JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

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

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett

On a November morning at the University of Georgia, a fraternity brother steps into a busy crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. More than a dozen witnesses all agree on two things: the driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling.

Detective Marlitt Kaplan is first on the scene. A local and the daughter of a professor at the university, she knows all its shameful history. But in the course of investigating this hit-and-run, she will uncover more chilling secrets in the sprawling, interconnected system of fraternities and sororities that empower the university’s most elite students.

The lines between Marlitt’s police work and her own past begin to blur as she seeks to bring to justice an institution that took something precious from her many years ago. When threats against her escalate, Marlitt must question whether the corruption in her home town has run off campus and into the police force, and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.

Lauren Nossett’s psychological thriller The Resemblance is a police procedural investigating the hit-and-run of a promising, apparently well-loved college student at the University of Georgia.

Detective Marlitt Kaplan happens to be at the University of Georgia when a male student is hit and killed, and so she feels driven to see the case to the end. What is initially a hit-and-run on campus soon turns into an investigation into hazing, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and university cover-ups.

“We’re both silent for a while, and I wonder if Teddy – who grew up surrounded by sisters who adored him and a mom who insisted on nightly family dinners – could ever understand what it means to lose a friend like that.”

Nossett brings an intriguing premise to the novel, exploring why the driver of the car looked identical to the victim. Whilst this is not a dystopian or paranormal read, and therefore an identical driver is not possible, it does drive intrigue among readers and invites interest from fans of crime and thrillers.

Strengths lie in the pacing and plotting, and how easily Lauren can keep us guessing. The night where Marlitt discovers the basement in the fraternity house is a particularly pivotal moment in the story, and with the stakes being so high, we can’t help but become invested in the mystery.

“Oliver gives me a look I can’t read. He’s heard me sprout my opinions about fraternities and Greek life at large. If it were up to me, the university would do away with the whole thing. They’re cesspools of underage drinking and sexual assault.”

There were some missed elements to the story – some underdevelopments that could’ve enriched the novel. The protagonist’s relationship with her parents seemed a bit surface-level, and we don’t gain further insight in their relationship until the end of the book. Marlitt’s interactions with her police colleagues felt a bit lost in the story, to the point where I kept confusing her colleagues with some of the suspects. There is also a house fire that threatens Marlitt’s life and this thread in the story felt like an add-on. The person who did it wasn’t a major player in the story, and they seemed to disappear in the book just as quickly as they appeared. Was this meant to act as a red herring?

The protagonist’s hatred of college fraternities felt a bit too dominant across the storyline. Her personal vendetta against them, whilst admirable and from a place of good intentions, felt preachy and like didacticism.

Despite this, the twists and turns in the book, the surprises, were enough to keep me engaged throughout. I devoured the book in one day and I think a lot of other readers will find themselves enthralled as well. The fraternity life isn’t something we experience here in Australia so it’s always interesting to bring a lens to another element of society.

“We all have our own ways of approaching a case – I try to picture every detail I can about the victim’s life so I can build a world with him in it and look for inconsistencies. Teddy asks as many questions as possible – finding out information but also gauging reactions and hesitations, looking for the lies and omissions.”

Recommended for readers of crime and thriller. Readership skews 25+

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

The Resemblance
Lauren Nossett
October 2022
Pan Macmillan Book Publishers

The Tilt by Chris Hammer

A man runs for his life in a forest. A woman plans sabotage. A body is unearthed.

Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder – a ‘file and forget’.

But this is no ordinary cold case, as the discovery of more bodies triggers a chain of escalating events in the present day. As Nell starts to join the pieces together, she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her. Could her own family be implicated in the crimes?

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more dangerous the present becomes for her, as she battles shadowy assailants and sinister forces. Can she survive this harrowing investigation and what price will she have to pay for the truth?

Chris Hammer’s latest thriller The Tilt is a multi-layered crime story spanning almost 100 years and set in a secluded Australian town.

