Reviewed by Ian Lipke Hitler’s Northern Utopia addresses a hitherto unresearched aspect of the already extensive literature on Nazism, and that is architecture in a distant place like Norway. A decided paucity of exposure in the literature is undoubtedly due to a lack of specific knowledge among the relatively small number of mainstream historians whose
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Girl in the Mirror has been described as ‘an addictive thriller about greed, lust, secrets, and deadly lies.’ You’d better believe it. And I mustn’t give too much away. It is that type of yarn that makes readers want to share its secrets. This story is about a set of
Reviewed by Rod McLary I came to this biography of Paul Kelly knowing only a little about his music – as in From Little Things Big Things Grow – and even less about the man. The subtitle of the biography is ‘The man, the music and the life in between’ but it doesn’t entirely meet
Reviewed by Ian Lipke In the longevity stakes Lynda La Plante has no equal. I remember reading the first volume of Prime Suspect as a young man, never realizing that it would be the first of a gripping series. Before we knew it, there were televised versions of most of the Prime Suspect series. Lynda
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The author of this novel, Jenny Lecoat, is a veteran writer. Yet, The Viennese Girl (Hedy’s War), is her debut novel. Since the 1990s, Jenny Lecoat has been a professional screen writer in various formats. Prior to this time, she made a name for herself as one of the first female
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Andrew Boe’s new book is both a record and a reminiscence of a series of cases in which he has been involved over past decades. He alerts his readers to shortfalls in the Australian legal systems, using case studies to make his points. His name is familiar to Australians who follow
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Robert Pobi’s Under Pressure, his second in the Lucas Page series, like his City of Windows, is a well-presented book with a richly endowed cover, this one depicting a city skyline devastated by a black cloud suggesting a catastrophe of mammoth proportions. (A cruel observation would be that the black cloud
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Those who like fast-paced American crime novels will like this book. Those who can hail a police detective and praise him for making lightning decisions that are invariably correct will love this novel. Those who can understand humanity by basing judgments on theories of psychology will be right at home here,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke It is not often that a non-fiction book makes me excited but George Friedman has succeeded in doing just that. I rarely concur with the blurb that publishers insert in the covers of books but statements like ‘an illuminating, provocative new book by the master geopolitical forecaster’ strikes a chord with
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders The content of this book is summed up on the cover “Lost lives, justice delayed, criminals walking free: exposing Australia’s most wrongful convictions”. Author, criminologist and TV presenter, Dr Xanthé Mallett, has once again tapped into the rich vein of Australian true crime to provide disturbing examples of innocent people sent
Reviewed by Gerard Healy An engaging crime thriller from Michael Robotham featuring his clinical psychologist Cyrus Haven and a teenage survivor Evie. These two become emmeshed in a complex web of deceit, blackmail and murder involving some powerful figures with very guilty consciences. It is set mainly in northern England in 2020, but without any
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Half Sister is the third novel by freelance journalist, Sandie Jones, who has contributed to the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Woman’s Weekly and Hello magazine, amongst others. Discovering that her debut novel, The Other Woman, was a New York Times Bestseller in 2018, which sold in fourteen other languages, I looked forward to reading her 2020
Reviewed by Rod McLary Nearly all of us were once students at primary school; and we all were taught by teachers – some good, some not so good and a few excellent ones who took us beyond the basic syllabus. It is these latter teachers we tend to remember. This is a neat segue to
Reviewed by Rod McLary Charles Dickens was one of the most loved authors of the Victorian era. He created some of the best-known and best-loved characters in English literature and is regarded by some as the greatest author of the Victorian era. Books by Dickens – such as Great Expectations, David Copperfield and A Christmas
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Somebody once described this debut book as a Rottweiler of a novel. How very true! Bergmoser is unputdownable. I read the book at a single sitting as I could not bear the suspense. I wanted to help the put-upon find resolution of their difficulties. Like the attack dog, he never lets