#JustFinished
She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie (Netgalley)
The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts by Robert Thorogood (audio version)
#CurrentlyReading
Shot by Shelley Burr (Netgalley)
#NextUp
Red River Road by Anna Downes (after a massive nudge from somebody whose opinions I value)
A Man Called Box by Tina Clough
The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee
The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney
The Birds Began to Sing by Jeffrey Buchanan
Devil Mountain by Inessa Jackson
The Informant by Christine Gregory
The Rising by Whitney Fitzsimmons
She Lied First
Sisters make the best flatmates ... except when they are both keeping terrible secrets.
The stunning new standalone psychological thriller from the author of the popular Detective Kate Miles series.
The dream apartment. The start of a grand adventure. And two lives that are about to unravel.
Devika is living her best life, moving out of home in her final year of university. Close to the beach and away from her mother. Independent and self-sufficient, just like Kalyani. There's just one awful secret that Kal can never find out about.
Kalyani has it made. A new job. A unit she can afford, and her little sister as her roomie. She's finally achieved the life she's always wanted. Except for the one big thing she's yet to confide in Devi. A truth that gets harder to reveal the longer she waits.
When their lives are torn apart by betrayal, and Kal refuses to forgive her sister, Devi must peel back everything she thought she knew to rediscover Kalyani, lie by lie and secret by secret.
She Lied First, Dinuka McKenzie
The first standalone psychological thriller from the author of the Detective Kate Miller series is compelling reading.
This statement might initially surprise some readers because there is much in the plot of She Lied First that could seem all a bit too murky, bordering on overblown. There is much to intrigue and bamboozle in this story told from a variety of viewpoints over a shifting timeline, littered with characters for whom keeping secrets is second nature.
Two young women, Devika (Devi) and Kalyani (Kal), meet and very quickly decide to flat-share together.
Kal and I ended up in a two-bedroom, ground-floor, yellow-brick seventies special, set at least five streets back from the ocean, and costing us a pretty penny for the privilege.
The scenario isn’t unheard of, but Kel has a clear motive behind the move which Devi is unaware of. By having the initial phases of the story told mostly from Devi’s viewpoint, there is the possibility that things are being skewed by a naive, spoilt young woman. Kal’s relating of her own story is equally self-involved, but with an intensity that is explained as her own life circumstances are revealed. Interspersed with occasional chapters from Kal’s boyfriend Nate and Devi’s mother Rupa, this feels initially like a tale about the extremes of youth – quick decisions, obsessions, deep reactions and emotions. Adding to that heightened emotional state, there is the shifting timeline that moves from mid to late 2024 (present), and back a few months into late 2023. There is a lot happening in those few short, sharp, confusing months. Devi’s consultation with her therapist sums it up:
‘You said you moved in together this year?’ He smiles encouragingly, willing me to take the conversational reins. ‘It sounds like you were close.’
Were close. I merely nod.
She Lied First is, first and foremost, an exploration of secrets, with everyone keeping something from somebody. They aren’t the sort of little secrets that people often indulge in to make for an easy life. These are big, explosive, dangerous, and ultimately life-changing things being kept knowingly from the people they most affect. A very early observation from Devi spells out how that feels:
These are the things I keep to myself: I lied, but she lied first. I hurt her. But she hurt me the most.
Given that Devi refers to Kal as her ‘sister’ right from the start of the novel, it would be fair for readers to assume that this is the case, both girls having shared Sri Lankan ancestry, but this is anything but a straightforward relationship.
Devi is a university student, an indulged only daughter of a wealthy, successful but absent father and lauded doctor, Sonny, and his wife Rupa, a smothering, controlling woman who will not let go of her daughter, no matter how hard Devi pushes back. A resident of the luxurious leafy Sydney suburbs, the move to a flat-share in Cronulla is a chance to strike out on her own, with funding provided by her father. Only there’s a secret she must keep from her new flatmate.
The only thing that mattered was that at nearly twenty-one, I was finally independent and living away from home with Kal.
Kal is the daughter of a single mother from Brisbane, with a tumultuous relationship with her mother’s neighbour, who was her main father figure growing up. The death of her mother precipitated the move to Sydney and work as a nurse in a major hospital, a chance to start over. And to think through how to find her unknown father. Only there’s a secret she must keep from her new flatmate.
I could offer the smaller room to Devi at a discounted rate, something she could manage with a part-time job. I needed to make this an attractive option for her, to lean into her hunger for independence.
The relationship between the two flatmates is unclear from the start, and remains that way for quite a while. The author has written the unexplained tension between them in a concisely controlled manner, waiting just the right amount of time between each reveal, ensuring that the reader is in for a disconcerting time, not helped by the unexplained use of the term ‘sister’, Nate’s own questionable background and motivations, and Rupa becoming increasingly odd about the flat-share arrangement. Bubbling away in the background is the state of Sonny and Rupa’s marriage, with Sonny living overseas, ostensibly to care for his ageing parents, a move that never feels right.
