Australian Books Read - December 2012

It has been a month of returning to the passion that I have a great commitment to, namely reading Australian crime fiction. This has come after spending a few months leaning more towards books written by overseas authors. The return has reminded me of the wealth of talent that is being produced by our local authors. Actually, to check my pile of books waiting to be read, the talent pool appears to be on the rise.

In December, I finished reading the following books by Australian authors.

Thrill City by Leigh Redhead
Wyatt by Garry Disher
Murder and Redemption by Noel Mealey
Comeback by Peter Corris

This represents far less than half the books that I read this month but it also represents all of the books that I read that were published in the last decade. My aim over the next year is to move my focus more towards the local market and I expect my reading numbers to drastically increase.

Keeping The Balance

I am primarily a reader of hardboiled and noir crime novels with a great liking for the older detective series. This is where series by Disher, Corris and Temple, among others, have provided me with great pleasure.

Obviously, not all Australian crime novels meet my preferences with some of the "romantic thrillers" being forced past my eyes and into my brain. To stop from becoming jaded from all of the local content I am also balancing out my effort by continuing to read through detective series from some overseas established authors.

I have recently started making my way through Bill Pronzini's Nameless detective series and intend on continuing through until I have read the entire oeuvre. I have also recently discovered John Lutz and even though they are a little difficult to track down here in Australia (at least, for a reasonable price) I want to make my way through his entire Alo Nudger series of 10 novels plus one short story collection.

I think if I can keep my reading selection well balanced it will ensure that it will remain fun rather than becoming more of a chore.

That said, there are still Peter Corris books for me to read not to mention books by many of the lesser known but just as talented authors. Sitting on the stand next to my bed is a pile of books from Corris' Cliff Hardy series and they are going to be read during January. I also have The Cartographer by Peter Twohig and Ludo by Boyd Anderson to read and they will be read and reviewed by the end of next month too.

Reading Notes: Wyatt by Garry Disher

The 7th book in the Wyatt series by Garry Disher, appropriately titled “Wyatt” has prompted me to do something that I almost never do, I have re-read the book! Not only that, I enjoyed it just as much the second time through. So rather than simply being a Reading Notes post, this is more of a Re-Reading Notes.

For those who have never read them, the books in the Wyatt series are a little different to the majority of crime novels because the main character is a professional criminal. Very similar to the Parker series written by Richard Stark this is a hardboiled crime series that turns the bad guy into a good guy in the eye of the reader. It gives the story a fresh perspective.

In this book Wyatt gets involved in a plan to rob a jeweller of his stash of precious stones as he delivers them to other jewellery stores. He has a preference for stealing from crooks and the jeweller qualifies because he tends to shift stolen goods among the legitimate goods. Although usually extremely careful in the jobs he pulls and the people he works with, this job goes sour in two very important factors. The first is that he is double crossed by one of his accomplices and the second is that the loot turns out to be stolen bearer bonds worth millions rather than the expected stones.

Wyatt is driven by two powerful motivating factors. First, the man who betrayed him must pay. Revenge is one of the qualities that marks Wyatt as a character of great interest and, when he has been crossed, there is no-one more determined or ruthless. Second, Wyatt still wants to come out of this with some kind of pay off and those bearer bonds are worth taking a risk over.

What makes the book, and the entire series for that matter, so enjoyable is the fact that there is rarely a wasted word. Events unfold very quickly and this ensures the story moves along at a good pace. Wyatt is a character who is not tied down by the same types of emotions that the normal person is. He is concerned only with how he is going to solve the problem that sits directly in front of him. Attacks of conscience and emotion don’t play a part in how he operates and this frees him up to get on with the more important (and more interesting) tasks of planning and carrying out his operations.

Many have noted the similarity to Donald Westlake's Parker series that he writes under the Richard Stark pseudonym. In Wyatt, Garry Disher has left little doubt about the comparison and has included at least three hat tips for fans of both series:

1. One of Wyatt’s accomplices has been given the surname of Stark, in this case her name is Lydia Stark
2. To get himself out of trouble when thrown in the drunk tank, Wyatt borrows the identity of the man next to him. The identity that he uses is Parker.
3. Wyatt’s home is a pair of apartments that are housed in a highrise complex called the Westlake Towers.

As already mentioned, Wyatt is the 7th book in the series and this book ends a 13 year hiatus in the series. If you feel compelled to get started on the entire series I have provided the complete list below.

Kickback (1991)
Paydirt (1992)
Deathdeal (1993)
Crosskill (1994)
Port Vila Blues (1995)
The Fallout (1997)
Wyatt (2010)

Reading : The Build Up by Phillip Gwynne

I have just finished one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year. The Build Up by Phillip Gwynne is set in Darwin, Australia and features homicide detective Frances "Dusty" Buchanon, a female cop in a male-dominated part of the world.

