The July Crime Review
These are the crime books which have been read and reviewed by our excellent booksellers this month – all in one place!
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Reviewed by Aurelia Orr from Readings Kids
Set in the affluent neighbourhood of Hemlock Circle, New Jersey, a group of families surround each other in a cul-de-sac, closely bound together like a ribcage. Every Friday for the summer, best friends Ethan and Billy camp out in Ethan’s backyard. There should have been nothing different this time. But in the morning, Ethan awakes to find Billy gone, taken in the middle of the night, no trace of foul play, except for a tear in the tent. For 30 years, Ethan has been haunted by the single, screeching sound of a knife cutting through the tent, and the guilt he’s carried his whole life of not seeing who took Billy. How had they taken him so quietly? Why hadn’t Ethan woken up?
But when the remains of a 10-year-old boy are found in the woods by Hemlock Circle, Ethan and all the children of the neighbourhood, now grown adults, must finally confront what happened that dreadful night 30 years ago, and unleash all the secrets kept long buried. What they all got up to in the woods the day Billy went missing; the strange man seen scouring the neighbourhood just one day before Billy’s abduction; the mysterious Hawthorne Institute secluded in the woods, and the experiments they performed there; and Billy’s interest in all things supernatural and occult, particularly communicating with ghosts.
In this bone-chilling and harrowing mystery, our deepest fears come true. There are the questions that inevitably come afterwards, and the answers and closure we sometimes never get at all. The Last House on Needless Street meets Stranger Things, Middle of the Night will keep you long awake, have you double-checking you locked your doors, and looking out the window for fear that something, or someone, may be watching you back.
Storm Child by Michael Robotham
Reviewed by Julia Jackson, assistant manager of Readings Carlton
2023 felt weird for many reasons, but mainly, for me anyway, because Michael Robotham didn’t release a new book! Thankfully, that wait is over, and now we can all get our hands on Cyrus and Evie #4. Like all of Robotham’s books, this one deserves to be read in one sitting. That’s right, readers, turn off your phone. Pretend you’re not home. It is no exaggeration to say that, truly, Robotham is probably the best in the business when it comes to psychological thrillers.
Storm Child continues the gripping Cyrus and Evie series, Robotham’s pairing of forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven with Evie Cormac, both victim-survivors of terribly traumatic events. The sudden mass loss of a group of asylum seekers on a British coastline, with the realisation two other women are missing, kicks off this book. What follows is a complex, twisty plot with many deceptive characters, at the heart of which lies an answer to a long-held mystery.
Robotham’s mastery of storytelling is at the fore in Storm Child. The ending is immensely satisfying, bringing a devastating and emotionally charged resolution. But even as Cyrus and Evie work to unravel this knotty puzzle, more and more of their backgrounds and stories are revealed, highlighting their connection and ongoing recovery and growth.
I’m late to the party with Cyrus and Evie, having read several of Robotham’s other books, from his Joe O’Loughlin series and the stand-alones, but one fantastic thing about him as a writer is that even if you pick up a book mid-series, as I did, you never feel as though you’ve missed out on major events from the previous books. Now that I have to wait for his next book, I can go back to the beginning!
Murder in Punch Lane by Jane Sullivan
Reviewed by Chris Gordon, events and programming manager for Readings
Jane Sullivan, a literary columnist and supporter of Australian writing, has always promoted the work of others. What an extra joy it is to support her latest novel, Murder in Punch Lane, by encouraging you to read it. And for those wanting an extra bonus, reading this enticing novel will ensure that the next time you are enjoying a glass of wine on the footpath in Punch Lane, you will look at this space with fresh eyes. Just over there, a murder happened.
Inspired by real events and people, Murder in Punch Lane is a quick-paced historical crime novel that reveals Melbourne in 1868. Theatre star Marie St Denis dies in the arms of her best friend, actor Lola Sanchez. Is it suicide or murder? Lola, with the help of ‘fancy pants’ journalist Magnus Scott, decides to find out. And the adventure begins. Along the way, of course, there is a growing love story, political tension and a delicious array of characters from Melbourne’s underbelly, including racketeers, mystic mind readers, glamorous actors and charming criminals.
Do be warned though, this novel does more than give you a ride into our past. It is also a deliberation on women’s identity, class, and wealth. Like all good historical novels, the questions it raises about how we lived are as timely today as they ever were. Anyone who loves Kerry Greenwood’s historical detective novels featuring detective Phryne Fisher will rejoice. There is a new heroine in town. If you adore the work of Robyn Annear, settle in. Time to put the kettle on and read throughout the night.
The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet
Reviewed by Kate McIntosh, manager Readings Emporium
This novel has a jaunty cover, suggesting a somewhat twee mystery lies within. The author’s surname, Sweet, deceives the reader into thinking this is something that it is not. The byline on the twee-looking cover says, ‘How far would you go to fit in?’ For the main character, Edward Jevons, it is not how far he would go, but how far he wouldn’t. As for the author, it seems he has decided to see just how far he can take a satire before it turns into another genre entirely.
Despite a horrifying mishap on a rugby field at school, working-class Edward manages to get into Cambridge, and is determined to succeed at all costs. The best way to do this is by obtaining the right friends and burying his past completely. Edward believes that people will like him if he gives them whatever they want, and if he can fix things for them, like Jeeves does for Wooster in P.G. Wodehouse’s quintessentially British novels. And yet, halfway through this novel, he realises, ‘Jeeves, in fact, was terribly used.’
One of Edward’s closest friends uses him to help them out of a difficult situation, and as circumstances worsen, so does Edward’s mental health. ‘How did they all know how to do this – to talk and nod and progress through their lives?’ he wonders. As someone taking advice from the shadow of a lamppost, we can be certain Edward has lost the ability to progress anywhere much at all.
Dark British comedy appears to be on trend right now, and yet this book goes much, much further. Despite constant references to Wodehouse, there is little humour here, only darkness, madness, murder, and some truly graphic scenes of violence. But gradually, disturbingly, it becomes so very hard to tear yourself away.
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Reviewed by Kate McIntosh, manager Readings Emporium
By the second paragraph of this book, you will think you know what happened to young Patch Macauley. (Spoiler alert: You don’t.) By the second page, you will need to know what happened to Patch Macauley. By the 22nd page, you will have realised taking this journey into small-town America where Patch and his best friend, Saint, live is no longer optional. And by the last page, you will need a large drink and a lie down as you recover from the epic pilgrimage you have just been on.
Monta Clare is the kind of small town that would feel right at home in the pages of a Stephen King novel, and Chris Whitaker’s characters are just as well-drawn and intriguing as anything King could create. There’s Chief Nix, the tired but dedicated policeman who takes Saint under his wing as she tries anything and everything to bring her friend back. Sammy, a philandering alcoholic gallery owner encourages a scarred Patch to take up painting as an escape from the world that has damaged him so very much. Dr Tooms, with his secrets and lies, the wealthy Meyer family living above the town, but still unable to remove themselves completely from those they deem beneath them, and Ivy Macauley, Patch’s mother and perhaps the most heartbreaking character of them all.
And then there’s Patch and Saint. Childhood friends, drawn together because they had no one else, their lives take a very different path when Patch returns. Both haunted by the crime that separated them, both determined to stop it from happening again, they chase the impossible until it becomes reality. Gritty, bleak and all-encompassing, this crime novel is a commitment (all 576 pages of it) not to be taken lightly.
Also out this month are: The Wrong Man by Tim Ayliffe, Knife River by Justine Champine, Woman, Missing by Sherryl Clarke, The Community by Christine Gregory, The Last Trace by Petronella McGovern, This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter and The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward.
