JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer

Twenty-five years after the end of the war, ageing British SOE operative Noah Ainsworth is reflecting on the secret agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong during his perilous, exhilarating years in occupied France. He never knew her real name, nor whether she survived the war.

His daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What follows is the story of Fleur and Chloe, two otherwise ordinary women who in 1943 are called up by the SOE for deployment in France. Taking enormous risks with very little information or resources, the women have no idea they’re at the mercy of a double agent within their ranks who’s causing chaos.

As Charlotte’s search for answers continues, new suspicions are raised about the identity of the double agent, with unsettling clues pointing to her father.

Exploring grief, loss, espionage and heartbreak, Kelly Rimmer’s The Paris Agent is an emotionally compelling tale inspired by real-life female WWII agents. For the first time, Kelly brings their stories to life with a tale of two ordinary women in WWII France who enlist as spies, tearing them apart from their family and loved ones.

Told in dual timelines, the story alternates between 1940s World War II and 1970s England. In the present storyline, we meet Noah Ainsworth, who lost his wife a year earlier and confesses to his daughter about his past as a secret agent during the War. After a bad accident at the tail end of his service, his memory was affected and he’s been unable to piece together what happened in his final moments. In particular, he is eager to track down the man who saved his life. His daughter Charlotte takes it upon herself to help him investigate.

“As we travelled into the town, I felt a pang of grief at the endless rubble. It was clear that the Allies targeted the blocks around the Seine again and again, destroying historical bridges, then the temporary pontoons the Germans constructed in their place, and so on.”

Once again, Kelly pivots her story around defiant, brave women who maintain their cause and determination in the midst of adversity and danger. A significant amount of research has clearly gone into this book, which has been influenced by real-life women who were spies during the second World War.

Kelly Rimmer brings another emotional story to her repertoire, and crafts a tumultuous setting but with well-rounded, three-dimensional characters who you fall in love with across the course of the novel. The ending, in particular, is quite difficult to swallow. I found it heartbreaking, and the story has stayed with me since I’ve put it down.

“Most likely, the Gestapo had beaten and tortured Jeremie until he broke and told them everything – probably the location of his set and crystals, details of his security procedure and encryption key, his transmission windows.”

Admittedly, I did find it a bit confusing keeping track of all the characters. In the 1940s storyline we move between two perspectives – Eloise and Josie – and that, combined with the present-day storyline, did start to become a little convoluted at times. I kept mistaking the women for each other and having to flick back to check which POV we were in.

The only other element of the book that I found a little jarring was some of the stilted dialogue. Particularly in the beginning there was a fair amount of info-dumping, mainly from Noah, and it didn’t read overly natural. But other than that, The Paris Agent is another really solid story from Kelly Rimmer.

“I’d been stewing on an idea all week, trying to find the courage to suggest it. I still felt anxious to speak aloud something so outlandish – but it was clear we were out of time. I tugged Noah’s arm, and he sank onto the bed.”

Recommended for fans of historical fiction and WWII saga, readership for The Paris Agent skews female, 30+

Thank you to the publishing company for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Paris Agent
Kelly Rimmer
July 2023
Hachette Book Publishers

House of Longing by Tara Calaby

Charlotte has always known she is different. Where other young women see their destiny in marriage and motherhood, the reclusive Charlotte wants only to work with her father in his stationery business; perhaps even run it herself one day. Then Flora Dalton bursts through the shop door and into Charlotte’s life—and a new world of baffling desires and possibilities seems to open up to her.

But Melbourne society of the 1890s is not built to embrace unorthodoxy. When tragedy strikes and Charlotte is unmoored by grief, she finds herself admitted to Kew Lunatic Asylum ‘for her own safety’.

There she learns that women enter the big white house on the hill for many reasons, not all of them to do with lunacy. That her capacity for love, loyalty and friendship is greater than she had ever understood. And that it will take all of these things—along with an unexpected talent for guile—to extract herself from the care of men and make her way back to her heart’s desires.

