I fell in love with this book right from the get-go. I mean, what could be better—it’s a wonderfully written western about a strong-willed woman set on the frontier. A frontier which just happens to be, yes, you guessed. Mars.

Mary Griffith is just the kind of character I love. She’s full of quirky foibles, piss and vinegar and, after being summarily dumped by the British Arean Company (a great name by the way) she’s reduced to making do and making ends meet by doing the one thing her Irish-ancestors were always good at: brewing ale and running a bar!

What’s more, Mary is not alone; with three daughters to look after and a menagerie of misfits and left-overs, Mary struggles admirably between a rock (the British Arean Company hellbent on closing her down or, at the very least, undermining her) and a hard place. Mars herself.

Kage Baker has a keen eye for characterisation, and deftly leads us (and Mary) on a merry dance of ups and downs, scrapes and battles, as we wonder how Mary (and her motley idiosyncratic crew) will get out of her latest dilemma and, in doing so, stick it to the British Arean Company in the process. But the story isn’t as simple as that. It’s layered enough as a character portrait (of Mary at least) as much as it is part action-adventure and mystery. Throw in a healthy measure of wry humour and satire, as far as I am concerned, you have a winning mix.

The Empress Of Mars is a page-turning, rollicking good read and the kind of adventure story I loved as a kid, and adult alike. I hope you’ll love it too.

THE STOCKHOLM OCTAVO by Karen Engelmann is a wonderfully written historical thriller full of intrigue, fans—and yes, I mean those kind of fans. Fans women use to use to fan themselves with, and more, with a deft hand, secretly signal to friends and lovers—hinting at mystery, murder, and a dash of romance. A story that is as much about cartomancy as it is about history, is decked out with an unusual cast of characters, ‘The Eight,’ who are lead character, Emil Larsson, must find in order to achieve his destiny.

Set in Stockholm, Sweden, at the end of the eighteenth-century, we find out Emil Larsson’s destiny isn’t his own, it’s tied up with that of the King of Sweden. All of which is the author’s way of opening up the various levels of society represented in the story, from seedy gaming houses and tap rooms, to the lofty levels of the government and royal palace and sumptuous world of Gustav III. Revolution is brewing on many levels, as the world in which Emil finds himself, is undergoing tumultuous change.

Engelmann’s writing is fluid, graceful, and wonderfully nuanced, sucking the reader into the story where the descriptive prose conjure locations, activities, and conversations that evoke this world, perfectly. This is not by any means a fast, action-packed story, but a slowly nuanced complex story told from a number of POV, centred around Emil Larsson. A story that paints a richly detailed world of manners, morals, and a belief a person can rise above the station they’re dealt in life if but given a chance or, dealt the right hand of cards.

An enjoyable, immersive experience. Highly recommended.

Steve Cavanagh has done an outstanding job of writing a riveting thriller that grabs you from the opening line, right on through to last page. Setting a pace that makes you feel you can smell the burnt rubber from the Ninja road bikes in one chase scene that would give Steve McQueen a run for his money.

THE DEFENCE is no ordinary, pedestrian courtroom drama, far from it. With a taut tight time frame mixing high-tension action with nail-biting moments where Eddie Flynn, our erstwhile hero, has to figure out his next move, or face the prospect that he might be the reason his daughter dies. The battle of wits and skills is on from the get go.

The tension rolls off the page in waves, like the mirage-inducing heat in the desert. But Eddie comes with a background and just enough know-how to use a combination of brains and brawn. Battling not only his past, and the demons that still haunt him, but the Russian Mob, hell bent on using him in their own twisted game of cat and mouse.

Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, Cavanagh has us second guessing everyone’s motives, from the Feds, prosecutor, and witnesses on down. And Flynn isn’t in the clear either. Despite doing his best to run the gauntlet between the Russians, the Italian mafia, and the Feds pinning everything on him, we just know we’re in for one hell of a roller coaster ride.

And boy, does Cavanagh deliver!

From moments where we’re not sure what’s going on, and who we think Eddie can trust, to a couple of near-death stunts that John McClane would be proud of in any Die-Hard movie. Con man turned lawyer, Eddie Flynn, is risking it all for the woman who stole his beating heart: his daughter.

