JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker’s family were as dark as dark can be, when one of them died all of them lied and pretended not to see . . .

Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eightieth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on.

The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again, because one of them is a killer . . .

In Alice Feeney’s psychological thriller Daisy Darker, a fractured family congregate on a secluded and isolated island to celebrate their grandmother’s 80th birthday. But with no way to escape the island and no way to communicate with the outside world, it’s the perfect conditions for a killer to strike.

One by one, members of the Darker family are murdered in incredibly personal and specific ways. With nine hours to go until low tide and the possibility of escape, who will still be alive come morning?

“She looks over her shoulder, then creeps nearer to the crib. We all seem to lean closer to the TV, as little Rose leans down over the baby, before checking over her shoulder one last time. We hang off her every word as she sings a sweet-sounding lullaby.”

Alice has set up the classic elements of an engaging psychological thriller – a secluded setting with no way to communicate with external parties, a series of murders, and a group of characters known to each other and all harbouring horrific secrets. It’s the perfect concoction for a page-turning mystery.

Whilst at times I found the dialogue to be unrealistic and over-the-top, and pretty much all of the characters to be wildly unlikeable, the strengths of the story lie in its twists and mysteries. There seems to be very little emotions in how Daisy Darker reacts to her family members’ murders, but she functions more as a narrator from afar, allowing us the chance to understand all members of the party so we can make our own opinions on who might be the killer.

Admittedly, I wish the characters possessed more agency to uncover the killer. They seem a bit slow to catch on in the beginning, happy to watch videos and wait for things to happen rather than harnessing some agency and driving the story forward themselves.

“He leaves the lounge and none of us know what to say. My father has always held his feelings hostage. His inability – or unwillingness – to express himself seemed to make my mother voice her own feelings on any subject twice as loud and twice as often.”

The ending makes up for any flaws the precede it. Because truthfully, the suspense and tension in the lead-up to the twist were starting to wane. Flashbacks break the pacing and lull the flow of the book. For a long time, I couldn’t make sense of the wacky storyline, odd murders and the seemingly non-existent motive. I was struggling to tell some of the characters apart, found the flashback videos to be a bit redundant and the poetry a little pointless.

But that twist is a redeeming element to the story and was an actual gasp-aloud moment for me as the reader. Suddenly, a motive is clear and so are Alice’s stylistic devices and plotting choices.

“My father is the first to arrive. Being punctual is his only way of saying I love you. For as long as I can remember he has expressed emotions through timekeeping, unable to demonstrate affection in the ways most other fathers do.”

Utterly compelling with a cracker of an ending, Daisy Darker is recommended for fans of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries. Readership skews 20+

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

Daisy Darker
Alice Feeney
September 2022
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Stone Town by Margaret Hickey

With its gold-rush history long in the past, Stone Town has seen better days. And it’s now in the headlines for all the wrong reasons . . .

When three teenagers stumble upon a body in dense bushland one rainy Friday night, Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti’s hopes for a quiet posting in his old home town are shattered. The victim is Aidan Sleeth, a property developer, whose controversial plan to buy up local land means few are surprised he ended up dead.

However, his gruesome murder is overshadowed by a mystery consuming the entire nation: the disappearance of Detective Sergeant Natalie Whitsed.

Natalie had been investigating the celebrity wife of crime boss Tony ‘The Hook’ Scopelliti when she vanished. What did she uncover? Has it cost her her life? And why are the two Homicide detectives, sent from the city to run the Sleeth case, so obsessed with Natalie’s fate?

Following a late-night call from his former boss, Mark is sure of one thing: he’s now in the middle of a deadly game . . .

Margaret Hickey’s latest rural crime offering Stone Town reintroduces us to Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti, investigating the apparent murder of local property developer Aidan Sleeth in the secluded Stone Town, and the simultaneous kidnapping of Detective Sergeant Natalie Whitsed. It isn’t until Natalie’s car is located near Aidan’s residence that Mark starts to suspect the two crimes may be connected.

