Author Archives: alysonebaker

The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell – 2017

Posted on September 9, 2017 by alysonebaker

Matt Buchanan has worked on a series of horrific crimes spanning decades in an Auckland where it is always raining, and years on he is still haunted by his earliest case, the still unsolved disappearance of a school girl, Samantha.  … Continue reading →

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Aukati by Michalia Arathimos – 2017

Posted on September 8, 2017 by alysonebaker

What I loved about this book was its uncompromising life-like messiness; things don’t go as planned, there are long periods in the doldrums, sex is sometimes not that great, something happens and suddenly one of the characters finds himself in … Continue reading →

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Tess by Kirsten McDougall – 2017

Posted on September 4, 2017 by alysonebaker

A middle-aged man with a rifle in his car decides to pick up a young woman on the highway.  He is just wanting to help; she is about the same age as his estranged daughter.  The young woman sees accepting … Continue reading →

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The Scene of the Crime by Steve Braunias – 2015

Posted on September 2, 2017 by alysonebaker

WELCOME TO THE NGAIO MARSH AWARDS BLOG TOUR 2017 There is an inevitable melange of fiction and reality that arises from piecing together ‘what happened’ in a crime: “a trial is always going to take on the literary form of … Continue reading →

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The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy – 2017

Posted on August 31, 2017 by alysonebaker

Martha and Laurie have a totally solid family, with firmly entwined DNA – they each carried the other’s children, all from the same sperm donor.  They love each other and flowing water surrounds them; their property is in the fens, … Continue reading →

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A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave – 2017

Posted on August 27, 2017 by alysonebaker

A Killer Harvest reprises The Hands of Orlac idea that body parts transplanted onto a new host will carry the evil intent of the donors – as donors in historic horror are most likely to come from the criminal classes.  … Continue reading →

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Deception Island by Brynn Kelly – 2016

Posted on August 27, 2017 by alysonebaker

Deception Island won the 2017 KORU Published Romance Book of the Year Award, and deservedly so.  It is a Romance novel; a large part of it deals with two people on a tropical island, they should hate each other but … Continue reading →

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Fletcher of the Bounty by Graeme Lay – 2017

Posted on August 14, 2017 by alysonebaker

I really enjoyed Lay’s James Cook trilogy, from the first installment which adores Cook, through to the final depiction of a man gone mad.  I picked up Fletcher of the Bounty expecting a combination of the two – adoring of … Continue reading →

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Catching the Last Tram by Susan Holt – 2017

Posted on August 5, 2017 by alysonebaker

What a charming book!  Catching the last tram is a romance that follows the usual romantic arc – but not at all in a usual way.  Beth is a librarian who has moved into a new part of town, she … Continue reading →

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The Earth Cries Out by Bonnie Etherington – 2017

Posted on July 30, 2017 by alysonebaker

Ruth is a young girl, living with her family on her grandparent’s apple orchard in Nelson, when a terrible accident tears her family apart.  Ironically it also keeps her family together, as her parents were talking divorce before the accident, … Continue reading →

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