JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

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

Notes On An Execution by Danya Kukafka

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.

He knows what he’s done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.

But this is not his story.

As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel’s mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly.

This is the story of the women left behind.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes On An Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our cultural obsession with crime stories, and asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the minds of violent men.

Danya Kukafka’s Notes On An Execution offers a reprieve from the stereotypical ‘serial killer’ novel. We meet Ansel Packer in a Texan prison on the day he is scheduled to be executed for murdering multiple women. There is no doubt that he’s the murderer — he’s confessed to it, he acknowledges it. But who did he hurt and how did events unfold?

To fully understand this, we meet three women whose lives interacted with Ansel’s at titular moments in his life. The story toggles between multiple storylines, traversing different points of view and moving between the past and the present. As someone who devours serial killer stories, I found this book to be an incredible read.

“That night, Lavender slept sitting up in the storage room, an iron paper towel rod clutched in her hand like a gun. She found it when she reached for her sweater — a cold lump in the breast pocket. It was the locket she’d given to Ansel, curled up regretful. She’d unclasped it from his neck the last time she’d given him a bath and pocketed it thoughtlessly.”

Danya’s writing is beautiful —poetic and addictive. Her characterisation is skilled and flawless. It’s rare for me to give such glowing praise for a novel but I really did love this one (I completed it in half a day, I was so desperate to finish).

We are driven forward by Ansel’s inevitable death — the countdown to his execution. These other stories, offered intermittently and almost chaotically, are a glimpse into the past.

The three women we meet in this novel are Lavender, Ansel’s mother, Hazel, the sister to Ansel’s wife, and Saffy, the detective who lived with Ansel in foster care and is now tasked with proving he’s responsible for the murders. Each shift in POV isn’t for very long, and we move through the past with quick pacing and little time to reflect. This novel is designed to paint a portrait of Ansel’s life to dates so that we might come to understand his rocky descent into murder.

“If there was a before, it began with Lavender. She was seventeen years old. She knew what it meant, to bring life into the world. The gravity. She knew that love could swaddle you tight, and also bruise. But until the time came, Lavender did not understand what it meant to walk away from a thing she’d grown from her own insides.”

Ansel’s chapters are written in second person — the confronting ‘you’ triggering a sense of dread and unease as the reader settles into Ansel’s story. Whilst we never feel like we understand him or his actions, his life and his story is the centrefold of this tale — everything else merely revolves around him as we are propelled towards his death.

Overall, the pacing and character development drew me in and kept my engaged throughout the entire novel. i did find the climax of the novel to be a little skimmed over — Ansel’s sudden deterioration into the final murder didn’t feel natural or realisitc. But when it comes to murder, and even multiple murders, a person’s actions don’t always make sense do they?

“Here is what you remember of your mother. She is tall, and she is mostly hair. She crouches in a garden, lazes in a rocking chair, sinks into a rusty claw-foot tub. Sometimes the tub is filled with water and your mother’s long dress floats wet like a jellyfish. Other times she is dry — she holds out a strand of her own hair, a gift, glistening orange.”

Haunting and ambitious but addictive, Danya Kukafka ’s Notes On An Execution is recommended for readers of literary fiction, thriller and crime fiction. Additionally, readers looking for serial killer stories or female-centric writing will enjoy this. Readership skews 25+

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

Notes On An Execution
Danya Kukafka
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

Treasure and Dirt by Chris Hammer

In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people and billionaires do as they please.

Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner’s death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up and, if so, by whom?

As time runs out, their only chance at redemption is to find the killer. But the more secrets they uncover, the more harrowing the mystery becomes, as events from years ago take on a startling new significance.

For in Finnigans Gap, opals, bodies and secrets don’t stay buried forever.

Master of crime fiction, Chris Hammer returns with his latest novel – Treasure and Dirt. Once again set in a rural, desolate Australian town, the novel centres around an unexplained murder and a town full of people desperate to keep their secrets hidden.

Because I read – and loved – Chris’ first novel Scrublands, I was of course eager to read his latest. Despite his novels being quite long and complex, it’s so easy to bury yourself in the book from cover to cover. Usually, the stories are never just about one murder, or one mystery. There’s a long history of mysterious activity in Chris’ books, and so you know you’re in for a great read.

“The motel is called The Golden View, except there is no view. Ivan is happy to ignore the lack of a vista: it’s modern and well-maintained, somehow incongruous in the jumble-sale aesthetic of the town, sitting on The Way, east from the crossroads, where the road is still sealed.”

Chris’ characters are complex, well-rounded and they always lead his novels well. You don’t want a character to be too eccentric, because crime fiction feels like it should be as much about the plot and the secondary characters as it is about the protagonists. Together, Ivan and Nell create quite an interesting dynamic as they work to solve the murder of a local opal miner found crucified deep within his mine.