Meanwhile Devi’s first face-to-face meeting with Kal and Nate as a couple is an absolute bombshell. Nate aka Cash is somebody she already knows intimately.
Over her shoulder Nate caught my eye, an unmistakable flicker of warning in his gaze. He raised a finger to his lips, disguising it as a swipe. A quick movement meant only for me.
The problem is that Devi knows a lot more about Nate than he realises, and she’s worried enough to be prodding some dangerous old wounds.
The structure of the novel delivers a series of body blows to the reader. The multiple timelines make it feel at points like each narrator knows all too well what has happened and to whom. Which means the reader could be forgiven for thinking there’s not an honest, reliable person in this entire novel.
The distinct possibility of multiple unreliable narrators creates a minefield, especially given that, despite their flaws, failures, and deceptions, both Kal and Devi are unexpectedly sympathetic characters. Both have a form of emotional immaturity, although Devi’s is more obviously based in her background and the way she was raised. Which goes back to the emotional damage inflicted on Rupa, and on it goes.
Kal, despite a happier childhood with a loving mother, has never been able to move on from not knowing who her father is, and that quest becomes all-consuming.
The way the houses of cards eventually collapse is chilling. A death, which may be accidental, may be more sinister, eventually forces all these secrets out into the open. DNA testing gets involved, the police are called, truths outed, and more deceptions constructed as the characters left alive start scrambling once again for control. Which is fleeting at best, and likely to be even more damaging in the long run.
A masterclass in psychological trauma and damage presented as a very unusually structured thriller, She Lied First is engrossing, disturbing and utterly compelling.
The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts
Someone is killing celebrities in Marlow! When footballer Gary Wise and thriller writer Tony Sexton are found dead, Judith, Suzie, and Becks (AKA The Marlow Murder Club) must untangle a web of blackmail and scandal to find the killer. But with their friend and police contact, DI Malik, suspended from duty, and Judith’s own past catching up with her, The Marlow Murder Club find themselves on their own for the first time ever.
With suspects piling up like tabloid headlines, and someone threatening to expose Judith’s secrets, the pressure is on for The Marlow Murder Club in more ways than one … Can they find the killer and help Judith in time, or will this be the end of The Marlow Murder Club?
Shot
A murder is witnessed by thousands, but who pulled the trigger?
Dahlia and Duncan Crews are rich, famous, glamorous - they share their lifestyle and picture-perfect family with hundreds of thousands of online subscribers. The Crews have it all - until they don't. Shot dead in the middle of a livestream, the couple's teenage daughter, Karma, is the sole survivor. And the prime suspect.
Years later, disgraced true-crime vlogger Jennifer Benedetta is hired to film a cold-case documentary on the unsolved Crews family murders. It's the chance she needs to salvage her reputation, but there's a catch: prove Karma Crews innocent. But something - or someone - is lurking just off camera, and the closer Jennifer gets to the truth, the further she is from safety. Who is watching? And how far will they go to remain unseen?
Cold River
Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly . . .
Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria’s high country. But there’s something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up Mount Viking, that’s not sitting right with her.
Louis was an aspiring journalist, researching the illegal tobacco trade – also known as chop chop – that was once so prevalent in the area. And the last person he interviewed before his hike has just met a gruesome end . . .
But with no other leads, and with the search winding down, Sally is forced to accept the young man died in a tragic accident.
Until she learns of another missing person case that bears striking similarities. Astrid Marlowe, a young lawyer, vanished in the same mountains two years before.
Were Louis and Astrid simply unlucky hikers lost in the treacherous terrain? Or did they both stumble into something – or someone – they shouldn’t?
Choppy Water
A woman's body is found in a laundry cart aboard the Silver Lady cruise ship. Management says it was a freak accident and her death is quickly covered up, so as not to spoil the voyage for the passengers.
Cesar Cain doesn't want to get involved. He boarded the Silver Lady to disappear. If the cops find him, he's in a cell. If the Hell's Hounds catch him, he's in a grave.
But it's March 2020, and the borders are slamming shut. Cesar soon discovers that the woman wasn't the first victim - and with the ship suddenly quarantined and unable to dock anywhere, she won't be the last ...
Something He Did
In the gridlocked heart of Melbourne, a split-second of road rage changes everything. For one driver, the crash is a bizarre stroke of luck that sets their life on an upward trajectory they never thought possible. For the other, it is the first domino to fall in a terrifying downward spiral.
