Reviewed by Ian Lipke Over many years I have followed John Grisham through the medium of his novels. Books like A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Last Juror and The Runaway Jury together with so many others have kept me entertained for hours on end. There has never been any doubt that Grisham can
Reviewed by Ian Lipke As one would expect, this novel deals with that terrible period in European history when the Nazis overran Poland and locked many of Warsaw’s Jewish population behind a wall. The novel tells the story of brave individuals who withstood German might in ways that seemed insignificant but had an effect more
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve A trip that should have taken seven hours, lasts almost a day – time to reveal relationships in turmoil, minor dramas involving wrists and ankles, an unlikely hero and a mystery lurking around one of the five passengers. The Road Trip is a romance writ large. The characters, mostly twenty-somethings, are
Reviewed by Rod McLary The genre of crime writing is a rather crowded one. There are of course the giants of the genre – Lee Child, David Baldacci, Ian Rankin – and then in Australia we have Jane Harper, Peter Corris and Garry Disher – just to name a very few. But there is always
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend It is rare that one embarks on a review by advising readers where and how to sit while reading the novel in question. However, in the case of Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto, I feel obliged to impart exactly that information. Do not read while on a train, bus,
Reviewed by Rod McLary In early 1922, the English writer DH Lawrence and his wife Frieda visited Mabel Dodge Luhan – a wealthy American patron of the arts – at her home in Taos New Mexico. By all accounts, the visit was a ‘fraught’ one. Both Lawrence and Luhan later and separately wrote about the
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Adam Hamdy would have learned from his work with studios and production companies that, to capture the attention of readers, you must hit them hard in the opening scene or episode. It’s that piece of wisdom attributed to US President Theodore Roosevelt: ‘If you’ve got ‘em by the balls, their hearts
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend A hearty thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for publishing Sue Butler’s Rebel Without a Clause; clearly it is not going to be on a bestseller list given that its subject matter seems to be going out of style. Nevertheless, this lovely hardback is a most engaging book; wittily written, it digs,
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In the vanishing setting of the independent bookshop, Sincerely, Ethel Malley would catch the browser’s eye. Not just for the infamous name, Malley, but for the cover itself. Against a black background, there is a rigidly seated figure, dressed in a frumpy frock, strong, manly hands resting loosely in her lap.
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Cliché alert: Timing is everything! The Grifter’s Club would have been shocking and unsettling when it was first published in August 2020. But time has moved on and with the advent of Biden’s reign in the White House, and Donald Trump Twitterless on the peripheries of politics, it reads like an
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Something horrible has happened to David Baldacci’s writing since his work of the early 2010s. I have volumes going back to 2019 on my shelves and I’ve given away many editions before then. In previous critiques I have praised the quality of this author’s command of language but levelled criticism at
Reviewed by Ian Lipke “You could be alone in the dark and be immersed in the light… you could always see the theatre and everyone in it – the flaws, the dirt, the empty food containers, the reality of it all…Call it what makes your heart sing; but call it with love, because that light
Reviewed by Gerard Healy This is the interesting story of Australia’s own dictionary by former researcher Patricia Manser. She covers some fascinating territory from the original push to have a publication with a decidedly Australian flavour to the team of dedicated professionals who eventually brought it to light. Along the way are the linguistic byways
Reviewed by Rod McLary Kathy Reichs has now written twenty novels featuring Temperance Brennan – more informally called Tempe. In common with her creator, Tempe is a forensic anthropologist and a good part of the novels centres on scientific matters. Tempe works with the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médicine Légale in Montreal or,
Reviewed by Clare Brook Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay provides a comprehensive guide for the layperson through a fraught social/political landscape. A setting that is populated by an ever-widening abyss between the left’s Postmodern Theories and Social Justice activism, and the reaction of the far right harking back to an untenable past.