Tag: Standalone

The Yacht by Kayte Nunn

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Harper Collins (Trade Paperback – 26 May 2026)

Series: Standalone 

Length: 336 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Kayte Nunn presents a captivating tale of family drama, classism, intrigue and revenge, all aboard a luxurious mega-yacht, with her wonderful new novel, The Yacht.

Plot Synopsis:

A man on the edge.

A woman hell-bent on revenge.

A cheating husband.

A desperate wife.

A property empire on the brink of collapse.

A family at loggerheads.

A predator hiding in plain sight.

Who will sink and who will swim?

Three generations of a billionaire family are taking their new superyacht on its maiden voyage. But when the yacht sinks, each of them has a different part to play, in this addictive, twist-filled thriller.

Kayte Nunn is a veteran author who has written several intriguing novels in recent years across the genres.  Her more recent work has seen her dive into crime fiction waters, which includes her 2025 release, The Palazzo, and her new book, The Yacht.  The Yacht, which was the first of Nunn’s books I’ve had the chance to read, was an excellent and entertaining thriller that sees dramatic revenge thrown against the inhabitants of luxury yacht.

I really enjoyed the compelling plot that Nunn threw together for The Yacht, which follows several complex characters on an interconnected and intense tale.  This includes various members of the infamous Thyssen family, who have arrived at their father’s new luxury superyacht Ambition as it sails off the coast of Spain.  Each member of this family has their own drama, including a dislike of the family’s greedy lifestyle, a cheating husband, and fear of the family’s controlling patriarch.  In addition, you also follow Piper, the Ambition’s new deckhand, who has her own agenda.  Thanks to some hints of the future, it becomes clear that you are following these characters, as well as a police detective from the port the yacht is moored at, as they head towards the Ambition’s destruction and are witnessing the events that caused it.

Nunn does an excellent job setting up the story for The Yacht and you are quickly caught up in personal storylines of the various protagonists.  Nunn blends these multiple character-driven narratives together into a captivating, combined narrative, and the overlapping drama and multiple secrets really intensify each protagonist’s concerns, as well as the growing apprehension of events to come.  Nunn also gradually reveals multiple additional secrets, such as hidden criminal activities aboard the Ambition and Piper’s true motivations, while even more threats lurk in the shadows.  All this leads up to the big final sequence, where the long-awaited shipwreck occurs, and every character is thrown into turmoil.  You’ll honestly power through the last third of the book as you try to determine who is going to survive and who will get justice, and you’ll mostly come away satisfied with the well-orchestrated conclusion.

I felt The Yacht was a well-written standalone thriller which made perfect use of its larger-than-life characters and fantastic class-focused drama.  Nunn was clearly aiming for a mixture of Below Decks and Succession in this novel, and I think for the most part she succeeded.  The dysfunction dynamics of the various Thyssen family members played off against Piper’s outsider view of events extremely well, and I loved the alternating drama.  The resulting storylines around each character were personal and powerful, while the differing view of other perspective protagonists added some interesting insights that readers will lap up.  While Nunn could have probably left this book as a pure drama tale, playing off the dysfunction of the main family, the inclusion of more traditional thriller elements resulted in a fast-paced read with some real stakes, especially with Piper’s plot of getting justice and revenge and the hidden exploits of other key characters.  Further tension was added by some interesting in-universe social media messages at the end of several chapters, as well as one set of perspective chapters set in the future, which hints at coming calamity and help to set up expectations for the reader.  Nunn ensured the final reveals and the big conclusion of The Yacht mostly lived up to the hype, although these final chapters did feel a little rushed.  There was also something a little unsatisfying with some characters’ fates, but this didn’t take me out of the story too much.

Overall, The Yacht was an impressive and addictive read and it was one I was glad I got the chance to check out.  Kayte Nunn created an excellent standalone for this book that combines some class-focused drama with an intense thriller plot.  The Yacht ended up being a great read that will appeal to wide range of readers, and I’ll be curious to read more from Nunn in the future.

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How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Horror, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (ebook – 3 February 2026)

Series: Standalone 

Length: 378 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Shailee Thompson presents one of the more distinctive and entertaining debuts of 2026, with the addictive horror romance hybrid novel, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates.

Plot Synopsis:

A hilarious, swoony and downright terrifying horror romance in which a cinephile gets caught in the middle of a murder spree at a speed-dating event and must use her encyclopedic knowledge of the rom-com and horror genres to make it as a real-life Final Girl.

When cinephile Jamie Prescott attends a speed-dating event, she expects to meet some mediocre men and have a laugh – she doesn’t expect one of her dates to have his throat slit at her table during a blackout. When the lights come back on, there are more bodies on the floor and the doors are locked.

Armed with makeshift weapons and her extensive knowledge of what not to do in a slasher, Jamie must figure out how to make it out of the building alive. But as the night progresses, she begins to suspect the killer is committing the slayings to woo one of the daters. Whatever happened to roses and perfume?

