✨School Holidays at the Berri Library ✨
Book Reviews
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Au Revoir by Mary Moody
Reviewed by Sue Fisher on October 29, 2014
This is quite an old title, but sometimes an “oldy” is a goody ! This is a true story, more suited for our mature female readers, who can fully understand after a career, marriage, children, then grandchildren, women tend to lose their true “selves”. A …
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Year published: 2001
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child
Reviewed by Pete for ABC 1062 A Novel Idea radio segment on May 10, 2013
For those of you that haven’t read any Lee Child before, get ready for full on He-man sort of action. By that I mean, Lee Child writes about an ex. military policeman called Jack Reacher. Now Jack Reacher is the sort of guy you don’t want to mess wit …
Publisher: Bantam Press
Year published: 2007
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
Blood Safari by Deon Meyer
Reviewed by Pete on May 10, 2013
Blood Safari is an exciting adventure thriller by South African author Deon Meyer. The story is about a personal bodyguard called Lemmer, who is hired to look after a Emma Le Roux, a beautiful marketing brand consultant. Emma needs protecting because she has recently been attacked after seeing her long dead brother ‘alive’ on the TV news. She is convinced that the attack is related to her brother somehow and it seems like her phone report to her local police station may have triggered it somehow?
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year published: 2009
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10 -
Dead Man’s Land by Robert Ryan
Reviewed by Pete for ABC 1062 A Novel Idea radio segment on February 21, 2013
This is a great historical murder mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick Dr Watson as the hero trying to solve some particularly nasty murders amidst the chaos and mayhem of the battlefields of France during the early years of World War I.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year published: 2013
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10 -
Hell to Pay by Garry Disher
Reviewed by Pete Ison on November 5, 2014
Garry Disher is a great Aussie writer who I have read previously. He usually writes police procedurals or mysteries and sets them in a fair dinkum Aussie setting, for instance his Inspector Hal Challis novels are all about a cop working on Victoria’s M …
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10
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Last Tango in Toulouse by Mary Moody
Reviewed by Sue Fisher on November 4, 2014
This is Mary’s sequel to ‘Au Revoir’. Life for Mary Moody becomes even more complicated. She is still restless, even though many changes are occurring. The family shift from their much loved house and garden of 25 years in the Blue Mountains to take up …
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Year published: 2003
Reviewers rating: 7 out of 10 -
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
Reviewed by Peg Germein on November 19, 2014
Australian author Brooke Davis’ first novel ‘Lost and found’ encompasses themes of mental illness, love, death and grief, and features acts of violence with an artificial leg, an unconventional love story, and a seven year old girl with a diary of dead …
Publisher: Hatchette Australia
Year published: 2014
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10 -
Nightingale by Fiona McIntosh
Reviewed by Merridy on December 3, 2014
Fiona McIntosh’s latest book is another great story and history lesson rolled together. I like this format, as many do; its always good to learn something new when we read and to extend our understanding about a particular subject or event in history. …
Publisher: Penguin
Year published: 2014
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
Tapestry by Fiona McIntosh
Reviewed by Merridy on October 24, 2014
The key to her future is trapped in her past…. If you enjoyed Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series you will love this! Set in 1978, Jane Granger is engaged to a handsome American when fate steps in and alters her world. Her shock and grief trigger a time …
Publisher: Harper Collins
Year published: 2014
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10 -
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith
Reviewed by Pete Ison on October 7, 2014
Arkady Renko is a famous investigator that some of you may remember if you have read the book or seen the movie GorkyPark? Gorky Park was obviously set in Communist era but this is the new Russia, steeped in corruption and secrecy. Arkady and his alcoh …
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10
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The Affair by Lee Child
Reviewed by Pete for ABC 1062 A Novel Idea radio segment on November 17, 2011
A great read in the tradition of classic Lee Child. If you like crime thrillers then this ones for you. The story is gripping, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, some great characters including Deveraux, Gruber and Munro and a bit or romance!
