Deep Dive

The Deep by Kyle Perry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Unputdownable. This book only took me a week to read because I had to work every day. If I’d been able to devote the time I reckon I would have consumed this in 2 days! Kyle Perry had a stunning debut novel in The Bluffs, but this….THIS easily surpasses it. From the harsh but beautiful coastal setting, to the riveting and diverse characters and the twisting and turning plot – this is the novel of a writer really hitting his straps.
Set in the south-Tasman town of Shacktown, The Deep draws us into the seedy and violent world of the Dempseys; a crime family consisting of matriarch Ivy, and brothers Mackenzie (Mackeral) and Davey. They work in drug trade in partnership with a mysterious figure known only as the Dread Pirate Blackbeard. Everything is moving along nicely (as nicely as illegal pursuits can) – and then Forest, a boy long thought dead, turns up coughing and sputtering from the ocean.
Where has the boy been for 8 years? What happened the night he went missing? Where are the others who were with him? What does this mean for the Dempseys?
The Deep has a steady, building pace and Perry’s plot twists made me gasp out loud at times, especially as the book neared its conclusion. It also has a lot to say about what it means to “be a man”. The timely theme of toxic masculinity is an interesting thread through the novel and it’s fair to say Perry leaves the read in no doubt about the devastating impact it has on men and those close to them (and even not close to them).
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. I urge you to get your hands on it as soon as it’s published on July 20th. You won’t be sorry.

(reviewer supplied with an ARC by publisher in professional capacity as a librarian).



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The Outsider

The Outsider by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I expected more scares that I got, but somehow it didn’t matter because Mr King is such a great writer of character I was completely engrossed. There is horror – the book begins with an absolutely HORRIFIC crime – but the reader quickly becomes connected to the characters, and I found myself very quickly caring about what happened to them all. I had not read the other Bill Hodges books, but I would go back to them on the strength of this novel, and he’s not even really in this one!
Holly, Hodge’s former investigative partner, is a brilliant character. I would have read this for her alone. I won’t give away too much here, because I try to be spoiler-free, but I did love the weaving of urban and ancient mythology into the storyline.
If you want a plot that slowly draws you in and then doesn’t let go, this is the book for you. One to curl up with on a rainy day (or couple of days – it’s a pretty long read) and immerse yourself in.
Recommended for ages 16 and up (there is some pretty graphic content in here).

“To be heard”

Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This glorious book. This lyrical, mystical, earthy book. I loved it. Ambelin and Ezekial Kwamullina have woven together two different narrative perspectives and made them seamless. Beth Teller, a ghost, is tethered to her grieving father after being taken too soon in a car accident. Her father, a police detective, has been sent to a town to investigate a suspicious fire and death. In the course of the investigation Beth and her Dad meet Isobel Catching, thought to be a witness to the fire. Catching, the second narrator, tells her story in a verse novel style and hers is a strange and compelling tale. As we read these stories side-by-side, we start to see connections in them. Other people in the town go missing, Beth’s Dad starts digging into the town’s past, and unravels a mystery that spans twenty years.
The imagery used in Catching’s story, with connections to animals and the landscape, along with Beth’s emotional attachment to her father, and a growing attachment to Catching, move this story along at a deceptive pace. This is an easy read, but the themes are raw and real and definitely not for a junior audience. I would suggest ages 13 and up would be the way to go here.
Highly recommended reading.

Dem Bones….

All the Little Bones by Ellie Marney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the start of a great new series by Ellie Marney. Colm and Sorsha are a hypnotic combination and the back story of being on the run was perfect to throw them together. As usual the first kiss between the two protagonists is HOT, which is an Ellie Marney speciality. Marney effectively paints a picture of circus life and show folk well, and I look forward to reading more about this cast of characters. Can’t wait for All Fall Down to drop into my Kindle!

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This one has heart

Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marlowe, the central character in Shivaun Plozza’s accomplished second novel is a fantastic protagonist. Flawed, fragile, but ultimately stronger than she realises, Marlowe is finding her way back into the world after having a life-saving heart transplant. Obsessed with connecting with the family of her donor, Marlowe is frustrating, but also highly likeable. Her mum is a “vegan warrior” who only wants the best for Marlowe, but she also tries to be her friend a little too much. I didn’t enjoy this character as much as I hoped to, but Pip, her wonderfully eccentric and self-confident little brother is an absolute delight. I kind of wish younger kids could get to read Pip too, because he is such a positive character. As such, Pip is a great reflection of Marlowe, who is often down on herself and others much of the time. No matter what, Pip can find the good in almost everything. As Marlowe’s relationship with the sister of her dead donor develops, the reader can see there is disaster looming, and when Marlowe starts falling for Leo, son of the local butcher, there is conflict of epic proportions brewing. No more story elements for fear of spoilers, but suffice to say Marlowe has to confront more than a few personal demons and work on mending lots of fences before the story ends.
Plozza’s writing is heartfelt and her dialogue, as in her debut novel Frankie, is absolutely on point. Leo is a laconic smart arse, but has a heart of gold. Marlowe is trying to break away from her family, but ultimately loves them more than anything. The realities of an adolescent trying to find her place, and settle into it comfortably are familiar, and handled here with aplomb. Highly recommended for ages 14 and up.