And why can’t Jamie stay focused on the important thing here, which is obviously not getting murdered, instead of being distracted by a few hot guys? Especially if one of those hot guys happens to be the bad guy…

Oops.

Laugh-out-loud funny and hide-under-your-bed scary, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates puts the killer in killer love story.

I’m always on the lookout for unique and out-there crime fiction reads, and with its slasher parody narrative How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates had everything I look for in a novel.  Combining a thrilling narrative with some amusing takes on two very different genres, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates was an excellent first novel from Thompson that is guaranteed to hook you like a serial killer.

Thompson provides a very fast-paced narrative for How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, which works to bring you in quickly and allow you to enjoy the fun of her entertaining story.  This book nearly immediately drags you into the action after an effective introduction to the protagonist and point-of-view character, Jamie, before providing readers with an extended speed-dating sequence. This sequence is fun on several levels, as it not only provides details about much of the supporting cast, including early hints and red herrings, but it also introduces some of the potential romance options for the protagonist.  After a sudden yet brutal series of killings, the protagonist and several other speed daters are trapped in the venue, desperately trying to find a way out.  Thompson builds up some excellent tension in this first half of the novel, especially with the labyrinthine setting and the clashing personalities, even before the masked killer makes their first official appearance.

Despite the protagonist following certain rules to survive a horror film, the group starts to get separated and hunted by the killer, who is given the moniker Heart Eyes.  However, things only get worse when Jamie begins to understand that Heart Eyes is killing to specifically woo her as a messed-up courting ritual.  This amplifies up the plot, with Jamie both attempting to sacrifice herself while also getting closer to some of the men she is trapped with in some entertaining, if a little inappropriate, romance sequences.  In typical slasher fashion, the supporting cast of the novel are slowly whittled down, with revelations muddying who is responsible for the crime.  All of this leads up to the big final confrontation, where Jamie attempts to become the final girl anyway that she can.  Without giving too much away, I think the lead-up and execution of the big finale was done well, as Thompson provides a great deal of desperation and intensity, although the result is never in doubt.  I will say that I figured out the big twists and identity of the killer early on, although much of this was because of the various film homages I was familiar with.  Still, readers come away from this story very satisfied, and it was the thrilling, campy narrative you expect it to be going in.

How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is an exciting and tense read that cleverly brings two very different genres together.  Filled with a range of big personalities, the story is well told from protagonist Jamie Prescott’s perspective, and I loved the intrigue, terror and mistrust that emerges as the plot continues.  Thanks to the protagonist’s joint love of romcoms and horror films, as well as the presence of several suspiciously perfect men, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates quickly starts to feel like a fun mixture of the two genres.  Thompson uses this genre mixture to great effect to increase both the entertainment value and the intensity of the plot, especially when it becomes clear that the killer is attempting to romance Jamie from afar.  The resulting carnage is very over the top, which becomes even creepier once you realise how everyone is dying due to a killer’s twisted sense of love.  Of the two genres, I think that the slasher elements of the book were stronger, and I really must highlight the claustrophobic setting, the various hidden clues about events to come, as well as the growing guilt and fear of the characters.  The romcom elements of How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates were also pretty good, if a little forced at times, but it did help to lighten the plot.  The result was quite gripping, and I felt that this was a book that will appeal to fans of both genres, as well as anyone looking for something entertaining and unique.

One of the very fun highlights of How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates was the references that Thompson made to classic and iconic horror and romcom films throughout the book.  Much of this was in character, with the cinephile protagonist talking about her favourite films and revisiting famous slasher movies to predict how the killer will attack them next.  It was very entertaining to see a character with some meta-knowledge of horror tropes try to survive their own slasher experience, although it was frustrating to watch all the characters ignore or forget the very simple rules the character (and the author) brings up multiple times.  Still, that gave How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates a bit more of an authentic horror flair, and readers can have a good think about how they would act in a slasher film if they knew all the potential survival rules.

In addition to the references the protagonist deliberately makes there are also a lot more subtle homages that Thompson slides into the book, including in her character’s names.  For example, the protagonist is named for two classic final girls, while another character was named for two major horror directors.  The author loaded in a lot of other quotes and homages throughout the book, and while I’m personally not a mega fan of either genre, I felt I got most of these references.  This allows fans of both genres, and films in general, to have a lot of fun as they try to pick out the easter eggs.  Indeed, those readers with an in-depth knowledge of one of these genres can also unlock a teaser about how the plot unfolds if you really dive into the meta-inclusions, and I personally still got a chuckle about how Thompson did this.  It was a shame that Thompson named her killer Heart Eyes, as it kept making me think of the 2025 film of the same name, which had some similar story beats.  I’m not sure if this was a deep cut from Thompson or an unavoidable coincidence, but you couldn’t help but make some comparisons.  However, this didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the novel, and I felt that overall the references in How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates were never too overwhelming, and even someone who has never watched a film can still appreciate the story without getting lost or confused.  A very fun inclusion to an exciting and entertaining read.

