JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Island by Adrian McKinty

The Island is the next thrilling adventure from the mastermind behind The Chain, and a family story unlike any you’ve read yet.

You should not have come to the island.
You should not have been speeding.
You should not have tried to hide the body.
You should not have told your children that you could keep them safe.
No one can run forever . . .

Adrian McKinty’s The Island is a psychological thriller set largely on a remote Australian island off Melbourne, after a British family become trapped there during a holiday from hell. When they accidentally kill a local young woman, the chaotic, unhinged family of Australians who live on the island start to hunt them down.

When Tom and his children, along with his second wife Heather, travel to Australia off the back of a business trip, they’re unexpectedly thrust in to a life-and-death cat and mouse chase through remote Australian terrain.

“She could feel herself sinking. She was so thirsty. Everything ached. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground. A blood trail was making its way toward her through the dust. She tried to breathe. Breathing hurt. Her ribs hurt. The air was thick.”

I really wanted to like this book, and there were elements of the premise and the plot that intrigued me, but the writing is flawed and the story thinly developed. The dialogue is cliche and caricature, and there’s very little depth to the characters. Every conversation felt like something out of an action movie, not at all realistic nor believable. The main characters were so one-dimensional I didn’t like any of them – even the young teenage girl read much younger in some sections, like a scared child rather than the impressionable teenager she’s meant to be.

I know Adrian spent some time living in Australia, but this reads like someone who hasn’t spent enough time here. He wrote Australians to be so stereotypical and over-the-top. It’s rare to find an Australia who actually says ‘fair dinkum’ once, let alone regularly in a conversation. Even the British family weren’t overly likeable. The husband, Tom, freaks out about not getting his chosen hire car, but the main character talks about him like he’s an amazing husband and father — her feelings and his personality don’t match up.

“Olivia buried herself in Heather’s chest. She’d never really hugged her before except that one time at the wedding, before Christmas. And that was only out of politeness.”

On top of that, you have characters who make foolish decisions based on false beliefs (like believing, after the locals have killed people they love, that they might actually let them go if they surrender?). Other inconsistencies include the family on the island not actually being very good at tracking or hunting, even though they’re supposed to live and breathe this terrain? And why are the villains so overwritten? Jacko is ridiculous and so is Ma, to name just a couple of them. Unfortunately this just wasn’t the book for me.

“Heather watched helplessly as the children were sat down on the floor, their hands tied in front of them, and a noose run from each one’s neck to a hook in the ceiling. Another rope around the neck tied them to the wall of the shearing shed.”

The Island is suited for thriller and crime readers. Readership skews male, 25+

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

The Island
Adrian McKinty
May 2022
Hachette Book Publishers

Those Who Return by Kassandra Montag

Amid the desolate wilderness of the Great Plains of Nebraska, a region so isolated you could drive for hours without seeing another human being, sits Hatchery House. Having served as a church, an asylum and an orphanage, Hatchery is now a treatment facility for orphaned or abandoned children with psychiatric disorders. Haunted by patients past and present, only the most vulnerable find a home within its walls.

Dr. Lorelei ‘Lore’ Webber, a former FBI psychiatrist, has almost grown used to the unorthodox methods used at Hatchery House. But when one of her patients is murdered, Lore finds herself dragged into the centre of an investigation that unearths startling truths, shocking discoveries, and untold cruelty. And as the investigation unravels, Lore is forced to confront the past she’s spent her whole life running from – a secret that threatens to undo her entirely.

Kassandra Montag’s Those Who Return is a psychological thriller exploring guilt and redemption within a desolate and remote landscape. Largely taking place inside a mysterious treatment facility, with nowhere to run these characters are forced to accept their fate within the confined walls of this facility.

Protagonist Lore is a physiatrist at the facility, working with disadvantaged children until they are ready to return to their home. Some are evidently more trouble than others — manipulative bullies that prey on the younger children in the group. And so when one, and then two, children end up murdered on the grounds of the facility, there is a long list of potential suspects.