Hidden amid the easy, knockabout tone of the book lies a nicely crafted murder mystery. The story is based around the discovery of a body...which then goes missing, closely followed by Dusty's position as a homicide detective. Somehow, Dusty has to convince her colleagues that there was a body in the first place, but there's a reason it has disappeared.

The strength of The Build Up lies in the colourful characters dotted throughout, from Dusty herself to Senior Sergeant Dave Kirk who still prefers to call Dusty a frontbum and on to former Australian Rules football star Rob 'Trigger' Tregenza (and his use of a certain Hawthorn footy jumper). Each and every Northern Territorian is given an easy, relaxed attitude that seems to epitomise the land itself.

Gwynne's Darwin is an isolated city that is stolidly casual in attitude with a laid back style that is underlined by every broken rule and politically incorrect comment that is embraced with glee throughout the book. Brothels, Long Grassers, an oppressive heat, an ocean you can't swim in because of the box jellyfish and an endless forbidding landscape in every direction. It's a setting that is different from just about every murder mystery I have ever read and I loved every page of it.

This is a story that works on many levels. From the first page to the last it is engaging with injections of humour softening you up for the serious business of solving a murder and dealing with some shady, extremely dangerous characters.

From what I've heard there is another Dusty Buchanon novel in the works which is great news because one book is simply not enough.

Reading Notes : Splinter by Michael MacConnell

Splinter by Michael MacConnell is the sequel to his outstanding debut thriller, Maelstrom and continues on with the same intensity from where that book left off. FBI agent Sarah Reilly, the protagonist in the first book, is back as unpredictable as ever. She is an intriguing character who plays the emotionally challenged loose cannon to perfection.

The book is set in LA, dealing with the kidnapping and murder of the son of a Hollywood couple. It’s about as high profile a case as it’s possible to get and Sarah attacks it with complete dedication.

The killer proves to be a master manipulator, however, and the murder of the little boy is by no means the last murder in the book. As Sarah progresses through her investigation, key witnesses and people crucial to her case are taken out leading her to believe that the person she’s after is actually working from the inside. Or at least, they have access to information only those close to the case should have.

Splinter is a thriller that is constantly redefining itself as the investigation raises more questions than were originally considered. It’s this complexity, along with a slew of plot twists and direction changes that makes Michael MacConnell’s second novel a memorable book to read.

I'm actually writing a full review of the book at the moment and it will appear on the Australian Crime Fiction Database very shortly. Suffice to say that it is a very satisfying thriller that manages to draw you in and get you involved with apparent ease.

Currently Reading Bright Air by Barry Maitland

Barry Maitland’s new novel, Bright Air (pub. Allen & Unwin) has been released today, an event certainly worth noting. It’s even more noteworthy when you learn that this is a stand-alone novel, not part of the immensely popular Brock and Kolla series. On top of that, the story is set in Sydney as opposed to the series books which are set in England.

I am almost exactly halfway through reading Bright Air at the moment and would classify it as one of those mystery novels that is very careful in the build up. Maitland has put a lot of effort into setting the scene for us. It feels as though the reader is being prepared for a shocking revelation – just my own impression, mind you.

Here’s a brief overview to give you an idea of what the plot’s about. The opening finds us at the home of Josh Ambler. Josh has recently returned from London where he worked for a few years as a merchant banker. He is visited by a friend from his past. Anna was one of a group of friends he knew from his university days, all with a passion for rock-climbing. Josh took up the sport as a way of meeting Anna’s friend, Lucy or Luce as she was known to all. They wound up dating and became very close until Josh broke it off and moved to London.

While Josh was in London Luce died in a climbing accident on Lord Howe Island while doing a field study for her university degree. With her at the time were some of the members of their circle of friends: Owen, Curtis, Damien and Marcus. The coroner’s report found that her death was an accident but her body was never recovered.

The reason that Anna has come to see Josh is because two more members of the party, Owen and Curtis, have also died, also in a climbing accident. Before he died Owen revealed to Anna that there was more to Luce’s death than what the coroner concluded. What he actually said to Anna was, “We killed her.”

Now Anna has come to enlist Josh in finding out what really happened on Lord Howe Island.

The story switches from the present day and Josh and Anna’s progress to the early days of their relationship and their rock-climbing experiences together. The personalities of all of the members of the group are gradually revealed, as are the details of what happened between Josh and Luce.

Barry Maitland writes with a strong, fulfilling style that commands your attention. The rock-climbing sequences provide an added interest but it’s the depth of the character portraits where the real strength to the story lies. There are also some moving instances of self-awareness that creeps into Josh’s narrative as he looks back on his time with Luce.