Shailee Thompson bursts into the fiction scene with the bloody and highly compelling debut, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, which ended up being a very fun read.  Fast-paced, exciting and featuring some great movie references, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates was an outstanding novel, and I’ll be very curious to see what this Australian author writes next.

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Warhammer 40,000: Hive by Dan Abnett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer1 Comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 16 May 2026)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 24 hours and 25 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The highly inventive and compelling Dan Abnett once again impresses with his latest addictive entry in the gritty Warhammer 40,000 universe, Hive, an exceptional novel that really puts the grim into grimdark fiction.

Dan Abnett is an author I have mentioned multiple times in this blog, primarily because he is one of the best and most prolific writers of Warhammer fiction.  Abnett’s impressive work is a pillar of the extended Warhammer 40,000 universe, especially with his entries in the Horus Heresy range, as well as his own various unique series, several of which are amongst some of my very favourite pieces of Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  This includes his outstanding Eisenhorn novels (Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus), his long-running Gaunt’s Ghosts books (First and Only, Ghostmaker, Necropolis, Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver and Sabbat Martyr), as well as gripping titles like Titanicus, Double Eagle, and Interceptor City.  Due to these exceptional books, Abnett has quickly become one of my favourite authors, and I was very excited when he recently announced and then released a brand-new Warhammer 40,000 novel.  This novel is the wonderfully lengthy Hive, a two-part novel released simultaneously, which comes together as a single complex tale of life and death in one of the infamous Warhammer 40,000 hive cities, vast metropolises burrowing into the ground and filled with billions of teaming humans.  I’m reviewing both Hive novels as one in this review, primarily because the audiobook format combined them, and it acted as one extended Warhammer 40,000 narrative.

In the hive city of Sacramentus, known simply as the Hive, toil, duty and austerity are the way of life, as its people work in the Hive’s oppressive darkness.  However, after years of war with the planet’s other major city, Sacramentus is entering a period of instability and change.  The planet’s governor, the Domne, has been deposed and executed by the Adeptus Arbites, and a new Domne has been named.  However, this new Domne is an off-planet administrator sent by the wider Imperium of Man to rule, and the Hive does not appreciate outsiders.

As preparations begin for the Domne’s coronation, unrest besets Sacramentus.  Many of the Hive’s citizens, from its lowest worker to its highest noble, speak of revolution and anarchy, while unusual murders and the destructive emergence of unstable psykers create their own havoc.  With the city on edge, many look to take advantage, with gangs, revolutionaries, terrorists and tired workers all determined to make their mark, no matter the cost.

Soon, protests and deadly riots are unleashed upon the Hive’s streets, and the city’s new ruler attempts to maintain control from the forces arrayed against her.  However, there is far more to this atmosphere of dissent and revolution than anyone realises.  A dark and dangerous threat lies just beneath the surface of the Hive, hidden and waiting to unleash its full wrath on everything it encounters.  Can the beleaguered citizens of Sacramentus pull together and fight the malevolent forces coming for it, or is the city’s precious light about to go out for good?

Well damn, that was a very impressive read.  Dan Abnett continues to showcase why he is one of the very best authors of Warhammer fiction, with the highly intricate and deeply addictive Hive.  A powerful and multilayered novel filled with a multitude of compelling character stories, Hive was one of Abnett’s most epic projects yet, with the author’s inventive flair and ability to craft large, unique worlds, perfectly showcased.  A particularly dark and intense novel that gets a very easy five-star rating, Hive is guaranteed to hook you all the way to the bitter end.

Abnett creates a very ambitious and intricate narrative for Hive, which takes the reader on a twisty and complex journey through the eyes of so many characters.  Starting off on an interesting note that helps to establish some aspects of the unique setting, Abnett quickly splits the story into multiple different character storylines.  Introducing a substantial number of different perspective characters in the early going of the book (with some of these scenes introducing other characters who would get their own perspective sections in the book later), you are soon embroiled in a series of different personal stories.  This mass of alternating storylines paints an elaborate picture of the main setting, with different people at the various levels of hive society all showcasing their separate opinions and grudges.  While this large array of characters and multiple distinctive storylines can be a little overwhelming at the start of Hive, Abnett is able to forge it into a comprehensive and addictive narrative very early on.  You are soon engrossed in several separate tales of revolution, revolt and secret activity, while other characters find themselves investigating mysterious events or occurrences.

