JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Charlotte Pass by Lee Christine

When ski patroller Vanessa Bell discovers human bones high on Mount Stillwell at Charlotte Pass ski resort, Detective Sergeant Pierce Ryder of the Sydney Homicide Squad is called in to lead the investigative team.

Arriving in the isolated, snowed-in village with Winterfest celebrations underway, Ryder soon determines that the bones are those of Celia Delaney, a young woman who disappeared from the ski resort in 1964 during the biggest winter storm in Australian alpine history.

When a second murder takes place, Ryder suspects that the deaths are related, and that the person responsible is still in the village. Amid the escalating tension, Ryder is desperate to make an arrest before the stakes rise even higher.

Set within the stunning Snowy Mountains, this intriguing mystery uncovers deadly, long-buried secrets in the valleys and mountains of this iconic area.

After publishing six romantic suspense novels, Charlotte Pass is Lee Christine’s first crime novel, set deep within the Snowy Mountains and spanning 55 years from 1964 to 2019.

In 1964, the young Celia Delaney goes missing on Mount Stillwell and in 2019, local ski patroller Vanessa Bell discovers her bones. The Sydney-based Detective Pierce Ryder arrives to investigate and what results is a fast-paced, break-neck search to discover who murdered Celia Delaney 55 years ago.

Setting is a strong character in the book, taking readers on a journey through the isolated Snowy Mountains region of Mount Stillwell. You could feel the cold, secluded atmosphere as you read each page. Lee Christine is really skilled at capturing a setting and making the reader feel like they’re really there. What a nice escape this book has been, away from the extreme weather conditions we’ve been experiencing here in Australia.

“The estimate Vanessa had given Ryder turned out to be spot on. In the daylight, he could see where the groomer had worked the day before, smoothing out the snow for the tube run some fifty metres from where she had discovered the bones, down the slope from the snow fences.”

Charlotte Pass is a fascinating read, a truly fabulous crime novel that had me guessing until the final page.

Lee builds tension and suspense with an intriguing premise and engaging characters. Clues are given sparingly and subtly, so by the end of the novel you feel like there are multiple people who could’ve possibly killed Celia five decades earlier. The resolution is not as foreseeable as some crime novels.

Vanessa and Ryder are strong protagonists — gutsy, brash, but also compassionate and understanding, sympathetic and empathetic. Ryder has never really recovered from a family tragedy years earlier, and until now, Vanessa has been functioning on her own without any real need for a significant other.

Both of these characters find something in the other that they didn’t even realise they needed.

“Libby and Detective Ryder were of the same mind when it came to the snow. Libby wasn’t here because of her love of the mountains. She’d followed a boyfriend to Charlotte Pass. A week after she’d taken the job at the kids’ club, he’d broken up with her. Libby now spent most of her time trying to avoid him.”

Romance builds between Vanessa and Detective Ryder, adding another layer of complication to the ensuing investigation. Readers will love the crime and thriller elements of the book, but there are moments of romance injected into Charlotte Pass at intermittent moments and so Lee Christine’s fans will be pleased to know she hasn’t completely strayed from her previous works.

Charlotte Pass features a large cast of dynamic characters — including the setting — but Lee crafts them all with such vivid detail and description that readers will have no issue following the story and engaging with the plot.

The conclusion of the novel is satisfying and realistic, and not predictable. Lee wrapped up the story really well, and I think her existing fanbase will rather enjoy this new direction she’s taking with her work.

“A Tiffany cigarette case wouldn’t have been an easy thing to get your hands on back in 1964, especially for a young dental nurse from Newcastle and her musician husband. They hadn’t exactly been rolling in money, according to a statement Lewicki had taken from Nigel. If not for his gigs, they wouldn’t have even been at Charlotte Pass.”

I think the cover does the book a disservice — it’s designed similar to a lot of historical fiction and romance fiction books. And whilst this may have been a deliberate choice to maintain interest from Lee’s existing fans, I think it may deter crime fiction readers from picking up the book because they won’t realise that it falls within the crime genre.

Atmospheric, suspenseful, and a really enticing read for all ages. Charlotte Pass is recommended for fans of crime fiction, mysteries, and psychological thrillers.

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

Charlotte Pass
Lee Christine
February 2020
Allen & Unwin Publishers

Riptides by Kirsten Alexander

December 1974. Abby Campbell and her brother Charlie are driving to their father’s farm on a dark country road when they swerve into the path of another car, forcing it into a tree. The pregnant driver is killed instantly.

In the heat of the moment, Abby and Charlie make a fateful decision. They flee, hoping heavy rain will erase the fact they were there. They both have too much to lose.

But they have no idea who they’ve just killed or how many lives will be affected by her death. Soon the truth is like a riptide they can’t escape, as their terrible secret pulls them down deeper by the day.

