bodies of the fallen.

Few know how imperfect the Chem-Dogs are more than Commissar Bastun Hasp, a relentless rule follower, dedicated to lethally enforcing order with his bolt pistol.  However, ordered to join the likely fatal assault on Bastion Ajaxus and recover vital intelligence from its occupied halls, Hasp begins to feel doubt for the first time in his career, especially as his only backup are a squad of Chem-Dogs he previously sentenced to death.  Forced to cross over deadly enemy-infested territory and join a bloody siege, can Hasp keep the Chem-Dogs loyal long enough to complete his mission, or will a far more sinister threat claim all their lives?

Chem Dog was an awesome new Warhammer 40,000 entry that quickly grabs your attention and keeps you hooked with its compelling narrative, entertaining characters and great action sequences.  A powerful and intense first full novel from new author Callum Davis, Chem Dog was an easy book to fall in love with and is a must read for all Warhammer fans.

Davis crafts together a very entertaining action and adventure narrative for Chem Dog that brings in some interesting character moments and overarching Warhammer intrigue to create a captivating and exciting read.  Starting off with an intense extended battle sequence with some short-lived characters that shows the helpless and grimdark nature of the Warhammer 40,000 universe perfectly, the story soon switches to the main protagonist, Commissar Bastun Hasp, as he is given his mission to journey to a besieged former Imperial citadel.  Chem Dog quickly expands on some story points introduced in the preceding short story Those Without Mercy, with several characters from this previous entry returning to accompany Hasp to the citadel.

Much of the resulting first half of Chem Dog is an exciting and brutal adventure arc, as Hasp and the Savlars travel across the hostile Kruxx terrain, fighting against deserters and rampaging ork bands.  This does an excellent job of setting up the desperate nature of the plot, as well as showcasing the unstable main characters as they attempt to work together.  After some great action set pieces and locations, several of which showcase just how expendable members of the main cast truly are, the book evolves into an intrigue-laden siege story, as the protagonists arrived at the Bastion Ajaxus and find themselves drawn into the big assault on the citadel, which quickly goes to hell in one particularly amazing extended sequence.

The second half of Chem Dog soon turns into one continuous and bloody affair, as the protagonists and some contentious allies are forced to fight throughout the enemy fortress in some unique ways.  Davis loads in some excellent action scenes here, while overlaying a level of mystery and mistrust over proceedings, especially as nothing goes the way they expect.  Things get progressively darker as the story continues, with the last major sequence seeing some very interesting antagonists, including a unique take on the threat of the orks.  The big finale of the story is brutal and features some not unexpected betrayals and revelations, as well as some genuinely tragic loss.  I rather enjoyed how the story came together, although I will admit I was a little disappointed by the somewhat abrupt ending to the book.  I think that Davis could have expanded on a few points and allowed for a more satisfying conclusion, however, it does leave some elements open for a potential sequel, which I would be very interested in checking out.

I felt that Davis did an excellent job writing his first full-length Warhammer novel, structuring his story and telling it in an effective manner.  While there were some issues with the ending, for the most part Chem Dog was a particularly powerful read that combined clever character work with some intriguing dives into the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Effectively told from several alternating perspectives, the structure draws the reader into the overarching quest as well as the unashamedly criminal protagonists.  Taking some inspirations from The Dirty Dozen (although not as directly as Gav Thorpe’s Last Chancers series), this was a brutal read that covered compelling elements of trust, loyalty and intrigue, especially in the last half.  I was quite impressed by how Davis was able to capture the gritty nature of the continuous conflict the protagonists found themselves in, with the exhaustion and anger of the characters on full display.  The real highlight of the book has to be the various battle sequences that Davis loaded into the plot, with the protagonists caught up in a ton of intense and well-written action scenes.  I had such an easy time envisioning the very realistic and intense fights that emerged, as this is clearly a part of the writing process that Davis really excels at.

Unsurprisingly, considering this is Davis’s first novel, Chem Dog works well as a standalone read, written in way that made it open to a wide range of readers.  While elements of the author’s previous short story are referenced by the characters, it is done in a way that lets the reader know what previously happened, so you won’t be lost if you hadn’t read it first.  Davis’s style also allows readers with less familiarity with the Warhammer 40,000 universe to come in and read Chem Dog, and it would serve as an interesting entry novel for potential fans, especially for those who enjoy criminal antics and grim, military aesthetics with their science fiction plots.

Chem Dog naturally will appeal more to established fans of the universe, especially those who want to see the notorious Savlar Chem Dogs in action.  The author expertly captured the resourcefulness, resentment and looter mentality of these unlikely soldiers, and it was entertaining to see them in action, especially when compared to other traditional Imperial Guard regiments.  This excellent portrayal of the Chem Dogs and other human troops, as well as the Commissars commanding them, was a great highlight of the plot, and it more than made up for some certain eccentric portrayals of the orks that Davis slipped in.  As such, I felt that Chem Dog was a particularly awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel, which is guaranteed to grab the imagination or a huge range of readers.

