Debbish

Book review: The Last Party by AR Torre

January 7, 20263 min read

Wow, what a head-spin The Last Party by AR Torre turned out to be. Much of the book seems frustratingly obvious. We’re given an incredibly unlikeable character who we learn, loves to lie, is jealous of her husband’s affection for their daughter and …. (wait for it), intends on killing her daughter and two friends to replicate a famous murder from over two decades earlier, casting doubt on that killer’s innocence, freeing him so he can be beholden to her. Or something. Yes… WTAF?! As a result much of the early part of the book annoyed me. I mean… our lead, Perla, is fucking mad and horrible. And did I mention fucking mad? As a character and narrator she’s incredibly unpalatable. But… Torre throws in some surprises that I certainly did not see coming and that are so incredibly clever, they blew me away.

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Book review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

January 4, 20262 min read

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is another I missed getting during the year for review, so I only read it belatedly during my brief Christmas sojourn. 81-year-old Elsie is a bit like a character out of a Fredrick Backman book. Sassy and grouchy to all except her long-time friend Daphne and Pete, a neighbour. We learn she’s lived on Kenny Lane for 60 years and it’s a societal microcosm of sorts and also includes a single mother and her rowdy 7-year-old daughter, and the litigious Joan who’s constantly slipping notes under Elsie’s door complaining about one thing or another. When this book opens the latest note references Elsie’s past which she thought she’d left far behind her.

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Book review: Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon

January 2, 20262 min read

I loved The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon. The tone of the book itself beguiled me and I note (in my review) I comment on a sense of ponderance. I didn’t enjoy her latest release Our Last Resort quite as much but it does offer the same weighty themes and take place amidst a sense of impending doom. Unfolding in three different timelines Michallon again slowly drip-feeds facts from the past into the present, with Frida our narrator torn between a kindredness she feels towards her chosen-brother Gabriel and the impact that a childhood characterised by coercion, control and thwarted trust has going into adulthood.

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2025 in books

December 31, 20252 min read

I’ve already shared my ‘Favourite new release books of 2025’ (which featured just four books) but thought it was worth reflecting on the reading year that was – 2025 in books. According to Goodreads I have read 109 books (well, 108 but I’m assuming I’ll finish my current read this evening).

In addition to those in my ‘faves’ post, Tenderfoot, My Friends, The Hitchhikers and Don’t Let Him In, I was generous with my 4.5 star ratings this year and though my go-to is crime fiction and thrillers, there are a few other genres included here. You can find books sorted by rating (listed chronologically within each rating category from oldest to most recent).

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Book review: Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

December 29, 20253 min read

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is the latest from one of my go-to authors. I enjoy her consistently twisty novels which often take the form of domestic noir, centred around family or relationships-gone-sour. In fact I gave her 2023 and novels None of This is True and The Night She Disappeared 4.5 stars which is a rarity in my hard-arse rating world. I realise I could go back and update my post (perhaps I still will*) but if I’d read this before I wrote my ‘Favourite new releases of 2025‘ post a week or so ago, this would have also made the list. Alas I missed getting it for review and only downloaded an electronic copy when desperate for new reading fodder during the Christmas-New Year haze.

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Book review: Darling Mine by Romy Hausmann

December 23, 20252 min read

Darling Mine by Romy Hausmann is the third book I’ve read by the German author (all translated by Jamie Bulloch). They’re very twisty reads centred around crimes in the (recent) past and kidnapping or abduction. This is similarly themed, around the disappearance of 16 year old Julie from her home in 2003. She’s the oldest daughter of Theo Novak a prominent doctor heading up a clinic for heart, thoracic and vascular surgery. We don’t spend much time with Theo, wife Vera and younger daughter Sophia in the past but meet him in the present as a 74 year old with dementia. Vera’s long illness before her death burnt through their savings so now he’s living in a small simple flat and Sophia’s writing reminder notes to help him get through his days. When he’s contacted by podcasters wanting to revisit Julie’s disappearance he jumps at the chance, despite his failing mind, believing she may still be alive.

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Book review: Whistle by Linwood Barclay

December 20, 20252 min read

Whistle by Linwood Barclay dips into the supernatural / horror genres which I don’t usually read. I didn’t realise it when I bought it at the local second-hand bookstore and might not have picked it up had I realised. It’s interesting as I used to love Stephen King back in the 1990s and wasn’t bothered by the unexplainable, but nowadays I need my baddies (antagonists) to be soused in realism – albeit with sociopathic, psychopathic or vengeful tendencies. However… I’ve not got a lot of reading fodder at the moment so I hung in there, which was easy enough to do as Barclay boxes this book into separate segments and timelines following a scene-setting prologue.

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Favourite new release novels of 2025

December 17, 20253 min read

It’s that time of the year I know most authors HATE… when no-name bloggers, bookstagrammers and BookTokkers like yours truly share their favourite books of the year. Taste (in anything… food, wine, books) is such a subjective and arbitrary thing that anyone’s opinion is kinda redundant… even if you consistently find commonalities. However I’m going there nonetheless 🙄 and sharing my favourite new release novels of 2025.

Regular readers of my annual lists will recall I’m not an ‘every child wins a prize’ type of person. I rate books harshly (dishing out only two 5-star reviews this year) and am ruthless in culling this list to a handful or less. In fact my favourite new release novels of 2025 is akin to 2019 and 2022 and only features ~~THREE~~ FOUR books, though obviously I read many good books (3-star and above) this year, and you can find books I’ve reviewed referenced by rating here.

The ~~three~~ four standout books I’m featuring are very different and I loved them for different reasons. (The link to my full review is in the title.)

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Book review: The Prospect by Fleur McDonald

December 15, 20252 min read

The Prospect by Fleur McDonald is a newish direction for the West Australian author. Her two Dave Burrows series’ were go-tos for me but she moved publishers to one whose books I don’t seem to get for review so I missed this one until I came across it in a second-hand bookstore. It does however feature characters we’ve met in her previous series (though I didn’t remember anything specific about them). And here, when we’re first (re)introduced to Zara and Jack they’ve recently moved to Kalgoorlie following journalist Zara inadvertently revealing details of a source and tanking her career and meaning Jack – previously a police detective back in South Australia – having to return to uniform duties and trying not to resent Zara as a result.

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