The characters, including the low-lifes, are well-drawn, and have enough depth to make your skin crawl. The pacing is such that you will not want to put this one down, as I found out, reading it in just two page-turning sessions. The scene is one we’re all familiar with, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you’ve seen any Die-Hard type movie of the last twenty years, you will know what to expect. The unexpected, lots of twists and turns, and a hero who simply will not give up, under any circumstances.

With plenty of layers, mis-directs, heart-pounding action, and adept sleight of hand, THE DEFENCE has something for everyone—including, a great story.

Eddie Flynn is my new anti-hero hero and Judge Ford is not far behind!

This chess-inspired 8th outing of the cranky melancholy police investigator, Arkady Renko, is a fast-paced romp through the underbelly of corrupt police/politicians/media in Putin’s crumbling modern Russia. Where just about everyone has an agenda hustling from the streets to the highest office, for everything from stolen goods to billion ruble contracts. And where Cruz Smith’s cast of well-drawn characters are all doing their best trying to avoid being collateral damage amid the warring factions.

I enjoyed the pace, which is fairly brisk and doesn’t lag, because a lot of the action is split between a number of the characters, not just our world-weary investigator. While Renko is essentially trying to discover who killed investigative reporter, Tatiana Petrovna, and more importantly, why, he connects her murder to that of recently assassinated mafia kingpin, Grisha Grigorenko. And, as he pieces together snippets of information, he stumbles upon a much larger picture than just revenge, or murder, collusion and corruption at the highest levels.

What I love about Cruz Smith’s writing is his seedy bunch of twitchy characters doggedly trying to keep ahead of the action, while also dropping in actual historical events, into the background—events like the sinking of the Kursk in the Baltic and the utter destruction of the city of Konigsberg (in an isolated slice of Russia abutting the baltic sea) and the building of the secret city of Kaliningrad. And thus, Cruz Smith cleverly draws us into a tangled web of secrets, lies, and corruption.

While Renko engages in a game of cat and mouse with mobsters trying to find answers to Tatiana’s murder, his old friend and partner, Victor, along with Zhenya and his girlfriend Lotte, are left behind in Moscow trying to unravel a mystery of their own, never mind survive being murdered. Of course, all the loose ends slowly begin to make connections, leading to a confrontation along with a number of revelations and an open-ending finale that tells us that even Renko cannot bring everyone to justice in a world ruled by corruption.

I can recommend this one if you enjoy a good thriller with plenty of misdirection, well-drawn characters, snappy dialogue, with plenty of grit and background detail that all helped bring this one to life.

STATE OF TERROR, a taut, tense, whiplash-inducing thriller, is so up to the minute in world events it seems like the authors, Hillary Clinton and crime fiction author, Louise Penny, had a crystal ball to look into scrying possible scenarios … no, wait … they did. In the form of Ms. Clintons and her years as Secretary of State. Her experience and skill, among other things, provide the backdrop to this immensely addictive thriller.

From the well delineated characters, including the secondary characters who are just as pivotal in the plot, through to the non-stop and relentless pace. We are whisked along by the unfolding events all the while chewing the inside of our cheeks, fretting along with Secretary of State, Ellen Adams, and her closest confident and Counsellor, Betsy Jameson.

These two women whose bond throughout was a joy and a surprise, never mind the clever wit and snark. I also love that relationships play a large part in events, decision, and actions throughout. Which makes the stakes all the more threatening when they’re seen intimately, up-close and personal with frightening consequences.

Political intrigue, high-stakes espionage, traitors, misdirects, subterfuge, and the ultimate terror of a radical terrorist group laying hands on not one nuclear weapon, but three, set the stage and scope for this well-plotted emotional roller coaster ride of a thriller. That, in the end, had real bite.

Grab a large glass of your favourite wine, curl up on the sofa and get ready for Ellen and Betsy to get it done—two truly iconic women!

SAWBONES is raw, gritty and, at times, violently graphic. The characters themselves could have been ripped out of a Dime novel of the day back in the late 1800s—with a woman on the run after being accused of murder she didn’t commit, Indians on the warpath, and a saddle-weary Army Captain with a dire secret of his. Each adds their own story to the narrative as seen through the eyes of Lenhardt’s heroine, Catherine Bennett. A woman with the audacity to think she could be a doctor in a man’s world.