Set in 1890s Melbourne, Tara Calaby’s debut novel House of Longing is set within the walls of the Kew Asylum, which opened in 1872 and housed people with mental illness. Tara’s novel pivots around a same-sex romantic love story but is also a tale of bravery amidst the terrible treatment that women were experiencing in the asylum.

We meet Charlotte shortly before she experiences two life-changing moments –she meets and falls in love with the beautiful doctor’s daughter Flora, and Charlotte’s father dies unexpectedly. The grief triggers a breakdown that ends with Charlotte inside Kew Asylum. There, she meets a large group of incredible other women, all battling their own demons and trying their best to survive.

“The fourth evening was the coolest yet. The two of them drew in close to the fire for warmth, and Flora burrowed into Charlotte’s side in such a way that Charlotte couldn’t help but wrap an arm around her.”

The story feels like it has two phases – the first, following Charlotte and Flora’s love story, and Charlotte’s devastation at the passing of her father; the second, Charlotte’s journey in the asylum, and teaming up with the other patients when they start to experience abuse and neglect at the hands of the staff. The second half is the strongest part of the story, and the pacing increases from here.

Tara is incredibly skilled at characterisation – there was a real threat of the women in the asylum merging together and feeling a bit same-same, but Tara crafted characters who all felt individual and unique. I could picture them all as I read them, and they each had their own distinct personalities.

“But Charlotte wasn’t listening. Her dreams had been swelling within her for months and she could no longer hold them inside her heart.”

House of Longing explores a woman’s expectation from society in the late 1800s. A same-sex relationship, which wouldn’t be accepted by those around them, and Charlotte wants to defy society’s pressure that she marry a man purely because that’s what other women do. She can survive, and run her father’s shop, on her own.

Admittedly, the pacing is a little slow to start. Once Charlotte was in the asylum, I was left wondering where the story was headed. The storyline slowed a little as we were introduced to the setting, but once Eliza is pushed down the steps the story starts to ramp up and the pacing maintains for the rest of the story.

“She was too exhausted to cry with any real passion, but tears seeped from her eyes as she brought her knees up towards her chest, and wrapped her arms around the scratchy skirt of the borrowed dress.”

An engaging romance and heartfelt tale of courage among disadvantaged women, Tara’s debut House of Longing is suitable for fans of historical fiction. Readership skews female, 25+

Thank you to the publishing company for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

House of Longing
Tara Calaby
June 2023
Text Publishing

Drowning by T.J. Newman

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.

More than two hundred feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his eleven-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives.

Their only chance at survival is an elite rescue team on the surface led by professional diver Chris Kent – Shannon’s mother and Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife – who must work together with Will to find a way to save their daughter and rescue the passengers from the sealed airplane, which is now teetering on the edge of an undersea cliff.

There’s not much time. There’s even less air.

With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them – against impossible odds.

Written by flight attendant turned bestselling author T.J. Newman, Drowning is her second novel and breakneck thriller, this time centred around a commercial jetliner that sinks to the bottom of the ocean with passengers trapped inside – still alive. We follow the rescue operation to save them.

Another gripping disaster procedural to keep you hooked, Drowning largely centres around twelve passengers aboard a doomed flight that crashes into the Pacific Ocean on its way from Honolulu. The aviation thriller moves between the passengers aboard the sunken plane, and the rescue team working around the clock to save them.

“The fire spread in every direction as razor-sharp pieces of the plane littered the water’s surface like fallen leaves. The air reeked of smoke and jet fuel. Passengers who had evacuated early and managed to swim away from the plane were huddled together, holding on to a portion of the wing tip that was still floating. They thought they were far enough out – but the fire was stalking them.”

Newman’s writing is direct and palatable. There is a surprising amount of emotion to the characters, bubbling under the surface of this psychological thriller. T.J. Newman has taken her personal experiences as a flight attendant and turned them into a really engaging, digestible story. And from what I’ve read, her first novel Falling is just as enthralling.

A lot of the story centres around Will, an engineer, and his daughter Shannon, who are both still haunted by the accidental death of Shannon’s sister years earlier. His estranged wife Chris is part of the rescue mission and coincidentally possesses a lot of skills that come in useful when trying to save the passengers. There are also a few other staple passengers inside the plan – pilot Kit, elderly couple Ruth and Ira, and another young girl around Shannon’s age.

