JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

ONE MISSING GIRL. NO SUSPECTS. A TOWN ABOUT TO IGNITE.

Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.

Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.

Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history keeps returning to remind Quala that the past is always present.

As the smoke rises and tensions come to a head, the dark heart of Quala will be revealed, affecting the lives of all those who dwell beyond the cane.

Set in a Queensland sugar town in the 1970s, Maryrose Cuskelly’s rural crime The Cane centres around a missing teenage girl amongst cane fields. Weeks pass and with no real leads, townsfolk are growing nervous and anxiety is building. What happened to Janet? And could it happen to another young girl in the town, if they don’t catch the person responsible?

The 1972 disappearance of fourteen-year-old Marilyn Wallman in Mackay was the inspiration behind The Cane, as well as countless other unsolved teenage abductions that have occurred in small Australian towns.

“Carmel would have preferred to wear a cotton shift, but the pantsuit gives her a more professional look, more masculine too, which she knows translates to authority. At least Patterson hasn’t insisted she wear a uniform.”

Stylistically, we move between different perspectives in the novel. Each voice allows for a different perspective on the town, its inhabitants, its history, and its secrets.

Maryrose captures the racism and sexism of rural 1970s, largely through the attitudes from townsfolk when speaking with female constable Carmel Maitland, who arrives in town to investigate Janet’s disappearance.

A common thread in rural crime is a sense of mistrust between locals and the character tasked with solving the mystery. Often that investigator is an outsider, arriving into the fractured community and attempting to penetrate the close-knit community to find out long-held secrets or information that may solve the crime. In The Cane, whilst there are some characters willing to help Carmel, many of the townspeople have given up hope of finding out what happened to Janet, and they’re not too quick to trust that Carmel will be the one to uncover answers.

“Janet McClymont’s disappearance has brought back memories — not just for the Creadies, but for all of us locals. Except for the younger kids and a few of the blow-ins, all we could think about was the day Cathy Creadie went missing while swimming off Danger Point.”

Admittedly, I did find the pacing a little inconsistent in the novel. We spend a lot of time moving between past and present, and I feel like Carmel’s presence in the novel felt a bit thin. I even felt like the ending of the novel was a bit of luck for Carmel — she seemed to stumble upon the truth rather than deduce it entirely herself. There is a lot of description in the novel and I think more could’ve been captured in terms of characterisation and potential suspects. The cane fields, for example, were a big focus in the novel and I would’ve loved more attention to characters and their place in the town.

Additionally, there was a sub plot involving a male teacher that felt out of place in the novel. I’m not sure if his presence in the novel, and the suspicions raised about him, were supposed to act as a red herring in the story, but overall I felt his character didn’t seamlessly gel in the story. Other than that, I did find myself absorbed in the story and the mystery — this is certainly a genre I enjoy reading, and Maryrose has crafted an engaging rural thriller that will entice fans of the genre.

“What happens between bodies is dangerous, the contortions grotesque and strange. What she had caught a glimpse of in the barn was the least of it. When people speak about what might have happened to Janet, it leaves Essie with the same sick feeling.”

Recommended for readers of rural fiction — crime, mystery and thriller. This is Maryrose’s first foray into fiction after a string of non-fiction publications. Readership skews 25+

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

The Cane
Maryrose Cuskelly
February 2022
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

PARIS, 1919.

Young, bookish Sylvia Beach knows there is no greater city in the world than Paris. But when she opens an English-language bookshop on the bohemian Left Bank, Sylvia can’t yet know she is making history.

Many leading writers of the day, from Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, consider Shakespeare and Company a second home. Here some of the most profound literary friendships blossom – and none more so than between James Joyce and Sylvia herself.

When Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses is banned, Sylvia determines to publish it through Shakespeare and Company. But the success and notoriety of publishing the most infamous book of the century comes at deep personal cost as Sylvia risks ruin, reputation and her heart in the name of the life-changing power of books…

Effortlessly capturing the atmosphere and world of 1920s Paris, Kerri Maher’s The Paris Bookseller is set during a pivotal time for Western literature, following bookseller Sylvia Beach as she endeavours to publish James Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses, which had been banned in the United States. This is a fictional take on the events that transpired from 1919 through to 1936.

