The Miller Women

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Book Review: The Miller Women by Kelli Hawkins

Oooh, now this is how you write a modern twisty thriller.

There’s three generations of Miller women — Joyce, Nicola and Abby. The story starts with Cara, a school friend of Abby’s going missing. Nicola has always wanted to write a piece of hard hitting investigative journalism, as opposed to the puff pieces she currently writes for the local newspaper, and thus starts to question some of the key suspects. Soon, she realises one of these suspects could be her own daughter, Abby.

Woven through this present-day mystery are flashbacks featuring the three Miller girls. I loved all these, not one B plot was boring. Things only got twistier and twistier with each reveal.

I absolutely adored all three characters and sped through the last quarter of this book to find out all the finer details and just how Hawkins would resolve it all. Unlike a lot of other books of this genre, I was not disappointed with any of the final twists. This book was great from beginning to end.

Read it now, early, to avoid spoilers.

5 out of 5

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Book Review: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

What a fun book!

As the title suggests, everyone in Ernest Cunningham’s family has killed someone. This book, narrated by Ernest as if he has written the book himself based on his real life experiences, follows the plot of Ernest’s family reunion where he gradually reveals each member of his family’s murderous exploits.

If you’re a fan of Knives Out, you’ll love this book. It’s fast paced and funny and the deceptively complex plot kept me on my toes. Even though I suspected a few outcomes correctly, I missed a plethora of details and twists that Stevenson revealed in the final chapters.

Ernest is a very likeable character, and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Stevenson has decided to feature him again in another book. I would definitely think you’d have to read this book first though, I can’t imagine all the intricacies of this plot being condensed into a recap successfully.

Stevenson’s acknowledgements noted that he thinks Aussie crime fiction is the best in the world and that we may look back one day and see we are currently in our own Golden Age. I think he’s actually correct. And you need to add this one to your list of must reads.

5 out of 5

The Chocolate Factory

Book Review: The Chocolate Factory by Mary-Lou Stephens

Despite the promise of chocolate and the Tasmanian landscape and feminism and romance, I did not really enjoy this book.

I did like the historical details. Hobart was chosen as Cadbury’s first chocolate factory outside of England. The investment, in 1921, must have been huge – along with building the factory and a housing estate for its employees, they also shipped out several staff to establish operations in Australia.

Dare I say that Stephens may have been better off simply writing a non-fiction book about Cadbury’s. There are a lot of interesting facts she includes. They read, however, like facts. I don’t t think they were added organically into the fictional plot.

Stephens’s story centres on Dorothy, a WWI widow, whose passion for the ‘firm’ finds her in an esteemed position of authority (for a woman in 1921) which sees her leave England to become one of the first Australian based employees. Dorothy had potential, but Stephens seemed to jump around with her plotline.

There was a lot of focus on unnecessary and boring plot points (eg Dorothy’s accent, the Quaker religion, the uptight boarding house owner, blah blah) and then others which should be expanded upon were condensed and mentioned almost in passing (the meeting of school teacher Thomas on the ship, for example, was brief and uneventful but then, a mere chapter later, Dorothy is all starry eyed when thinking about him and I was sure I must have missed an entire scene).

I haven’t had much luck lately with Australian historical romance and this book unfortunately didn’t get me out of that rut. I’m sure a lot of readers will love it, but it wasn’t for me.

2 ½ out of 5

Here for the Right Reasons

Book Review: Here for the Right Reasons by Jodi McAlister (Marry Me, Juliet #1)

After drunk-applying for reality show Marry Me, Juliet (aka The Bachelor in the real world), Cece finds herself accepted as one of the girls hoping to catch the eye of ‘Romeo’ Dylan, a handsome ex-Olympian sailor who now runs a charity foundation.

Let’s be honest, we all suspect (know?) that these shows are scripted and none of the girls are really there ‘for the right reasons’ and McAlister doesn’t dissuade this line of thinking. Just about every girl on the show has an ulterior motive, including Cece, who desperately needs to stay on the show as it’s 2020 and she needs to earn money after recently losing her job due to the pandemic.

