Reviewed by Ian Lipke It is tempting to damn a writer who dares to publish just the interesting bits of any classic piece of literature. One would have thought that Paradise Lost is a work beyond the savagery of the vandal’s pen, to gut Milton’s great work seems sacrilegious, something that is just not done.
Reviewed by Jill Kenneth Cook’s Fear is the Rider was originally written as a television series. Cook subsequently rewrote it as a short novel. It does not have the finish, the depth and complexity of his later novel Wake in Fright, but can be just as uncomfortable to read. In the right hands, it would
Reviewed by Ian Lipke He used to stop terrorists…Now he is one. So goes the blurb on the front cover of Stephen Leather’s Takedown. Is there anyone left in doubt about the genre to which this book is likely to belong? It’s in-your-face action all the way. Leather is in the entertainment business and writes
Reviewed by Ian Lipke ‘…the steel blade took the full force…ending up buried in his chest up to the hilt.’ Tragedy strikes in Rachel Rhys’ novel, A Dangerous Crossing. It is 1939 and the Second World War is about to savage Europe. But this seems to be of little interest to the passengers on board
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Having received a dying man’s confession directing him to a grave-site, Inspector Gavin Cain receives a phone call from his boss to tell him he has been reassigned. A helicopter arrives and Cain finds himself fronting the mayor of San Francisco who has received photographs of a woman he claims he
Reviewed by Jill Water and its ownership are the themes of Paolo Bacigalupi’s speculative fiction, The Water Knife. Powerful interests are competing for the remaining water rights to be wrung out of the Colorado. Phoenix needs water to stave off disaster. Las Vegas wants to maintain its water security. Thousands of drought, economic and hurricane
Reviewed by Sue Bond Our understanding of mental illness has improved since the early days of John Cade’s training and practice as a psychiatrist, when the institutions for the mentally ill were often crowded, ill kept, served poor food, and treated their patients as less than human beings. There were few effective treatments and some
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This is a hugely satisfying book that deals with real people in diverse cultures with fairness and honesty. It is the first book to be written by Nicole Sinclair and the first novel published by Margaret River Press. It is surprising that the book is as successful as it is. It