When a regulator is deliberately blown up, a body from decades earlier is unearthed at its base. Many think the case is too old to properly solve – whoever did it would be dead, alongside anyone else in the small town who was alive when the person was murdered. But with one body comes more, and before too long homicide detective – and former local – Nell Buchanan is on the trail of the killer.

“Nell is up with the sun, training gear on. Tulong is still asleep. She wonders if it ever wakes. The town sits flat and exposed on the long plain above the tilt, its trees punctation marks lacking a narrative. Beyond the houses to the west there is nothing.”

The Tilt follows multiple timelines and perspectives as quite a few different narratives need to intersect across the course of the novel. It does take a bit of time to comprehend how the characters and eras all relate to each other, and there are a lot of people to keep track of (particularly at the end as the conclusion nears), but Chris’ characterisation allows for easy differentiation between the main characters.

Chris moves through the chapters with seamless storytelling – he propels us straight into the action of each scene, and always manages to leave you wanting to read the next chapter. For such a large book I finished it rather quickly, which is a testament to how eager I was to find out the ending.

“I wonder what my dad would think of it. Someone blowing it up like that. Horrified, I imagine. Rolling back progress. But, then, he wouldn’t have imagined finding a body like that. A skeleton in the bottom of the regulator. All this time. I couldn’t believe it when I read about it. A skeleton. Who could have known that?”

Atmosphere, mood and setting is always a strong element of Chris Hammer’s books. The dry heat – the sticky humidity – is captured vividly and readers in Australia will be able to recognise that weather as they turn the pages. Alongside setting, Chris captures the different time periods with clarity. The golden era of the 70s was my favourite – the lovestruck Tessa and Tycho – but it was also intriguing to follow the storylines from earlier in the 20th century. The war and what it forced people to do to survive.

I do find it peculiar that most of Chris Hammer’s books seem to have a similar colouring – Scrublands, Trust and now The Tilt. All orange, making them look almost identical. A friend saw me reading this one and said they’d already read it, but then realised they’d actually already read Scrublands and thought the two books were the same.

“My dad didn’t want to go to war. Not because he was afraid, but because he was resentful. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I worked it out later. His own father had come back from the first war shattered, as if he’d been broken and then glued back together. That’s what my mum said.”

Australian crime at its finest, Chris Hammer knows how to weave together a compelling and pacey thriller. A great Father’s Day gift, as always, and a suitable gift for any level reader. Crime readers, in particular, will love this latest edition.

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

The Tilt
Chris Hammer
October 2022
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy

David Asha wants to tell you a story about three people: Elliott Asha, his son, broken by a loss that will redeem him.

Ben Elmys, a surrogate father and David’s trusted friend, a man who might also be a murderer. Harriet Kealty, a retired detective searching for answers to three mysterious deaths, while also investigating a man who might turn out to be the love of her life.

Every word David tells you is true, but you will think it fiction . . .

Adam Hamdy’s thriller The Other Side of Night is a genre-defying novel about how far a person might be willing to go to spend more time with the ones they’ve lost. Exploring love, loss, family and expectation, The Other Side of the Night tests the limits of the space-time continuum to present a reality far from our own.

Incorporating a range of mediums such as articles, columns, court reports, interview transcripts and letters, alongside standard prose and dialogue, Adam offers a complex yet rewarding tale of family, relationships, grief and time.

“Harri hadn’t been able to concentrate after finding the message. She hadn’t been able to sleep much either. The words could have been a cruel prank, but something about them touched her finely honed instincts as a detective.”

The Other Side of the Night is largely centred around dishonoured police detective Harriet Kealty, who conducts her own private investigation into the deaths of physicists Elizabeth and David Asha, and the man who adopts their orphaned 10-year-old son.

Harriet suspects Ben Elmys, who Harriet once dated briefly, could be responsible for the deaths of Elizabeth and David, and over the course of the novel she stumbles upon unexplainable events that indicate some kind of other-worldy, science fiction element to the story.