A Great Find

Found by Fleur Ferris

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beth (Elizabeth) Miller lives in a small town, Deni, and has just started a relationship with local boy, Jonah. When we first meet them, Beth is trying to work up the courage to tell her father, “Bear” – a local teacher and karate instructor – about her boyfriend. Beth’s Dad disappears after the appearance of a nondescript white van and from that moment on, her entire life is turned upside down and inside out. Everything Beth thought she could be sure of in her life becomes shaky as she discovers her family has been in hiding from a dangerous, vengeful criminal who has now found out where they live.
I love how Fleur Ferris throws the reader immediately into the middle of the action in this novel. We have barely met Beth and Jonah when things begin to go pear-shaped, and the pace does not let up for the rest of the 300 pages. Beth turns out to be a highly capable and resourceful girl, because her parents have always been secretly preparing in case they were found out; but she is also incredibly fragile, trying to make sense of everything that is going on AND trying to keep herself and her family alive.
Jonah is interesting too – especially because he learns things about his own behaviour (he’s a bit of a selfish prick for a while), and he has great mates like the fantastic Warra to help pull him back into line. Willow, Beth’s best friend, is also well-drawn and the conversation between the two girls feels natural and easy.
I won’t give any more plot points away, but I CAN say that just when you think you know everything, there is another surprise or shock over the next page!
Fleur has found her stride here – a great mix of excellent scene-setting, and well-paced action – and has cemented her place as a premium writer of YA thrillers.
Highly recommended.

Murderous Reflections

Mirror Me by Rachel Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. Rachel Sanderson’s last book, The Space Between was a well-constructed thriller and Mirror Me is too. Sanderson Shows a surer hand here – the characters are more clearly realised, and the tension is tighter, and more nuanced.
Central character Abbie moves to the rural community of Derrington with her mother, Mum’s partner Stacey, and little brother, Tom. Mum is a doctor who is taking over the local practice for a year after the sudden departure of Dr O’Brien. Abbie has left her school, her BFF and everything she knows and feels safe with to come and live in the back of beyond. Initially she feels a bit our of her depth, but she makes some new friends and all seems to be going okay until she discovers she is the spitting image of another girl, Rebecca (Becky) O’Brien, who was murdered a year ago. Weird things start to happen. Abbie has dreams about Becky’s murder, she feels drawn to the house where it happened, and begins to obsess about the details.
Abbie also has to cope with a bully named Dave, a blossoming romance with a guy named Zeke, and a deepening friendship with the local handyman, Andy. Little by little coincidences start to stack up and Abbie is convinced the dead girl is trying to communicate with her.
Sanderson builds the growing tension well in this novel. The pace is just right. In The Space Between the ending felt a little rushed, but she takes her time here, giving the characters time to breathe and explore their own stories. The result is a really great, suspenseful story that had me gripped to the very last page.
Highly recommended.

The most annoying protag ever

Olmec Obituary by L.J.M. Owen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Review copy supplied by publisher in exchange for a fair review.

