Tag Archives: thriller

Book Review The Hand That Feeds You

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The hand that feeds you by A.J. Rich

Summary

I trusted you. This is how you repay me.

Morgan’s life is settled – she is completing her thesis on victim psychology and newly engaged to Bennett, a man more possessive than those she has dated in the past, but also more chivalrous and passionate.

But she returns from class one day to find Bennett savagely killed, and her dogs – a Great Pyrenees, and two pit bulls she was fostering – circling the body, covered in blood. Everything she holds dear in life is taken away from her in an instant.

Devastated and traumatised, Morgan tries to locate Bennett’s parents to tell them about their son’s death. Only then does she begin to discover layer after layer of deceit. Bennett is not the man she thought he was. And she is not the only woman now in immense danger …

Comments

This story is a collaboration between two women studying the links between victims and perpetrators with an emphasis on ‘pathological altruism’. The events are based on incidents in the life of a friend who died of cancer. The narrator, Morgan, returns home to find that her boyfriend has been killed and ripped to pieces by all or one of her three dogs. If this sounds horrific, it sets the tone of the book. An endless and complex tale peppered with violence and peopled by mostly unlikeable characters and their dogs. We all thought this to be a salacious and implausible story.

4/10 Read by Dundas Readers

November 2021 Author Talks

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City of Parramatta Libraries have teamed up with Public Libraries NSW for the final time this year to end our FREE online author talks with a bang! These are the last three author talks for 2021 that you can attend from the comfort of home and we thank you for attending the talks throughout the year. Recordings of our previous talks can be found here and are certainly deserving of a watch or even a re-watch. I think my favourite might be Judy Nunn, she is such an engaging and enthusiastic speaker.

In case you missed it don’t forget tonight is the author talk with the beloved host of ABC Gardening Australia, Costa Georgiadis, with his new book Costa’s World, he is sure to be an entertaining and enlightening speaker.

David Hunt presents Girt Nation in conversation with Wendy Harmer
Friday 5 November, 1.00pm

Noted historian David Hunt will be in conversation with Wendy Harmer, one of Australia’s much loved personalities, speaking about his latest historical work.
David Hunt tramples the tall poppies of the past in charting Australia’s transformation from aspiration to nation – an epic tale of charlatans and costermongers, of bush bards and bushier bastards, of labourers and ladies who weren’t going to take it anymore.Girt Nation introduces Alfred Deakin, the Liberal necromancer whose dead advisors made Australia a better place to live, and Banjo Paterson, the jihadist who called on God and the Prophet to drive the Australian infidels from the Sudan ‘like sand before the gale’. And meet Catherine Helen Spence, the feminist polymath who envisaged a utopian future of free contraceptives, easy divorce and immigration restrictions to prevent the ‘Chinese coming to destroy all we have struggled for!’
To register book online – https://parra.city/hunt21

Michael Connelly presents The Dark Hours in conversation with Ben Hobson
Friday 19 November, 12.00pm

Best selling author Michael Connelly will be in conversation with Australian author Ben Hobson about his latest Ballard & Bosch thriller The Dark Hours, in one of only two live events that Michael will deliver directly to an Australian audience.
A brazen and methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch must join forces to find justice for the victim in a city scarred by fear and social unrest. There’s chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD Detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revellers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard quickly concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and that it is linked to another unsolved murder—a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch.
To register book online – https://parra.city/connelly21

Fiona McIntosh presents The Spy’s Wife
Wednesday 24 November, 1.00pm

Fiona McIntosh will be in conversation with Mel Tong from Macquarie Regional Library chatting about her highly anticipated new historical adventure The Spy’s Wife.
Evie, a widow and stationmaster’s daughter, can’t help but look out for the weekly visit of the handsome man she and her sister call the Southerner on their train platform in the wilds of northern England. When polite salutations shift to friendly conversations, they become captivated by each other. After so much sorrow, the childless Evie can’t believe love and the chance for her own family have come into her life again. With rumours coming out of Germany that Hitler may be stirring up war, local English authorities have warned against spies. Even Evie becomes suspicious of her new suitor, Roger. But all is not what it seems. 
Penguin Random House Australia and Fiona McIntosh are giving one lucky attendee a chance to win a beautiful Hermès silk scarf. To register book online – https://parra.city/mcintosh21

Thirst – a Book Club Review

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Thirst – L.A. Larkin

Summary
A few years from now, climate change has produced global drought. Wars over water are becoming commonplace.When communications are cut from an Australian Antarctic station and two colleagues go missing, maverick glaciologist Luke Searle and his team are unaware they have fallen victim to a plan to harvest Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier for water. Yet the ruthless leader of this secret project has a second plan, far more ambitious and destructive than the first, which will give his country unchallengeable military power and make him exceedingly rich. But the plan risks destroying the enormous West Antarctic Ice Sheet, causing sea level rises that will not only wipe out low-lying cities, but whole countries.

Review
A great read!! Suspenseful! Fast paced!! Action packed!! Beautiful scenery!! Well written characters!!

Thirst is set in Antarctica and shines a light on one of the biggest environmental issues of today. When Australian glaciologist, Luke Searle, finds out what the bad guys are up, its up to his team to save the world in 5 days.

This book was a little different to what we have been reading, and a book that some our readers would not have chosen. However, we all thoroughly enjoyed it!! Its fast paced, pulling you in right from the beginning. We would definitely recommend this book.

Read by – Cultcha Club Book Club
Rating – 8/10