Detective Sergeant Claudia Russo doesn't care about the insurance claims—she’s focussed on the search for a missing eighteen-year-old girl. But the girl’s father, a man defined by entitlement and influence, is playing a dangerous game. He’s more afraid of his own double life being exposed than he is of his daughter never coming home. Claudia has secrets too: she’s grieving a tragic loss of her own and losing control of an on-the-job romance that threatens to unravel everything she has worked so hard for.
As all their fates become more entwined, the lesson must be learned: Be kind. Or suffer the consequences.
Donkey Drop
It's 1999. Joel likes suburban life just fine: dole cheques rolling in, hanging out with his best mate, and the future comfortably on hold.
That is, until he lands a job at a smash repair shop.
Under the wing of a charismatic car thief, he learns panel beating, discovers pride in his work, and enters a world of responsibility, risk, and unspoken rules.
When a reckless decision involving a stolen car goes wrong, Joel is left with guilt he can’t outrun.
As pressure from work and the people he has begun to care about closes in, he is forced to confront the cost of loyalty and the uneasy truth about the person he is becoming.
Donkey Drop is a gritty Australian coming-of-age novel about friendship, consequences, and the choices that stay with us long after they’re made.
Red River Road
On the Coral Coast of Western Australia, solo traveller Katy is on a mission to find her free-spirited sister, Phoebe, who disappeared along the same route a year ago. But as she drives her campervan further into the wild north, Katy realises she's not as alone as she'd first believed. Soon she is pulled into a complicated web of secrets, lies, myths and stories that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her sister.
In this nerve-shredding outback thriller, our obsessions with freedom and beauty collide with our fear of what lies in the wilderness, and the truth behind Phoebe's disappearance proves stranger and darker than Katy could ever have guessed...
A Man Called Box
Sam thought the worst part of living alone was the loneliness. She was wrong.
When a hunted man arrives on her doorstep late one night and asks for sanctuary, she agrees to hide him and to not call the police. The mention of a cabal of corruption is enough to convince her to do what he asks.
A decision based on compassion, which will soon change her life, force her to abandon everything and flee to avoid being killed.
But hiding and leading a lonely, anonymous life locks Sam into a situation she cannot resolve.
Thomas, searching for his long lost sister, finds a fugitive living alone in the mountains. Two stubborn people surrounded by danger and distrust, in a situation where one misstep will get them killed.
Who can you turn to if even police can’t be trusted? And who is the man called Box?
The Writers Retreat
A wickedly twisty and atmospheric thriller set at a writers' retreat in the South of France, The Writers Retreat is Knives Out meets Anna Downes’ The Safe Place from an exciting new voice in the thriller/mystery space.
Welcome to The Writers Retreat – a creative haven for writers to hone their plotlines and sharpen their characters while soaking up the Provençal atmosphere. But this year’s retreat offers something different, as real-life blurs with fiction, and suspense isn't contained to the page.
Kat Hale is a bestselling Australian author crumbling under the pressure of writing her second novel. On a whim, she has fled to a writers retreat in the South of France run by internationally acclaimed author Helen Thorne. What Kat hopes will be two blissfully uninterrupted weeks to focus on her writing in anonymity quickly turns into something more sinister, when Kat begins to suspect that Helen isn't quite as perfect as everyone seems to believe.
Will Kat’s drive to uncover the truth about Helen be any match for Helen’s desire to hold onto her career, her reputation and her writing retreat, or is Kat at risk of falling victim to a more dangerous climax?
The Good Father
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with rich, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly community in a picture-postcard town.
Until, one day, Bonnie the labrador comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone - the only trace left behind is a single black sandal.
Their lives don't fall apart immediately. While there's still hope, they dig deep and try to carry on.
But as desperation mounts, arms around shoulders become fingers pointed - at friends, family, strangers, each other. Without any answers, only questions remain. Who can they trust? How far will they go to find out what happened to Rory?
And the deadliest question of what could be worse than your child disappearing?
When the truth begins to emerge, they find themselves in a world they could barely have imagined.
The Birds Began to Sing
In the harbour city of New Plymouth in the 1960s there’s a fizz of seedy sexuality beneath a veneer of respectability. Godfrey’s world is the Balmoral Hotel his parents own, where visiting sailors drink and local fringe-dwellers congregate.
When Reggie, the openly gay barman, goes missing Godfrey senses something sinister. There’s a prevailing attitude of inevitability. Godfrey doesn’t get it, but he’s hungry to understand. Guided by his daytime-television and pulp-fiction detective heroes and a very active imagination, he attempts to solve the mystery—in the process stumbling into his own sexual adventures and discovering a new-found power in a perplexing adult world.