On top of the excellent writing, I need to highlight the amazing characters.  The most prominent of these is the relentless Commissar Bastun Hasp, who is reluctantly forced to lead these criminal soldiers into battle.  Serving as the primary narrator and protagonist for the book, much of the book’s drama is based around Hasp’s inner conflict in leading the Savlars.  Initially shown to be implacable in his disdain for Chem Dogs under his command, Hasp’s growing respect for them causes him some major issues, as his harsh commissar mentality and training requires him to see them as unredeemable.  This inner conflict is perfectly enhanced by Hasp receiving comparable contempt from other officers and commissars for leading a group of criminals, as well as Hasp’s secret reliance on the battle chems that the Savlars are forced to breath.  This great inner conflict results in some powerful moments for Hasp throughout the book, and he proved to be an excellent and compelling central character for the plot.

While Hasp serves as the main protagonist of the story, Davis does ensure that the various other members of the squad are shown in some detail.  While a generally expendable group of characters, you do get quite invested in the group of criminal misfits that Hasp leads, and it was fun to see them influence and get influenced by their commissar throughout the course of the plot.  While there are a bunch of fun Salvar members in Chem Dog, the main one you follow is the squad leader, Rastus, who serves as a great secondary protagonist and point-of-view character.  Rastus’s more straightforward, if criminally minded, narrative worked well alongside Hasp’s conflict-laden thoughts, and it was entertaining to see Rastus act as a bridge between the Commissar and his opportunistic squad.  Davis has fun with the rest of this group of killers, although my favourite had to be the extremely loyal ogryn (the universe’s equivalent of an ogre) Grukkur, who serves as a dim-witted enforcer for Hasp.  Grukkur was a wonderfully over the top and simple figure, and I felt he rounded out the cast nicely, providing both comic value and insane moments in combat.  Throw in some other human solider with uncertain motives and a particularly fanatical extra commissar, and Chem Dog is loaded with some amazing drama and character conflicts, that allows for quite an addictive read.

As is my habit with most Warhammer novels I check out, I ended up getting the audiobook version of Chem Dog, which is easily the best way to enjoy the elaborate and varied tales of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Chem Dog was a particularly good audiobook, as it easily presented its intense action narrative and unique characters, and ensured that listeners could easily power through its nine-and-a-half-hour-long runtime.  A big reason that Chem Dog was such an epic listen was thanks to the vocal talents of narrator Richard Reed.  One of more versatile narrators who lends their voice to the Warhammer franchise, Reed has previously impressed me on several previous outstanding audiobooks, including The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath, Lords of Excess by Rich McCormick (another great debut), Grim Repast by Marc Collins, just to name a few.  Reed does another outstanding job here in Chem Dog, with a range of awesome voices and a great overall tone that moves this slick action narrative along at a quick pace.  I loved the various over-the-top, yet fitting, voices that Reed came up with for several of the characters, including the stringent commissars, the unruly criminal soldiers and even a booming ogryn voice, that was particularly fun.  All this results in an exceptional listen, which allowed me to power through Chem Dog in no time at all, and I cannot recommend this format enough, especially with one of the best Warhammer narrators voicing it.

The future of Warhammer 40,000 fiction continues to look bright, as Callum Davis produced an outstanding read with his debut novel.  An exciting and intense novel, loaded with action and compelling characters, Chem Dog was an amazing read that provides some fantastic look at a unique faction in the grim dark universe.  A sharp, well-written novel that you can easily get addicted to, Chem Dog was a very impressive debut, and I hope to see more from Davis in the future, especially if he revisits the protagonists from this novel again.

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King Sorrow by Joe Hill

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Horror, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Headline (Trade Paperback – 21 October 2025)

Series: Standalone 

Length: 881 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the more unique and addictive novels I’ve had the great pleasure of reading in recent months has to be the exceptional horror read, King Sorrow, by the very impressive Joe Hill.

Joe Hill is an author who is well known for his creative and over-the-top narratives, especially with his very interesting contributions to the horror genre.  The son of the legendary Stephen King, Hill has followed in the family footsteps with some amazing releases, including several standalone novels like Horns, Heart-Shaped Box and NOS4A2, a huge array of short stories (including The Black Phone), and even some comics (Locke & Key being the obvious candidate).  Several of these publications have been turned into film and television adaptations over the years, and I have been keen to read something from Hill for a while.  As such, when I saw the compelling narrative of Hill’s new book, the massive King Sorrow, I knew I had to check it out, and boy was I glad that I did.

Plot Synopsis:

Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.

But his idyll – and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot – is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.

But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain – they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.

King Sorrow was a truly outstanding read from Hill that had me hooked from the very beginning, all the way to its heartfelt and complex end.  A wonderfully powerful read filled with great characters and dark moments, King Sorrow was an exceptional horror epic that proves near impossible to put down.  King Sorrow was one of my favourite books of 2025, and I cannot recommend it enough.

I really loved the elaborate narrative of King Sorrow, which I can tell Hill put an awful lot of care and thought into.  Told initially from the perspective of Arthur Oaks, a young scholar at Rackham College (in Maine, naturally) who is forced to steal rare books from the school’s library for local drug dealers with the ability to hurt his mother in prison.  When his secret becomes known to his friends, an eclectic mixture of fellow students at the college, they agree to help him with his troubles.  However, this help gets out of hand when, after a night of drinking, the group decides to use an infamous occult tome to summon a fabled dragon, King Sorrow, to kill those tormenting Arthur.  But to the group’s horror, this is no one-time occurrence, as King Sorrow decrees that the bargain they struck entitles him to a new soul each year.  This was a pretty awesome first part of King Sorrow, which, while long, was a very impactful introduction to the larger story and perfectly set up the chaotic events and dark bargains to come.