When I thought about it, I was amazed to realise how totally insulated my life had been from this world until I’d started climbing with Luce. Nature to me had been no more than a marginal risk of hurricanes or floods that could be managed with a range of financial instruments. I had only ever seen true wilderness through the filter of a TV screen or an aeroplane window. And now I was about as fully exposed to it as one could be, suspended in a gossamer net high up a mountain face in bright air.

Half the book to go and I am fully engaged, as I find I often am while reading a Barry Maitland novel. Sure, I’ve made some guesses about which way I think the story’s going to go – good stories compel you to do just that, I reckon. But I’ll keep those guesses to myself.

Reading Notes : A Deadly Business by Lenny Bartulin

I’m drawing to the end of Lenny Bartulin’s debut novel, A Deadly Business (pub. Scribe Publications). The book introduces Jack Susko, a Sydney second-hand bookstore owner, a character who is obviously going to be the main character in future books.

Jack Susko is an interesting character, quick of wit, long on endurance and just naive enough to get himself into a lot of trouble. The bookstore is very reminiscent of a number of the second-hand stores dotted around the city (sadly, most of them have closed down now).

“No, Jack Susko would not be retiring at the age of thirty-four. His view would remain the dusty shelves and battered paperbacks of the last year or so. Instead of up, he would climb down the steps into his basement shop in York Street in the city, where he spent the day making sure delinquent kids did not lift the stock.”

Jack gets the opportunity to make some easy money when Hammond Kasprowicz wants to buy every copy of poetry books by Edward Kass, an obscure Australian poet. Kasprowicz is prepared to pay $50 per copy for anything he had. The lure of easy money is enough to draw Jack out of his shop and, with a bundle of books under his arm he makes his way to Bellevue Hill and into the middle of an extremely confusing family battle.

Jack finds that there’s some competition out there in the search for Edward Kass books. Then he begins to have a few doubts about the motives of his client. Before he can act on those doubts, though, events swirl way out of control and the quiet bookseller finds himself busy dodging bullets.

I’m enjoying A Deadly Business. Bartulin has captured Sydney, both the landscape and the attitude of its inhabitants, with great accuracy. The book would have to be classed as a mystery novel as opposed to a crime novel and Jack Susko isn’t an investigator – not even amateur investigator. Instead he is a victim of circumstance who has been drawn into a conflict as an unwilling participant.

I’m looking forward to the next Jack Susko book to find out where Bartulin will take him.

Reading Notes : Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry

A couple of years ago I read Head Shot by Jarad Henry, his debut novel and was very excited to have discovered a crime novel that was both set in Australia and characteristic of the hardboiled crime novels I consider to be my favourite. After reading Head Shot I was eager to read more like it – as we spoilt, demanding crime readers are prone to do I was impatiently waiting for Jarad to write another. Apparently, writing another wasn’t a problem so much as finding a publisher.

A Welcome Hardboiled Novel

Then came the welcome news that Allen & Unwin picked up Blood Sunset and we find ourselves in business again. Blood Sunset is a follow up to Head Shot, featuring detective Rubens McCauley. McCauley is a no-nonsense, play outside the rules type of detective who works in the hectic inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda.

To get what you want, you’ve got to know what you want. My mother first told me this when I was a young boy. Think hard about what you want, she said, for knowing what you want is more difficult than actually getting it.
It wasn’t until a few weeks before my fortieth birthday that I fully understood what she’d meant. I was sitting in an unmarked squad car, tired and hungry and thinking about bed, when a call came over the dispatch that would change the direction of my life forever. (pg 1)

Rubens has just returned to work after recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder, the after effects of Head Shot. The opening paragraphs quoted above warn us that what is about to come is more than just your standard case.

Brief Synopsis of the Book

When he reaches the scene he finds what looks to be a routine drug overdose in one of St Kilda’s many back alleys. His first mistake is to hastily declare the death accidental. The second was the way he went around making up for the first mistake. Naturally, the first impressions were misleading and the truth, as it slowly unravels, reveals something far more shocking and dangerous.

Brief Impressions About the Book

Okay, that’s the shorthand synopsis of the book that gives you a feel for the plot. Now a few of my own impressions…

Jarad Henry has worked some powerful social commentary about life in Australia into the storyline through McCauley’s character. Issues such as the worrying growth of drug use by youths and the losing battle fought by police, the fear and neglect felt by members of the aging population and the sleazy side of inner city living.

The story is set in heatwave conditions with bushfires surrounding Melbourne and encasing the city in a choking smoke haze giving everything an otherworldly, energy sapping presence.

Rubens McCauley reinforces the impression that he is the typical hardboiled detective with many of the usual character traits. Even when he’s being circumspect he steps on toes. His methods get results and break rules. He owns a cat and is involved in a marriage that is in trouble. He has let down relatives and friends many times, feels guilty about it but ultimately his job takes precedence.