Adam’s writing is accessible and highly readable – despite quite an intricate plot and quite a complex ending, at its heart, this book is a character exploration. We’re invested in the Asha family and their young son, and we’re also rooting for Harriet as she attempts to salvage her career and prove that there’s more to the Asha deaths than previously known.

“She would never forget how she’d felt that day and even the memory of what had followed couldn’t entirely tarnish the joy of their first encounter. She hoped she’d feel that way again, but right now there was no sign of romance on the horizon, and she wasn’t sure she wanted it after running into Ben.”

The Other Side of the Night is described as a thriller, but it’s also science fiction and perhaps dystopian fiction, alongside a police procedural, poetry, court report and high-tension, suspense mystery.

With quite a small cast of characters, the novel feels deliberately claustrophobic. We’re swept up into a rather emotional story that bounces between the same core characters, amidst quite a limited setting as well, allowing the reader to maintain focus on the story and its movements.

“After he was gone, Harri stood in the little flat for a moment, listening to the distant sounds of the city, where thousands of lives far more productive than hers were being played out.”

A unique and impressive mind-bending science fiction read, Adam Hamdy’s The Other Side of Night is for readers of thriller and genre-bending novels. Readership skews 25+

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

The Other Side of Night
Adam Hamdy
September 2022
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath

Masterton isn’t a big town. The community’s tight, if not always harmonious. So when a child goes missing it’s a big deal for everyone. And when a second kid disappears, the whole town’s holding their own children that little bit tighter.

Lorraine doesn’t have kids, but she has a nephew. She’s holding him a bit tighter, too, because she works for the police, and she knows they don’t have any idea.

Lo’s not a cop, she’s a records clerk. She sits out back among the piles of paper, making connections, remembering things. Working things out that the actual cops don’t want to hear about.

Until the new investigator, Hayes, arrives from Wellington, and realises Lo’s the only person there with answers to any of his questions. Which is just as well—because the clock is running down for the children of the town.

Set in a secluded New Zealand community, Tom Baragwanath’s Paper Cage is a suspenseful crime thriller about a string of disappearances, with police department records clerk Lorraine taking centre stage.

After a couple of children go missing in a small, close-knit New Zealand town, Lorraine takes the case under her wing. Her colleagues seem incompetent and unable to connect the clues, and so when someone in Lorraine’s family is abducted, she takes matters into her own hands – using her intelligence and determination to crack the mystery.

“He sets a hand to my arm; his expression is like light through murky water. He’s close enough for me to see my reflection in his eyes: a round grey woman held in miniature.”

Lorraine is a rather unexpected protagonist in a small-town crime story. Usually, it’s the troubled detective driving the story – often male – and it was refreshing to read a different perspective in this genre. Lorraine rises above what others expect of her, ignoring the distrust and the snide remarks and focusing on the case. As such, there is a definite feminist undertone to the novel.

From NZ-born writer Tom – now living in Paris – Paper Cage is a slow-burn thriller, presenting quite a large but three-dimensional set of characters that orbit around Lorraine. The second half of the novel is much more fast-paced, when Lorraine starts to become more involved in the case and lead us toward the culprit.

“I climb to my feet and head into the hall, feeling their eyes follow me. Truth be told, it’s a relief to get out of that room, even if it means a long morning scouring through the files.”

While on the surface this is a mystery about the disappearance of a few children in a close-knit New Zealand community, at its core Paper Cage explores racism, violence, drugs and alcohol abuse in small suburban towns.

This is quite an expansive list of themes to underpin a crime novel and as such, the plot does deviate quite a bit in the middle of the book and the story became a little convoluted and difficult to engage with. The disappearances of the children felt a little on the backburner while Lorraine’s attention is distracted by Sheena (her niece) and Keith (Sheena’s partner).

“A flicker of hesitation shoots across the detective’s face. We come in through the back, into the anonymous crackle of radio from the communications room. Hayes unlocks the interview room, and I do what I can to make Sheena comfortable.”

With descriptive, vivid writing and recommended for crime and thriller readers, Paper Cage’s readership skews 25+

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

Paper Cage
Tom Baragwanath
September 2022
Text Publishing