Allen & Unwin Archives

Book review: Choppy Water by Jack Heath

November 4, 20263 min read

I’ve missed out on getting review copies of a stack of new Australian releases of late so was very excited to get an early copy of Choppy Water by Jack Heath, one of my favourite Aussie authors. I did however, wait a couple of weeks to read (ie. delay gratification) it so I could publish my review closer to its early November publication date. It’s a twisty read, with some very sneaky misdirection included… and some secrets remaining so until the very moment of reveal, even to the surprise of our protagonist, which I very much appreciated as I love it when our main characters find out stuff at the same time as us!

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Book review: Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins

July 28, 20263 min read

Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins is lawyer Ruth Dawson’s third rodeo. I didn’t realise that when I started reading and it wasn’t until there’s reference to her ‘reputation’ and later, the presence of a police officer known to Ruth, that I thought to look through my site and Goodreads to check. Sure enough I first met Ruth in The Bluff*.

It’s interesting this isn’t billed as part of a series like Ruth Dawson #3 or anything, although I guess it means it won’t put off those who haven’t read The Bluff and / or How To Kill A Client. And this book is easily read as a standalone. The events here are a little too close to home for Ruth as a homeless man is found dead in the grounds of an apartment building she’s just moved into.

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Book review: Every Time She Wakes by Petronella McGovern

June 21, 20263 min read

I was a bit worried going into Every Time She Wakes by Petronella McGovern because it features a Groundhog Day scenario… so I made some assumptions about how it would play out. But… wow, McGovern throws that trope on its head as the world in which Suzanna (Suze) wakes each time is very different. Eventually she reflects on her daughter’s philosophy studies about timelines and dimensions, not in a woo-woo way, rather trying to make sense of her same-but-different adventures (and I’ve written before about my fascination with the parallel lives concept). In each though, Suze’s family is abducted, which ends in a tragic accident… at which point she wakes up. Again. In the past.

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Book review: The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

May 22, 20264 min read

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig is the second in a series peeking into life and death. In The Midnight Library we spend time with a woman teetering BETWEEN life and death. Here we meet a man, recently-dead, who’s offered a chance to drop in on his past selves at pivotal moments in his life. He’s not meant to intervene or be seen, but here octogenarian Wilbur asks… what if there’s a chance to rectify a mistake that will haunt you for years. One you might not even realise the extent to which you regret it until you’re dying. Or (ahem… you know) dead.

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Book review: The Bookshop of Buried Pasts by Sarah Clutton

May 18, 20262 min read

The Bookshop of Buried Pasts by Sarah Clutton is the Australian author’s second book and I very much enjoyed her first The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains , giving it a rare 4.5 star rating. I confess I didn’t love this quite as much as her debut (I’m a sucker for a child narrator – ie. Alfie) but I enjoyed it a lot. She delivers the perfect measure of bittersweet sadness and hope. It’s themed around families – those you’re born into and those you find along the way and it offers a reminder of the lengths we go to, in order to protect those we love and hold dear.

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Book review: Click by Sarah Bailey

March 29, 20263 min read

Click by Sarah Bailey is a sequel to her 2021 book The Housemate where we first met Olive (Oli) Groves. Apparently I wasn’t alone in wanting to see more of the tenacious but likeable journalist as Bailey has resurrected that character in her new thriller.

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Book review: Kill Your Boss by Jack Heath

November 14, 20252 min read

Kill Your Boss by Jack Heath is the third in the ‘Kill your….’ series featuring DS Kiara Lui. I jokingly tried to guess what the next one would be in my review of Kill Your Husbands… one of my guesses was ‘colleagues’.

I was close but no banana. Though many will relate to this as I’m fairly sure most of us have had a horrendous boss at some point in their life. In a letter by Heath (in the review copy I received) he talks about unlikeable characters and it has to be said the victim here—Neville—is certainly that. In fact I love that no one (other than the victim’s parents) even pretends to have a good word to say about the victim… so the suspects are many!

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Book review: The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done by Clare Stephens

October 18, 20253 min read

The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done by Clare Stephens is a little outside of my crime fiction/thriller genre and I’m unsure if I requested the review copy but I’ve received so few (print / real) books lately I was keen to turn the pages of something tangible during my evening baths. And this, by the former Mama Mia editor-in-chief is certainly well-written, offering an insightful commentary on the online world today. Stephens knows that world and is well-placed to reflect on it… warts-n-all. In fact it means we get to go behind the scenes of the world of clickbait headlines and regurgitated stories featuring the royal family or B list celebrities.

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