Because quite a significant number of passengers survive the crash, and they’re involved in such a high-stake, tense situation, team work is one of the vital components to their survival. There’s quite a bit of conflict within the plane as Will tries desperately to rally the group and agree on methods of survival. With elderly and children amongst the survivors, that also heightens the stakes as the air starts to run out on the plane.

“Outside, the waterline rose against the fuselage until window views of blue water replaced blue sky for the twelve souls that were still trapped inside. As the last of the tail slipped into the water, bubbles whirled in the plane’s downward suctioning draft. Against the vast expanse of the open ocean, the massive commercial jet was like a child’s toy in a bathtub.”

The book does, naturally, require you to suspend your disbelief. Whilst the book is based on a very real, possible scenario, the stakes are certainly heightened for the purpose of entertainment. Personally, I would’ve preferred the line of communication between the passengers and the rescue team be completely severed – the phone calls seemed a little too easy, given the circumstances.

With quite a large number of characters that we’re following, both inside and outside of the plane, I did start to get confused by all of the names – it was a bit of a struggle remembering who was who, and even the blocking got a bit confusing. The movements in the plane and where people were located, and particularly the water level and remembering where people could and couldn’t go did get a bit overwhelming. The mechanics of the accident also flew over my head a bit and so at some point I just acknowledged that I was along for the ride and I had to let me scepticism subside.

“Will was holding his hand out to the little girl who was on her own when suddenly, a high-pitched noise came from outside. The loud mechanical whine because more and more deafening as the plane shook more and more violently until even the waterline on the other side of the windows was vibrating.”

Fast-paced and high-pressure, fans of thrillers, mystery and crime will enjoy T.J. Newman’s Drowning. Readership skews 20+

Thank you to the publishing company for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Drowning
T.J. Newman
June 2023
Simon & Schuster Australia

The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan

Meet the wedding party:

THE BRIDE AND GROOM
Celine and Luke are meant to get married and live happily ever after. But Celine’s more interested in playing the piano, and Luke’s a serial cheater.

THE BRIDESMAID
Phoebe, Celine’s sister, is meant to finish college and get a real job. Instead she pulls pints, lives with six flatmates, and has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette.

THE BEST MAN
Archie, Luke’s best friend and ex-boyfriend, is meant to move up the corporate ladder and on from Luke. Yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.

THE GUEST
Vivian, Luke’s other best friend and other ex, was meant to put up with Luke’s bullshit when they dated. But she didn’t. And now she is contented, methodically observing her friends like ants.

As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after – but does it lie at the end of an aisle?

Naoise Dolan’s The Happy Couple is a rather delectable literary novel exploring love and marriage, family and expectations, as well as fidelity and betrayal. At just over 200 pages long, it’s an accessible and easy read, and highly recommended.

The Happy Couple is centred around a marriage plot, and its descent and collision with reality. Celine and Luke’s engagement is somewhat of a lacklustre, nonchalant moment in their lives. Neither of them seem overly invested in marriage, and yet, once they’re engaged it’s almost like they feel compelled to go through with it.

As the story moves between past and present, we come to understand more about these two characters, as well as the orbit of friends and family that circles them. Cracks begin to show at the engagement party, when Luke goes missing and Celine almost seems willing to ignore the implications of disappearance.

“The party was over and he’d finally phoned. Celine lay on the bed. The guest room was pitch black, so Luke’s voice felt like something she could see. It was more than a sound to her, his speech; it was warm as well, in colour and in heat. It was safe.”

Naoise’s writing style is very stripped back – minimalistic description, making the reader join the dots themselves. There is a strong exploration of character, as in most literary novels, with a suite of memorable people we meet all throughout the story. Some of the characters are wildly unlikeable – Luke, for example – but Naoise still crafts a three-dimensional picture that allows readers to see beyond their imperfections.