Out on the Ice
One brief but tragic moment out on a frozen Reykjavík lake changes Sóley’s life forever. Now, looking back on the last twenty-three years of her life, she attempts to make sense of it all. The tears, the pain and the lives lost along the way.
No one ever told her bringing up a son all on her own would be easy but not in her wildest dreams did she imagine it might be so hard.
Together Jakob and her have walked alone through the worst that Iceland could throw at them and now she’s here to tell you her tale.
Lit
What would you do if someone you knew came back from the dead?
Gin is an architect on the brink. LIT, the Auckland-based practice she shares with her girlfriend, Clary, has been precarious since their third partner – Clary’s ex, Billy – disappeared, presumed dead.
Now, several years later, LIT’s financial problems and Gin’s personal debts are snowballing. Clary – emotionally fragile since the disappearance – is growing increasingly remote and elusive. When Gin begins to be haunted by glimpses of Billy, she blames stress and guilt. But could he be back, threatening to expose the past?
Trapped in a web of secrecy and betrayal, Gin’s downward spiral gathers force as she begins to suspect her paranoia hides an even more shocking truth – one that will send her whole life up in flames.
This stunning debut literary-suspense novel from award-winning writer Anna Woods explores the insidious charm of those who gaslight us, and examines the blurry line between love and control.
Devil Mountain
A wickedly dark police procedural with a hint of the supernatural, this crime novel is Dinuka McKenzie meets The Bluffs.
When Detective Sergeant Anastasia Brown is sent to investigate a grizzly murder in a small NSW town, she welcomes the chance to run from heartbreak and humiliation. But she quickly discovers that this is no ordinary murder. A popular doctor's body has been found on the mountain, chained and burned, with arcane symbols carved into the soles of his feet - and the boy who found him swears he saw a ghost lingering in the trees.
Is this a clever killer with a flair for the macabre? Or the work of an elusive Wiccan coven that worships on the mountain? Or, even stranger, are the local murmurs of the mountain being haunted more than just folklore??
As the investigation grows ever murkier, Ana realises that everyone in town has a secret… and some are deadly.
The Informant
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing ...
The town of Hopeville is thrown into chaos when the body of Silas Ziccone, president of the notorious bikie gang the Outcasts,is found next to his abandoned car on a dirt road. Evidence suggests Silas was not alone when he was murdered, but there are no witnesses and the locals aren’t talking. When Silas’s son Anton steps into his role determined to get revenge on those responsible police fear an all-out bikie war.
Journalist Lars Nilsson is writing a book on outlaw motorcycle clubs and is sent by his former editor to cover the story. Police warn Lars to stay away, but undeterred he pursues a lead that takes him into the centre of the gang rivalry.
With debts to pay and a teenage son to raise alone, all Silas’s girlfriend Ashley wants is to escape to Western Australia and start afresh but Anton is keeping her close. There’s one person who may be able to help her get out but when your whole life’s a lie, how do you know who’s telling the truth?
The Informant is a simmering crime thriller that gives a window into the world of outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime and police corruption that will keep readers gripped until the heart-stopping end.
The Rising
In a town scarred by floodwaters, the past refuses to stay buried.
When a catastrophic flood rips through the rural town of Birradurra, a shocking cold case is discovered. Unearthed from the mud are the skeletal remains of a baby.
Shaken by this and haunted by her traumatic past, journalist Bec Carter is consumed with getting justice for the victim.
But when her friend Harry who vowed to help with the investigation vanishes in violent circumstances, authorities look to Bec for answers.
Now the prime suspect in Harry’s disappearance, Bec must fight to clear her name and uncover the facts before another flood hits.
But nothing is straightforward, and someone will do anything to keep the past from resurfacing.
Twisty, atmospheric and utterly gripping, The Rising is a heart-stopping thriller where every secret comes with a cost — and some truths are better left hidden.
Nothing Personal
Theft. Extortion. Dinner with Dad.
Lola McKenzie never wanted to steal from her dodgy boss.
But she also never wanted to be stuck in a dead-end job, paying off her dad’s debts.
So when she sees a bag of cash sitting around unattended at work, she figures it’s time to make life a little easier. Only, the next day her boss is missing, presumed dead – and it won’t take a genius to figure out Lola is involved.
Turns out that Lola’s pinched more than a bag of cash … nestled at the bottom of the bag was a USB drive that could be either a curse or an opportunity.
Lola doesn’t know what’s on it, only that it’s important enough for the local cops and the local crooks to come looking for it.
Is it a magnet for trouble? Or her ticket out of the hard life? All she has to do is figure out a way to sell it to the highest bidder without revealing her identity.
Should be easy, right?
A Divine Fury
Florence. Autumn, 1539.
Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back – but demoted to night patrol, when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets.
Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives.
When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence. Watching. Hunting. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike again . . .
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