Set in country Queensland in the 1970s, Kirsten Alexander’s Riptides is a seductive family drama about relationships, trust, choices, and the consequences of one terrible decision.

The book begins on a deserted highway late at night, when siblings Abby and Charlie accidentally force another car off the road. The pregnant driver dies, and whilst Abby and Charlie should attempt to save the life of the baby, they don’t call for help and instead drive off. They later find out the woman was their father’s new fiancé, and the dead baby was their step-sibling.

“Mark would rail at my stupidity in staying silent and then lying to the police, and for effectively choosing my brother over my husband. He might divorce me. He loves me, no question, but his job means the world to him.”

Structurally, the novel moves between Abby and Charlie’s POV. We spend most of the novel witnessing their guilt, vulnerability and their attempts to lie to the police and move on from what happened.

We also come to understand tensions between family members. The plot jumps back a few times to give us context about Abby and Charlie’s circumstances. Abby is a mother of young children, whose husband is supportive and helpful, but a little absent from the domestic duties.

Charlie has been living in Bali with his best friends Ryan and Sal. Charlie is in love with Sal, and his time in Bali is his way of avoiding any real responsibilities at home. The main reason he didn’t want to call for help at the scene of the accident, is because he didn’t want anything to jeopardise his plans to return home to Bali. He’s a very dependent man. He often lets — or expects — Abby to solve his problems.

“By the time I arrived in Kuta, Ryan and Sal had decided to set up a restaurant that would serve noodles, juice and cheap beer. Not the vibe we’d originally talked about but there was a garden behind the kitchen and the food was right for the location.”

Riptides captures the complex dynamics within a family. Abby and Charlie’s father is a short-tempered man, who appears quite closed off, unwilling to forgive, and still mourning the loss of his wife years earlier. Abby feels she’s missing out on opportunities because she spends so much time doing things for her husband, her children, her father and her brother.

The book is set in a decade where women were expected to be stay-at-home mothers, looking after their children and managing the household for their husband. Abby wants to enrol in university and study law, and whilst her husband is supportive of this plan, her father is sceptical and questions her priorities.

Abby and Charlie constantly bicker and are incredibly different — Abby is reserved and organised, a planner. Charlie is more of a free spirit, never wanting to settle down and always looking for the next thrill. The car accident forces them to confront their differences and align on a plan, and, over time, it forces them to confront each other and overcome their grievances.

“Dad gets up with a grunt. As he stands, Abby steps back. Mum always said Dad’s temper was a war wound. He’s a tough nut. He likes to tell me how easy my life was, as if it’d be good for it to be otherwise.”

Tense, sophisticated and highly addictive, Riptides had me hooked. The writing is tight and polished, cutting to the emotion of the tragedy. The dialogue is realistic and builds suspense. Riptides is set in Queensland during a time of social upheaval, and Kirsten brings Brisbane to the forefront of the story and presents a story that’s fast-paced and compelling. Readers will find themselves enticed and entertained, ripping through the pages.

Recommended for fans of crime, drama, thriller, family dramas and mysteries.

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

Riptides
Kirsten Alexander
February 2020
Penguin Random House Publishers

Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel

Eleven-year-old Allegra shuttles between her grandmothers who live next door to one another but couldn’t be more different. Matilde works all hours and instils discipline, duty and restraint. She insists that Allegra focus on her studies to become a doctor.

Meanwhile free-spirited Joy is full of colour, possibility and emotion, storing all her tears in little glass bottles. She is riding the second wave of the women’s movement in the company of her penny tortoise, Simone de Beauvoir, encouraging Ally to explore broad horizons and live her ‘true essence’.

And then there’s Rick who lives in a flat out the back and finds distraction in gambling and solace in surfing. He’s trying to be a good father to Al Pal, while grieving the woman who links them all but whose absence tears them apart.

Allegra is left to orbit these three worlds wishing they loved her a little less and liked each other a lot more. Until one day the unspoken tragedy that’s created this division explodes within the person they all cherish most.

Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel is a debut coming-of-age story recommended for adult readers, exploring identity and adolescence and the rise of feminism and activism in the 1970s.

Allegra’s mother died when she was very young, so Allegra has been raised by her two grandmothers Matilde and Joy, and her father Rick. Allegra lives with Matilde but Joy lives next door and she and Allegra are very close. The two grandmothers, who were once close, no longer speak to each other because of some past disagreement that has been kept hidden from Allegra.

Predominantly character-driven, Allegra in Three Parts is equal parts entertaining as it is enriching. Suzanne has captured the era vividly, evoking nostalgic responses in readers. It was life before social media and smart phones, where many young children didn’t have televisions and their school teachers were nuns.

“I can split myself in two… something I have to do because of Joy and Matilde. They are my grandmothers and I love them both and they totally love me but they can’t stand each other.”

