June Releases

June promises to be a mixed bag with a little bit of everything in the 4 books that are due to be released ensuring that all tastes will be satisfied. There’s a comic spy thriller, a hardboiled detective mystery, an action adventure with apocalyptic overtones and a thought-provoking debut thriller.

Here’s a quick look at what’s coming up remembering that I will be examining, reviewing and posting about each of them individually over the next week or so.

Sensitive New Age Spy by Geoff McGeachin (pub. Viking / Penguin) - this is McGeachin’s 3rd novel but it’s the second to feature D.E.D agent Alby Murdoch. This is a sparkling comic mystery steeped in Australian humour fronted by the laconic Murdoch. The loss of a couple of items that can neither be confirmed nor denied as nuclear warheads puts Alby on high alert and headed into trouble. Released June 4.



A Little Rain on Thursday by Matt Rubinstein (pub. Text Australia) - This was the runner-up for the 2001 Australian / Vogel Award under the title Vellum. It’s a lyrical, rich mystery about the discovery of an ancient manuscript and a man’s attempt to translate it at a great cost. Rubinstein’s prose is outstanding, evocative in its construction and with a finely descriptive turn of phrase. It’s a smoothly flowing story with an ever-present undercurrent of unexplainable menace. Released June 5.

Crater by Phoenix Connor (pub. Random House Australia) - A genetically modified group of apes escape from an experimental facility and disappear into the California wilderness. They turn up later in a battle that holds the key as to whether humans will remain the dominant species on the planet. This is a debut thriller of tremendous power and pace. Released June 1.

Appeal Denied by Peter Corris (pub. Allen & Unwin) - The 31st book in the Cliff Hardy hardboiled detective series finds Cliff facing an uncertain future with his career on the line. This comes complete with the usual challenges, stand-offs and violent encounters that has made the series so popular for so long.