Ivan is guarded but trusting, and Nell feels like she has to prove herself amongst the other police officers. She’s accelerated quite quickly in her career, but she still has a lot to learn.

As with Chris’ other novels, setting is a strong element in Treasure and Dirt. You can feel the humidity and the dry, scorched landscape – you can almost feel the taste of thirst on your tongue, and the desire for air conditioner in hot cars.

“The police station is deserted when they pull up outside. No other cars, just them. Beside him, Nell leaves the engine running, not even asking: the air conditioner is essential. It’s past five, but there’s no sign of the day cooling. Here, in the hollow of the town, the sun will soon dip behind the West Ridge, promising some relief.”

I’ll admit, the intimate discussions towards the end of the novel around the stock market and fraud went over my head. And I wouldn’t say mining is a huge interest of mine. But regardless, Chris pulls together an incredibly compelling set of events to engage even the most reluctant of readers.

Some might argue there’s too much going on in the novel, but I think that’s a trademark for Chris Hammer because it’s something I recognised in Scrublands. The heightened complexity of his stories allows for a high-pressure, high stakes suite of novels. The multi-layered nature of his work means you’ll always feel unprepared for what’s next, which is a gift in crime fiction.

“Nell looks at Ivan’s face, sees the concentration there, stark in the torchlight. She wonders what he might be thinking, what significance he’s reading into the link between the mines. But she finds herself unable to ask, to break his train of thought. There is something solitary about him, something that forbids intrusion.”

Atmospheric, gritty and criminally gripping, Treasure and Dirt will please fans of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews male, 20+

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

Treasure and Dirt
Chris Hammer
October 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The One Impossible Labyrinth by Matthew Reilly

THE END IS HERE

Jack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth.

Now he faces one last race – against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself – a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth.

AN IMPOSSIBLE MAZE

But the road will be hard.

For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly.

A CATACLYSMIC CONCLUSION

It all comes down to this.

For it ends here – now – in the most lethal and dangerous place Jack has encountered in all of his many adventures. And in the face of this indescribable peril, with everything on the line, there is only one thing he can do.

Attempt the impossible.

After seven books, Matthew Reilly’s The One Impossible Labyrinth is the final tale in the Jack West Jr series. After a 17-year long journey, this final book offers a satisfying conclusion to the series and will please fans who have been following along with each novel.

As usual with this series, The One Impossible Labyrinth picks up where the last book — The Two Lost Mountains — left off, with Jack and his team arriving at the last puzzle in an attempt to stop the collapse of the universe. We’re immediately thrust back into the action of the story.

This final novel speeds through obstacles and puzzles, weaving in historical storylines and the potential for alternate scenarios. Jack West Jr must once again think outside the box to save the day.

“Down in the shaft, Jack snapped up at the shout. And saw a silverman falling right at him! Suddenly, a strong metal hand — Smiley’s — pulled Jack aside and the falling silverman whistled past, missing Jack by inches — before plummeting further down the shaft.”

The One Impossible Labyrinth is a classic Matthew Reilly novel — quick, compelling storylines with imaginative and engaging puzzles. The book is filled with fast-paced action and authentic, realistic dialogue. Additionally, like all other novels in this series, the pacing is break-neck and consistent. Readers won’t feel like there are any lags in this latest one.

The villains in the novel have carried across from previous reads, so it allows for three-dimensional characters that truly feel like antagonists. Jack and his team must utilise the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired over the previous six books in order to defeat the enemy.

“Each of the obelisks was huge, easily forty feet tall, and they ran in pairs down the length of the bridge, creating a striking avenue. Lily and Eaton came to the jagged void in the bridge’s middle. Two obelisks stood at its edge like posts for a missing gate.”

Admittedly, the ending was slightly predictable — whilst some of our favourite characters were killed dramatically throughout the novel, the ‘bad guys’ all got their comeuppance in the end (although, admittedly, that does suit this genre).

Apart from the that, I felt there was definitely scope for a longer, more developed novel. Each stage of Jack’s journey felt a bit thinly described to keep the pace quick, but it meant I was left feeling like the action could’ve been fleshed out a bit more. Perhaps I just feel like this because I’ve been following the series for 17 years and was sad to see it ending.

“Even though it had a parachute, the seat landed hard, and as it hit the side of the mountain, the impact sent the three men on it scattering: Aloysius and Alby tumbled down the rocky hill, while Rufus was thrown onto a nearby ledge. Alby was knocked out cold. He slumped to the dusty ground.”

Since this is the final book in a 7-book series, it’s pretty clear that the intended audience are readers who are up-to-date with Jack West Jr. If you love action and thriller, and something easy to read perhaps on holiday, I’d definitely recommended picking up the first book — Seven Deadly Wonders — and giving this series a go. Another nail-biter from Matthew Reilly, the readership for this book skews male, 16+

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

The One Impossible Labyrinth
Matthew Reilly
October 2021
Pan Macmillan