JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

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

2 Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson and Candice Fox

Two sisters go into the family business they didn’t know they had – catching killers. Attorney Rhonda Bird returns home to LA to bury her estranged father, and discovers that he left her two final surprises.

The first is a private detective agency. The second is a teenage half-sister named Baby.
When Rhonda goes into her father’s old office to close down the business, she gets drawn into a case involving a young man who claims he was abducted.

The investigation takes Rhonda and Baby to dark and dangerous places. Soon they are caught in the crosshairs of an angry criminal cartel and an ex-assassin seeking revenge . . .

Renowned suspense writers James Patterson and Candice Fox unite once again for the 2 Sisters Detective Agency, which follows a revenge-driven father as he hunts down his daughter’s attackers, and a young public defender whose father’s death unearths dangerous family secrets. Over time, the two timelines begin to intersect.

The novel features quite a large cast of eccentric characters – the tall, pink-haired and striking public defender, her savvy half-sister, and a psychotic, budding murderer lacking any remorse. Don’t expect every character to survive.

“Vera arrived late. She always did. She liked to keep them waiting, give them an opportunity to talk about her. The more people talked about you while you weren’t around, the more mythical you became. The more powerful.”

Whilst the story is complex and it does take a bit of time to wrap your head around the two unfolding storylines, this does allow for a complex but satisfying thriller. Each chapter is quite short, allowing for a quick and punchy read.

The strongest character probably should’ve been Rhonda, but personally, I loved Vera the most. Young, dangerous but very intelligent, she’s found her passion in being a criminal. She’s experimenting more and more, hurting people she feels deserve it but feeling no remorse for her actions. When she and her ‘crew’ break into the home of ex-assassin Jacob Kanular, it sets off a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that puts her entire group at jeopardy.

Rhonda’s storyline is not as fast-paced; it’s a mixture of plot-driven and character-driven. When her father, who she hasn’t seen or communicated with in twenty-five years, dies, she’s forced to take on his business and custody of his teenage daughter – Rhonda’s half-sister, who she didn’t know existed. So whilst she becomes entangled in a deranged murder plot, she’s also trying to navigate the sudden existence of a teenage sibling whose safety is her responsibility.

“Another thunk behind him. Another into the boulders of granite either side of him. He followed the narrow natural trail, stumbling over cactus and rocks, falling and getting up and pulling himself onward as the shots followed him into the night.”

Admittedly, where the story falters is the POV shift between chapters. The novel largely follows Rhonda and her chapters are written in first person. But occasionally there are other chapters following Jacob or Vera, or someone else from Vera’s crew, and they’re written in third person. This stylistic decision felt really disjointed and often I started a chapter with absolutely no idea whose story I was following – it would’ve been really helpful if each new chapter had the characters’ name alongside the chapter number, so we knew whose story we were now jumping to.

Other than this, I felt like Baby’s characterisation was a bit caricature and unnatural – she gets better throughout the novel, but when we meet her she seems like a stereotypical depiction of a teenager, and not very three-dimensional.

The only other element that I felt was a bit liming was the romance in the novel. It was small and almost inconsequential. It bubbled so late in the novel it didn’t seem realistic, and I feel like if you took it out of the book it’d make no difference.

“Jacob felt his lip twitch. It was the only outward sign of the boiling, searing rise of fury inside him, the stirring of old reserves of killer rage. He rolled the video back.”

Fast-paced and high stakes, 2 Sisters Detective Agency is recommended for readers of crime and thriller. Readership skews 30+

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

2 Sisters Detective Agency
James Patterson & Candice Fox
October 2021
Penguin Random House Publishers

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember. For centuries they have kept vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns.

Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run in London, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant urges him to seek out the Stewards, Will is ushered into a secret world, where he must train to fight for the Light in the oncoming war.

As the Dark King’s return looms, reborn warriors begin to draw battle lines. But when the young descendants of Light and Dark step into their destined roles, old allegiances, old enmities and old flames are awakened. Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the calamity that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.

The first book in a new YA fantasy trilogy, C.S. Pacat’s Dark Rise comes highly anticipated. Set in 1821 London, teenager Will is on the run from his mother’s murderer – successful trader Lord Simon Crenshaw. Soon, he’s entangled in a world he knew nothing about, under the protection of an ancient order. Dark Rise is quite the clever story because you find yourself questioning who the real villain is the entire way through.

Dark Rise feels like it honours classical fantasy whilst also incorporating a lot of unique elements and surprising plot events that mean you don’t feel like the story is predictable. C.S Pacat twists familiar tropes to make them much more inviting for the readers. There were certain deaths I never saw coming, and some character revelations were teased throughout the book and I missed them – I think all readers will love this book, not just readers of YA.