Allegra in Three Parts is an uplifting, moving novel full of heart and hope. It’s also playful and fun. 11-year-old Allegra’s innocence and curiosity is captured with tenderness and heart. She’s a fantastic protagonist, enticing the reader and keeping them interested until the final page.

I felt that the pacing was quite slow for what was a very minimal plot, but Allegra carries the story with her intrigue and her wonder for the world.

Set in Sydney, domestic violence is rife in Allegra’s neighbourhood. Her best friend Patricia has a violent father, and they’re not the only family looking to escape violence. Allegra in Three Parts features a large cast of strong, independent women who want to be in control of their decisions and their futures. As a result, many people in the neighbourhood — Allegra’s family included — come together to help victims of domestic violence.

“There on a hanger is a pale blue dress. It is the exact same colour — Oriental Blue — that I have loved ever since I first saw Kimberley’s complete set of seventy-two Derwent watercolour pencils when she displayed them, one by one, for show-and-tell in Second Class. It has a cream ruffle on each side of the bodice from the neck to the waist and cream piping around the cuffs.”

Capturing the voice of a tween is no easy feat, particularly when writing a book intended for adults. Sometimes, reading books from the voice of a young child can tire the reader (or perhaps annoy them, depending on the personality of the child), but Allegra is a fascinating character that all readers will enjoy meeting. She’s smart and confident, courageous and incredibly loving.

A few times in the novel I felt the girls in the story — particularly Allegra and Patricia — were a little too wise for their age, recognised in fleeting moments of dialogue between the children and the adults. Other than that, I found the characters incredibly authentic to the era, their ages and their experiences in life.

Recommended for readers of literary fiction, women’s fiction and historical fiction.

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

Allegra in Three Parts
Suzanne Daniel
June 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

What if you weren’t the hero?

Kihrin grew up on tales of long-lost princes and grand quests – despite being raised in a brothel, making money as a musician and street thief. One day he overreaches by targeting an absent noble’s mansion, hunting for jewels. There he witnesses a prince performing a terrifying dark-magic ritual. Kihrin flees but he’s marked by a demon and his life will never be the same again.

That night also leads to him being claimed as a lost son of that prince’s royal house. But far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family’s power plays and ambitions. He must also discover why his murderous father finds Kihrin more valuable alive than dead. Soon Kihrin attempts to escape his relative’s dangerous schemes, but finds himself in far deeper waters.

He becomes tangled in a plot to kill the Emperor, rob the Imperial Vaults, claim a god-slaying sword and free bound demons to wreak havoc across the land. Kihrin also discovers the old tales lied about many things: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love – and the hero always winning. But maybe Kihrin isn’t fated to save the empire. He’s destined to destroy it.

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons is the first book in a new epic fantasy series, following a musician and thief as he learns of his true heritage as royalty.

Each chapter in the novel switches between two POVs — the poor young Kihrin, and Talon, a monstrous mimic who has the ability to eat people’s brains and then impersonate them, mirroring their actions, personality, memories and physicality with ease. The dual parallel storylines allow for increased tension and fast-paced action, enticing the reader.

We meet Kihrin in a jail cell, awaiting his certain death. He is being guarded by Talon, and the two enter a conversation where Kihrin begins telling Talon his life story. Throughout Kihrin’s story, Talon interjects with their own memories and stories, and thus begins a truly incredible, fast-paced, break-neck story that fantasy readers will love.

“She didn’t look like a monster. Talon looked like a girl in her twenties with wheat-gold skin and soft brown hair. Most men would give their eye-teeth to spend an evening with someone so beautiful. Most men didn’t know of her talent for shaping her body into forms crafted from pure terror.”

The plot is enthralling, the prose is sharp, the dialogue is realistic and the character development is authentic and believable to the reader. The story moves steadily throughout the book, and whilst The Ruin of Kings is over 550 pages with very small text, my attention never wavered.

One of the biggest strengths in the book is the world-building — The Known World is filled with witches, demons, ghosts, sorcerers and just about every other mythical creature you can think of, and Jenn juggles all these creatures seamlessly and with ease.

The three-dimensional and fully-fledged setting is a balanced combination of history and mythology that gives the plot depth and makes the setting feel like a real world. The Known World will draw the reader in and keep them entertained.

“That stopped me cold. Khaemezra was right, of course. The necklace couldn’t be taken by force; it had to be freely given. I forced my hand away from the stone.”

The Ruin of Kings is a perfect example of the unreliable narrator. Kihrin’s tale is subjective, telling what he believes are the important details of the story while avoiding some pivotal moments that are only revealed later on. Talon twists the truth and sometimes it’ll be hundreds of pages later when we discover that she’s been lying the reader. This stylistic technique is not always executed well, but Jenn Lyons has done an impeccable job of weaving this technique into a captivating story line.