Once again, Margaret brings us an intriguing rural crime drama, navigating two crimes simultaneously and with ease. Interspersed throughout the book are italicised chapters written from Natalie’s perspective, designed to make sure that plotline doesn’t get lost amid the search for Aidan’s killer.

“Luke told them the story in a sad drawl: how he’d known Aidan from when he moved to Booralama from Warrnambool in Victoria two years ago. Followed a girl, she broke up with him, went off with some Fitter and Turner from Nhill. He got a job at Aidan’s real estate office in town, started playing footy for the seconds, liked the town, liked the job, liked Aidan well enough. Stayed.”

Mark’s past definitely had more real estate in Cutters End, but there isn’t as much of a need for his backstory in this one. With one murder victim and one missing police officer, there is enough material to fill the chapters and keep the reader turning the pages.

Stone Town manages the delicate balance between prose and dialogue – the dialogue is realistic, believable and authentic, and the prose quite descriptive and generous, particularly during chapter openings.

Themes explored in the book include family, community and service. There is quite clever foreshadowing in the opening couple of chapters, and the suspect pool is large enough to keep the reader guessing – I certainly didn’t correctly guess Aidan’s murderer.

“He didn’t run on Sundays. That was the weekly treat he granted himself, but still, he wished he could sleep in a little longer. The day would be stormy. Already, he could see the dark clouds gathering across the grey sky, wind whipping the tops of the gums in his yard. More rain was predicted. Flood warnings in place.”

This is another novel from Hickey with a strong small-town noir setting – Stone Town used to be an old gold mining town, which plays a role in the disappearance of Natalie Whitsed. Hickey writes setting with ease, capturing the vast, open landscape and that helpless feeling that a missing person could stay lost forever.

My only small gripe with the book was that some of the dialogue towards the end of the book – in the scenes where Mark confronted the perpetrator – felt a little caricature and over-the-top. Straight out of a movie scene and so on the page it didn’t quite feel natural.

“In the background, Mark could see that John had risen from his weed killing and was poking at something in the corner of the garden bed with his shoe. A tiny round thing was squirming in the dirt.”

Taut, gritty and pacey, Margaret Hickey’s Stone Town is recommended for readers of crime, mystery and thriller. Like most of the titles in this genre, you don’t need to read previous stories with this detective just to understand the present one. Readership skews 30+

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

Stone Town
Margaret Hickey
July 2022
Penguin Random House Publishers

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven’s family was murdered. Only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.

Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.

As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Then a second woman is abducted . . . The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she can tell when you are lying.

Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them – and he and Evie know better than anybody how the past can come back to haunt you . . .

The next psychological thriller from Michael Robotham, Lying Beside You centres around two missing woman, an attack on a third woman years earlier, and the secret that binds all three victims together.

Regular readers of Michael Robotham will recognise forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven from two of his earlier works – in this latest iteration, Cyrus’ brother is being released from psychiatric hospital and the troubled young adult living with him is the only witness to the abduction of a drunk woman outside of a bar. Over the course of the novel, the case of two missing women will intersect with a seemingly ‘solved’ crime from years earlier.

“I hate arguing with Cyrus. I hate that he’s older than me and that he thinks he knows everything. I hate how he picks me up on my grammar and my vocabulary, like when I say literally when I mean figuratively (whatever the fuck that means). I hate how he laughs at me, but not in a cruel way.”

Whilst this is the third appearance of Cyrus Haven, readers need not have read the first two books to follow this plot. Written in first person and moving between Cyrus and Evie’s perspectives, Robotham’s writing is stripped and almost methodical – no unnecessary prose or dialogue, only containing the elements needed to keep the reader turning the page.

Lying Beside You explores the complex relationship between Cyrus and his brother Elias – Cyrus’ line of work means that he is able to separate Elias from what he did all those years earlier, but that doesn’t mean he can necessarily forgive him, or feel uneasy leaving him alone.

