Category Archives: Geoffrey McGeachin (Aus)

Aussie Authors Update #4

Posted on by

My reviews of Aussie crime fiction are published exclusively at my other blog, Fair Dinkum Crime, which I co-host with fellow Australian blogger and crime fiction fan Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise. But I like to do an occasional wrap-up of my Aussie crime fiction reads here at Reactions to Reading

THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL by Geoffrey McGeachin

Synopsis: It’s two years since the end of the second World War and Charlie Berlin has returned to Australia, having been a bomber pilot in Europe then a POW in Poland, and is still haunted by things he saw and did. Upon returning to work as a Detective Constable in Melbourne he is sent to rural Victoria, on the border with New South Wales, to investigate a spate of armed robberies, the latest of which resulted in a paymaster being badly injured. He arrives in town to be greeted by a young constable, Rob Roberts, who will drive him around (and report back to the local Sergeant who is not entirely happy to have someone from the city on his turf) and the two form a complementary team of investigators with Charlie supplying the experience and Roberts providing the local knowledge.

Review summary: The historical aspects of the novel are extremely well done; feeling authentic through the use of interesting details but not overblown with evidence of the author’s research. McGeachin has done a first rate job in the crowded space of fiction dealing with the horrors of returning from war, capturing both the universal truths that are associated with the experiences and the peculiarly Australian, somewhat laconic way of dealing with the nightmares and other repercussions. The characters are nicely drawn and the crime solving is subtle but believable, hinging on Charlie’s methods of getting to know the place and its people so that the culprit will virtually reveal themselves.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime, My rating 4/5 Since I posted this review The Diggers Rest Hotel was awarded the 2011 Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

THE WONDER OF SELDOM SEEN by J D Cregan

Synopsis: Tells the story of Miles Jordan, a Melbourne-based author who wrote an award-winning book some years earlier but has been unable to recreate his success. Now his marriage is over and he’s broke so Miles is leaving Melbourne, in his beat-up old car and with his trusty dog Roley by his side, for a new life. He doesn’t get too far before he is offered a job and a roof over his head at a Lakes Entrance caravan park. There he enters into an ill-advised affair with the park owner’s wife and when that scenario looks like it could be dangerous for both of them Miles again moves on, this time ending up in the tiny village of Seldom Seen in Victoria’s high country. While Miles starts to settle in his new surroundings he doesn’t know that he has become a suspect in a murder that took place back in Lakes Entrance but his past does end up catching up with him.

Review Summary: The book mixes up the sub genres and is not a slave to the conventions of any. It has a very strong sense of place, a collection of local characters believably drawn and I enjoyed the book’s mixture of light hearted whimsy and dramatic moments.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 3/5 stars.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

RIP OFF by Kel Robertson

Synopsis: The third book to feature fifth generation Chinese-Australian policeman Brad Chen. As the novel opens Chen is due to return to his job with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) after being on extended leave but he is called into service a few days early when a bizarre series of killings occurs across the country. In Perth then Adelaide several people are murdered in a similar fashion and their connection seems to be the fact that they had something to do with a large-scale financial fraud which left many ‘mum and dad’ investors penniless.

Review Summary:  I now know just enough about Brad Chen to want to go back and learn about his earlier cases. As well as being a wholly believable character he’s also an interesting mix of traits, having played footy at the highest level and now completing his PhD thesis and being one of the most dedicated house cleaners I’ve ever read about. I love the way Robertson depicts Chen dealing with the racism he encounters too. I recommend RIP OFF widely, especially if you’re after a ripper tale, like a laugh or love to revel in the joy of a beautifully constructed sentence.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime. 4/5 stars

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

THE OTTOMAN MOTEL by Christopher Currie

Synopsis: Simon Sawyer is 11 years old when he and his parents travel to Reception, a small town on the east coast of Australia, to visit Simon’s grandmother who the family have been estranged from for some years. On the advice of one of the locals Simon’s parents decide to do some sightseeing before their visit to grandma and Simon stays at their motel by himself. He dozes off when he wakes at 10:00pm that night he realises his parents have not returned and he soon learns that no one has seen them since the afternoon. He is taken in by a widowed B&B owner who has an odd collection of family and guests.

Review summary: There’s a real sinister mood to the novel as readers are introduced to a succession of gloomy characters such as the ageing and secretive crab fisherman, the guilt-ridden policewoman, the widowed B&B owner and his peculiar children. Simon is believably drawn, capturing the mixture of burgeoning independence and fear at possibly being all alone in the world quite beautifully. A solid debut novel and will be keen to read more from its young author.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 3.5/5 stars

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

THE DONOR by Helen Fitzgerald

Synopsis: The Donor has a simple, though hideous, premise. Will Marion’s twin teenage daughters, Georgie and Kay, both develop a rare genetically inherited kidney disease. They will die without each having a transplant and Will is desperate for a solution but what is the right one? Should he find their mother? Try his parents? Donate one of his own kidneys? But to which daughter? How far would a man go to save his children?

Review Summary: I read the book in a single afternoon which is due in equal parts to its short (at least these days) length of around 60,000 words and the compelling nature of the story. The very ordinariness of the people and their situation is easy (and therefore terrifying) to identify with and you can’t help but turn one more page to find out what will happen.  The presence of a vaguely surreal sense of humour throughout saves the book from being anywhere near the maudlin, ‘misery-lit’ category so popular in some literary circles.

The full review is at Fair Dinkum Crime 4/5 stars

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Aussie Authors Update #1
Aussie Authors Update #2
Aussie Authors Update #3

Books of the Month – August 2011

Posted on by

August wasn’t a good month for my reading, at least numerically. I only finished 8 books for the month and I normally make it well into double digits :( Generally reading is my ‘go-to’ form of relaxation but for the last several weeks I have not been able to settle to much reading at all. Life and its ups and downs has gotten in the way a little more than usual but I can’t really put my finger on why I have been so easily distracted away from reading. I expect things will pick up soon. If not I’ll give myself a good, stern talking to.

I do have a great book of the month to recommend though. I read Stan Jones‘ White Sky, Black Ice for the global reading challenge and it was a thorough treat. Set in a small Alaskan town the book features an investigation into two deaths that locals first attribute to suicide. I was a little worried that the book might be a bit ‘worthy’ in the way it tackled the delicate matter of the issues facing Alaska’s indigenous population but I found it refreshingly honest and intelligent. A jolly good mystery and a warmth to the characters rounded out the experience nicely. 4.5 stars.

Other recommended reads from the month’s haul are:

Burned by Thomas Enger: A Norwegiean journalist returns to work after 2 years absence due to some traumatic personal experiences and is immediately thrust into reporting on a high-profile case in which a young student has been brutally murdered. The debut novel had its problems, most notably with increasingly outlandish plotting, but the author shows promise and there was a real credibility about the depiction of journalism and the disparity between what we (the public) say we want from our media and what our behaviour shows that we will actually read. 3 stars.

Rip Off by Kel Robertson: An Australian book where someone is killing participants in various dodgy financial schemes that have ripped off mum and dad investors and Inspector Brad Chen of the Australian Federal Police has to solve the crime while battling jurisdictional tantrums and a general public who think the murderer should be given a medal (not stopped). It’s funny, cleverly written and delightfully playful with the genre’s conventions. 4 stars.

The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin: This is a wonderful piece of Australian historical crime fiction set just after the end of WW2. Charlie Berlin is a returned soldier still coming to grips with his war time experiences as he rejoins the police in Melbourne and is then sent to investigate a series of robberies in rural Victoria. The book’s atmosphere is absorbing and feels very authentic, the characters are insightful and the mystery well-crafted. I gave the book 4 stars and the Ned Kelly Awards judges went even further, awarding it Best Crime Fiction Book for 2011 in a ceremony held last night as part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival.

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg: To Sweden this time for a story surrounding the death of an 8 year old girl. I coined the phrase ‘the crime fiction you have when you’re not having crime fiction’ for this book (and its series) because there’s always a fair amount of other stuff going on. Here there are new parents dealing with post natal depression, various people uncovering secrets from their pasts and an abusive relationship simmering away in the background. The fictional Fjällbacka police aren’t the most competent force you’ll find either. But the book is well written and these emotional dramas are engaging because Lackberg makes readers care about the people she carefully introduces us to. 3.5 stars.

Written in Bone by Simon Beckett: the fact there is no link to a full review is no reflection on the book’s quality (merely of my level of distractedness lately). It tells the story of forensic anthropologist David Hunter who is called to the remote Hebridean island of Runa (Scotland) to assess whether or not a body that has been discovered was subject to death by natural causes or something more sinister. Nasty weather keeps David on the island and he becomes embroiled in the small community’s many secrets in this very atmospheric book. My eyes did start to boggle at the dead body pile-up but Beckett gets away with it due to superior writing and plotting skills. The narrator of the audio book, David Thorpe, was outstanding. 3.5 stars

Interestingly (?) all but one of these (Lackberg) are new to me authors. I love finding new authors to love.

The other two books I finished to round out the month were Nicci French’s Blue Monday and Lars Keplar’s The Hypnotist but for me these were meh reads so I’m going to waste no more bytes talking about them.

Other happenings at the blog

I shared my observations on cloud-based reading, having bought a cloud book via the booki.sh service last month. There were pros and cons and overall I decided I would try this type of reading again given the right circumstances. A week or so after I wrote the post Amazon announced its new cloud-based web app for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad) which will allow them to neatly skirt around Apple’s demand for 30% of all sales made via the Apple app store. I’ll try this app next time I’m reading a kindle book on my iPad just to compare the services (and because choice is a good thing innit?)

I wrote the first of what is supposed to be ten posts to celebrate women crime writers as it is the 25th anniversary of the US Sisters in Crime organisation this year. The challenge is being hosted here and if you aren’t going to participate you should at least follow the excellent wrap-ups from challenge master Barbara Fister as there are many wonderful books and writers being discussed. I talked about the female PI novel in my first post because they provided my introduction into crime writing by women (well as an adult anyway).

I’m not feeling very creative just now so no chart this month. Normal charty goodness will resume next month. Fingers crossed

Hopefully today’s delightful start to spring here in Australia (it was a gorgeous day AND I won a bottle of delicious cabernet from my local bookstore) will mean the reading gods smile upon me once more and I can get back to being lost in other worlds instead of staring distractedly around this one.

What about you…was August a good reading month? Did you have a favourite book? Or did you acquire anything you’re itching to read?