St Kilda is the sad, dirty backdrop to the story and is summed up by this Rubens McCauley observation:

A used condom, a dirty needle and a crime scene cop crawling around a palm tree. Very St Kilda. Maybe they could make a postcard out of it and sell it to the tourists. (pg 254)

Blood Sunset is a solid crime thriller that speaks loudly and, rather than merely touching on delicate issues, it charges boldly through them and tears them apart. It’s hardboiled, typically tough and definitely engaging. Rubens McCauley is by no means a saint but his is a character for whom you can’t help but feel empathy.

Brief Urge to Read the Book

This has just been released (May '08) and if you're serious about reading good, thought-provoking Australian crime fiction, then get yourself out and find a copy.

Reading Notes : The Darkest Hour by Katherine Howell

The Darkest Hour (pub. Macmillan Australia) is the follow up to Katherine Howell’s superb debut thriller Frantic (if you haven’t read Frantic yet then…well…you should).

Returning is homicide detective Ella Marconi but she is one half of this dual protagonist story.

Like Frantic, The Darkest Hour also features a paramedic and focuses a large portion of the story on the desperate emergencies handled by ambulance crew. Again, the ambulance station at the centre of the story is located at The Rocks in Sydney. Howell’s expertise as a former paramedic is used to great advantage with the procedure and dialogue firing off with crisp rapidity.

Lauren Yates is a paramedic who is used to dealing with emergencies and stressful situations on a daily basis. But she is faced with a sickening dilemma that could end with her losing her job...or far worse.

Ella Marconi has recently been appointed to Homicide and is desperate to prove that she is a solid detective, capable in her new role.

The stabbing of a man in broad daylight at Edgecliff (near Sydney's inner city) is going to bring both women together. The victim knew his assailant and gives Lauren the man's name in the ambulance as they are rushing to the hospital. Lauren's dilemma begins because she recognises the name of a man she knows to be a vicious killer and, even worse, he knows her. Telling Ella the name of the man could ensure his capture - but it could also put her and her family in grave danger.

This is novel that exudes strength as a quality crime thriller. It blends hectic emergency action with some turbulent emotional and personal issues. The tough veneers of both lead women will look a little vulnerable at different parts of the book.

It's an involving story set in and around the centre of Sydney and is a strong follow up to Frantic.
The release date of The Darkest Hour is 1 May, 2008.

Reading Notes : Shatter by Michael Robotham

I had the pleasure last week of reading Michael Robotham’s new thriller, Shatter (published by Sphere) and have made my usual notes while reading the book. The following are just a few of the thoughts and observations that will hopefully give you a bit of a taste for what the book is like.

Shatter is the 4th thriller by Michael Robotham, following on from The Suspect, Lost (aka The Drowning Man) and The Night Ferry.

It’s the 2nd book to feature Professor Joseph O’Loughlin, a psychologist who is suffering the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease. Also making a return as a minor character is retired police detective Vincent Ruiz (Lost) who is as abrasive as ever.

The story is set in Bath, England.

There is a definite contender for a future Robotham protagonist in DI Veronica Cray who is in charge of the police investigation. She’s a quirky, exuberant in your face character with a past that begs to be explored. She is summarised on page 60:

Veronica Cray can render someone speechless. She’s unavoidable. Immovable. Like a rocky outcrop in a force ten gale.

Every scene in which she appears throughout the book confirms this description.

Short plot teaser. Although everyone else is convinced the naked woman who jumped off the bridge committed suicide, Joe O’Loughlin believes it may have been a murder. It was Joe’s job to try to talk her down, so he was closest when she stepped off. She was talking to someone on a mobile phone right before she jumped. Joe has to ask himself two important questions if what he suspects is the truth: Why would someone talk a person into killing themselves and what could they possibly say to make them do it?

Yet again I found myself sucked along by Robotham’s smooth writing style. It flows effortlessly.

The psychological dilemma posed in this story is truly intriguing. You can’t help but place yourself in the same situation and wonder how you would deal with it.

Joe’s Parkinson’s plays a more significant role than it did in The Suspect.

While closing the book on this, I wonder if we’re going to see Joe again? I also get the feeling that Ruiz is being primed for another role in a future book. (There you go Michael, I’ve just set up three more possible books for you to write – get busy!)

I find Joseph O'Loughlin is a very sympathetic character who turns out to blessed with an interesting blend of professional confidence and naive ignorance.

Alibi by Sydney Bauer - The Reading Note Follow-Up

In my previous post about Alibi by Sydney Bauer I was halfway through the book with hopes that it would deliver on the early promises, well...