I was enthralled with Hive’s narrative quite early on, especially as there were several different schemes for control or power happening simultaneously, with multiple complex characters being drawn into these plans at different levels.  Abnett painted a compelling picture of the city as a roiling powder keg at this point, with the authority characters largely unaware of the various plans being laid against them.  At around the halfway point of Hive, events kick off in a dramatic fashion, with Sacramentus engulfed in a chaotic riot as key characters start to enact their separate plans.  You soon have an interesting split of storylines between those involved in setting off the alternating riots, those investigating and trying to stop them, and those who are simply caught in the middle.  Abnett makes sure to drop some hints about certain hidden forces behind much of the unfolding disorder, although there are multiple clever red herrings and false leads that keep the reader guessing at what the true evil is for quite a while.  There are also some reductions in the number of character perspectives, with a couple of surprising deaths earlier than expected.  These sudden twisty ends are quite effective to the plot, and it helps to prepare the reader for just how grim and fatal things are going to get in the final stretch of the novel.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about how the final third of Hive unfolds, because it is better if you go into it blind.  I will say that things get very dark very quickly, and you will not be prepared for some of the shocking surprises.  Abnett does an excellent job blending several character perspectives together into combined story arcs as you near the end, although other character plotlines do remain nicely separated to tell their own story amongst the growing carnage.  The author also slowly but effectively starts revealing the true danger behind the events of the book, and there are some amazing and devastating moments when the inevitable truth about what is happening emerges.  People familiar with Warhammer 40,000 lore will probably be able to identify the main antagonists early, thanks to some hints from the author, although these readers will still be unready for how bad things get.  I liked how Abnett played up the deliberate ignorance normal members of this universe had regarding this threat, and the protagonists’ failure to recognise what’s around them deliciously adds to the gripping tension of the plot.  Everything leads up to a highly brutal conclusion, with a further narrowing of perspectives as you near the end.  I felt that the eventual ending for Hive was quite fitting and really helped to hammer home some of the key fundamental elements of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Most readers will come away from Hive shaken, and I may never forgive Abnett for how he toyed with my emotions in this novel.

Abnett has always been one of my favourite authors of Warhammer fiction, and Hive was a particularly impressive example of his writing style, especially as it is essentially a scaled-up version of one of his multiple-character novels like Titanicus or Double Eagle.  A dark and atmospheric novel that makes full use of its epic city setting (and I do mean epic), Hive came together exceedingly well, as Abnett provides the perfect balance of excitement, intrigue and character growth.  Once again making excellent use of multiple personal stories, Abnett is easily sets up multiple characters and independent storylines, while also telling a cohesive and powerful overall narrative.  While a lot of perspective characters are introduced in very short order at the start of the novel, these multiple storylines all prove to be quite engrossing, and you really get invested in all the hard-hitting and personal tales.  There is a certain amount of tragedy and dark inevitability to many of these storylines, and I enjoyed the even grimmer theme that Hive had, especially towards the end.  The compelling range of different story elements, including focuses on politics, crime, unlikely romance and personal crusades, allowed for quite a varied tale, although as this is a Warhammer book, everything eventually devolves into dark action.  The build-up to the more intense parts of the novel was also extremely well-done, and by the time things kick off, you are ready to see the full chaotic events unfold.  The growing sense of tension and dread that Abnett was able to install in the book was just insane, especially in the second half of the book, and I honestly was on the edge of my seat at so many points in this incredible novel.

Probably the most impressive part of Hive was the incredibly detailed and elaborate city setting that Abnett created.  The hive city of Sacramentus is a mind-boggling enormous setting that the author quicky and effectively introduces through the eyes of multiple characters.  You soon have a great idea of the various zones and levels of the city, including its seat of government, its outer layers where herds of domesticated animals roam, a lower level where mushrooms are harvested, large gang-controlled sectors, and various levels of factories and mines, including the infamous Neg, where disgruntled workers and guilds argue about the state of the city.  While these locations all serve as excellent and detailed backgrounds to the plot, the thing that really impressed me was the joint culture and society that the introduced for the entire city.  There is a shared sense of self and civic identity that all the characters had within Hive, and you are soon introduced to their ideas of the city being the entire world, and anything outside is effectively alien.  This mindset and the history behind it become a key part of Hive’s plot, as it serves as motivation for some figures, while other storylines require outsider characters to understand and overcome the differences.

Abnett further enhanced the uniqueness of the city’s culture by having all the Sacramentus-born characters consistently use distinctive terms, forms of address and slang in all their conversations.  This seemingly simple yet highly effective use of language further enhanced the isolated and unique position that Sacramentus held within the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe, while also helping to draw me even more into the plot.  Be warned that this does make comprehension of certain early conversations a little difficult, although readers are easily able to follow along thanks to context clues and some explanations given to outsider characters.  However, I think that feelings of uniqueness and civic continuance this gave the plot more than makes up for any initial confusion the reader might have.  I know it’s a bit cliché to say, but elements like this helps to the whole of Sacramentus feel like its own distinctive character within Hive, and you really get invested in the fate of the city and its entire population.  Abnett clearly put so much work into developing this vast urban setting, and the joy readers have exploring it, as well as the impact its complexity and distinctiveness has on the overall story, cannot be emphasised enough.

In addition to having its own fantastic setting, Hive serves as an awesome inclusion in the Warhammer franchise.  While seemingly separate, the author quickly establishes that Sacramentus is part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with clever inclusions about technology, culture and certain other outside elements.  Despite this, Abnett makes It very clear just how insulated the enclosed city is from the rest of the Imperium of Man.  Certain intruding elements, such as the Adeptus Arbites and the new ruler, are greatly resented and mistrusted as a result, and it was intriguing to see well established lore elements like the Arbites and other official Imperium organisations trying to operate in the city, especially as it added drama and difficulties to the plot.

However, it was way that Abnett worked the ignorance and lack of understanding about the wider universe into the plot of Hive that was the author’s masterstroke.  Due to Sacramentus’s isolation, and the habit of the Imperium authorities to limit information about potential threats to its citizens, even planetary governors who are unlikely to encounter them, the protagonists of Hive are painfully slow at recognising the threats coming for them, which causes even more problems in the long run.  Anyone with basic knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will be incredibly frustrated at characters’ inability to pick up on certain clues, which perfectly adds to the book’s tension.  As such, Hive becomes an impactful read for established fans of the franchise, many of whom will be yelling at these characters multiple times in the book about what they are truly facing (I know I did).  However, thanks to Abnett’s writing style, and the isolated and unique setting, Hive also works well as an introductory book to readers interested in checking out the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Indeed, Hive is perfect for those readers who want to see just how dark and complex a novel in this franchise can be, and you will become a huge fan of the author and Warhammer in general after reading Hive.

Another major highlight of Hive is the amazing array of great characters that Abnett loaded into his book as he once again attempts to showcase the human side of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  Abnett has always excelled at bringing multiple perspective characters to life within his novels, and Hive is the biggest example of this.  The sheer number of point-of-view protagonists in this book is very impressive, if a little overwhelming at times.  However, Abnett always excels at bringing the reader back to these characters with little effort, and you are soon caught up in their individual storylines.  Each of these character-driven narratives is extremely well established, and you quickly get all the relevant details of these characters and their motivations.  Most of their storylines are nicely self-contained and come together into full narrative threads, and there are some excellent developments as the characters rise to the occasion.  However, readers are advised not to get too attached to any character, as Abnett was brutal when it came to removing certain key characters at surprising moments.

Character highlights for me in Hive include the new ruler of the planet, who finds her attempts to rule the unfamiliar city sabotaged at every level, while her loyal and likeable staff attempt to keep her alive.  There was also an excellent mismatched buddy cop storyline set up between a local detective and off-world member of the elite Adeptus Arbites, who attempt to uncover secrets at the lowest level of Sacramentus with their different approaches and backgrounds. There were also several revolutionary characters with differing motivations, including members of the manipulated masses, infiltrators from outside the city, and gangsters with designs for power, each of whom have their own clever narrative threads in the book.  I liked how the reader felt a sympathy for most of these revolutionaries, considering the typical circumstances of life in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and there is a level of tragedy to their stories.

Abnett also adds an excellent and heartfelt love story into the mix, with two young women from different levels of the city’s society meeting early and spending much of the book exploring their relationship amongst the turmoil engulfing the city.  This unlikely romance added a certain level of extra tension and tragedy to Hive, and you spend much of the book rooting for the mismatched pair.  Finally, there was a great narrative around multiple retired members of an army regiment, who, after a reunion at the start of Hive, find themselves scattered across the city encountering different levels of the crisis.  Not only did this allow some additional connection within the plot, as each of these characters tried to stay in contact with each other, but there were some great storylines about trauma and comradery thrown into their perspective chapters, as they encountered new horrors while dealing with the ghosts of their last war.  I’m honestly only scratching the surface of Hive’s awesome characters here, as Abnett dreamed up a wonderfully complex cast whose alternating personal tales added some excellent additional drama and tragedy to the already outstanding narrative.

As with most Warhammer novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading, I ended up enjoying Hive on audiobook.  The Warhammer audiobooks are always such good fun, as they enhance the over-the-top elements of the books and universe in all the best ways, and the crazy characters, awesome action and intense themes always come out so clearly.  The audiobook for Hive was particularly good, as it allowed you to really immerse yourself in Abnett’s outstanding setting, and enjoy the fantastic figures featured throughout.  Coming in with a runtime of over 24 hours, this is one of the longest Warhammer 40,000 audiobooks I have ever listened to, although most listeners are guaranteed to power through to see how everything ends.  I did think that some of the early confusion about the identity of the multiple recurring characters is enhanced in this format, as the audiobook limits a reader’s ability to go back and remind yourself who a new character is and where you’ve previously seen them.  However, I felt that this was only a minor problem, especially as the audiobook quickly moves you around the characters and you can distinguish their unique story arcs quite easily.

