What We’re Reading

Stories of intrigue have taken up my time and attention the past few months and what a ride it has been. If a thrilling read is what you’re after, then you should absolutely take the time to check out some of these books. As anyone in book club will tell you, I’m hopeless at predicting a plot twist and these books definitely kept me guessing, right until the end!
– Corissa.

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Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney: The moment I started reading I was hooked! From the sad and lonely husband to his missing wife, I was swept up in the mystery of this one, wanting to know what happened and how it was all going to unfold. Full of intrigue, every moment of this book kept me guessing. Lots of twists and turns, and an eerie sense of place that built the suspense, this was a story that had me so drawn in that I was thrilled right to the very end. If you love a complex narrative, this one is for you. Plus, for the discerning reader, there’s a great hook from Feeney hidden in the story too!

Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan: This was actually my first Dervla McTiernan book and you can be sure I’m about to make my way through her backlist – what a storyteller! A layered narrative about a detective trying to unravel the web of intrigue connecting the disappearance of a young woman who reported an assault and the three customised packages delivered to seemingly unconnected characters.  With Melbourne as the backdrop, this is a complex, urban narrative that draws readers into the place as much as the story. This is no cosy crime novel; McTiernan writes a gritty, nuanced mystery that explores the cryptic connections between her cast of characters, and it is a compelling read. Absolutely the kind of book you don’t want to put down!

Hide and Seek by Chris Carter: Domestic noir writing at its finest! Carter’s novel is not his usual style, trading in the usual bloodshed for a more psychological suspense thriller and oh my days, is it effective! Absolutely gripping in its telling, Carter’s story explores the fight for survival by a woman hiding from her vengeful ex-husband. With a cat-and-mouse style that doesn’t shy away from constantly escalating the sense of unease to the point where you feel it under your skin, this story is thrilling – more corkscrew than twists and turns. Definitely pick it up if you want a story that builds pace until it all but explodes!

The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson: A complete shift in pace, this is book one in a series of stories about crime-solving tea ladies! Tea lady Hazel finds herself compelled to solve the mystery of a missing woman they believe is in danger when local law enforcement don’t seem to be getting the job done. There is a lot happening in this one, with a number of side plots and a rollicking, round-about way of getting through a narrative rich with references to the time period in which it has been set. Thoroughly researched and well-delivered, this is cosy crime at its finest! We read this one in our fiction book club, where the general consensus was that it is an enjoyable, easy read. If you haven’t encountered this series before, it is well worth your time.

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden: I went down the rabbit hole of Freida McFadden’s list and of the many books I read, Dear Debbie was a standout for sure. Initially entertained by the idea of an advice columnist who writes about how to handle difficult husbands, it was Debbie’s draft columns that had me shocked and reading on to see if the scandalous responses ever see the light. What followed was a gripping page-turner of a story that I couldn’t put down because I wanted to see how it unfolded. It’s definitely the typical Freida McFadden style of twists that keep you engaged and surprises that keep the pace moving along quickly, however the big reveal at the end absolutely blind-sided me! If you’ve not read Freida McFadden before, this is a great place to start.

The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter: I picked this one up because I had a lot of customers telling me they were excited to read it so figured why not give it a try for myself. It was definitely worth it. A woman has been murdered and her daughter left with life-threatening injuries, and so we meet the detective charged with solving the crime and finding out what happened. From the shock of the opening chapter, what unfolds is a captivating exploration of how one detective sets about uncovering the truth in a mystery where everyone thinks they know what’s happened. The small-town aspect of the characters adds layers of complexity and Slaughter’s ability to peel those layers back at critical moments in the narrative is excellent. I hadn’t read book 1 in this and had no issues in being swept up into the story either.

Later, Only Love Remains by Leah Swann: A completely different type of thriller to the rest of the list, this literary thriller was an absolutely captivating read. The story unfolds with an old man grieving the death of his wife from a car crash where he was the driver. A tense story that spirals around three characters, each grappling with life changing events (it is worth noting here, some of which will be confronting to readers), Swann delivers a haunting narrative about the yearning for redemption. It is a novel that kept me pondering long after I had finished reading it.

Last One Out by Jane Harper: I haven’t read much of Jane Harper (shocking, I know!) but I found myself thoroughly invested in this one. Harper constructs her settings in a way that feels visceral – she has that ability to use her pen as a tool that transports her readers right into the space she is describing and making the setting a character in its own right. That alone would be worth picking up this one, however the story kept me invested too. Here she presents a community on the verge of becoming a ghost town due to the expanding takeover of a mining operation, and the gripping narrative of a woman desperate to hold onto the tenuous connection with the place her son disappeared. Harper’s ability to draw readers into the mind of her grieving protagonist is excellent, as is her ability to pace her narrative with the emotional momentum of her characters. Absolutely worth the read!

What Happened That Night by Nicci French: A character-driven story, French’s narrative follows protagonist Tyler Green, finally free from prison after a thirty-year sentence for the fatal stabbing of his university friend yet having to defend his innocence when another of his group of friends is found dead. Underlying this is the questioning of a system that assumes guilt instead of innocence when those responsible for protecting people don’t bother to put in the work. An excellent procedural narrative that delves into the nitty-gritty of individual personalities alongside the complexities of unpacking a crime where the guilty party has already been assumed found. Despite finding myself full of rage at the attitudes of the characters and a deeply flawed system, this was a thoroughly captivating read.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth: Hepworth is known for her deeply complex, domestic thrillers and Mad Mabel effortlessly slides into this category. Readers are introduced to 81-year old Elsie, who is brought into the limelight when she stumbles upon the body of a dead neighbour, and it is consequently revealed that Elsie is known around the world as ‘Mad Mabel’ the youngest Australian to have ever been convicted of murder. Written very much as a character study, the novels moves across timelines to explore Mabel’s past and Elsie’s present, with readers attempting to piece together what actually happened both then and now. As with Hepworth’s other novels, this is not a light read and woven amongst the suburban thriller are topics worthy of the deeper exploration they are afforded. If you haven’t yet picked this one up, then you should absolutely do so.