I have now finished Alibi by Sydney Bauer and thought it would be best to follow up my initial reading notes post. I’m pleased to report that the second half of the book was everything I hoped it would be and more. The anticipated courtroom drama takes place as expected and unfolds as only a battle between lawyers who genuinely don’t like each other can.

There are all sorts of tension-filled dramas going on at the same time, all of which are held together under a tight rein...

And what an ending. You don’t want me to even hint about it so there’s little else to say except…what an ending!

Now that I’ve finished the book I can safely say that Alibi is now my favourite of the 3 Sydney Bauer legal thrillers I’ve read so far.

Reading Notes : Alibi by Sydney Bauer

I’m just over midway through the new legal thriller by Sydney Bauer titled Alibi (published by Pan Macmillan Australia), which is due to be released April, 2008, so I’ll give you a few of my thoughts and reactions to whet your appetites.

Bear in mind, I have reached a stage in the book where there are numerous possible suspects to choose from, a trial is about to begin that promises to be extremely fiery and an overseas human rights issue is building, so I’m pretty “into it” at the moment.

Firstly, Alibi is Sydney Bauer’s 3rd novel following Undertow and Gospel. All three books are legal thrillers featuring Boston attorney David Cavanaugh. Undertow recently took out the Davitt Award for Best Crime Novel by an Australian Woman in 2006.

Within the first couple of paragraphs of Alibi both Undertow and Gospel are summarised briefly to give those who have read the earlier books a brief refresher and those who haven’t, a short rundown of David Cavanaugh’s credentials.

All of the principal characters have returned in Alibi: Cavanaugh, of course; Sara Davis, his colleague and girlfriend; Lieutenant Joe Mannix; Detective Frank McKay. Also returning is Cavanaugh’s antagonist, the arrogant, smug, over-ambitious, easy-to-hate ADA Roger Katz. (Just finished a particularly enjoyable little confrontation between the two combatants, as a matter of fact).

Setting the Scene

Nineteen year old Deane University student Jessica Nagoshi has been strangled to death and left in the garden of her family home. She is the daughter of a billionaire Japanese businessman so the murder is very high profile and the despised Roger Katz is anxious to have someone arrested and convicted as quickly as possible – next year is an election year, after all.

The arrest is made and David Cavanaugh is on hand to represent a man he is sure is innocent.

As for possible guilty parties at least 3 are tossed into the mix, each of them are credible and each of them have jumped to the top of my suspect least at one stage or another.

My Own Impressions

Alibi has succeeded in hooking me, well and truly, with the prospect of an emotion-charged courtroom stoush if the offing. The lead up has been engrossing thanks to the vast array of scenarios that have been set up.

The first 150 pages had me in mind of the television show Law And Order with the police doing their bit tracking down suspects, interviewing witnesses and friends and putting together some sort of case to make an arrest. The only difference here is that even the police, who are supposed to be on the District Attorney’s side, hate Roger Katz. So you’ve got a situation in which antagonism and resentment pretty much rules the day.

As I said earlier, I haven’t finished the book, so I can’t exactly proclaim it the best that Sydney Bauer has written just yet, but it’s definitely heading that way. It moves as smoothly as anything John Grisham writes and is full of the kinds of hidden complexities that marks Scott Turow’s legal thrillers.

Reading Notes : Harum Scarum by Felicity Young

Harum Scarum is the third crime novel by Felicity Young. The first two are titled A Certain Malice (pub. Creme de la Crime) & An Easeful Death (pub. Fremantle Press).

This is the second Detective Stevie Hooper book and is the sequel to An Easeful Death.

Set in Perth, Australia.

Protagonist is Detective Sergeant Stevie Hooper who worked in the Serious Crimes Squad in the first book but now has moved across to the Sex Crimes, Cyber Predator Team.

One of the reasons she has moved out of Serious Crimes is that her old squad is headed by Inspector Monty Maguire with whom Stevie is in a relationship. The back story to Stevie and Monty's relationship is a little convoluted and was played out in An Easeful Death (so get it and read it) but in a nutshell, Monty grew up with Stevie’s family on a property in WA. They were close friends growing up but only recently accepted that their mutual attraction was more than just friendship. Not surprisingly they have issues.

Notable Plot Points From the Book

• Stevie arrests a cyber predator who has set up a face to face meeting with the young girl he thought he had been chatting with.


• Bianca Webster runs to the park hoping to meet Daniel, a boy she has been chatting to on-line. She meets a man instead.


• Detective Inspector Monty Maguire is called to a crime scene. A young girl’s body has been found thrown in a dumpster. She has been raped and then asphixiated.


• A suspect in the murdered girl case is found shot to death in his car.


• There’s an important link connecting the shooting death and an earlier murder.


• Child abuse and paedophilia runs through the story, grimly joining all the threads together.

There's a lot going on here with an on-line paedophile ring in operation around the Perth area, preying on young girls through a type of fan site. The murders that take place look completely unrelated on the surface but the mere fact they are mentioned in the book tell us there's more to them than is first represented. The question is: how are they related?

Complementing the well-crafted plot, which has been constructed with noticeable attention to detail, Felicity Young also makes sure the relationship between Stevie and Monty progresses satisfactorily. There is a definite hint that there will be another book to come involving these characters.

Reading Notes : The CEO by Peter Ralph

Let's see how this goes. I've been jotting down a few notes, thoughts, what have you while I've been reading lately. I'll throw them out there for you, perhaps it might help you to decide whether you want to read it yourself.

The CEO is the second novel by Peter Ralph, his first being Collins Street Whores (published by SidHarta Books).

Here is a crime novel that was released in 2007 by small publisher Melbourne Books to little or no fanfare. I managed to track down a copy a couple of weeks ago and have a very enjoyable time reading about the high-powered, dirty dealing and outright greed emanating from a large company's CEO.

This is a book that is worth tracking down for the outrageous behaviour of Douglas Aspine, the clever wheelings and dealings that are carried out and the brilliant case of poetic justice that marks the ending.

I'll take one quote out of the book that describes the main character, Douglas Aspine to a tee:

He's an overbearing bully, earning a fortune to tear a company to pieces, in the
name of downsizing and profit. He's a typical CEO.

We first meet Douglas Aspine as he walks into his bank hoping to extend a personal loan. He's already in debt to the eyeballs and his $400,000 salary just isn't stretching far enough to meet his expenses. Unsurprisingly, the loan application is flatly refused and he's left with a seething resentment towards the bank officer who refused him and a burning need to pick up one of the many CEO positions for which he has applied.

Surprise, surprise, one of the applications is successful and suddenly, Douglas Aspine's future looks assured...as does his personal wealth. In a move that is typically Douglas Aspine's he immediately rubs his success in the noses of i) his former boss who'd just sacked him and, 2) the bank loans officer.

Aspine then proceeds to methodically screw over every single person he comes in contact with as he seeks to ensure that his bank balance will be as fat as possible. The line of enemies he makes for himself includes his company board, his secretary, his mistress, his wife, his stockbroker, his children, his former bank manager.

In fact, when it comes time to try to decide exactly who is going to seek revenge on the bastard, we're spoilt for choice. How Peter Ralph chooses to do it is inspired, it must be said.

Mystery Book Reading : Blood Redemption by Alex Palmer

Alex Palmer's second novel The Tattooed Man is about to be released in February and to prepare myself I grabbed a copy of her debut novel, Blood Redemption. Blood Redemption was published back in 2002 and won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel, the Canberra Critics Circle Award for Literature and was the joint winner of the Sisters-in-Crime Davitt Award for Best Crime Novel by a woman. All plaudits, awards, what have you are definitely well justified - this is one very strong crime novel.

It starts with a shooting on the streets of Sydney in which a man lies dead, his wife is critically wounded and their son is traumatised having witnessed it all. Leading the investigation is Detective Inspector Paul Harrigan who is joined at the crime scene by a raw newcomer to the detective ranks, Detective Constable Grace Riordan. Both police officers are given incredibly complex backgrounds which Palmer does a tremendous job incorporating into the story without adversely affecting the pace or rhythm of the story.

This isn't a mystery story, it's a crime novel. That is to say, we know the identity of the killer, Lucy Hurst a homeless young woman who has been brainwashed into taking such drastic action. It's an act that will torment her for the remainder of the book.

"You've seen me when I'm wasted and the only thing I want to feel is nothing. When the only thing that keeps me going is the blood pumping through my veins because I can't fucking stop it. Sometimes I want that blood to run down the nearest drain and take me with it." pg 25

This is as much an examination of Lucy and the past she has had to endure that has led her to this point. Hers is a terrible background, a story of horrible abuse that makes you shudder at the injustice she has suffered. You can feel sympathy for a killer, Alex Palmer proves it.

Alex Palmer paints a tragic story populated with rich characters who demand to be explored further. Paul Harrigan is single father to a very clever teenage boy with cerebral palsy, Grace is marked with a deep scar across her throat, the work of a former lover.

It's been 6 years since this book was written and now we're on the verge of being able to read the sequel. The astonishing thing is: there has been no fanfare for the upcoming release of The Tattooed Man (pub: HarperCollins). That may have to do with the fact that it's been such a long time between drinks, but fair warning to all, if the new one is half as good as Blood Redemption you're in for another cracking read. Go out and get Blood Redemption and enjoy a compelling thriller.

Thriller Reading - Redback by Lindy Cameron

I'm currently having a great time reading Redback by Lindy Cameron (pub. Mira Books). It's an action thriller novel that introduces a brand new protagonist in the form of Bryn Gideon a commander of a crack team of retrieval specialists. You'll see exactly what these Redbacks are capable of early in the book.Lindy Cameron wastes no time establishing the tone of the book as evidenced by the first few paragraphs.

It was the last good night of Lord James McQuade: he'd been wined, dined and
royally screwed. Truffles, a vintage red and sweet Miss Jones. Sixty-six years old tomorrow and not destined to outlive his wolfhound.

Dargo looked down at the sad old drunk, dribbling and asleep in a dining chair with his pants around his ankles. A peer of the realm who thought cheating on his wife with a tart from Chelsea was a manly way to ring in his next year.

Lulu had been a birthday gift from a supposedly trusted colleague, but Dargo's presence was the price, for Lord James McQuade was an irritation, a sacrifice, a pawn. (pg 1)

While the opening assassination is taking place in slow, methodical fashion, there is a much more action-based attack going on somewhere in the Pacific...

In two seconds flat the four machine gunners were smacked backward into the Banyan tree, paralysed by a precision spread of max-volt T-darts. A quad-shot
crackle of Zeus juice was the only indication that Cooper had fired, but the rebels would be cactus for at least fifteen minutes.

Gideon, whose first task was to get to the lone PRA escort before any hell broke loose, hit the ground running. Cooper was right behind, until he veered away to free the hostages in the other garden, and Wade took off down the path to the rec room.

After dodging garden statues and furniture Gideon leapt - right arm out, Beretta in hand - onto the cabin's veranda just as the soldier padlocked the cabin from the outside.

Gideon was so suddenly right next to him, unfolding out of the dark like a carved island totem come to life, that the rebel's voice locked in fear in his gulping throat. (pp 22-23)

I'm exactly half-way through the book and it's a vast multi-plot story that gallops along with crucial scenes unfolding simultaneously around the world. While the Redback Retrieval Team led by Bryn Gideon is rescuing 36 hostages on a Pacific island (as described above), American journalist Scott Dreher is being hunted by an assassin on the streets of Tokyo. In Peshawar an oddball team of Aussie agents are keeping watch on a suspected terrorist, while over in the US a group of redneck renegades are running around Texas bombing the shit out of the place.

This is turning out to be a high-quality action thriller that maintains a solid pace while measuring out necessary political manouevering and rhetoric in between some resounding moments of sheer edge of the seat moments.

At this stage I have absolutely no idea how the widely flung plotlines are going to come to gether but it promises to be a thrilling ride before I get to the end.
It may be a bit premature for predictions but this has definitely got the feel of the first book in a series to feature Bryn Gideon.

Reading : Dark Heart: Images of a City by Travis Berketa

One of the less heralded releases from 2007 was Dark Heart: Images of a City by Travis Berketa (pub. Brolga Publishing) which I have managed to get my hands on. I've only read 33 pages so far but it's such a short novel (perhaps it could be called a novella) that this constitutes a quarter of the book.

The story is told by an unnamed, extremely pissed off individual who is fed up with the way society is headed what with increasing violence, crime, drugs and gangs, all of which are seemingly tolerated by the masses. He has decided that he is going to make a difference after losing his family to a variety of violent crimes.

The man turns into a one-man crime wave as he sets about "making the city safe for us". His victims are molesters, drug dealers, crime king-pins and hitmen...and he doesn't go easy on them. His expectations are that he will be hailed a hero for his brave efforts against low-life scum.

One thinks it's the kind of story that must only end badly.

*Updated* I've finished the book and it's a chillingly dark tale that is a kind of prediction of the way that society is headed as well as a warning of just how a killer is made. It's a searingly fast story that leaps forward at every opportunity as the central character changes from a concerned citizen to an enraged violent criminal.

Reading : The Low Road by Chris Womersley

I’ve just started reading The Low Road by Chris Womersley today, in fact I’m only around 40 pages into it. I’d heard some good reports of the book and it has lived up to my expectations so far. Even at this early stage though I’m struck by the intensity of his prose and the quality of the language in which even the most mundane of scenes are described. There is a strong air of despair to the story, a feeling that things are not going to go easy for those who are trapped within the covers.

There's something about the way the early scenes are described that strikes a chord within me, I reckon they're worth repeating here:

Wild slept in the back seat of his car for two nights before checking into a dingy motel at the frayed hem of the city, where practical buildings are low to the ground.

It could have simply been the edge of the city but the more descriptive phrase leaves you in no doubt about the part of town he was staying.

Stretching into the distance was a relentless urban grammar of rooftops, antennae, wires and flickering lights. A flock of birds rose and arced against the clouds like a slow throw of pepper.

Wonderful imagery, in my opinion. And then there's the moment Lee aught the bullet.

With a grimace he lifted the blood-soaked t-shirt to expose a black, pea-sized hole, fringed by a mineral crust of dried blood. The surrounding skin was swollen, tender. There was blood all over his hands and smears of it on his jeans. His own blood, presumably, although he couldn’t be entirely sure. He flinched at the memory of that woman and the jump of her gun. That blunt truck of surprise. Her slow blink. Bang.

The story starts with Lee lying shot in the side and slowly bleeding in a grimy motel room, a bag of stolen money lying on the floor nearby. Joining him is Wild, a disgraced doctor on the run who reluctantly tends to Lee’s injuries. They both have a common goal, they both have to get away, but they’ve also got trouble on their tail in the form of a man named Josef.

Good noir thrillers really draw you into the depths of the story, dragging you down so that you really experience the story rather than simply read it. Right now, I can feel the first subtle tugs. It's a journey I'm fully prepared to take.

Reading : The Big Score by Peter Corris

I’m currently reading the latest Cliff Hardy book by Peter Corris, The Big Score. This is another collection of short stories featuring the tough Sydney private enquiry agent.

The stories are obviously fairly recent because Cliff has the use of a mobile phone, doesn’t smoke, uses Viv Garner as his solicitor and is going out with Lily. But they also fall before his last novel, Appeal Denied, because Cliff still holds his PEA license.

I am partway through the 5th of 11 stories that make up the book and they have all been consistently punchy, running to around 10 pages per story. As in real life, not all of Cliff’s investigations end neatly or satisfactorily, often times we just have to content in knowing who dunnit and how rather than the fact that they are going to pay for doing it.

Each story exhibits the usual display of guts and/or ingenuity on Hardy’s part and, for fans of the series, continues on the solid tradition that has made the series so popular for so long in which Hardy wades in boots and all and bugger the sensitivities of those around him.

Book Details:
The Big Score by Peter Corris
pub. Allen & Unwin
ISBN. 9781741752236
214 pages

Reading : The Beijing Conspiracy by Adrian d'Hage

I've just finished Adrian d'Hage's second epic thriller, The Beijing Conspiracy which is a tumultuous follow-up to his debut novel, The Omega Scroll. The book illustrates a doomsday type scenario that sounds all too plausible given the real-life events that we have witnessed in recent years. It serves as a warning and a plea for clear-headed thinking with an emphasis placed on understanding from both sides.

Terrorist warnings are delivered to the White House with threats from al-Qaeda that attacks will be made unless certain demands are met. Naturally, with US elections approaching the President refuses to be seen as bowing to terrorist demands and ignores the warnings. What follows are massive attacks around the world, but these attacks are meant to act as precursors for a much more significant attack should the US continue to refuse to entertain their demands.

Bio-terrorism also raises its terrifying head in the form of the development of a deadly ebola-smallpox strain that is being developed by biochemists around the world. With no known antidote for the vicious virus, unleashing it on the world would have catastrophic results. And with the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, the perfect conditions would be in place for a monstrous bio-terrorist attack.

This is a hectic thriller that doesn't hold back on delivering solid action sequences, many with devastating results. The US and her allies are not spared from the onslaught and it looks very likely that the cost will be millions of lives around the world.

Underlying this, though, as I said earlier is the insistent plea for understanding and level-headedness. It holds a timely warning about religious fervour and the damage that it can cause...from both sides.

It's not often that you can take away a meaningful message from an action thriller of this proportion, but in the case of The Beijing Conspiracy, d'Hage delivers his message with perfect poise and most importantly, the logic of his argument makes a lot of sense.

Reading : The Killing Hour by Paul Cleave

There's a thin line between living in the Noughties and living in the *gulp* Eighties...

Take 1 big truck, pit it against a measly thin cable strung too low across a quiet suburban street. *Ping* say goodbye to broadband internet connection and (even harder to break to the kids) forget about your pay TV for a few days.

Sneaking on and adding a quick blog post at work is about as much as I’m going to be able to manage for the time being until someone comes to fix our connection.

I hate Free-To-Air TV with a passion.

Meanwhile, I’ve started The Killing Hour by the Ned Kelly Award short-listed nominated New Zealand author Paul Cleave. A detailed posting of my thoughts will be forthcoming just as soon as I thought the tangled mess out of my cluttered brain. The early chapters look promising.

A quick teaser for The Killing Hour : Charlie Feldman wakes one morning covered in blood and sporting a huge bump on his forehead. He has woken after experiencing terrible nightmares and an even more troubling knowledge that the police will soon be coming to talk to him about the murder of 2 women who were killed the night before.

Detective Inspector Bill Landry is on the case and spots the blood-soaked sheet of paper with Feldman’s name scrawled on it lying next to the dead woman’s body. Diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given just 6 months to live, Landry wants to finish his service in a blaze of glory.