After this first part, King Sorrow’s story evolves into a more long-term storyline, skipping ahead years with each new part and focusing on the various main characters and how they are dealing with the Faustian bargain they have struck.  After deciding to live with King Sorrow and his desires, the group have primarily decided to use the dragon to punish the worst of humanity around the world, by setting him on murderers and terrorists.  However, thanks to the entertaining machinations of King Sorrow, many of these kills have unexpected consequences, forcing the protagonists to react in different ways, and bringing new characters into the group’s orbit.  Highlights include a particularly intense extended sequences, where two members of the group try to save a passenger jet containing one of their intended targets, which King Sorrow wants to burn as collateral.  Another harrowing part of the book sees twin protagonists Donna and Donovan McBride kidnapped and held hostage by a government organisation with knowledge of their actions, a course of action that goes well for nobody.  At the same time, Hill throws in some fascinating interludes that provide greater depth for some of the book’s more interesting characters, while also providing glimpses at a long-term threat that is coming for the main cast.

The author effectively keeps up the drama much of King Sorrow’s plot, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you attempt to guess where the story will go next.  However, even I was really thrown by the great antagonistic curveball that Hill threw in about three-quarters into King Sorrow, that really adds in some substantial drama and provides some fascinating revelations about previous adventures in the plot.  With one of the protagonists brilliantly taking on a far more villainous role, the surviving characters are constantly thrown through a loop as they attempt to find a way to end their bargain.  However, nothing goes the way anyone anticipates, with tragedy, more betrayals and dark moments consuming the entire cast.  Everything leads up to an excellent full-circle confrontation with the beast that shaped all of them, with some heartwarming final encounters and resolutions to the plot.  Hill wraps everything up perfectly, and you come away from King Sorrow extremely satisfied, especially after getting so wrapped up in the author’s elaborate, character-driven plot.

I must admit that before I read King Sorrow, I didn’t know quite what to expect from Joe Hill as a writer.  However, his style really resonated with me, and I ended up being quite blown away with the elaborate nature of this book when I got the chance to read it.  Set up as a complex character-focused book with a layered narrative, King Sorrow was a particularly powerful epic that covered decades of several brilliant characters.  Featuring an exceptional use of multiple character perspectives and interludes, King Sorrow was a cleverly and intricately written story that examined so many points of human nature and compelling character development throughout its near 900-page run.  Despite its length (it’s one of the longer physical books I’ve ever read), there was never a second that I was bored with King Sorrow, and I honestly powered through it in a relatively short amount of time.

Much of this addictive edge is because Hill effortlessly blended a great mixture of genres into this plot, with horror, fantasy and thriller elements all working well together.  Setting a terrifying and vengeful dragon spirit against the worst of humanity makes for some interesting contrasts, and I rather enjoyed seeing how normal criminals and even intelligence organisations would react to a magical dragon occasionally terrifying the world.  There are also some entertaining historical elements to King Sorrow, as the author cleverly ties the plot of this book into certain real-world events, with the actions of the protagonists often leading to some major tragedies.  I really enjoyed the unique feel that this gave the book, especially when combined with the certain gothic edge of the more supernatural scenes, especially the multiple varied depictions of the crazy occult ceremony that first summoned King Sorrow.  Hill maintains these elements for the entirety of the book, and I have a lot of appreciation, for the elaborate way he tied his cast together with tragedy and bad decision.  The result was an incredibly well written novel from Hill, who emulated aspects of his father’s style while also providing his own distinctive feel.

Another outstanding highlight of King Sorrow that I must mention are the incredible and complex characters loaded into the plot.  This includes its six main characters, whose inadvertent summoning of King Sorrow sets the dark events of the book in motion.  While I don’t want to go into too much detail about these characters to avoid spoilers, I will say that Hill does an amazing job introducing and exploring their experiences throughout the course of the novel, and you really get caught up in their specific arcs as a result.  Hill really dives into the dark choices surrounding their deadly bargain, and I found it fascinating to see how the impact of their decisions hit each of them differently, with each reacting in a fantastic manner.  There is some real tragedy involved with these characters, and you really fall in love with most of them (with one or two exceptions), even if it hurts to do so.

The character I will go into a little more detail about is the titular dragon, King Sorrow.  A malevolent, supernatural figure, King Sorrow is a haunting presence in the novel, stalking both the protagonists and their victims and revelling in their fear.  Thanks to his vindictive and manipulative nature, King Sorrow proves to be one of the more entertaining figures in this novel, and I loved the multitude of ways he messed with the protagonists, especially when it forces them to make hard decisions.  I really loved the various scenes King Sorrow was in, and he matched the main cast so perfectly, especially as he slowly brought out the worst in several of them.  Throw in an array of intriguing side characters, including several criminals whose actions haunt the group for decades, and the cast of King Sorrow was something special, especially once you get drawn into this novel’s outstanding narrative.

With a truly remarkable story, some amazing characters, and a brilliant writing style that sets him apart from other authors, Joe Hill’s latest novel, King Sorrow, was truly impressive and an exceptional novel to check out.  A sprawling epic with so many complex layers to it, King Sorrow was so damn addictive, and I still cannot believe how quickly I powered through it.  A highly recommended read that lives up to all the hype surrounding it, King Sorrow was Joe Hill at his finest, and I cannot wait to see what he writes next.

