Category Archives: Book Review

The Last Time We Spoke by Fiona Sussman – 2016

Posted on October 14, 2016 by alysonebaker

How a quick but catastrophic event can set lives careering off at tangents.  For Carla Reid the traumatic events that take place on her farm on the night of her wedding anniversary – when the only glitch had been her … Continue reading →

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The Death Ray Debacle by David McGill – 2015

Posted on October 13, 2016 by alysonebaker

“There was no puzzle to solve, like those lady crime writers devised. This was simply a matter of stopping another effort by other German agents … “ so Dan Delaney muses while holding the fort on Somes Island in Wellington … Continue reading →

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Red Herring by Jonothan Cullinane – 2016

Posted on September 11, 2016 by alysonebaker

  What a cracker!  A noir novel set in tea-drenched 1950s New Zealand.  With the 1951 waterfront strike as the backdrop, Red Herring sets PI Johnny Molloy on the track of a murky character who has supposedly drowned in the … Continue reading →

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The Blackbird Sings at Dusk by Linda Olsson – 2016

Posted on September 4, 2016 by alysonebaker

You just have to let yourself drift with this one – it is beautifully written and nicely plotted, but a little heavy handed with the symbolism and message.  Elizabeth is slowly fading away in her Stockholm apartment when a neighbour, … Continue reading →

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The Seer’s Wolf by Barbara Petrie – 2015

Posted on September 3, 2016 by alysonebaker

Well I was baffled by this book.  The idea of a werewolf tale set in rural Canterbury in the 1950s is very very promising.  But despite the cover telling us this is the story of a werewolf in rural New … Continue reading →

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The Quiet Spectacular by Laurence Fearnley – 2016

Posted on August 15, 2016 by alysonebaker

A character in The Quiet Spectacular declares that the literary establishment considers men to be the north on the compass and “…it’s only by sending the whole compass completely haywire that anyone other than Western men get a look-in.”  And … Continue reading →

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Something is Rotten by Adam Sarafis – 2015

Posted on August 13, 2016 by alysonebaker

I loved this book from when one of the wheeler dealer characters arrives back from London and as he makes his way towards the Beehive muses how he is now “Smack in the centre of power”.  This New Zealand is … Continue reading →

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The Mistake by Grant Nicol – 2015

Posted on July 31, 2016 by alysonebaker

Nordic noir with a kiwi twang!  The Mistake is a great jigsaw puzzle of a murder mystery.  A terrible car crash on a snow-covered lava field; nine years later in Reykjavík a man blacks out and when he comes to, … Continue reading →

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Made to Kill by Adam Christopher – 2015

Posted on July 22, 2016 by alysonebaker

A mash-up of sci-fi and noir, Made to Kill is set in a stereotypical US where the Hollywood star system rules, Kennedy is in office, the enemy is ‘the Reds’, guy wear tight white t-shirts and gals hang out in … Continue reading →

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Dad Art by Damien Wilkins – 2016

Posted on July 15, 2016 by alysonebaker

I have been reading a lot about narrative arc lately – and against the tide of my reading have been picking up novels that don’t really have one.  Dad Art is such a novel, it follows Wellington based sound engineer … Continue reading →

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