Written in third person, Sylvia Beach is crafted with depth and layering. The real Sylvia Beach has long been considered a pioneer and champion in the world of literature not just because of her bookshop Shakespeare and Company, but her involvement in assisting James Joyce on his plight to publishing his now infamous novel Ulysses. I suspect many readers who pick up this book will be largely unaware of who Sylvia was and how involved she was in bringing Joyce’s novel to life.

“Whether his characters were sitting in an outhouse or discussing Hamlet, Joyce spared no detail, leveling the vulgar with the sublime. Here was a book that brooked no compromises, and was unwavering in its clear-eyed portrayal of Stephen’s and Leopold’s minds and bodies.”

The book follows two plotlines. The first is Sylvia’s relationship with fellow bookseller Adrienne Monnier, and the second is her determination to publish James Joyce’s banned novel Ulysses, which presents itself a wealth of complications and hurdles, even after it’s completed.

Sylvia’s relationship Adrienne is probably the least enticing element of the book, and that’s purely because there wasn’t any drama in that storyline and so it felt a little dull. They were both incredibly supportive of each other, and those around them were supportive of their same-sex relationship. Nothing was really at stake between them, so I never felt overly invested in their relationship.

Sylvia’s friendship with James Joyce was the most engaging in the novel — her selflessness and his encompassing talent. He comes across unsure, anxious and at times, obsessive over his writing. And Sylvia remains loyal to him, even when she doesn’t need to be. Even when she must make sacrifices — largely financial — to continue working with him. Over time, Sylvia starts to realise Joyce’s true nature as his ego inflates and his success grows.

“She wasn’t sure how Adrienne did it, but no matter how late she’d been up, she was always in her store by nine, awake and smiling. Sylvia sometimes didn’t drift in until eleven, at which time Adrienne would her tongue at her, then give her some task to complete.”

The Paris Bookseller is very much about the emotional journey for Sylvia Beach and isn’t intended to focus too heavily on the journey of those around her. Whilst I would’ve loved a bit more of an exploration into James Joyce’s character, I understand that’s not what the author intended.

Admittedly, sometimes it did feel a little like a convergence of genres — part historical fiction, part women’s fiction. This was about bringing to life the time period and the setting, but also the bookshop and its journey, the significance of some of the literature we come across. But it was also so heavily rooted in Sylvia’s relationship with herself, her family, her career, her own insecurities, and her relationship with Adrienne. At times it just felt a little like the book wasn’t entirely sure where it wanted to sit within genre.

“Sylvia was touched by this scene of domestic tenderness, and all her questions about the hitherto seemingly mismatched man and wife were suddenly and forcefully answered.”

Poetic and emotional, The Paris Bookseller is recommended for readers of historical women’s fiction. Readership skews female, 30+

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

The Paris Bookseller
Kerri Maher
February 2022
Hachette Book Publishers

The Gosling Girl by Jacqueline Roy

Michelle Cameron’s name is associated with the most abhorrent of crimes. A child who lured a younger child away from her parents and to her death, she is known as the black girl who murdered a little white girl; evil incarnate according to the media. As the book opens, she has done her time, and has been released as a young woman with a new identity to start her life again.

When another shocking death occurs, Michelle is the first in the frame. Brought into the police station to answer questions around a suspicious death, it is only a matter of time until the press find out who she is now and where she lives and set about destroying her all over again.

Natalie Tyler is the officer brought in to investigate the murder. A black detective constable, she has been ostracised from her family and often feels she is in the wrong job. But when she meets Michelle, she feels a complicated need to protect her, whatever she might have done.

Jacqueline Roy’s The Gosling Girl is a psychological thriller that explores the after-effects of a crime committed in childhood, and how hard it can be to reintegrate back into society. Additionally, the novel tackles systemic, institutional and internalised racism and how one’s story can be controlled by those around them.

We meet Michelle after she’s been released from prison. She’s known for killing a young girl when she was also just a child, and she’s served her time for the criminal act. But now that she’s out, attempting to find work, lay down roots, and form some sort of life with anonymity, she’s realising that others aren’t going to let her forget what she did anytime soon — there’s her probation officer, who she’s required to see on a regular basis, there’s the media, who are reluctant to leave her out of the press, and there’s writer Zoe, who is so desperate to pen Michelle’s story, she just might blackmail her to get it done.

