The Payback, by Simon Kernick (Bantam Press, RRP $40): Once again, author Simon Kernick promises and delivers a fast-paced thriller. Ex-cop Dennis Milne is a man with a past that involves murder. Milne has earned his living killing the bad…
Category: Mysteries & Thrillers
Disturbingly good
Do No Harm, by Carol Topolski (Fig Tree, RRP $40): Everyone knows about Virginia: about her stellar reputation as a gynaecologist; about her commitment to her women patients. But does anyone know about the knives? Everyone knows about Faisal too:…
A fast and furious series
Last Chance to Die, by Noah Boyd (HarperCollins, RRP $39.99): Noah Boyd is one of those rare authors who not only writes in the crime thriller genre, he also lived it. According to Boyd’s publisher, he is an ex- United…
Something for everyone
Worst Case, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Century, RRP $38.99): I’m always a little stunned by just how prolific author James Patterson is. Sure, he collaborates on a lot of his books but he still churns out an impressive…
A ripper of a series
Bound, by Vanda Symon (Penguin, RRP $30): This is the fourth book in the Detective Sam Shepherd murder mystery series and I’m pleased to report that they just get better and better. I have read two of the other three…
Good first effort
Soul Murder, by Daniel Blake (HarperCollins, RRP $37): Homicide cops Franco Patrese and Mark Beradino are called to a double murder in a rough neighbourhood and while it initially seems they’ve got the killer things aren’t always as simple as…
Drug-running thriller a solid debut
The Terror of Living, by Urban Waite (Simon & Schuster, RRP $40): Ex-con Phil Hunt has spent the past 20 years working on a ranch with his wife, making a living and just getting on with life. Every now and…
Nordic authors come in from the cold
There seems to be a bit of a trend for kick-ass Scandinavian thrillers of late. Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy has pushed the Nordic murder-mystery genre into the spotlight and those books have made a whole lot of readers sit up…
Goddard back to best
Blood Count, by Robert Goddard (Bantam Press, RRP $40): Author Robert Goddard has been criticised in the past for being a little formulaic with his plot development, but he is back to his best with this latest novel in his…
Patterson’s praise well deserved
Red Wolf, by Liza Marklund (Bantam Press, RRP $40): James Patterson and Harlan Coben are two of my favourite authors in the murder/thriller/ mystery/general mayhem genre, so when they have good things to say about another author, I take notice.…