Hachette Australia Archives - Debbish Archive

Book review: Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Friday, July 28, 2023 Permalink

Book cover:Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh arrived when I was away for work recently and I allowed it to leap over others on my TBR list because I was about to head to Harrogate (in England) to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and he was to be there.

I wasn’t planning on taking the book for him to sign as I’m not really into autographs, though do like chatting to authors… but I certainly wanted to have read it beforehand. However… there was an unfortunate bath-related incident in which the book threw itself into my bath (where I was reading) days before my departure.* Not one to be deterred, I dried it out in the winter air and gave it a day to two lest the pages tear as I turn them, before diving back in because though I was only about one-third of the way through, I was engrossed.

Book review: The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Friday, June 23, 2023 Permalink

Bookcover The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon was a proverbial sleeper for me. Not because I thought it wasn’t paced well. I noticed other bloggers, bookstagrammers and reviewers commenting on it being slow out of the gate, some saying they ended up putting it aside. I confess I had ignored it for some time, the blurb making it sound a tad predictable. Hence my surprise when I was intrigued from its opening, with Michallon able to offer multiple voices and give readers insight into the complexities of human nature as we look upon a serial killer who’s also a helpful and thoughtful member of his community, and devoted father.

Book review: The Last Dance by Mark Billingham

Saturday, May 27, 2023 Permalink

Book cover The Last Dance by Mark Billingham

I’m a fan of Mark Billingham’s Tom Thorne / Nicola Tanner series but also very much enjoyed (perhaps more!) his standalone 2021 release, Rabbit Hole. His latest novel, The Last Dance, kicks off a new series featuring Detective Declan (Dec) Miller… a witty wiseass I can soooo envisage on the big or small screen. Miller’s constant (almost compulsive) commentary is hilarious and it would translate well – if done properly with someone with great (droll) comedic timing.

Book review: Identity by Nora Roberts

Wednesday, May 17, 2023 Permalink

It’d been a while between Nora Roberts’ books for me. Of course I continue to read her JD Robb ‘In Death’ series but I also enjoy her romantic suspense novels and her latest, Identity, is another great read. It was perhaps a smidge longer than it needed to be but offers great characters and – though not edge-of-your-seat suspense – the inevitability of what’s to come simmers menacingly in the background.

Book review: Home Before Night by JP Pomare

Sunday, April 23, 2023 Permalink

I’ve been increasingly enjoying JP Pomare’s work over the years. His latest release is actually a re-release of an audiobook (via Audible) from late 2022. I noted a few authors were doing something similar – releasing audiobooks or even novellas in the form of ebooks. It probably means this is a little shorter than usual. It’s very much in his style though… some slightly devious storytelling that has us making certain assumptions only to find out later that we were duped.

Book review: The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop

Sunday, April 16, 2023 Permalink

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop is a novel that – I suspect – could divide its readers. Including me. I mean, it’s not that I didn’t like it because I certainly did. But my various personalities prevaricated between adoring Bishop’s glorious writing; feeling frustrated at things obviously being kept from readers or made little sense (which could potentially be plotholes); while at the same time wondering if I’m too obtuse to understand the not-necessarily-logical order in which elements of the plot flowed.

Book review: Eleven Liars by Robert Gold

Monday, April 3, 2023 Permalink

Eleven Liars by Robert Gold is the second book in the series featuring journalist Ben Harper, who we met in Twelve Secrets when he was forced to revisit his own tragic past. Here Ben’s still working for his quirky boss finishing up a podcast offering newly-uncovered secrets involving his family when he literally stumbles across a new mystery.

Book review: Prettier If She Smiled More by Toni Jordan

Friday, March 31, 2023 Permalink

Toni Jordan’s debut novel Addition, was one of my favourite books when it was released in 2008 and I also loved The Fragments – giving it a rare (for me) five stars. I commented then on her beautiful writing and her ability to develop complex, quirky, likeable and very real characters.

Prettier If She Smiled More features Kylie Schnabel – a judicious pharmacist and a responsible and pragmatic daughter, sister, friend and girlfriend – who’s perfectly content with her lot in life, harbouring no great ambitions for more than she has. Until it starts disappearing before her eyes.

Book review: The Running Club by Ali Lowe

Thursday, March 16, 2023 Permalink

I was worried The Running Club by Ali Lowe would be a bit like books about motherhood – featuring cliquey groups to whom I can not relate. I know people ‘inside’ of those groups don’t see the fact that they can be exclusive, but those ‘outside’ certainly do. Casual discussions about times and pacers and the like are similar to those about school drop-offs, P & C committees or playdates, for those of us on the ‘outside’.

However, though the club itself is how these meet – like The Trivia Night in Lowe’s first novel – merely a vehicle or way in which to bind a group of disparate people together in a way that isn’t natural so ultimately explodes before hopefully recovering and re-forming (in more ways than one!).