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Quick Review – We Saw What You Started by Carla Salmon

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Quick Review, Thriller, Young AdultLeave a comment

Publisher: Pan Australia (Trade Paperback – 1 July 2025)

Series: Standalone 

Length: 336 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for some troubled fun in the sun with the fantastic 2025 Australian young adult fiction debut, We Saw What You Started by new author Carla Salmon.

Plot Synopsis:

Three deadly fires. One suspect. A thriller of surf and sea.

Otto was a star surfer back in California, but now he just wants a fresh start. When fires break out in Red Sands, the locals are suspicious. It’s no coincidence that Otto’s at the scene every time. Is it?

Milly isn’t so sure. Small town talk isn’t always right – especially when it comes to her ‘perfect’ brother, who doesn’t deserve to become captain of the surf lifesaving club. What if the new boy is innocent?

Can Otto and Milly trust each other to find the truth behind the fires? And what happens when you do the wrong things for the right reasons?

We Saw What You Started was a compelling and exciting debut from Salmon, who provides a cool thriller narrative amongst youthful hijinks on a rural Australian coastline.  Starting off with some immediate peril as the protagonist of the story, Otto, gets caught up in an apparently deliberate bushfire, you are quickly introduced to the small-town setting of Red Sands, as well as the dramas surrounding Otto and Milly.

Salmon effectively splits the narrative of We Saw What You Started between the perspectives of Otto and Milly, who grow close as the story progresses.  However, with an important swimming and lifesaving contest on the horizon, things become complicated for both as a series of arsons take place around town, often when Otto is nearby.  This naturally increases the drama of the plot, as Otto deals with suspicion from the Red Sands townsfolk, especially when his troubled past in America becomes known.  At the same time, Milly, driven by her own desire for independence and respect from her father, becomes one of Otto’s only allies.  The two start teaming up to investigate the arsons, resulting in some interesting moments of investigation, conflict and teenage rebellion, that play into the main plot extremely well.

The author does an exceptional job pulling together a great young adult crime fiction story in the second half of We Saw What You Started, loaded with high stakes and powerful dives into the protagonist’s traumatic past.  The revelation of who is responsible for the arsons, and the big confrontation at the end, are nicely set up, and Salmon loaded up a ton of fun hints throughout the book that really pay off.  Everything wraps up nicely, with the ongoing character struggles resolved and everyone getting their happy ending, allowing for a fantastic and heartfelt standalone read that did an excellent job of blending its crime fiction elements with the various personal problems of its intriguing young cast.

Overall, I felt that We Saw What You Started was an excellent debut novel that helped to showcase the Carla Salmon’s ability as a writer.  Expertly combining an intriguing crime fiction narrative with some fantastic young characters and a striking Australian setting, We Saw What You Started that will appeal to a wide range of readers, especially it’s intended young adult audience, who can relate to Salmon’s protagonists and their struggles.  This was a wonderful Australian novel and a great introduction to Carla Salmon, who looks set to continue her writing adventures in 2026.

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Redbelly Crossing by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Penguin (ebook– 31 March 2026)

Series: Standalone

Length: 432 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s best-known thriller writers, Candice Fox, returns with another brilliant and complex outback crime fiction read that sees two estranged brothers get caught up in an intense and dark murder, Redbelly Crossing.

Candice Fox is a very impressive author whose compelling work I have been deeply enjoying in recent years, especially as she has some interesting range with her varied crime fiction releases.  This includes complex American thrillers like The Chase, Devil’s Kitchen and Fire With Fire, to unique Australian outback thrillers such as High Wire.  She has also continued her exciting partnership with the legendary James Patterson, with some recent releases including 2 Sisters Detective Agency, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations and The Murder Inn.  All these books have been a ton of fun to get through, and I always make sure to keep an eye out for anything new from Fox, especially as it’s likely to be a guaranteed hit.  As such, I made sure to read her next book, Redbelly Crossing, as soon as I could, and boy was it something special.

Plot Synopsis:

Blood is thicker than water. But too much leaves a trail . . .

Russell and Evan Powder are cops.

The brothers haven’t spoken for five years, since a violent confrontation tore their family apart.

Now they are both assigned to the murder of a young journalist, Chloe Lutz, in the small town of Redbelly Crossing (population 205).

It’s the last thing Russell wants. This is supposed to be the week he repairs things with his teenage daughter Bridie. Now he’s had to drag her on a murderous ride-along to the middle of snake-infested nowhere.

But a big case like this is just what Evan needs after a terrible mistake nearly tanked his career.

Then a dark discovery leaves Evan with only one way out; to bury the truth Russell is so determined to uncover …

Redbelly Crossing was an outstanding piece of Australian crime fiction from Fox, who effortlessly creates an elaborate and twisty read with some real-life emotional heft attached to it.  One of the best Australian mysteries so far released in 2026, Redbelly Crossing is a brilliant standalone novel that had me hooked from start to finish.

Fox pulls together one of her more complex and compelling narratives for Redbelly Crossing, as she goes back to her outback thriller roots with an emotionally charged, character-driven story.  Primarily told through the alternating perspectives of the Powder brothers, volatile Russell and the disgraced Evan, you are quickly drawn into both the murder and their chaotic lives, as they inadvertently reunite for the first time in years to solve a crime.  Fox does an excellent job setting the scene for the main case, which presents an intriguing murder mystery on its own, and the reader is soon quite curious about who killed Chloe Lutz.  This great early interest in the mystery is then further enhanced by the drama around this central plot point with the family turmoil represented by the two protagonists, which only becomes even more intense when Evan makes a discovery that change his motivations around investigating the case.