Publisher: Bantam Press
Year published: 2011
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
The Art Lover by Andromeda Romano-Lax
Reviewed by Merridy Rady on March 17, 2013
The backdrop of this novel is World War Two in 1938 and Adolf Hitler’s quest to amass a collection of Europe’s great art works. The young art lover Ernst Vogler is sent on a mission for the Sonderprojekte, to deliver a magnificent statue from Rome to …
Publisher: Murdoch Books
Year published: 2012
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty
Reviewed by Narelle, ABC 1062 on June 14, 2012
A great police procedural book that to me, after reading some of Adrian McKinty’s other books, is almost a coming of age for him as a writer. The book has a bit of humour that McKinty is famous for, some sideline romance, plenty of detective work and a sprinkling of action. Something for everyone. All in all a great book if you like crime based fiction.
Year published: 2012
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10 -
The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin
Reviewed by Bronwen Wade, ABC 1062 on September 23, 2010
Charlie’s fixation with his one pair of shoes – good shoes were expensive and hard to get, and while being force marched as a prisoner in the Polish snow sometimes meant the difference between life and death. So after the war, Charlie still spends a little time each day caring for his shoes and thinks about the sort terrain he is going to walk over before the fact and how much wear and tear this will inflict on his shoes!
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10
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The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris
Reviewed by Jessica Swann, ABC 1062 on March 1, 2012
If you are fan of English crime then this is the book for you. I have read some Stuart MacBride, (another Scottish crime writer with a hint of humour in his writing and liked them) now I have found a new crime author to sink my teeth into. I will definitely be reading his earlier books and the new Brodie book when it is released later this year.
Publisher: Platypus
Year published: 2011
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10 -
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Reviewed by Peg Germein on November 26, 2014
Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s “The language of flowers” could easily have been a fairly ordinary ‘nice’ romantic novel if the author had wanted to take an easy writing route. Instead, she has tossed in some ‘weeds’ – dysfunctional families, child abuse and ars …
Publisher: Random House
Year published: 2014
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Stedman
Reviewed by Merridy Rady on March 17, 2013
M.L. Stedman has written a captivating first novel. The evocative setting on a lighthouse island off the coast of Western Australia sets the scene for an intriguing drama where decisions made in a moment, lead to tragic and devastating consequences.
Publisher: Random House Australia
Year published: 2012
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10 -
The Long Hot Summer by Mary Moody
Reviewed by Sue Fisher on November 10, 2014
Third in the series following ‘Au Revoir’ and ‘The Last Tango in Toulouse’. The drought, another affair and a grandchild born with a rare chromosomal disorder are just a few difficult and harrowing experiences Mary encounters in this book! Before Mary …
Reviewers rating: 7 out of 10
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The Martian by Andy Weir
Reviewed by Pete Ison on June 15, 2014
Before any of you turn off when I say the word Science Fiction, just be aware that this story is essentially a human survival story that just happens to be set on the planet Mars in the not too distant future! Stay with me here, because it’s a pretty g …
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10
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The restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer
Reviewed by Merridy Rady on November 19, 2014
Nigel Packer’s first novel is an exploration of growing old and the gentle reflection of a life well lived. Otto Laird has enjoyed notoriety as an influential architect throughout the sixties, building landmark structures that set the pace for change a …
Publisher: Hatchette Australia
Year published: 2014
Reviewers rating: 8 out of 10 -
The Wreckage by Michael Robotham
Reviewed by Jessica Swann, ABC 1062 on May 26, 2011
This is a fantastic story which keeps you gripped to your seat. You just don’t want to put it down until you have finished it – much like his other books. Some of the old favourite characters reappear like clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin and Ruiz’s daughter and ex wife. One thing you can be sure off, both Vincent Ruiz and Luca Terracini will keep hunting for the truth no matter what it takes!
Year published: 2011
Reviewers rating: 10 out of 10 -
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer
Reviewed by Bronwen Wade, ABC 1062 on October 28, 2010
Although the detective Benny Griessel has appeared ion some of Deon Meyer’s other books, you do not have to have read them to pick up and enjoy this fantastic murder mystery. A ripper of a read that I strongly recommend if you are fan of crime novels and want to read something different.
Year published: 2010
Reviewers rating: 9 out of 10