“I hoped it was nothing more than a shadow that had startled her. Carly was scared of everything, so anything could set her off. She was so terrified of going outside that she sometimes wore paper bags over her head.”

Those Who Return features a large suite of characters, which kept me guessing right until the end. I didn’t feel an ounce of predictability about this story, and thought Kassandra brought a unique offering to the psychological thriller genre.

The secluded and remote setting deliberately feels claustrophobic for the reader, building tension and pace with each chapter. We know things are going to get worse before they get better. And Lore did feel like a compelling protagonist — as an ex-FBI psychiatrist still reeling from a traumatic death, she had to battle her demons in her to solve the murders in the book. There was certainly enough richness to her character to carry through the book and keep the story feeling multi-dimensional.

“I reached out and touched her arm and she trembled against my hand, her whole body vibrating like a harpsichord that’d been plucked. She gripped a single tomato so tightly that its juice dripped to the dirt floor in soft plops.”

Whilst the story is a bit slow to start, I did like the time that Kassandra dedicated to setting up the backstory, the characterisation and the dynamic between the children. It allows for an enriched plot and does help the reader later on when the events grow chaotic and start to spiral out of control.

Admittedly, I did feel like Cedar’s presence in the novel felt underdeveloped — his connection to Lore was strong, but he got swallowed by the other characters in the book and I couldn’t help but feel like he was too forgettable.

“Other people couldn’t stop the hallucinations, so what was the point in telling them? Everyone lives with things: obsessions, tragedies, disruptive thoughts. I wanted to believe everything could be treated for all people, but knew there were limits, or at least, limits for me.”

Tense and fast-paced, Those Who Return is recommended for readers of mystery and psychological thriller. Readership skews 25+

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

Those Who Return
Kassandra Montag
April 2022
Hachette Book Publishers Australia

WAKE by Shelley Burr

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOUNG EVIE McCREERY?

Evelyn simply vanished. The small town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of New South Wales. Once a thriving outback centre, years of punishing drought have whittled it down to no more than a couple of pubs and a police station. And its one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister.

Mina McCreery’s life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister’s case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked destocked sheep farm. The million-dollar reward her mother established to solve the disappearance has never been paid out.

Enter Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Lane has his eye on the unclaimed money, but he also has darker motivations for wanting to solve the case.

Shelley Burr’s debut crime novel WAKE is rural fiction about the 20-year old cold case of a missing young girl in a secluded, remote Australian outback town.

Evelyn McCreery disappears from her bed in the evening one night, and there aren’t any clues as to what happened. Her twin Mina, sleeping in the bed beside her, hears and sees nothing, and struggles to comprehend what happened that night. As with most rural crime, a morally ambiguous and emotionally scarred private investigator — this time named Lane Holland — arrives in town determined to solve the case.

“He was surprised by how close it was to the house. Anyone who had even the slightest interest in the case knew about the McCreery dam, because it was a popular suggestion for where the body may have been hidden. It was strange to suddenly be faced with it in real life.”

Cleverly, WAKE explores what it’s like to have such widespread media coverage of an unsolved crime, and how that public scrutiny can affect those left behind — even years later. Every time someone arrives in town determined to solve the crime, a new film crew arrives ready to re-live what happened in the town, Evelyn’s family is subjected to prolonged trauma.

Intermittent forum posts further illustrate this theme of unrelated members of the public who obsess over well-known cold cases. Private tragedies become public property, and suddenly everyone thinks they know what happened to Evelyn McCreery. Most people are convinced it was Mina or her mother…

Of course, Lane does have history that seems to interrelate to this crime, and as Mina starts to open up to Lane, he makes unwelcome progress in solving the mystery surrounding Evelyn’s disappearance.

Shelley’s writing is tight, and the novel suspenseful. I appreciated that there’s actually a second crime that Lane solves in the novel — it’s not planned, but it adds depth to the story and provides what feels like a satisfying result early on in the story.