The book started well. I thought, at last!, we had a winner in the [incredibly tricky to get right] chicklit arena! However, I will admit my attention did wan at about the 75% mark. I think my main issue was the two leads. I found Dylan terribly bland and Cece’s constant crying made me want to slap her silly. In contrast, supporting characters Murray and Lily were much more interesting.

I did like the way McAlister poked fun at reality shows. I’m not sure I was supposed to find the ridiculousness of the contestants’ challenges and their staged arguments more interesting than the romantic relationship of the main couple but, there you go.

The ending was a little predictable, especially if you read the blurbs from book 2 and 3 in the series (try not to, the spoilers did take away from my enjoyment). But, McAlister definitely has potential. 3 out of 5

Apples Never Fall

Book Review: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

I’m not understanding the bad reviews for this book. Right from the first paragraph, I knew this book was going to be a cut above what I’d read of late.

Joy has now hit her seventies, retired from running a tennis academy and waiting (im)patiently for one of her four children to give her a grandchild. Then, on Valentine’s Day, she disappears, texting a gibberish message about going ‘off grid’ to her family. Soon, the police are involved and looking for a body, and Stan, Joy’s husband of over 50 years, is their prime suspect.

The story is told in dual timelines — now, and the few months leading up to Joy’s disappearance. I don’t think I’d call this a murder mystery, as such (although Moriarty surprised me with some of the twists at the end). Apples Never Fall is more of a family drama, it’s funny and, obviously, quite sad at times, with lots of thought provoking scenes centring around themes of domestic violence – physical as well as psychological abuse.

Moriarty’s characterisation is brilliant. Joy is a joy, full stop. But Moriarty gives each character their moment in the sun. There’s some characters who I’m sure I would have disliked if a lesser writer presented them. Moriarty, though, evoked empathy and manipulated me into liking them, no matter the extent of their questionable morals and actions.

Maybe it’s the tennis readers disliked? There’s a lot of tennis talk in the book. However, I think as long as you get the general gist of the characters’ passion for the game, it doesn’t matter if you’re a fan yourself or not.

Can’t think of a better way to start my reading year. 5 out of 5

Kill Your Husbands

Book Review: Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath

Another fast paced, dark but fun, read by Jack Heath.

Three couples go on a weekend away to a holiday house in the Australian bush with no internet or mobile phone service. After much alcohol, their party game progresses to one where the men randomly choose a bedroom to have sex with whichever woman is occupying that said bedroom. Afterwards, one of them is found dead. After the initial shock, the tension builds even more as they realise getting help from the authorities is not as simple as one would imagine, with the landline not working and the keys to the car missing.

The plot progresses in the present tense as well as flashbacks from each guest, showing just how they got into their current situation. The other narrators/main characters are the couple from Heath’s Kill Your Brother – paramedic ex-athlete Elise and police officer Kiara who, obviously, is the lead detective assigned to the case.

Heath was very clever in that he used the friends’ first names when writing from their point of view, and their last names when writing from Kiara and Elise’s, meaning the reader remained spoiler-free until almost the last chapter as to the six friends’ fate.

I think I always guessed who the killer was but I still had a fun time working out the finer details. And there were a couple of twists near the end I hadn’t picked up on at all.

It’s not necessary to read Kill Your Brother, events from that book are mentioned but are not really important to the plot of Kill Your Husbands. I would, of course, recommend you still read both – they’re both enjoyable. I’m looking forward to Heath killing some wives, or sisters perhaps, in the future.

4 ½ out of 5

The Devil Inside

Book Review: The Devil Inside by DL Hicks

The Devil Inside is told from dual narrators:. one, Detective Charlotte Callaghan, following her investigation into the brutal murder of a young woman in her small coastal town, and the other being the childhood memories of the murderer which, in some part, explains why he’s turned into someone capable of killing.

In the course of her investigation, Charlotte realises all the clues are pointing to her own brother, a Catholic priest, being involved. Charlotte’s personal life is complicated enough as it is – she has met a man and things are looking promising but she just needs to work out how she’s going to tell him she’s been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemo.

Hicks’s style was very polished. At times I found it difficult to believe this was a debut. Before taking up writing, Hicks was a real life police officer so hopefully he should have the technical aspects correct. However, I am thinking he used a little poetic licence when it comes to Charlotte continuing to be the lead detective on the case, given her personal relationship with a key suspect.

I had neatly tied up the mystery plot in my mind and was reading along, sure of my assumptions. Then, Hicks dropped a couple of very unexpected twists in the epilogue which literally made my jaw drop. Well played, Mr Hicks.

5 out of 5

You Don’t Know Me

Book Review: You Don’t Know Me by Sara Foster

You Don’t Know Me is the story of Alice and Noah who meet and instantly fall in love. But, as the title suggests, they both have secrets they’re hiding which may place the other in peril.

I’d read Foster’s Beneath the Shadows and had a few issues with it. I was kind of surprised, however, that a lot of my issues with You Don’t Know Me were pretty similar, considering how many books Foster had written in between the two (as in, rookie errors should be behind her).

For a start, there’s plot holes. I won’t point any out (spoilers!) but after reading I could probably give Foster a list so it poses the question as to why couldn’t her editor?

The mystery plot was pretty light on. There were only a couple of possibilities as to the identity of the killer, so the reveal near the did not come as much of a shock. The book was more of a romance than a mystery though. And alas I was not particularly invested in the romance (as I said, it was instant love and this meant there was no real buildup).

I did like the Thai setting and Foster had obviously visited the area as it all seemed very authentic. The Australian Blue Mountains setting, I thought, was pretty wasted. Alice was a climber but Foster didn’t take advantage of her character’s hobby once she arrived in this popular Aussie climbing location.

The book wasn’t the worst I’ve read this year but I did expect more. Maybe 3 out of 5

Sweet Jimmy

Book Review: Sweet Jimmy by Bryan Brown

I think I have the same issue with Sweet Jimmy that I had with Tom Hanks’s Uncommon Type. Am I judging Sweet Jimmy too harshly because Bryan Brown is a well-known actor? Or am I not judging it harshly enough because it was written by him… Mmm…

I didn’t realise until I started reading this that it is actually a collection of short stories. If I was Brown’s editor, I would have quickly advised him to ditch this idea and just go with a full length novel. He could have, I’d say, easily spliced some of the stories together to fit in with the longer format. In fact, I think this might be my biggest beef with Sweet Jimmy – all the stories seemed the same.

Each story featured a gritty crime and fit into the same [thriller] genre. Actually, I feel like I need to almost give some sort of warning if you’re thinking of reading – a lot of the stories are quite graphic.

All the lead characters were very similar too. Mostly they were the quintessential 70s or 80s (see below re the time setting) Australian male, I suppose we’d call them larrikins back in the day. And, kind of creepily, if the stories were to be translated to the screen, it was easy to imagine the leads could almost all be played by Bryan Brown.

I had to wonder when Brown wrote these stories. I don’t think any of the plots, characters’ behaviour or dialogue seemed to fit into a present day 2023 time setting. Through the editing process it would have been nice for someone to have helped Brown out by modernising a few things maybe.

His second offering is a full length novel. Maybe that will work better for me. This one, 2 ½ out of 5

The Other Side of Beautiful

Book Review: The Other Side of Beautiful by Kim Lock

Although this book is extremely popular, I started reading it without the slightest idea of its plotline. And I’m okay with that, it was a lovely surprise.

The general gist is that Mercy (yeah, I’m not completely sold on that name) has a no good terrible very bad day and, on impulse, buys a run down van and takes off on a road trip from Adelaide to Darwin. For those non-Aussies, this is straight up through the centre of Australia, a lot of heat, a lot of flies, a lot of dust, and a lot of kilometres (about 3000). One would usually prepare for such a trip, so Mercy stumbles from one mishap to another. Along the way though, she also finds a lot of beautiful.

This is another book which portrays mental health issues in a respectful manner. Lock’s timing for gradually revealing the events of why Mercy has had a breakdown was impeccable. Although Mercy’s triggers were shocking, they were also very realistic.

I’ve never been particularly tempted to tackle the Adelaide to Darwin trip (mainly due to the aforementioned heat, flies and dust) but, I will admit, Lock almost made me want to fuel up and head off tomorrow myself. It’s pretty obvious Lock has travelled along the road herself, maybe even in a little Daihatsu Hijet.

As the title suggests, this is a beautiful book. 5 out of 5