The rest of the book sees both Powder brothers working at cross purposes, with Russell doggedly trying to get at the truth, with Evan attempts to hide certain facts from him to ensure certain evidence don’t come up.  This adds quite an interesting angle to the investigation, as the reader has access to all the information about the murder, while both protagonists only have fragments of it.  The resulting convoluted investigation is well matched by the dive into each of the protagonists’ troubled pasts, as Fox carefully doles out the full history of the brothers and their relationship, as well as the events that led to where they currently are.  Things seem to come to head with a cool action sequence in the second half of the book; however, Fox is only just starting with the twists, as the case goes in some dangerous and extremely personal directions.  There is a great reveal closer to the end of the book that really changes everything, especially with how it drives one of the brothers, and the resulting carnage, emotional turmoil, and conflict will leave everyone reeling one way or another.  Fox brings Redbelly Crossing to a captivating ending that readers will find bittersweet and a little heartbreaking, but which is a fitting end to such a compelling and powerful tale.

I really enjoyed how Fox pulled Redbelly Crossing together, and I felt that this was one of her better books, especially as she drew a compelling line between family drama and murder mystery.  Making great use of the narrative’s dual perspectives, Fox effectively drags the reader back into her classic outback setting, while also diving deep into two protagonist brothers and the events that formed them and tore them apart.  The character work around the two Powder brothers, Russell and Evan, is particularly good, as Fox paints them as two highly damaged figures, broken apart by their mistakes and the trauma caused by their abusive father, who is still a dark presence in their lives.  Fox really explores their trauma and how it impacts their current personalities, with Russell a highly competent investigator who acts overly aggressive to compensate for his past weaknesses and his homosexuality, whereas Evan attempts to do the right thing, but his mistakes allow him to be dominated by his father, who keeps corrupting him.  Their competing desires, and the family drama around them, drives both Russell and Evan on separate courses for much of the book, and while their attempts to do right by their family should make them better, it often leads to new conflicts and deeper sorrow down the line.

I really appreciate just how well Fox balanced this family turmoil and character uncertainty with the larger mystery of the plot, especially as a lot of secrets lie with the characters’ pasts.  This focus on history and generational trauma was a big recurring theme of Redbelly Crossing, and Fox covers it extremely well.  The author also did an amazing job diving into the lasting trauma and uncertainty surrounding murder and those it leaves behind, especially when it comes to these older cases.  Much of this was because Fox was carefully referencing two real-life unsolved Australian murders in her plot, with many of the key details of these historic cases brought across into Redbelly Crossing.  This was a bold decision from Fox, but one which pays off, as it increases the impact of Redbelly Crossing’s narrative, especially after you finish the book and read in Fox’s words why she decided to use these details.  This inherent drama, when combined with the author’s twisty writing style and her ability to create powerful characters, shaped by their past and their personal troubles, helps to turn Redbelly Crossing into something extremely special that you won’t be able to turn away from.

Candice Fox continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s most talented and versatile authors of crime fiction with her latest exceptional read.  Redbelly Crossing was a complex and layered read that combined a great crime fiction story with powerful character moments, all wrapped up with a striking outback setting and some intense elements taken from real-life.  A captivating and impressive read, Redbelly Crossing was a particularly strong novel from Fox, who really pours her heart into this latest novel.  Highly recommended with a story guaranteed to stick in your mind.

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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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Quick Review – An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Quick Review, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (ebook – 16 January 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 400 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for a curious crime fiction read with a clever philosophical edge?  Then make sure to read the outstanding 2025 debut, An Ethical Guide to Murder by new author Jenny Morris.

Plot Synopsis:

How to Kill Your Family meets The Power in this entertaining and thought-provoking read, that asks:

If you had the power between life and death, what would you do?

Thea has a secret.

She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them.

Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another – something she finds out the hard way when her best friend Ruth suffers a fatal head injury on a night out.

Desperate to save her, Thea touches the arm of the man responsible when he comes to check if Ruth is all right. As Ruth comes to, the man quietly slumps to the ground, dead.

Thea realises that she has a godlike power: but despite deciding to use her ability for good, she can’t help but sometimes use it for her own benefit.

Boss annoying her at work? She can take some life from them and give it as a tip to her masseuse for a great job.

Creating an ‘Ethical Guide to Murder’ helps Thea to focus her new-found skills.

But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds that it isn’t as simple as she first thought.

How can she really know who deserves to die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?

Early last year I had the very great pleasure of reading Jenny Morris’s very first novel, An Ethical Guide to Murder.  This excellent book featured a compelling plot focused on a protagonist Thea, with the ability to transfer life between one person to another.  After accidentally fatally utilising this power to save her friend, Thea soon finds herself tempted to tip scales between life and death to make a better world.  Working with an ambitious love interest, Thea soon sets up her own Ethical Guide to Murder and begins to target those she believes to be truly wicked.  However, not everything is as it seems, especially when Thea comes face to face with the consequences of her actions, and the dark side of choosing who gets to life and who gets to die.  The resulting personal conflicts with those closest to her, followed by shocking revelations about those she has placed her faith in, will push her over the edge especially when she comes face to face with the person responsible for ruining her life.