“Justice had talked about Tom like—
Like he was a monster. Like he’d hunt a woman down and kill her. Like he served a dark power, and did it willingly. A horror rose up in her.”

Written in third person, C.S. Pacat’s writing is stripped but impactful. She offers enough insight into the minds of her characters but largely keeps the majority of the story to dialogue and action where it shines.

Credit must be given to the way she only pivots her story around her core characters, without falling into the trap of including/mentioning secondary characters too often in scenes – this can be confusing for the reader when there is a large cast of characters present, and I often find myself going back through the pages and needing to re-read.

C.S Pacat has set herself up for an explosive second book. Themes include family, destiny, friendship and courage.

“The gathered men were uneasy, shifting in the repressed silence. The three too-pale men swung silently down off their horses, their single black pieces of armour faintly repelling. Those left on the banks were shooting nervous glances from them to James and back again. Will felt it too, a strange pressure growing in his chest.”

Admittedly, elements of the novel’s structure were a little disjointed for me. We switch POV between the main characters, but sometimes it didn’t always feel necessary. Katherine, Simon’s fiancé, gets only a few chapters in her POV and it didn’t feel like a seamless jump.

Towards the end, when she comes back into the storyline, there have been so many significant things that have happened that we weren’t privy to, it felt like the reader was left on the out. Being more involved in Katherine’s turning point as a character likely would’ve made her contribution seem more worthwhile, and it certainly would’ve helped me connect to her as a character.

Finally, the presence of Elizabeth in the story could’ve been more dominant. She doesn’t appear until right at the end where she actually matters, and because we don’t really know who she is, I felt nothing for her.

“Cyprian was too perfect, riding straight-backed in garments that seemed to repel the mud of the marsh. He was one of two Stewards who were younger than the others – Will’s age – and he and the girl were dressed differently too.”

Recommended for fantasy readers, and suitable for younger audiences. Readership skews 13+

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

Dark Rise: Dark Rise #1
C.S. Pacat
October 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The Luminous Solution by Charlotte Wood

In this essential, illuminating book, award-winning writer Charlotte Wood shares the insights she has gained over a career paying close attention to her own mind, to the world around her and to the way she and others work.

Drawing on research and decades of observant conversation and immersive reading, Charlotte shares what artists can teach the rest of us about inspiration and hard work, how to pursue truth in art and life, and to find courage during the difficult times: facing down what we fear and keeping going when things seem hopeless.

Acclaimed Australian author Charlotte Wood returns with non-fiction title The Luminous Solution, which provides a reflection on her writing career to date and what she’s learnt about herself and her work since she first started putting pen to paper approximately twenty years ago.

The Luminous Solution prompts creative thinking and creative reflection. There are intermittent references to COVID-19 and how the pandemic has impacted Charlotte’s writing. This isn’t an overly long book, and it doesn’t need to be. Each chapter provides a snapshot into Charlotte’s process, and what she believes could resonate with others.

“This bolt of understanding that contemporary attitudes echoed historical ones, that this loop of hatred seemed ever-repeating, lit a fuse of fury deep inside my writer’s brain. But a novel requires years of immersion in your material. This was ugly stuff, bleak and paralysing.”

The Luminous Solution shifts between introspection – lessons, learnings and slight musings that Charlotte shares – and a deeper dive into her creative process, particularly relating to her 2015 novel, The Natural Way of Things. The Luminous Solution attracts a fairly recognisable audience – works that delve into creative process and inspiration will always find a valued audience, whether you’ve read the authors previous works or not.

There are a string of insights in The Luminous Solution that I imagine could aid writers, and I think perhaps it might comfort writers who feel they’ve struggled with their work. It’s somewhat reassuring to read that The Natural Way of Things was not an easy or seamless book to write. I read that novel when it first came out and whilst it tackles very heavy topics, the writing is beautiful and the novel worthy of its many accolades. It’s somewhat comforting to find out more about its creation.

“Creativity as violent birth, as approaching death – this is absurd melodrama. Of course it is. And yet…at times my writing process has been so full of darkness that descriptions like these are the only ones that come close to the truth.”

As with all her novels, Charlotte’s writing in The Luminous Solution is clean and stripped back. Words aren’t used unnecessarily, and we move between stories and tales quite quickly. A lot of the book is designed to leave you wondering – they will plant some kind of thought or idea in your mind and let it ponder the possibilities, which is quite perfect for the creative reader.

“I spent many months thinking about these discoveries, sorting and parsing them, enriched by the whole experience. But at the end of it all, after the research was completed and the doctorate finished and award, came that pesky and familiar and important question: So what? What does all this mean for the person sitting down before the blank page?”

Reminiscent and reflective, The Luminous Solution is recommended for readers interested in the craft of writing. Readership skews 30+

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

The Luminous Solution
Charlotte Wood
October 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers