This book by journalist and Sydneysider Vanessa McCausland came as a bit of a surprise. Its cover is beautiful but implied more whimsy than is on offer in the book. Which is a good thing for me as I struggle with ‘lightness’. It’s a hard book to describe in many ways… there are elements of romance, some meaning-of-life navel gazing and certainly some suspense.
I’d seen reviews of this book popping up in a few places and was surprised it hadn’t been on my radar. Fortunately I was able to access an online review copy and meet established Australian author Wendy James – for the first time – in my case.
Irish-born Aussie-dwelling Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel, The Ruin, was warmly received last year, winning hearts and accolades.
Her fans will be happy to know that its sequel, The Scholar, most definitely does not disappoint and we pick up with Irish detective Cormac Reilly where we left off.
There was a moment or two after I started this book that I worried it was one by Lisa Unger I’d already read – one, in fact, I’d heard her introduce at a writers festival I attended in Brisbane in 2008 or so (ed: which I later discovered was Die For You).
I knew I’d read a recent book of hers with a similar name (ed: which I’m now assuming was In The Blood, #blood #skin #whatevs) and wondered if this was a re-release though it seemed different enough that I didn’t remember it in enough detail to have read it before.
I’ve now read quite a few of Caroline Overington’s novels (such as The One Who Got Away ) and almost every time I review them I comment on the fact that they reflect current and very contemporary issues.
Her latest, The Ones You Trust, is no different.
What I particularly love about Caroline Overington’s work is that she’s not afraid to tackle controversial issues – not to mention the fact that her books are contemporary and very timely.
In No Place Like Home Overington wrote about refugees and asylum seekers. And in 2014’s Can You Keep A Secret, she ventures into the virtual world and has readers pondering how much they should be sharing online and how much of what we read is true.
Her latest – The One Who Got Away – is a little different, but no less powerful.
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