I really enjoyed the unique story that Morris came up with for An Ethical Guide to Murder, which proves very easy to get addicted to.  Morris does a good job setting the scene for Thea’s unique abilities in the first part of the book, as well as her stressful life and the people around her.  The transition towards a secret, life-taking vigilante is well written, especially with the inclusion of a seemingly noble love interest with his own plans for her abilities, and the reader is poised to support Thea with her plans.

The last half of the book continues this story in a fantastic manner, while also adding in some strong philosophical and ethical elements, as Thea finds herself torn about whether she was ever doing the right thing.  The resulting battle of morals, especially as Thea also finds herself under investigation and forced to try and contend with true evil closer to home, allows for some deep and heartfelt moments in the book, until you honestly don’t know what the right course of action is for Thea anymore.  Everything wraps up on a heartfelt note, as the protagonist comes to terms with their powers in their own way, while also addressing all their personal problems.  I think Morris’s strong choice of ending for An Ethical Guide to Murder fit the rest of the narrative extremely well, and you come away from this book very thoughtful and appreciative of Morris’s dive into her protagonist’s psyche, and the fantastic discussion about the value of life and the impact of those who misuse it.

Overall, An Ethical Guide to Murder was a very strong debut that I was glad I got the chance to read last year.  Clever, thought-provoking, and filled with some strong characters, An Ethical Guide to Murder was an outstanding read that is worth checking out.

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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 Feeding by Anthony Ryan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Science Fiction1 Comment

Publisher: Orbit/Blackstone Publishing (Audiobook – 14 October 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 10 hours and 13 minutes

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed fantasy author Anthony Ryan continues to explore the horror genre with the fantastic post-apocalyptic vampire novel, The Feeding, an awesome and deeply addictive read that you won’t be able to read fast enough.

Anthony Ryan is an author I’ve talked a lot about in recent weeks, primarily because his outstanding fantasy novel, Born of an Iron Storm.  The impressive second novel in the author’s Age of Wrath series, Born of an Iron Storm was one of my favourite books, audiobooks and sequels of 2025, and I am currently very excited for the third and final entry in the series, currently titled Upon a Forge of Battle, which is coming out later this year.  However, before we get to that I need to also highlight Ryan’s second book of 2025, the awesome horror novel The Feeding.  Released here in Australia under the pen-name A. J. Ryan, The Feeding is Ryan’s second major horror release after Red River Seven in 2023.  This new horror novel had a great plot behind it, as a desperate protagonist attempts to survive a twisted landscape filled with dangerous monsters.

Plot Synopsis:

Layla has spent her entire life in the Redoubt, one of the last bastions of humanity in a ravaged world. She’s never been beyond the Redoubt’s walls; only Crossers, with their special training and survival skills, are permitted to venture into the shadow-haunted wastelands.

When Layla’s father falls ill, she knows she needs to find a cure. But no such medicine can be found within the Redoubt. Instead, her only chance is to pass a series of gruelling trials to become a Crosser, and then to strike out into the wilderness.

Where the feeders are.

Internationally bestselling fantasy author Anthony Ryan – writing as A. J. Ryan – delivers a nerve-shredding horror novel where humans are no longer top of the food chain.

The Feeding was another extremely awesome novel from Ryan that I ended up powering through in no time at all.  A clever and intense vampire horror novel, The Feeding effortlessly keeps your attention with its impressive worldbuilding and fast-paced story.  I had such an incredible time with this book, and I deeply enjoyed seeing what Ryan could do in the horror space.

The plot of The Feeding was a great, grungy post-apocalyptic read that was a very interesting change of pace from the sprawling fantasy epics I’m used to from Ryan.  Featuring a much more fast-paced story, Ryan quickly and effectively introduces you to The Feeding’s protagonist, Layla, and the dark world she inhabits.  A lowly scavenger in the dying walled city of Redoubt, Layla finds herself desperate enough to become a Crosser, the city’s elite runners who leave Redoubt to trade in the wasteland, to find medicine for her dying father.  This leads to an excellent extended early section of the book where the protagonist needs to go through a compelling Selection process, featuring several trials designed to whittle down the applicants and ensure only true survivors can go over the wall.  This early sequence does an excellent job of hammering home just how dangerous the world outside of Redoubt is, as well as giving some intriguing insights into what the feeders, this universe’s vampire substitute, are capable of.  This first part of the book really sets the tone for the rest of the novel, and I was frankly hooked on The Feeding the second we got to Selection.

I felt that the second half of The Feeding, which takes place primarily beyond the walls, lives up to the expectations Ryan sets up in the first part of the book.  The protagonist and an interesting band of supporting characters enter the desolate wasteland and soon encounter all manner of horrors from wild feeders, even wilder humans, and the general abandonment of the outside world.  Ryan also starts working in an excellent overarching narrative threat that stalks the protagonists from a distance.  While you can easily guess at who or what this threat is, as well as a certain supporting character’s connections to it, the full impact and intensity of this looming danger keep hitting the protagonists hard and fast.  There are some brutal losses as the plot continues, and you are constantly on edge as everything closes in and the stakes keep on rising.