Small negative, but I found the genealogy in the story to be a bit overwhelming. A large cast of characters pass through the book and Jenn often mentions their lineage and other characters they may be related to. Often, this was a bit much to comprehend and it was easy to be confused, especially when secrets are revealed later in the book and you need to reassess what you believed you knew.

Additionally, some of the characters could’ve been fleshed out further because they felt a bit two-dimensional, but given this is the first book in a series, I imagine more development will be embedded in later down the track.

“I watched the battle going on under the waves. Even though the ship outpaced the original site of the whales and their attacker, I saw shapes moving in the water, sometimes jumping above it. Through it all, the long slithery tentacles slammed up above the waves to come crashing back down. The creature that owned those arms had to be enormous.”

A fantastic first novel in a new series. The Ruin of Kings sets up events for an equally impressive sequel, with surprising twists and events at the end of the book. Pacing and tension is heightened as we get closer to the end of the book, and the actual ending is climactic and seductive.

Highly recommended for fantasy fans.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Ruin of Kings: A Chorus of Dragons 1
Jenn Lyons
February 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Body for Rent by Anna Hendriks and Olivia Smit

Two ordinary young girls lured into the sex trade. The horrifying true story of life behind the curtains of Amsterdam’s Red Light District.

Growing up in a quiet, middle-class suburb outside of Amsterdam, childhood best friends Anna and Olivia had their whole lives ahead of them. But every parent’s worst nightmare came true when the teenagers fell in with the wrong crowd. Eleven years their senior, Ricardo was charming and good-looking – and Anna and Olivia easy prey. Blind to his grooming, the girls were soon trapped in a terrifying cycle of sexual and physical abuse.

But their nightmare was only just beginning.

Trafficked to the neon-lit windows of Amsterdam’s Red Light District, Anna and Oliva were forced to work as prostitutes, servicing countless men night after night against their will.

Body for Rent reveals the disturbing truth behind Amsterdam’s Red Light District, and the shocking ease with which ordinary girls can be exploited. But despite the unimaginable horrors they endured, the damage done to their bodies and their minds, their friendship remained as strong as ever, giving them hope that one day, they would escape…

Body for Rent by Anna Hendriks and Olivia Smit is a harrowing and shocking memoir from two women who were forced into prostitution in Amsterdam’s Red Light District as teenagers.

Anna and Olivia are childhood best friends who both grew up in unstable homes — Anna’s father left the family when she was young, and when Anna had the option of choosing which parent to live with, her mother said “If you go to live with him, I shall hang myself.” Anna’s relationship with her mother was forever strained, and her father’s attention was thereafter focused on his new girlfriend.

Olivia’s father was violent and abusive towards their mother and Olivia never felt she could form the right bond with her parents after the childhood she endured. When she met Anna, the two bonded over their dysfunctional home lives and found family in each other.

“It was Olivia who came up with the idea to write notes to the school, faking our parents’ signatures and saying that we were too ill to come to class. Although I was more than ready and very willing to play truant, she was the one with the guts to actually say it out loud that we should do it.”

Whilst Olivia and Anna desperately needed each other, their friendship was toxic. They skipped school, stole, and became heavily reliant on drugs and alcohol. And then they met Ricardo, an older man who slowly began grooming them for prostitution.

It would be easy for a reader to learn about this story and fail to understand how the girls became entrapped in this situation, but Anna and Olivia use their voices to educate readers on grooming, manipulation, control, and how easily young girls can find themselves in a similar situation.

At its core, Body for Rent is about friendship and the strength that it can give individuals — Anna and Olivia were able to get through their years of prostitution because they had each other for support. There were incredibly terrifying moments for each of them — abuse, violence, abortion, rape — but the girls always had each other to help pull through.

“Over. It was over. My first customer as a full-time window prostitute. I reached for the whisky, the Red Bull, cigarettes — and my phone. As much as I craved my numbing shot of alcohol and the soothing pull of nicotine into my lungs, my most urgent need was Olivia; I had to hear her voice, and feel the warmth of her love for me as I told her that it was done and I was safe.”

Highly recommended. At times, it’s hard to read. What happened to these girls is horrifying and just very upsetting, but Olivia and Anna wouldn’t be the only girls to have gone through this and I’m sure there are young girls currently going through this situation right now. It’s important to read these kinds of stories to understand how they happen so they can be recognised in the future.

Will the Red Light District change because of this book? Probably not, it’s a huge business and very popular. But will people who are naive about the workings of the Red Light District — like me — come to understand more about this world? Yes, they will. This book is important for educating society.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Body for Rent
Anna Hendriks and Olivia Smit
December 2019
Hachette Book Publishers