Allen & Unwin Archives - Page 2 of 12

Book review: The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins

March 6, 20252 min read

The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins is the first book I’ve read by the Aussie author as I missed her 2023 book, How to Kill a Client. It looks like it’s similarly themed… featuring lawyers and some rather unlikeable (and misogynistic) characters. And I really enjoyed this, racing through it – forced to keep guessing until the very end. Jenkins throws a lot of threads in here, but does it brilliantly so it’s not overly complicated, but sufficiently complex to keep readers* on their toes. (*Cannot think of book-themed metaphor!)

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Book review: Leave The Girls Behind by Jacqueline Bublitz

November 2, 20243 min read

Leave The Girls Behind by Jacqueline Bublitz was a much-awaited read for me as the New Zealand and Aussie-dwelling author’s first book, Before You Knew My Name was an absolute favourite of mine when it came out. She gives us another twisty read here, though – for me – the biggest came partway through and was perhaps not leveraged as much as I would have liked cos it was HUGE. Akin to that (midway through the novel) I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. The revelations keep coming after that but my expectations were perhaps heightened waiting for something to match or top the earlier twist but instead it felt like I was in a sustained state of distrust, or perhaps (for me) there was also an element of uncertainty or confusion.

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Book review: All The Words We Know by Bruce Nash

March 6, 20243 min read

All The Words We Know by Bruce Nash was my first experience with the Australian author’s work and I was completely smitten. And for me the magic here lies in the prose. Or very specifically in the narration by 80 something year old Rose – a former teacher, now struggling with her memory. And words.

I very much adored a book I read in 2014 called Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey featuring an elderly woman with dementia. That book was also written from her point of view so we experienced her world.

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Book review: Body of Lies by Sarah Bailey

February 20, 20242 min read

Just when we thought Gemma Woodstock’s story was over, she’s back in Body of Lies. Well that’s to say Sarah Bailey gave Gemma a well-earned rest while she wrote The Housemate, which was published in 2021. But she’s back. In Smithson with Mac her babydaddy, her new baby Scarlett and son Ben. She’s on maternity leave though and grappling with a decision about when and whether to return to her job – in Smithson or elsewhere. She knows she’s uprooted Mac and feels guilty about that. And now he’s distracted and Gemma fears the worst.

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Book review: Whenever You’re Ready by Trish Bolton

January 28, 20243 min read

Whenever You’re Ready by Trish Bolton is a bittersweet tale of family and friendships and of love and loss. I read this as my mother’s 80th birthday neared and was a little sad that there’s even any question about older women’s worth or how much living septuagenarians might have left.

And of course that’s the thing about age; 30, 50 or 70 seems old… until you’re there. And 10, 15, 20 seems young… unless you’re there. I recall finishing high school and looking at the year 8 students thinking we NEVER looked that young. And now I look at staff in stores and they look like they’re 12.

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Book review: Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath

November 28, 20233 min read

Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath is very cleverly written because in the present the police are interviewing the survivors politely, using their title and surname, but in the past (well, very recent past… last weekend) they all use first names. So for a long time we don’t know who’s dead and who’s not.

Weirdly it didn’t occur to me until I started the book that it was a follow-up to Kill Your Brother, which I enjoyed when it was released in 2021. It’s not exactly a sequel as such, rather it features two of the same characters, cop (here recently promoted to detective) Kiara Lui and her girlfriend Elise (held capture in the first book). Their relationship is on rocky ground here, well so thinks Kiara as Elise is acting strangely and keeping secrets from her.

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Book review: The Seven by Chris Hammer

October 20, 20232 min read

Belatedly publishing a brief review I posted in Goodreads.

I very much enjoyed The Seven by Chris Hammer – the third in the series – which unfolds in three timelines.

In 1913 a young Aboriginal woman, Bessie, goes to work for a family who’s one of several in the area (south of the Murrumbidgee River) interested in setting up an irrigation scheme. Hammer’s journalistic background comes to the fore here, as it has in previous novels where he’s blended history and fiction.

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Book review: Green Dot by Madeleine Gray

October 13, 20233 min read

Green Dot by Madeleine Gray is a book based on a premise that will possibly divide its readers. Essentially it’s about a woman who falls in love with a married man and continues to have an affair with him, even after finding out. It’s cliched in some ways because she’s sure he’s desperately unhappy in his marriage and just waiting to escape in a way that doesn’t hurt his wife. Too much.

The thing I liked most about this book however is that Gray doesn’t take the easy way out by making our leads cliches. Hera knows she will be harshly judged by others for her behaviour. She knows it’s viewed by everyone – including herself – as ‘wrong’ but she loves Arthur desperately and cannot imagine life without him. And Arthur – doesn’t make a lot of false promises. He doesn’t diminish his relationship with his wife. But he falls in love with Hera nonetheless.

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