Everything leads up to an intense finale, as after another dark confrontation the protagonist finds herself at her most desperate.  Forced to rely on an unlikely ally, Layla attempts the impossible and soon finds herself stuck in the middle of someone else’s dark tale.  The raw intensity of the plot really grabs your attention at this point, and you are so very eager to see how the book will continue.  Ryan also throws in some interesting additional worldbuilding as the novel heads towards the conclusion, which provides some answers to the questions you’ve built up throughout The Feeding, while also ensuring you’re even more curious about what else is out in the wasteland.  After a gritty final confrontation, as well as some last-minute tragedy, Ryan ends The Feeding on a mostly hopeful and heartfelt note, which includes an excellent family moment bonding over a classic.  This proved to be an excellent end to The Feeding’s standalone narrative, although Ryan does leave the story open for a potential sequel going forward, which I personally would be curious to see.

Ryan pulls together a tight, complex and character-driven narrative in The Feeding that I think worked extremely well.  Grabbing the reader’s attention early, Ryan does an excellent job painting the post-apocalyptic scene, and I loved the complex world of walled cities and vampire-infested wastelands that emerged.  The combined tension of mass human desperation and the dark overwhelming threat of feeders surrounding the city ensures that the reader knows how deadly this version of the world is from the beginning, which ensures you are really invested in the protagonist’s personal journey.  The feeders themselves prove to be outstanding vampiric antagonists for much of the plot, especially with the combination of feral beast gamma feeders and more intelligent betas and alphas, providing some variation in the threat they posed.  Ryan crafts together some outstanding and scary sequences involving the feeders as the novel continues, and your pulse is guaranteed to race every time they appear, especially once the death toll starts to rise.  Combine that with Ryan’s proven ability to write good action scenes, of which there are some fantastic moments, as well as some excellent and compelling supporting characters (try not to get too attached though), and this really was a fantastically written novel.  I was honestly really impressed with how Ryan transitioned from his usual fantasy style to this powerful and moving horror novel, while also retaining his typical imagination and intense storytelling ability.

As has become my habit with all the previous Anthony Ryan novels I’ve enjoyed, I ended up listening to The Feeding on audiobook, which I’ve always found compliments the author’s writing style and worldbuilding extremely well.  This proved to once again be the case for The Feeding, with the format really enhancing the tension and fast-paced sequences loaded into this great horror story.  It helped that they got another very skilled narrator in the form of Devon Sorvari, who took on the role of the one perspective protagonist extremely well.  While it did take me a chapter or two to completely appreciate Sorvari’s narration style, once I got into her groove, I begun to really appreciate her take on the story and the intriguing characters.  Sorvari perfectly captures the damaged and determined spirit of the main character Layla throughout The Feeding, and the alternate accents and voices she brings for the rest of the cast also work really well.  Sorvari also keeps the pace of The Feeding constantly going, and the way she can enhance the tension of the audiobook through her voice work ensures you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you listen to it.  Thanks to this excellent narration, I got through the audiobooks roughly 10-hour runtime extremely quickly, and this proved to be a particularly amazing audiobook to listen to.

Anthony Ryan continues to greatly impress with his captivating and highly entertaining horror novel The Feeding.  Featuring an outstanding vampire-focused narrative in a complex post-apocalyptic world, The Feeding was a very fun and emotionally charged read, that I couldn’t get enough of.  I had such a brilliant time with The Feeding, and it comes very highly recommend as a result.  I will be seeking out more of Ryan’s dives into the horror genre going forward, and I cannot wait to see what other creepy tales he has planned.

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High Rise by Gabriel Bergmoser

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Harper Collins (Trade Paperback – 1 August 2025)

Series: Standalone/The Hunted spin-off

Length: 309 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

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Prepare for carnage as rising Australian author Gabriel Bergmoser presents a high-octane and beautifully brutal thriller, High Rise, an outstanding and deeply entertaining novel with some real intensity behind it.

Gabriel Bergmoser is an intriguing author who has written some compelling and exciting pieces of Australian fiction over the last few years.  Originally known more for his work as a playwright, Bergmoser has been more active as a thriller author in recent years with his Hunted books, as well as the standalone novel The Caretaker.  High Rise serves as continuation of Bergmoser’s previous Hunted books, The Hunted and The Inheritance, as well as some of the author’s separately released Audible Originals, and follows a supporting character from The Inheritance on his own brutal adventure.

Plot Synopsis:

After a year of searching, rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin has finally found his estranged daughter, Morgan, holed up in the top floor of a rundown, grimy high-rise building. The trouble is, Jack’s unconventional policing and information-gathering methods in the past has made him some serious enemies. And what Jack doesn’t know as he heads into the building, intent on saving his daughter, is firstly, that Morgan doesn’t want to be saved – particularly not by him – and secondly, that the entire criminal underworld in the city are on their way too… There’s a bounty on his head, and they’re after his blood – and they don’t mind if Morgan is collateral damage.

As bounty hunters and gang members converge on the building, father and daughter are thrown into a desperate fight for survival through fifteen storeys of deadly enemies – with only each other to rely on. Die Hard meets The Raid, but the funnier, grittier Australian version. Fast, furious and ferocious, this is thriller writing at its nail-biting, unputdownable best.