“Lane kneeled down and ran his fingertips over the dates listed for Evelyn. The date for her death was the day after the last time she was seen alive, when the two girls went to bed at 8pm. It seemed an odd choice to set something in stone — literally — when it was unknown.”

Without giving too much away, I didn’t love the ending. The truth about Evelyn’s disappearance felt a little too…convenient. Too neatly wrapped up in a bow. Whilst I liked how the two disappearances in the town were connected, because it felt unexpected yet plausible, I felt let down by the person responsible for Evie’s disappearance because they didn’t hold enough presence in the novel.

Despite this, WAKE is atmospheric and engaging. Readers will power through this rather quickly, which is always the sign of an enthralling read. With each chapter, Shelley keeps you wanting more.

“The signs to look out for, when searching for a body, were discoloured soil, unusual patches of vegetation, and sections of earth that were higher than the surrounding ground, or oddly sunken. Looking at the Martian landscape, the random hillocks and gullies, the patches of saltbush and scrub, she had no idea how any of that could be spotted.”

Fast-paced, high-stakes and surprisingly emotional, WAKE is recommended for readers of crime and rural fiction — mystery and thriller readers will also enjoy this. Readership skews 25+

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

WAKE
Shelley Burr
May 2022
Hachette Book Publishers Australia

Into the Dark by Fiona Cummins

THE PLACE: Seawings, a beautiful Art Deco home overlooking the sweep of the bay in Midtown-on-Sea.

THE CRIME: The gilded Holden family – Piper and Gray and their two teenage children, Riva and Artie – has vanished from the house without a trace.

THE DETECTIVE: DS Saul Anguish, brilliant but with a dark past, treads the narrow line between light and shade.

One late autumn morning, Piper’s best friend arrives at Seawings to discover an eerie scene – the kettle is still warm, all the family’s phones are charging on the worktop, the cars are in the garage. But the house is deserted.

In fifteen-year-old Riva Holden’s bedroom, scrawled across the mirror in blood, are three words:

Make 
Them 
Stop.

What happens next?

Fiona Cummins’ Into the Dark is a fast-paced, high-stakes psychological thriller centred around the disappearance of a family. The state of the house suggests that the family did not plan to leave, and that perhaps they did not leave of their own choice. What ensues is a unexpected series of twists as we learn the truth of what happened to the Holden family.

Stylistically, Into the Dark moves between the past and the present — in the past storyline, we come to understand bits and pieces that explain what the Holden family were going through in the days preceding their disappearance. In the present storyline, we come to understand the role that Julieanne plays in this mystery and how she feels about the Holden’s disappearance.

“None of the teachers ever pressed Emelie into taking their subjects because of her natural talent. She was proud of her friend but sometimes it was a little exhausting to bear witness to Riva’s continued brilliance.”

Whilst the book is populated with rather unlikeable characters, Fiona crafts a compelling psychological thriller. The history of the friendship between Julieanne and Piper evolves over the course of the novel — they bonded over motherhood and parenting, but over time we realise how interconnected their lives now are. What is Julieanne willing to do for Piper, and what is Piper prepared to do for herself?

Into the Dark will please fans of psychological thrillers — Fiona maintains consistent pacing and high stakes throughout the novel, keeping readers engaged. Fiona offers surprises and twists with each passing chapter, turning the initial premise on its head and ensuring readers stay absorbed throughout the novel.

“The most pressing question is not the origin of the blood used in that message — she smiled at hime and he was lost — but finding the person who wrote it.”

Into the Dark illustrates quite an unconventional relationship between Julieanne and Piper — a toxic, co-dependent friendship that holds disastrous consequences for all. Whilst the ending of the novel does feel rather farfetched and unbelievable, it still provides entertainment for the reader. I did feel like the detectives in the novel weren’t overly present – their investigation feels like it holds slim presence in the book.

There is a sub-plot that follows Julieanne and Piper’s daughters, as they navigate their friendship at school and how those events intertwine with the disappearance of the Holden family. I did find this particular sub-plot less engaging that Julieanne and Piper’s storyline, although it does serve as a bit of a red herring as we start to piece together the truth behind the mystery.