“Of course she would, even though she knows she’s being bribed, paid for her memories in cake. She’s told to help herself. She chooses a macaroon and a slice of Swiss roll, not the kind you buy at supermarkets, the kind that has real cream and homemade jam.”

Written in third person, Jacqueline does well to craft an unreliable narrator in Michelle — she hides more from us than she reveals, and the only time we really feel like we understand her history or her emotions is when she’s in a session with Zoe for the book.

And on that note, I found Zoe to be the most interesting character in the novel. The cagey, slightly odd writer who wants to pen a book about Michelle’s side of the story. She’s questionable the entire way through, and to be honest I was expecting something major to happen with Zoe’s character — a big revelation, or a significant betrayal of Michelle. But everything that happened felt a little lacklustre. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever grasped Zoe’s desperation for doing the book — she acted like she was on a timer, and the book had to be done as quickly as possible. Why? Why is Zoe so chaotic in her home life, and why does she seem to be so financially strapped? There were definitely a few missing elements to her character that I hoped would be fleshed out some more.

“Tyler lets herself out and walks down to the car. She realizes she’s been holding her breath since leaving the house, keeping herself reined in. She leans against the side of the vehicle, trying to stay calm. She pictures Julie gouging pieces out of herself because the physical pain is so much easier to bear than the loneliness of grief.”

Despite devouring this novel in a short span of time, there were elements of the novel I’m still working to process. Michelle’s characterisation felt flat and underdeveloped to me, like the writer was trying to keep her so unreliable and withdrawn that she actually felt too thin on the page. Is she a violent person? Capable of change? I don’t even know, because the original crime isn’t ever really tackled and Michelle seems quite placid for most of the novel.

The second crime that is hinted in the blurb resolves itself rather quickly, and Michelle isn’t even a suspect for long. In fact, she’s never a suspect. She’s merely questioned. So I never felt that concern or worry for Michelle because I know that her past conviction wasn’t going to mean a false conviction this time around (which is what I suspected after reading the blurb).

“It makes a change, having someone to be with on a day when she isn’t at work. She can’t believe her luck, bumping into Lucy after all this time.”

Recommended for fans of psychological thrillers. Readership skews female, 25+

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

The Gosling Girl
Jacqueline Roy
February 2022
Simon & Schuster Book Publishers

The Fields by Erin Young

It starts with a body — a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture.

For Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations at the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, an already horrific crime takes on a personal edge when she discovers the victim is an old friend, from a dark past she thought she’d left behind.

Rumour travels fast in small towns, while sweltering heat and state-wide elections only add to the pressure-cooker atmosphere. When another body is found, Riley is in danger of being engulfed by the fear and the frenzy. Something deeply disturbing is out there – and it reaches far beyond Black Hawk County.

Erin Young’s The Fields centres around a series of unexplained murders in a small Iowa town, and the local police sergeant in charge of solving the mystery.

The Fields falls neatly into the rural crime genre, set in a small American town with resemblance of tropes easily registered in this genre — close-knit communities, a closed-off, guarded police detective with past trauma and a chaotic family life, multiple unexplained murders that aren’t easily connected, and there’s even a moment in the novel where the protagonist is suspended from her job and must continue on regardless.

“As she crossed to the house, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had come. Before she reached the porch, Riley heard something down near the creek. A soft rustle of grass. She peered into the darkness but saw nothing. Maybe a woodchuck?”

Erin Young establishes pacing and setting immediately — from the first chapter, we’re thrust into the hot, desolate Black Hawk County. And before long, another body is discovered. Additionally, Erin has crafted a complex, layered protagonist with Riley. She’s still holding onto trauma from an event years earlier, and the discovery that one of her high school friends has been murdered brings back a lot of memories from that time in her life. I don’t feel that any of this is resolved by the end of this novel, but I believe more books featuring Riley are planned.

Through its plotting and ultimate resolution, The Fields provides commentary on America’s agricultural industry and genetic engineering, and the price that organisations will pay to maintain their stake in the system. Whilst the book doesn’t come across preach-y, the ending is quite convoluted and at times hard to follow. Perhaps a little overstuffed.

“It wasn’t long before she smelled it — the rot-sweet stink of death. A few yards later, she heard the bleep of a camera. Flies buzzed her face. Ahead, she picked out Bob Nolan’s bulk. The crime scene investigator was crouched among the roots.”

