Tag: thriller

A review of Blood Secret by Jaye Ford

From start to finish, the writing remains taut and powerful. Ford rarely slows the pace with overt description, but the scene setting is done brilliantly through the eyes of the characters, combined with action.

A review of Who Is Alice? By Miranda Manning

Thrillers have a hook to grab the reader’s attention and page-turning action which this novel has. More. There are legal intrigues in here where our main characters take on big business and politicians in the courts to fight for the right to have adverse possession, which relate to squatters’ rights. It’s rare to find a story of social work so thoroughly researched yet easily put over. Rare to find an almost chick lit ease of reading with so many female leads but with grit and tension.

A review of Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Ms. Carlson’s debut novel, Full Blooded, is refreshing and dynamic; this is the first time that I’ve been inside the head of a female werewolf, and I love the way the wolf is characterized as a separate entity from Jessica, the fundamentally-human, who is trying to get a grip on her change, the ramifications of what she’s become, and this blasted animal in her head who keeps nudging into her consciousness and demanding ridiculous things, like eating people and jumping the hottest guy in the room.

A review of The Girl in the Basement by Dianne Bates

I read a lot of books and the downside of this is that it’s rare to find one that hooks me so completely that I feel I’m living it. This is one such story. Not since, Stephen King’s, Misery, have I cared so much about the fate of a character. Part of the reason is that this story isn’t entirely fiction. It’s on our television screens and in our newspapers.

Interview with Koethi Zan

The author of The Never List talks about the inspiration for her new book, the relationship between real life news events and her work, why she became a writer, her own ‘never list’, her favourite female character in fiction, her research, her perfect writing place, and more.

A review of The Start Of Everything By Emily Winslow

The Start of Everything provides a generous helping of plot twists and turns, causing the reader to question virtually every theory they may construct as to the responsible party. Through this novel, Winslow raises the point that not everyone may be as they seem—there may be a touch of psychosis lurking right below the calmest of surfaces.

A review of The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan

The Unknown Terrorist is being sold as a Trojan Horse of a thriller masquerading the seriousness of the societal critique it provides, but even that statement is a Trojan Horse. At the core of this novel is a nihilism so bleak, that it makes even the horror of the terrorist act, of murder and suicide, seem minor in comparison. It’s almost the complete opposite of the joyous affirmative humour which underpins Gould’s Book of Fish, and except for the occasional forays into stunning prose, it’s hard to believe this is the same author.