One of the major reasons the Hive audiobook works is due to the narration of the legendary Toby Longworth.  Longworth (one of my favourite audiobook narrators), has long been associated with Abnett’s novels, having lent his voice to nearly all the author’s Warhammer entries.  As such, Longworth is probably the narrator that best understand Abnett’s style, and does an exceptional job presenting the book’s ideas, setting and characters with his voice work.  Not only is Longworth’s base narration voice quite epic and provides some extra gravitas to proceedings, but he also does an amazing job voicing the various characters.  All the extensive cast are given voices that fit their personalities, vocations and origins, including accents for the various off-world characters, which allows the listener to distinguish easily between all the key protagonists.  Combine this with some excellent sound effects to reflect voices coming through communication devices or projectors, and the entire listening experience of Hive is just exceptional, and I honestly couldn’t turn this audiobook off at times.  As such, this format is very heavily recommended, and it is one of the top audiobooks I have listened to this year.

Dan Abnett continues to showcase just how powerful, complex and heartbreaking stories in the Warhammer 40,000 universe can be with the exceptional Hive.  Featuring a captivating, character-driven plot set in a unique and highly detailed setting, Hive was a deeply compelling read from the very beginning.  Loaded with intrigue, surprises and inevitable carnage, Hive was Abnett at his very best, and this is already one of my absolute favourite books of 2026.

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Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science FictionLeave a comment

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 10 February 2026)

Series: Standalone

Length: 10 hours and 49 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The always inventive and uniquely funny Matt Dinniman kicks off a big year with the epic and outstanding read, Operation Bounce House, an incredible and heartfelt novel with one of the most distinctive plots of 2026.

In the last year, I have become one of the many readers/reviewers that has irrevocably fallen in love with the writings of Matt Dinniman.  A clever and hilarious author, Dinniman has gained attention from the world thanks to his intriguing contributions to the LitRPG franchise, producing some very compelling and over-the-top books.  This includes his most famous body of work, the beloved Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which has attracted a diehard group of fans thanks to its addictive overarching plot, complex characters and bonkers humour.  I personally read the entire Dungeon Crawler Carl collection in one straight go last year, with the then seven books in the series, including Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods, The Butcher’s Masquerade, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride and This Inevitable Ruin, all getting very easy five star ratings from me.  Due to how unbelievably addictive the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are, I just had to check out Dinniman’s latest read, the standalone novel Operation Bounce House.  Due to both my experiences with Dinniman and its very cool sounding plot, Operation Bounce House ended up being one of my most anticipated releases of early 2026, and boy did it not disappoint.

In the far future, humanity has expanded out amongst the stars, with massive ships sent to colonise remote planets.  Many planets were found and settled, but few experienced the hardships of New Sonora, where tragedy forced the colonists to adapt through minor changes to their genetics.  Now, after years of isolation, New Sonora is on the brink of opening its public transport gate back to Earth.  However, this attempt at reconnection will cause hell to reign down upon the peaceful planet.

Young New Sonoran native Oliver Lewis has only ever wanted to live peacefully on his family farm, where his biggest problems are his uncertain love life, his sister’s plans to move to Earth, and the slow decline of his family’s aging fleet of ‘honeybee’ agricultural robots.  However, the craziness of a futuristic Earth comes abruptly crashing down on him when a deadly mech descends on his farm, remotely piloted by a petulant child trying to kill him.

As more mechs land on New Sonora, it becomes clear that something disastrous is befalling the planet.  Instead of New Sonora’s promised independence, the governments of Earth and their proxy, the Apex Corporation, have declared that New Sonora is home to anti-Earth terrorists, and have initiated a plan to wipe out the entire population in a shameless landgrab.  Worse, the Apex Corporation has decided to maximise their profits by starting the online hit Operation Bounce House, in which bored Earth gamers are given the opportunity to design and remotely pilot their own armed mechs to massacre the supposed terrorists on New Sonora, all from from the comfort and safety of their own home.

Oliver and his friends decide to fight back.  Utilising a hidden defence protocol left behind by his grandfather, the fleet of honeybee robots are converted into deadly war machines, armed with impromptu but effective weaponry.  But even with these new weapons, can the remaining New Sonorans survive the relentless wave of mechs coming for them, or do they have to find another way to bring the pain to their long-lost cousins from Earth?

Operation Bounce House was another exceptional novel from Matt Dinniman, who takes a break from his Dungeon Crawler Carl books with a unique and heartfelt standalone novel.  Exciting, well-written and extremely clever, Operation Bounce House was an inescapably addictive read that I absolutely absorbed, and which gets an easy five-star rating from me.

Operation Bounce House honestly has one of the more unique science fiction plots of 2026, as Dinniman sets up a powerful narrative of survival, sacrifice and friendship.  Starting with a quick introduction to the protagonist and main point-of-view character, Oliver Lewis, and his sassy farm robot Roger, the plot quickly gets explosive when the two encounter a remotely piloted mech on the outskirts of their land, which serves as a harbinger for a larger force of mechs coming for the planet.  Perfectly utilising a single protagonist perspective to tell the main story, the reader is soon very much enmeshed in the resulting story of survival and the fun interactions between Oliver and Roger.  These opening sequences do an excellent job of setting up the larger story of Operation Bounce House, and you get addicted fairly on, especially once Dinniman started expanding the world building and introducing more characters.

After this effective introduction, Dinniman starts to the throw the readers into the action, including an extended sequence to a nearby town.  A lot of these initial action sequences are quite bleak and really showcase the stakes of the war and the innocence of the protagonists.  Dinniman cleverly cuts these sequences with some deeper dives into the history of future Earth and New Sonora, all of which is relevant for later revelations in the plot.  Many of these deeper dives include transcripts of an in-universe documentary series, The Rhythm Mafia Tapes, which are scattered throughout the plot and provide humanising shots of the main characters and the world that is being destroyed.

The plot of Operation Bounce House eventually devolves into a relentless and bloody siege, with the protagonist and other surviving New Sonoran locals defending the Lewis farm from waves of oncoming mechs.  However, their unique strategies escalate the situation beyond their control, with all of Earth and the Apex Corporation focused on them.  This results in even more carnage, tragedy and hopelessness, and you are unbelievably hooked the entire way through the second half of the book.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about the conclusion of Operation Bounce House, but I will say it is crazy, and nothing goes the way you’d expect.  The big finale sequence is the perfect way for the protagonists to respond to the war around them, and it was one of my favourite parts of the entire book.  Dinniman also lays down several impressive swerves and revelations, many of which perfectly tie back to story and worldbuilding elements he cleverly laid down earlier in the plot, and you are constantly left guessing about where this bloody standalone story will go next.  Readers are guaranteed to come away from Operation Bounce House very satisfied with its ending, and I honestly wished for a longer story.

Dinniman presented another outstanding narrative in Operation Bounce House, and I really enjoyed how this powerful story came together.  Most readers are probably coming into this novel as fans of Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and as one of those people I can guarantee that if you loved the author’s previous works, you’re going to love Operation Bounce House.  This new novel has a similar style in some places to the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, especially when it comes to the over-the-top story elements and outstanding character work.  Dinniman also once again showcasing his exceptional abilities at worldbuilding, and I was very impressed by how quickly and effectively Dinniman introduced the setting and brought you into the crazy scenario, loaded with dark action, complex tragedy and some incredible personal history.  There are so many compelling details featured within this setting, and I loved how well the author utilised these details and history in the larger narrative.  Dinniman makes sure to feature some similar themes his readers may be familiar with, including his love of RPGs, his anti-corporation messaging and his focus on the uncertainty around artificial intelligence, all of which are taken to fun new extremes in this novel.  The book also works as a dark parody of the current streaming culture, with interesting comparisons between crass online personalities and humble farmers, there are a range of clever messages thrown into the story about the future of modern society.

While there are some notable similarities to the author’s previous work here, I do think that Operation Bounce House also serves as an evolution of the author’s writing ability, and I really appreciate him branching out into something more straightforwardly science fiction.  I was very impressed with how well Operation Bounce House works as a standalone story, as there was a lot of detail expertly crammed into this read.  In many ways Operation Bounce House was a somewhat more grounded and personal story than the Dungeon Crawler Carl books.  Thanks to a smaller cast and the carnage focused on the protagonist’s local area, there is a lot more emotion, and I appreciated the focus on family, friends and local community.  Dinniman also provided some more subdued humour for most of the book, which I think helped to raise the impact of the stakes at time.  There are still of course a ton of funny moments in this book though, especially when it comes to fighting back against the mech controllers in unique ways, and things do get very out of hand at times.  Dinniman also ensures that the action is extremely unique, especially considering the context of the conflict, and his depictions of overpowered mechs attacking older robots and lightly armed people were realistic, brutal and intense.

One of the most impressive things about Operation Bounce House was the complex and deeply moving character storylines that Dinniman was able to work into this standalone narrative.  Featuring a well-written cast of colonists defending their homes against insane gamers, you really get absorbed into their powerful story of loss, despair and family.  The story is primarily told through the eyes of main protagonist, Oliver Lewis, a young man who is forced to transform from a farmer worried about everyone leaving him behind, to a traumatised resistance leader trying to save the last sparks of his planet.  Thanks to powerful first-person perspective, you fully witness Oliver’s growth into a reluctant leader throughout the book, while experiencing his sadness and loss.  Dinniman does an excellent job writing Oliver as an everyman character, and while he steps up, he isn’t as overpowered or strategic as some of Dinniman’s other protagonists, allowing for a more relatable story.  I deeply enjoyed the compelling and full narrative that Dinniman wrote around Oliver in this book, which was loaded with love of family and friends, and he worked well as a main character for this plot.

The rest of the natives of New Sonora serve as a wonderful supporting cast, with all of them having a great out-of-their-depth edge to them.  Most of the main cast are Oliver’s friends who find themselves the unlikely faces of a revolution.  Featuring several excellent characters, each with their own distinctive arc, whose relationship with Oliver and each other defines them in the chaos to come.  Standouts include Sam Amboya, Oliver’s best friend and one of the main comic reliefs in the plot.  A dedicated friend and soon-to-be parent, Sam is one of the emotional hearts of the story, whose survival you become very invested in.  I also really enjoyed Oliver’s sister, Lulu, who serves as an interesting and more worldly foil to her brother.  A sassy and confident figure, Lulu has some interesting scenes around her, including her fame in an adult vocation that works surprisingly well in building her up as an independent and charismatic woman.  These great New Sonoran characters, and more, prove to be excellent focusses for the plot, who the reader can really get behind.  The Rhythm Mafia Tape interludes provide some great snapshots and help to build up the defenders as real people.  Dinniman perfectly matches these likeable farmers with some very over-the-top antagonists, primarily the Earth based mech pilots participating in Operation Bounce House, as well as some shady corporate overlords.  Dinniman clearly had fun introducing a range of sadistic gamer characters and corporate managers, who while exaggerated, seem like a natural progression for some current trends.  These antagonists contrast in very entertaining ways to the New Sonoran defenders, and it was amusing to see many of them get their just-deserts thanks to the unique tactics of the protagonists.

While all these human characters are amazing, I honestly found that one of the best figures in the book was a robot, which is typical for a Dinniman novel.  This character is Roger (short for Roger-Roger), the Oliver family hive queen, an AI robot used to manage the farm and the other honeybee robots.  Roger serves various roles in this novel, including a key deliver of exposition about the larger setting, as well as a great comedic figure due to his role as a strict tutor and disciplinarian for the adult Oliver and Lulu (and their friends).  However, when the mechs invade, he starts following a hidden “perimeter defence protocol”, turning him into the control nodule for the protagonist’s entire defence network.  Dinniman writes some intriguing narratives around Roger, as the new protocols allow him to expand his learning capacity and overcome his coded limitations to make him a truly terrifying weapon.  Roger’s history, and the fear that future Earth has for AI, also serves as a fascinating central narrative thread for Operation Bounce House, and it proves interesting to see Roger transform from a simple farm robot to a major threat to all humanity.  Despite this, there are some heartwarming personality traits attached to Roger, and he honestly proves to be one of the more loveable figures in the novel, especially when seen through the protagonist’s eyes.  All this allows for quite a powerful and personal narrative, with Dinniman once again showing his aptitude for creating distinctive and complex characters.

While I was lucky enough to receive a physical copy of Operation Bounce House, I just had to listen to the audiobook version of it, especially after loving the Dungeon Crawler Carl series on this format.  Unsurprisingly, the Operation Bounce House audiobook was also extremely awesome, and listening to the plot really enhanced the unique scenario, elaborate plot and crazy characters.  I ended up powering through Operation Bounce House’s near 11-hour runtime in a very short amount of time (it’s a great book for a road trip), and there was frankly not a single second that I wasn’t enjoying this great audiobook experience.

Part of the reason that this audiobook was so damn fun was the incredible narration that accompanied it, with two outstanding and familiar voice actors coming along for the ride.  The primary narrator for Operation Bounce House was Travis Baldree, who Dinniman fans would be familiar with due to his appearances in two of the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, including The Eye of the Bedlam Bride where he had one of the series’ funniest lines: “I need a baby seal”.  Baldree continues his exceptional work in Operation Bounce House, successfully voicing the tense plot perfectly, ensuring that the story moved along at a tight clip while also expertly enhancing the book’s tight humour.  Baldree also does an outstanding job with the various characters, with a compelling range of voices attributed to the entire cast.  My personal favourite was probably the amazing tone he gave to Roger, which helped showcase his robot nature while also still containing some excellent emotion and humour.  I also enjoyed how his various human main characters had a good rural rasp to their voice, that fit nicely with the agricultural nature of their world, and Baldree unsurprisingly did justice to the various Latino characters featured in the plot.

On top of Baldree’s outstanding central narration, we also get the legendary Jeff Hays, the voice of the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, voicing several secondary characters.  Hays, who is just so damn good, has a ton of fun with these characters, including one of the main antagonists, who he gifts a particularly entertaining and arrogant voice, which was just perfect.  The combination of voices coming out of this impressive narration team was so damn amazing, and they really turned this audiobook into something special.  This is frankly the absolute best way to enjoy Operation Bounce House, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Matt Dinniman has fun showcasing a new, unhinged narrative with the wonderfully powerful Operation Bounce House.  An outstanding standalone science fiction novel that perfectly showcases Dinniman’s ability to craft elaborate universes and intense character arcs, Operation Bounce House was just incredible, and I still cannot get over some of the clever twists and intense action.  A deeply impressive read, and an outstanding novel to check out before Dinniman’s new Dungeon Crawler Carl novel, A Parade of Horribles, which I am currently reading as I write this review.

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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, Murder Mystery, 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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