Crime and thriller readers will be pleased with this offering – the pacing quickens, there are multiple mysteries to maintain a reader’s attention, and Robotham weaves them together seamlessly with an explosive conclusion.

“As I walk to my car in the hospital parking area, the air seems saturated with oxygen, making the colours brighter and my senses sharper. I lean back in the driver’s seat of my Fiat and feel my heart beating in my chest. Elias is being allowed out on day release. He expects to come home. The next step will be overnight stays.”

Admittedly, it did feel like there were two separate elements to this plot that didn’t necessarily gel with each other – the central mystery surrounding the two women, and the release of Cyrus’ brother.

The latter storyline felt a bit underdeveloped and quite lost within the overarching story. Elias is on the periphery of the story, not making enough of an impact to give the reader a lasting impression. I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing in the plot really eventuated and so I’m wondering if this is merely setting something in motion for the next book that features Cyrus Haven?

“Half an hour later, I hear the door open and keys hitting the side table. Boots are kicked off. Mail is checked. An envelope is torn open. Cyrus appears in the kitchen. He looks at the bench, which is covered in flour, caster sugar and cocoa powder.”

Pacey, engaging and original, Lying Beside You is recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. A great present for Father’s Day, readership skews 25+

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

Lying Beside You
Michael Robotham
July 2022
Hachette Book Publishers Australia

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

It’s every parent’s nightmare. Your happy, funny, innocent son commits a terrible crime: murdering a complete stranger.

You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your teenage boy is in custody and his future lost.

That night you fall asleep in despair. Until you wake . . .
. . . and it is yesterday.

Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. Another chance to stop it.

Somewhere in the past lie the answers, and you don’t have a choice but to find them . . .

A highly original psychological thriller, Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place, Wrong Time starts with a murder and travels back in time to illustrate the circumstances that led to the violent death.

Up late one night, Jen witnesses her 18-year-old son Todd stab a man to death out the front of their home. There is no doubt that her son committed the crime, but there’s no indication that he feels remorse for the murder. And the victim? He seems to be a stranger to Jen and the family. So why did her son kill him?

When she wakes up the next day and discovers she’s now 24 hours in the past, it kickstarts a journey back through time to discover what led her son to kill a complete stranger, and hopefully, it might lead Jen to understand how the death can be prevented.

“Jen stands there, staring at it, at this betrayal in her hand. She hadn’t thought what she would do if she found something. She never thought she would. She holds the long, sinister black handle. The panic begins again, a tide of anxiety that goes out to sea but always, always returns.”

Written in third person and intricately plotted, Wrong Place, Wrong Time is an incredibly clever feat, and I genuinely think this is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time. The premise feels original and unique, and I felt fully invested in the storyline. As Jen travels further into the past and events start to get quite complex, I still found it easy to keep track of characters, sequences, events and timelines. This shows how much meticulous planning has gone into this book.

Books that experiment with time travel can be hit-and-miss but readers will love this one. At its core, this is a story about a mother who will do anything to help her son and keep him out of harm. As soon as she starts travelling back in time, she infiltrates his world and comes to learn the people he surrounds himself with are not as authentic and trustworthy as they may initially seem.

“He folds his arms, his wedding ring catching the sunlight. He is looking closely at her, his eyes scanning her face. She is suddenly self-conscious under his gaze, as though he is about to uncover something awful, something deadly.”

Whilst we follow Jen for most of the novel, there are some chapters from the perspective of a young police officer. For a time I was wondering why his story was relevant to the overarching plot, but when the twist hits it really sideswipes you as the reader — what a fantastic plot device!

The only element of the book that I couldn’t quite love is the reasonings behind why Todd committed the murder in the first chapter. Even after we learn about the past, there does seem to be a slight disconnect between what Todd knew and why he felt the need to murder someone – did he try anything else before resorting to murder? It did feel a little extreme…

“She does nothing, so he brushes past, leaving her there, alone, in the mist, wondering what’s happening. Whether the future has continued on without her. If there’s another Jen somewhere. Asleep, or too shocked to function? In the world where Todd is probably currently remanded, arrested, charged, convicted. Alone.”

Fast-paced, high-stakes, and highly engrossing, Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place, Wrong Time is recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews 25+

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

Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Gillian McAllister
June 2022
Penguin Random House Book Publishers

The Bay by Allie Reynolds

Kenna arrives in Sydney to surprise her best friend. But Mikki and her fiancé Jack are about to head away on a trip, so Kenna finds herself tagging along for the ride. Sorrow Bay is beautiful, wild and dangerous. A remote surfing spot with waves to die for, cut off from the rest of the world. Here Kenna meets a mysterious group of people who will do anything to keep their paradise a secret.

Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor have come to disappear from life. But what did they leave behind? As Kenna gets drawn into their world, she sees the extremes they are prepared to go to for the next thrill. And everyone seems to be hiding something. What is her best friend involved in and can she get her away? Because one thing is becoming rapidly clear about The Bay: nobody ever leaves.

Allie Reynolds’ second psychological thriller The Bay is largely set within the confines of a secluded Sydney beach, centred around a group of friends who will do anything to keep the location a secret. The Bay is another adrenalin-charged read for fans of thrillers.

Kenna heads to Australia to surprise her best friend Mikki, who is about to marry a man she barely knows. Kenna’s true intentions for visiting are to convince Mikki to end the relationship, but before she’s able to do that she’s caught up in a surfing and camping holiday that Mikki and her fiancé already had planned with their friends. Suddenly, Kenna is without a phone and sharing a beach with Mikki’s mysterious and arguably suspicious group of surfing friends.

“He’s all over her. I’m not convinced there really are any mosquitoes. I think it’s just an excuse to touch her. I glance at Mikki, embarrassed on her behalf, but she doesn’t react. Almost as if he does this a lot.”

Allie always keeps the group of suspects contained within a secluded environment – with Shiver, it was the ‘reunion’ in the French Alps, and here in The Bay, it’s the unknown beach. The group is always a well-maintained number of people, not too large that you start to confuse characters with each other, and not so small that you can easily guess who the culprit is.

As the characters in The Bay start being killed off, the pool of suspects gets smaller and smaller. And yet, at no point did I feel like I knew who the killer was. Each character has the potential to be responsible – they’ve all got a killer instinct, quick reflexes, and a past they wish to hide.

“The shortboarder pulls alongside the longboarder, gesturing angrily. Behind them, the bodyboarder darts about as though intending to cut up the middle. The wave shuts down, sending them flying in a tangle of limbs, boards and foam. I hold my breath until all three heads surface.”

Dispersed throughout the book are flashbacks from the course of Mikki and Kenna’s friendship, which shows just how long they’ve known each other and what they’ve overcome together. Kenna, once an avid surfer, is still reeling from the drowning accident that killed her boyfriend, and this surfing trip with Mikki might be what she needs to overcome her trauma with the ocean. If only she could trust the people around her…

Most of the book is written from Kenna’s perspective, with a few chapters from the other characters and the occasional italicised chapter from the killer’s perspective. There’s something about Allie’s writing that is incredibly compulsive – dialogue is a real strength and does a lot of the groundwork for establishing the dynamic between the characters. We learn a lot about how the characters deal with their trauma by how they talk about it with others, which explains why the group are a little slow to figure out there’s someone willing to kill off other people to keep their beach a secret.

“The hairs on Jack’s thigh rub my ankle. This guy has no sense of personal space. Clemente looks over at us, his expression dark. Then I notice Sky and Ryan watching me too.”

Fans of Allie’s first novel Shiver will be pleased with this follow up. Another compulsive, unique psychological thriller, and this time with an authentic Australian setting. Readership skews 20+

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

The Bay
Allie Reynolds
June 2022
Hachette Book Publishers Australia