When I was first contacted about possibly reviewing this book, I was excited by the prospect of the central character. Not only is she an archaeologist and expert in paeleogenetics, but she is a librarian too! As a librarian myself, this book was high on my TBR pile. What a shame it didn’t live up to my expectations.
Dr Elizabeth Pimms is called back from a dream dig in Egypt to attend the funeral of her beloved father in Canberra, her home town. She leaves her boyfriend, Luke, behind and ends up having to stay in Australia to help support her quirky family so they can afford to pay for her brother Matty’s surgery. She completes a post graduate library qualification and starts work at the National Library to work on old maps. Along the way, she makes friends with Nathan (my favourite character in the book) and an enemy of a woman named Mai – who takes an instant dislike to her.
Elizabeth is asked by an old archaeology classmate to do some work on identifying and classifying some bones from a dig in Mexico – from an Olmec cemetery.
Throw in underlying guilt and blame from the car crash that killed their mother (and left Matty unable to walk) years earlier, a boiling conflict with a bratty sister and a family home that sounds like a cross between Hogwarts and the Brady Bunch and you would think I would find this an enjoyable read.
I did not. I really wanted to like Elizabeth, but I found her incredibly annoying. She is quick to pass judgement, remarkably naive and pretty conceited. Her family treats her like a princess, and not in a good way. I found myself yelling at this book several times as I read it – saying “Just take CONTROL of your life, you wimp!” For someone so accomplished, her character is infuriatingly skittish and lacks confidence. It drove me crazy. Her friends, Nathan, and philologist Henry are far more appealing and just as quirky, but somehow they both have their lives sorted out. I just got so impatient with Lizzie. She is only 26 years old in the book, so she is still quite young, but everyone around her, including her younger brother, just seems to have a better handle on life.
The reason for my frustration might stem from the fact that Owen really locks in some librarian/academic woman stereotypes with Lizzie. She lives at home with her parents, she has 4 cats, she is a librarian, she’s a bit of a loner, she likes correcting everyone. L.J.M. even makes her a literary snob. When Elizabeth works on the customer service desk in the Library, a teenage girl asks for a copy of the latest vampire novel (we are led to believe it is Twilight or something similar). Elizabeth actually asks herself:

“…was it right to be complicit in people reading nonsense when better books were so readily available?”

How dare she? How dare L.J.M. Owen diss “popular” fiction like that? I mean, I don’t like Twilight myself, but if someone wants to read it, more power to them! Especially a teenage girl! Things like this constantly frustrated me about this character. By far the worst thing, though, is Elizabeth and her phrenic library. I assumed this was a device used by Elizabeth to aid her eidetic memory, but there was not explanation of what it was or how it worked until the very end of the novel. There was not even a reference at the end of the book (with all the recipes and other paraphenalia) with a working definition! For someone who is a librarian, the author dropped the ball here.
Leaving Elizabeth aside, there are other things I find appealing about this book. Firstly, the flashbacks to the Olmec period are great – loved the painting of the story behind the bones. Secondly, the mystery of the bones and why some evidence doesn’t add up (the mystery) is also great- I really enjoyed the progress of that part of the story. Nathan, Elizabeth’s colleague at the Library, is a sweetheart – a bit of a fantasy librarian in many ways. He’s funny, smart, sensitive, loves cats and I think is a little bit in love with Elizabeth – though nothing happens between them except friendship in this novel.
I am now reading Mayan Mendacity to see if Elizabeth can win me over. The rest of her family, and the support cast have – now she has to step up and show me she is more than the stereotype, that she can break away from it. I really want her and Nathan to become flatmates. Fingers crossed…review to follow soon.

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Thirsty for more

The Dry by Jane Harper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An absolute page-turner from beginning to end, I read this in record time. Jane Harper’s debut is a corker.
Aaron Falk has returned to Kiewarra, his drought-ridden country home town, for the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke Hadler. Hadler’s wife and son were shot and Luke apparently turned the gun on himself in an act of desperation – leaving little baby Charlotte an orphan. A Federal Police investigator, Falk is soon suspicious about the circumstances of the Hadlers’ deaths and begins to poke old wounds in his quest to find the truth. Ably assisted by Sergeant Raco, local cop, Falk begins an off the books investigation that stirs up tension and ill-feeling across the town.
The atmosphere is tense, tinder-dry, and expectation builds as you read your way towards an explosive conclusion. I loved that there were no neat ends pulled together in this novel – some of the denouements are messy, just as in real life. I won’t post anymore for fear of revealing too much more about the plot. Suffice to say, you will not be disappointed in this debut offering from Jane Harper. I look forward to reading many more mysteries of this calibre from her.
Ages 15 and up

When lies become the truth

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Just wow. This book is an intricate web of smoke and mirrors. A searing portrait of “old money” and all the evil it can bring out in people. A heartbreaking look at sadness, and longing for things past. Lockhart has drawn her characters, particularly Cady (Cadence), very well.
Two summers ago, Cady had an accident that no-one wants to talk about. She can’t remember it as she hit her head in the accident and now suffers crippling migraines. After a summmer away, Cady returns the next summer to the place where the accident happened, the family’s island, Beechwood. Through Cady’s efforts to remember what happened that fateful night, we learn about her cousins and past summers through flashbacks, and through the conversations she has with them on her return in the now.
Little by little Cady begins to remember snippets of what really happened the night of the accident. What follows is devastation, but I can’t tell you what or who – because that would spoil it. In fact, don’t let anyone tell you ANYTHING substantial about this book, because you need to approach it, for the most part, cold. Just pick it up. Read it. READ it. Marvel at the sophisticated world of the Sinclairs, and be grateful for what you have in your own little world.
Recommended for ages 14 and up.