Whilst the premise of the novel and subsequent mysteries were enough to keep me engaged, I did feel like there were two elements in this book that were working against each other — is this a thriller novel? Or is this a book trying to take a stand on America’s agricultural industry and how big corporations are bulldozing small businesses into extinction? I’m not sure, and that’s what I struggled with.

The ending was so chaotic and convoluted, and I found it hard to keep track of all the side characters. Additionally, the chapters move between POV (mostly it’s Riley, but it does shift to other secondary characters), which I can see is required to give readers greater understanding of the complex plot, but it does slow down the novel and pull the reader away from the primary investigation.

“Twilight brought the bugs, followed by reporters from The Courier and a local news crew, hovering at the edges of the tape, cajoling the officers they knew for information. Things like this didn’t happen in Black Hawk County, where stores still closed on Sundays and strangers were noticed.”

Whilst this is marketed as a debut novel, it is actually a crime debut from an already established author writing under a pseudonym. Grisly and gritty, The Fields is recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews 25+. Note: there’s a lot of graphic detail in this book. It didn’t bother me, but if you prefer to shy away from detailed murder victims, maybe this isn’t the book for you.

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

The Fields
Erin Young
January 2022
Hachette Book Publishers

The Russian Wife by Barry Maitland

When the Russian wife of the owner of one of the most valuable private collections of modern art in the UK is found dead, Detective Chief Inspector David Brock is drawn into a high-stakes world very different to his own. From the dealers and galleries in London’s West End, his investigations take him to Hanover, Miami and New York on the trail of international forgery and fraud.

At the same time, his old colleague Detective Chief Inspector Kathy Kolla, who now leads one of the Metropolitan Police Murder Investigation teams, finds herself at the wrong end of a corruption charge. With her whole career in the balance, she will do almost anything to clear her name.

Barry Maitland’s The Russian Wife is an extension of his well-loved crime series, following UK detectives David Brock and Kathy Kolla. Whilst this may be the 14th novel featuring these characters, Barry offers required explanation when referencing old storylines so that new readers don’t feel lost.

A standard police procedural, the core crime is about the apparent suicide of a Russian woman. But soon, when her lover also appears to commit suicide, it becomes clear there’s more to the story than what’s on the surface.

“They moved back out to the hall and Julian went upstairs to continue his search. Brock waited in the hallway, wondering what Miki had taken from the house in such a hurry; his mother’s computer?”

The Russian Wife is heavily embedded in the world of fine art and art fraud. Strengths include characterisation, particularly the secondary characters. Whilst it’s clear that the Russian wife’s death was not suicide at all, there are quite a few people in her life that could’ve been responsible so it does provide quite a bit of intrigue.

Whilst Barry’s writing style appears quite direct and perhaps flat, it does suit the genre well because it keeps the story stripped and fast-paced. We’re not bogged down by the writing or the prose — only relevant information is kept.

“The following day, Friday, Brock sat at his computer studying Miki Babington’s police record — three separate convictions for drug possessions and supply, two as a juvenile. He’d been lucky to avoid jail time.”

The book is let down by its Kathy Kolla storyline — it doesn’t tie in with the rest of the novel at all. She’s hunting a serial killer, and then suddenly suspended from her job over suspicion of corruption, but the problem appears to solve itself rather quickly without Kathy really doing anything. And then the storyline ends.

It’s incredibly lazy writing and completely unrealistic. The monologue confession is almost too easy, and then when the storyline wraps up Kathy merely moves on and it feels like the entire first half of the book was for nothing. It doesn’t feel like the two characters — Kathy and Brock — are working seamlessly in the book. They’re in conflict, and I think readers will feel disappointed with the plotting.

“Molly listed the three things that were necessary for an artwork to be recognised as authentic: an expert scholar of that artist’s work would have to agree that it looked right; forensic tests would have to confirm that the age and character of the work’s materials were appropriate; and there should be documentation connecting the present owner back to the artist in order to establish provenance.”

Fans of Barry’s works will enjoy this latest offering, but I do think seasoned crime and thriller readers will find themselves a little let down by the plotting of The Russian Wife.

Readership skews male, 30+

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

The Russian Wife
Barry Maitland
December 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers