The Liar’s Lullaby, by Meg Gardiner (Blue Door, RRP $36.99): It seems like the murder mystery genre is the flavour of the day right now, with books about devious murderers, innocent (and sometimes not-so-innocent) victims and clever-clogs detectives popping up…
Category: Mysteries & Thrillers
Reacher at his bone-crunching best
Worth Dying For, by Lee Child (Bantam Press, RRP $39.99): Jack Reacher is back and better than ever. Were you one of the Reacher fans who complained that the last novel didn’t have a high enough body count? I wasn’t…
Plenty of twists
Reckless, by Andrew Gross (HarperCollins, RRP $38.99): With its fast pace and gritty feel, the third Ty Hauck novel is every bit as riveting as its predecessors. Private security investigator Hauck is blown away by the news that an old…
A good dose of obsession fuels thriller
Captured, by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster, RRP $39): With a diagnosis of malignant brain cancer and just a few weeks to live, Kenny Drummond thinks back over his life and decides to put things right with the people he…
Arse-kicking abilities impress
Sharp Shooter, by Marianne Delacourt (Allen & Unwin, RRP $35): The tagline on the front of this book reckons we are being introduced to a new, kick-arse crime fighter for fans of Janet Evanovich and I have to say I…
Final novel an old-fashioned adventure
Pirate Latitudes, by Michael Crichton (HarperCollins, RRP $36.99): Michael Crichton was a bit of a rock star in the literary world: an author, producer, director, screenwriter and even a medical school graduate who was equally at home in the worlds…
Kiwi colloquialisms distract
Containment, by Vanda Symon (Penguin, RRP $28): There’s no doubting Dunedin-based author Vanda Symon’s talent as a writer and I certainly enjoyed most of this book, the third to feature stroppy chick/newbie detective Sam Shepherd. However, I don’t know that…
Kiwis love Reacher
61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam Press, RRP $39.99): Benjamin Franklin reckoned there were only two things in this world that could be said to be certain: death and taxes. However, I’d like to add a third item to that…
Worth the wait
Too Many Murders, by Colleen McCullough (HarperCollins, RRP $54.99) Aussie author Colleen McCullough is probably best-known for The Thorn Birds and while I enjoyed that book every bit as much as everyone else in the world, I wasn’t such a…
Murder mystery that delivers
The Dead Room, by Chris Mooney (Penguin, RRP $25): I enjoy a good old-fashioned murder mystery and this book certainly delivers plenty of murder and mystery. This is the third book to feature CSI Darby McCormick, a ballsy woman law…