“DC Williams fired off many questions. What was Piper’s usual routine? What about the rest of the family? How long had they lived here? Did they have other properties elsewhere? What about extended family?”

Punchy and pacy, Into the Dark is recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mysteries. Readership skews 25+

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

Into the Dark
Fiona Cummins
April 2022
Pan Macmillan Publishers Australia

Remember Me by Charity Norman

A heartfelt, page-turning suspense novel from the author shortlisted for Best Crime Novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards for Crime Fiction, and for Best International Crime Fiction in the Ned Kelly Awards

They never found Leah Parata. Not a boot, not a backpack, not a turquoise beanie. After she left me that day, she vanished off the face of the earth.

A close-knit community is ripped apart by disturbing revelations that cast new light on a young woman’s disappearance twenty-five years ago.

After years of living overseas, Emily Kirkland returns to New Zealand to care for her father, Felix, who suffers from dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time – and to glimpse shattering truths about his past. Truths she’d rather were kept buried.

Charity Norman’s Remember Me is a hybrid novel — part thrilling cold case mystery story in a small, close-knit town, and part literary story that explores the relationship between a father and daughter, recently reunited in close proximity while one progresses through a debilitating diagnosis.

When Emily leaves the UK and returns home to New Zealand to take care of her ailing father, she struggles with this new role as caretaker. Her siblings, who admittedly have helped their father in recent years more than Emily has, are nowhere to be seen, and Emily feels she cannot put her father in a home or institution. This is his home, and she feels she must stay for the foreseeable future. As her father’s memory starts to muddle and fade, he reveals truths about the past that have Emily questioning his connection to a missing local woman from two decades earlier.

“The study was his sacred domain; we children rarely set foot in there. He’d always been pedantic about keeping it tidy, everything in its place. I grabbed what I could, followed him down the corridor — and stopped dead in the doorway.”

Charity Norman does well to craft a dysfunctional family, not just between Emily and her father but also her siblings. They’ve cared for the father previously and there’s a feeling of exhaustion there, but also misunderstanding about their father’s diagnosis. There are bickering phone calls and heated conversations that any readers who have siblings will be able to relate to.

Additionally, other relationship dynamics include Emily’s mother, who left many years earlier and doesn’t appear to hold regrets, and the townsfolk, who hold significant love for Emily’s father but are also still riddled with despair from the disappearance of Leah two decades earlier.

I think the ending might divide some readers but I rather liked it — despite the truth about Leah’s disappearance initially seeming a little hard to swallow, I think Charity captured a poignant resolution that readers won’t suspect. Leah’s fate also ties in well with the journey of Emily’s father, who has been holding on to his secrets for too many years.

“Then I prowled around the car in the harsh light, cursing myself for throwing away the moral high ground. Why did I always do that? I’d been doing it since we were children. Well, I wasn’t going to call back and apologise. Never had. Bloody well wasn’t going to start now.”

Sensitivity is given around Felix’s Alzheimers, which Charity crafts with compassion and care. She also illustrates the emotions that can come with Alzheimers — the lack of understanding from the person but also their family and friends, the frustration. There is also a sense of community that can result when someone is going through this illness, as people rally together to help the person (and the family) in need.

One other notable mention includes the way that Charity captures the experience of ageing parents and watching your parents age with each passing month — that can be something we all understand, or will come to understand.

“I made my decision at three o’clock in the morning. It appalled me, but it was the only one I could make. Then I law awake, thinking about the practicalities and dreading Mum’s reaction. I finally fell asleep as the first birds began to stir.”

Heartfelt and captivating, with an engrossing mystery at its core, Charity Norman’s Remember Me will appeal to fans of family sagas like Jodi Picoult. Whilst the crime keeps the story propelling forward, I wouldn’t classify this as your regular mystery novel. Literary readers will also enjoy Charity’s writing and characterisation. Readership skews 25+

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

Remember Me
Charity Norman
March 2022
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers