Books

Have any Blitzers read J. P. Pomare and have an opinion on his writing?

A Kiwi living in Australia, he has released seven or eight thriller/mystery/crime books now.

Yeah…some of it is OK, some a smidge disturbing. I rate his mood as being like Bergmoser.

He’s not one I rush to buy a new release. There was one where a mother was anxiously waiting for her son to come home with the lockdown curfew approaching, that had an interesting twist.

Just finished the latest Rebus where a prisoner is murdered in his cell and a prison officer suspected. All the usual characters…Rebus, Siobhan Clarke, Christine Esson and the obnoxious, devious Malcolm Fox. Too many spoilers for earlier books if I say any more.

And on Audible, getting through Precipice by Robert Harris about the early stages of WW1 with the little known Prime Minister, HH Asquith, and his factual relationship with the 27-year-old Lady Venesia Stanley. Asquith was married to the more famous Margot Asquith who was involved in the byplay with Jean Harlow, who called her Mar-got. I’m sorry, Jean, the T is silent as in Har-lot.

Now onto The Waiting, the latest Bosch/Ballard novel by Michael Connelly, whose third series of The Lincoln Lawyer has just dropped on Netflix.

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Just finished The Trees a novel by Percival Everett… fantastic read! A mystery set in a place called Money, Mississippi. It is told in present time but has its roots in historical to present day murders of black Americans. It is gruesome, shocking and confronting but also laugh out loud funny!

Did you see the twist coming?

And @Darli - have you had a chance to read ‘The Valley’ yet?

I have! Loved it.

Am now reading again because I feel like I missed alot if the nuance first time

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Just finished Connelly’s latest, The Waiting. Renée Ballard is still running the LAPD Open/Unsolved Unit with Harry Bosch’s daughter, Maddie, moonlighting as an assistant from her main job as a patrol officer. She’s told of an expired storage unit that had some disturbing photos in it, photos leading to hints about the most famous unsolved murder in LA.

Harry gets called in to help Renée on another case with terrible implications.

And there’s another case where familial DNA points to a judge as a rapist-murderer from 25 years ago.

All in all. A damn good read.

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Absolutely didn’t, I thought the twist was going to be one thing and then it totally blew me away, had to go back and skim the book again after I’d finished to see all the hints I’d missed.

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Just knocked over Benjamin Stevenson’s latest effort, a shorter than usual “holiday read” titled ‘Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret’.

Again featuring the intrepid amateur sleuth and narrator Ernest Cunningham, a murder of a stage magician puts several colleagues under suspicion. Ernest investigates and the story involves such Yuletide traditions as the Advent calendar and Secret Santa.

As usual, it’s an entertaining and enjoyable outing, although probably not quite as good as his previous couple of books. 7.5 - 8/10

I’ve just knocked over a couple, both of which outside my usual preference.

The Call by Gavin Strawhan set south of Auckland with the main players being Det Sgt Honey Chalmers who was working an informant on a drug gang, Kloe, They were found out and Honey badly beaten and Kloe disappeared, presumed dead. Honey went back to her hometown to recuperate, and the search for her and Kloe went on. Not bad.

The second was way outside my usual. Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne, a Melbourne police officer. She’d written Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, which I quite enjoyed. Joy is “mother” to identical twin daughters, Cassie and Andie, who are about to turn 21 and whom Joy tells are set to return to the year 2050. She’s home-schooled them and kept them under control as they work in Joy’s laundrette in Bonbeach. It’s interesting to think how naive the girls are, particularly Cassie who believes everything Joy says. But on the night they’re due to return to the future, Joy is found dead. Very quirky, but I enjoyed it.

And now on When It Rains by Dave Warner (from the suburbs). Again, based on Dan Clement, the sergeant from Broome. And ■■■■ is going down. Bashing of a cop, rape, then discovery of a girl tied in a river to be killed by a croc.

And on Audible, Opal by Patricia Wolf. A million-dollar opal has been found, or has it?

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I’ve had a similar experience after my daughter gave me some Liane Moriarty books.

Although they’re probably derided by some as “chick-lit”, I found them engaging enough to keep reading as the stories unfold very slowly and build up to the big reveal.

The ones that she passed on to me are ‘Big Little Lies’, ‘The Husband’s Secret’, Truly Madly Guilty’ and ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’.

I believe that some of these have been adapted for TV/movies. A solid 7.5/10 for me.

I recently had a crack at Dave Warner’s debut novel. Couldn’t finish it as the plot and the number of characters did my head in.

Was that City of Light? That was essentially about the Connell, Bond years of corruption in WA. Carmen Lawrence would have been happy because her counterpart was a sexy Italian lady.

Some of his early stuff (from the 80s/90s) is very different from his modern stuff.

Yes, it was. I knew he was utilising some of the colourful identities Perth used to specialise in, but it got a bit too convoluted for my smooth brain I guess.

When It Rains is a rollicking read - revenge, beating cops, nutcases, born-agains, people eaten by crocodiles.

All through The Kimberley.

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