Now that was a load of fun.  High Rise was a highly entertaining and relentlessly exciting Australian novel, as Bergmoser unleashes one of his dangerous protagonists on a horde of criminals.  Featuring a continuous blast of action, violence and family drama, High Rise was an amazing and addictive novel that I absolutely powered through.

I had a great time reading the ultra-exciting narrative featured within High Rise, especially as Bergmoser eagerly created an Australian thriller in the same vein as some classic over-the-top action films.  Starting off fast with an effective reintroduction to protagonist Jack Carlin, Bergmoser sets up the main points of the narrative extremely well, and you soon get stuck into the main part of the book, with Jack finding himself trapped on the top floor of a high-rise building filled with petty criminals, bikies, thugs and even some professional hitmen.  What follows is an entertaining blitz of outrageous and brutal action as Jack, and his daughter Morgan, attempt to fight their way downstairs.

Unsurprisingly for an action-packed brawl against criminals and killers, the plot of High Rise moves at a very quick pace.  Bergmoser does a good job splitting the narrative between the two main protagonists, Jack and Morgan, which allows the author to dive into their strained relationship, as well as their own complicated pasts.  Thanks to some creative splitting up, both characters have some interesting solo moments in the middle part of the novel, which also features some unlikely allies.  The climax of the story comes on fast, and there are a couple of good twists there, as well as the appearance of a figure fans of Bergmoser will be very familiar with.  While the identity of the main antagonist of the novel isn’t too surprising, some of the supporting villains were quite fun, especially as the author made good use of the character history he introduced in this novel.  Everything leads up to an intense and emotionally charged finale, which features even more over-the-top action for the reader to enjoy, including some very unique weaponry for an urban Australian setting.  The conclusion of the High Rise was quite poignant and served as a good wrap up to the character development Bergmoser had been exploring throughout the book.  This was an overall exciting and intense narrative that has a lot of great moments for action fans.

Bergmoser did a great job of showcasing his action-packed story throughout High Rise, and this proved to be a very entertaining and addictive read as a result.  The many, many fight sequences I have already gushed about are well-written, and readers can easily visualise these brutal battles and over-the-top sequences thanks to Bergmoser’s descriptive style.  The author also successfully kept up his frenetic pace the entire way through, which allowed me to easy power through this book quickly.  There is a certain level of humour to High Rise, especially with a range of clueless goons and other entertaining characters, and things do get a little ridiculous at times.  This bit of comedic charm is well balanced by the deeper personal issues of the two protagonists, whose dysfunction is further showcased by various flashback sequence, which Bergmoser works into the plot without slowing the pace of the book down.  As such, there are no impediments to powering through this book quickly, and I guarantee most readers will knock this off in only a few sessions.

As I mentioned at the start of the novel, High Rise serves as an extension to the author’s Hunted series.  The protagonist has previously appeared in some of Bergmoser’s previous novels and audiobook releases, most prominently The Inheritance, while another of the author’s protagonists is reintroduced later in the novel.  Despite being part of a larger series, any reader interested in checking out High Rise should be able to follow the plot of this novel without any issues.  Indeed, I personally haven’t had the chance to read Bergmoser’s previous books, and I was able to enjoy High Rise quite easily.  While there are references to previous events from the series, and the author is a little cagey at first about the protagonist’s connections to Maggie, the main character of The Hunted and The Inheritance, Bergmoser quickly fills in any necessary gaps with his accessible writing, and new readers should be able to follow along easily.  As such, High Rise is a great book for any thriller reader, and indeed it works quite well as an introduction to Bergmoser and his writing style.

While I did decide to read High Rise mainly because of its fun-sounding plot and the excessive violence it promised, I came away appreciating the great character work that Bergmoser featured.  Most of the book follows main protagonist Jack Carlin and his daughter Morgan, both of whom have a troubled past and a tense relationship with each other.  The author does an excellent job diving into their complex personal history, especially with the novel’s regular split in perspective, and you get some intriguing insights into their pasts, much of which impacts their current motivations and reactions.  This includes Carlin’s regretful history as a corrupt cop, much of which impacted his relationship with Morgan, who herself suffered a dark childhood due to her mother, as well as her own alcohol induced mistakes.  These character elements become cleverly entwined with the main narrative, and the antagonism and mistrust between the two added to the drama of the plot.  I think that Bergmoser handled this troubled relationship very well, and it was a great highlight of High Rise’s plot, especially attempt to address it in their own troubled way.

While High Rise is primarily focused on Jack and Morgan, several other characters do get their moment to shine.  This includes Maggie, the protagonist of several of the author’s previous books, who has a more supporting role in this novel after appearing later in the plot.  Due to her lack of perspective chapters, Maggie does have less of an impact than the author’s previous novels, but her intense personality and unique friendship with Jack ensure she stands out.  Other key figures, including a Swedish assassin and the violent former member of a bikie club that Jack and Maggie previously destroyed, add some interesting flair to the plot, especially when some unlikely alliances form, and both had some memorable histories and appearances here.  Throw in an army of low-level thugs and criminals who also attempt to claim the bounty on Jack, including some who have history with him, and High Rise features a very entertaining cast of characters, and it was very fun to see them try to kill each other.

Gabriel Bergmoser continues to produce extremely thrilling and entertaining Australian crime fiction content with his latest novel High Rise.  A relentlessly brutal novel, loaded with action, bloodshed and some fantastic emotional depth, High Rise was a great read that I had an amazing time getting through.  Highly recommended!

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