Tag Archives: australian fiction

Book Review Silver

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Chris Hammer

Synopsis

For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping.

He’d vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won’t come again.

Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days has been brutally murdered, and Mandy is the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him.

He’s making little progress when a terrible new crime starts to reveal the truth. The media descend on Port Silver, attracted by a story that has it all: sex, drugs, celebrity and religion. Once again, Martin finds himself in the front line of reporting.

Yet the demands of deadlines and his desire to clear Mandy are not enough: the past is ever present.

Comments

A page-turning thrilling crime novel set on the NSW East Coast of Australia, where Chris Hammers’ character Martin, from his previous book, Scrublands, grew up. His partner Mandy, inherits a house in the same town, prompting their move. They attempt to start a new life together, but when Martin arrives, he finds the dead body of a childhood friend. And Mandy seems to be the main suspect!

This clever style of writing draws the reader in from the start, wanting to know who did it! However, in order for Martin to solve the mystery he must confront his past. We meet a plethora of characters along the way, people that Martin had grown up with and people who have arrived while he was away being an award-winning journalist. All of which, kept us turning pages, eager to find more clues. We feel the ending may have been a little over thought; got a little confusing around the second murder. However, we still really enjoyed this book.   Another great holiday read for us!

Rating – 8/10

Read by Cultcha Club

The Hush by Sara Foster

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Sara Foster‘s latest novel, ‘The Hush‘ is one I have been eagerly awaiting from the moment it was announced!

After the long months of anticipation I finally got to experience the joy of walking into the book store & picking up my copy of ‘The Hush’. I eagerly read the blurb to find out what Sara Foster had in store for me this time around and boy was I super surprised and excited! I could instantly tell I would be in for a late night of reading.

Set in England, in the not too distant future ‘The Hush’ was action packed from the very start. After months of otherwise healthy babies being stillborn, the British government has introduced new laws which allow them to monitor a persons every move. Wrist watches are used to track peoples locations, pregnant teenage girls are disappearing without a trace and women’s freedoms are quickly becoming non existent.

For those readers who are long time fans of Sara Foster’s books prepare to be blown away! ‘The Hush’ is completely different from any of Sara’s previous books, but is totally brilliant and a story that is very relevant to our times. Who wouldn’t enjoy reading about strong, intelligent women who support each other and join together to stand up for their basic human rights. This is the women’s thriller we didn’t know we needed. I want more!

‘The Hush’ gets a rating of 5/5 from me. My only advice is read it slowly if you can because once you finish it you will wish you hadn’t.

Anyway enough gushing from me now. I am off to purchase some copies of Sara’s previous books to keep me satisfied while I wait the one or two years before I get to read a new one! I know it sounds crazy but re-reading books by authors you enjoy is so relaxing and enjoyable. I only wish I wouldn’t keep giving my copies away because I am so eager to share.

Happy reading,

Jody

P.S.

If you are wondering why I buy my books when I work in a library it is so our library members don’t have to wait longer for our new releases.

Ned Kelly Awards 2018 Shortlist

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The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the shortlists for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing.

The shortlisted works in each category are:

Best crime fiction

Best true crime

Best first fiction

The winners will be announced on 26 August during the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Book Review: Thornwood House by Anna Romer

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Thornwood House – Anna Romer

When Audrey Kepler inherits an abandoned homestead in rural Queensland, she jumps at the chance to escape her loveless existence in the city and make a fresh start. In a dusty back room of the old house, she discovers the crumbling photo of a handsome World War Two medic – Samuel Riordan, the homestead’s former occupant – and soon finds herself becoming obsessed with him. But as Audrey digs deeper into Samuel’s story, she discovers he was accused of bashing to death a young woman on his return from the war in 1946.
When she learns about other unexplained deaths in recent years – one of them a young woman with injuries echoing those of the first victim – she begins to suspect that the killer is still very much alive. And now Audrey, thanks to her need to uncover the past, has provided him with good reason to want to kill again.

Comments

This was a great book.  Beautifully written that generated lots of discussion amongst our group for good reasons this time.  On the whole we all enjoyed the book.  It drew us in very quickly as it weaved its web of intrigue and deceit.  However, during our discussions we found a lot of holes in the storyline.  What were the characters motives?  Just why was the murderer so obsessed with the mother and daughter?

We also felt the book needed a little editing.  There were large sections of the book, lengthy descriptions about weather and plants, and characters that seemed to be introduced unnecessarily, that our readers skimmed over.

Overall, it was a great read that we definitely recommend, scoring a solid 8 from our group.  Everyone especially enjoyed the letters between Samuel and Aylish, taking us back to a time before technology and text messaging!

8/10

Read by Cultcha Club