“Ever since her conservatoire days, Celine had experienced grave doubts when she compared her own life to Franz Liszt’s. The Hungarian composer had many mistresses, one of whom wrote a scandalous novel about him, and he did just about everything you can do and not die. Then he died, fine, but his music – only where did he find the time?”

Naoise presents bisexuality in the novel with very little fanfare of attention. Both Celine and Luke are bisexual and are surrounded, on more than one occasion, with exes they’ve slept with. However, their sexuality is not made to be a ‘moment’, it simply is who they are, and it’s definitely a positive element to the story.

Admittedly, there isn’t a lot of romanticism to Luke and Celine’s relationship – her career is very well established as a professional pianist, she’s just looking to settle down with someone and enjoy the mundane aspects of life; Luke is a serial cheater who is hoping that marriage to Celine will settle him down and prove him worthy of love. If anything, their relationship feels transactional and so you spend most of the novel wondering if they’ll go through with the wedding.

“There’d never been competition between the sisters, since Celine was four years older and Phoebe didn’t care. A right pair, so they were. Swotty Celine and Phoebe the troll. Beauty and the Beast. Princess and the Frog.”

Sharp and sophisticated, The Happy Couple is an accessible literary novel for reluctant readers, but will mostly please those who love to read family sagas and stories that explore complex relationships. Fans of literary fiction will love this one. Readership skews 30+

Thank you to the publishing company for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Happy Couple
Naoise Dolan
June 2023
Hachette Book Publishers

Wild Card by Simon Rowell

One foggy morning on the banks of the Murray River, a body is found in a burnt-out area of grassland. The heavily tattooed victim, who has suffered two bullet wounds to the head, is identified as Freddie Jones, a bikie from Moama.

Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is on the case, alongside her trusty service dog, Harry. Although Zoe is determined to track down the murderer, she finds herself stonewalled at every turn—by Freddie’s family, his associates and even the local police. But then a second body is discovered, and soon all bets are off…

Simon Rowell’s latest gripping rural mystery Wild Card is centred around a double homicide, gang warfare and small-town corruption.

Wild Card is a continuation for detective Zoe Mayer and her service dog Harry, who were both introduced in Simon’s previous novel Long Game. No need to be worried if you haven’t read Long Game. Like many other crime writers, you don’t need to read the predecessor to follow the mystery. I hadn’t read Long Game prior to starting Wild Card and it didn’t impede my reading experience at all. The mystery is standalone.

“She and Charlie watched the screen fill with a close-up of Amber’s face, before it panned slowly to the side. A short distance away, behind the girls, they could see a man, about thirty, staring. He appeared to be ducking behind a large shrub. After thirty seconds, the vision shook as Amber and Justine started to scream.”

This particular genre – rural noir or rural crime – is quite saturated in Australia at the moment, but Simon maintains the reader’s interest and presents a compelling set of characters and suspects.

Wild Card will satisfy seasoned crime and thriller readers, following the standard police procedural narrative and keeping readers guessing until the final chapter. What is initially a one-off murder soon leads to a second body, and so the pacing and tension maintains a high level throughout the entire story.

“Harry was entranced but suddenly turned towards the door before leaping off the bed. Then she heard it. Sirens, one after another, becoming louder. Zoe stood up and pulled on a jacket. She grabbed her equipment belt, fastened it around herself, checking her gun was in place, and opened the door.”

Wild Card consists of many notable secondary characters to keep the story interesting – in particular, Zoe’s colleague and partner Charlie, who holds a significant presence in the story.

The novel is anchored by a strong setting – the Echuca/Moama on the Murray River. It’s a small town filled with suspicious characters and long-held secrets. Largely dialogue-driven with a tight plot, Simon has done well to capture the isolated town and a sense of foreboding. The conclusion, in particular, will satisfy readers.

“It was almost dawn when the Forensics team finished their work, with the aid of portable halogen lights that turned the darkness into daylight. They showed Zoe the rake marks that had smoothed the ground around the hole. Her heart had sunk. She knew a killer so organised wouldn’t leave them too many clues.”

Recommended for crime, thriller and mystery readers. Readership skews 20+

Thank you to the publishing company for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wild Card
Simon Rowell
January 2023
Text Publishing