Escaping from the stifling confines of NYC after being wrongly accused of murder, Bennet flees to the Texas frontier with help form a childhood friend, James, and her Irish maid, Maureen. But the West is filled with more than its own fair share of dangers, from drunken cowpokes, to bounty hunters, and those trying to make a fast buck any where they can. Each character more despicable than the last.

Heading toward a frontier town, the wagon train Maureen and Catherine—now calling herself Laura Elliston—are travelling on is attacked by marauding Indians. Everyone, except Laura, is brutally murdered. Chased off by an Army patrol, Laura is rescued by Captain William Kindle and his men. However, in the fight, Kindle is severely injured. But thanks to Laura’s skill as a surgeon, she’s able to save Kindle’s life. And thus, as the two are thrown together by chance and circumstances, a romance ignites.

While Sawbones is, at times, a page-turner with lots of gung-ho action, Lenhardt does try to tempers her unflinching portrayal of the West—and the prevailing attitudes of the times—with some thoughtful moments between the various characters. But even out in the wild west love can be a burden when trying to hide in plain sight. As passions run high between Kindle and Elliston, betrayal may have the last word in any hope of happiness for the couple. A spectre from Kindle’s past rides into town and demands the ultimate sacrifice of them. The result is an ending that goes completely over the top.

This is no rosy, glossy love-story, but a visceral look at how life in the wild west might have looked. With characters whose lives are torn apart by circumstances, in a brutal world vividly brought to life by Lenhardt’s style of storytelling. Sadly, for me, what was lost in all this gore and extreme violence, is a decent storyline.

If you like your westerns with an overload of violence, and a heavy dose of romance, then maybe you’ll enjoy taking a ride out west with Lenhardt’s Sawbones.

I don’t normally read contemporary or literary fiction, in the same way I like to avoid getting a nasty skin rash — through avoidance. But after reading a couple of reviews, and seeing it listed on a couple of blogs as a book to read I found myself staring at the cover in my local bookstore and thinking, okay, maybe this won’t be so bad. Maybe I won’t get a skin rash, vomit, swoon or faint from cracking open its pages. So I bought it.

Sure enough, I checked myself regularly through out the reading process and, no rashes. I did, however, laugh a lot—because of Ove’s droll observations and the awkward situations he found himself dealing with—and smiled at the nicknames he gave everyone in his neighbourhood, including the mangy cat. I was also left shaking my head in wonder, when the seemingly innocent act of drilling a hole in the ceiling turns out to be a lot more than drilling a hole in the ceiling.

There is so much more going on in Ove’s life, that trickles in through those first few chapters which, by the end, make you sit up and realise what’s really going on. And just why there is no colour left in Ove’s life anymore.

Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for the living… For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone. All people at root are time optimists. We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like ‘if’. People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.

Poignant, funny, uplifting and yes, at times, heartbreakingly sad, Ove has lived a simple life that’s anything but simple. In that the challenges he’s had to overcome, and the people—good and bad—that have shaped and moulded the boy through to the man that he becomes, all become part of the very cleverly written backstory. From Ove’s interactions with his father, through to the loving relationship he has with his wife, Sonja, and how they met and fell in love.

But it’s in the present we see how Ove’s life slowly transforms through the interactions with his (somewhat) friends and neighbours. Flawed people who make mistakes, argue (a lot) and drive Ove nuts yet, who at times, also touch Ove deeply in ways even he never expected — especially his next door neighbour, Parvaneh and her two young daughters. And even though Ove tells these people exactly what he thinks of them, they still manage to be there and to rally round, and change a grumpy old man’s life, in ways he never expected all for the better.

A Man Called Ove is an immensely enjoyable read and one you will not easily forget. Certainly, it touched me deeply.

This is a solid outing from Matthew Palmer, an author that knows his stuff. SECRETS OF STATE, is a thriller with all the right ingredients, that hit all the right notes. The characters are nothing new, but familiar territory is okay as long as there is enough elsewhere to make up for it. And while the plot is nothing new either—terrorists stealing a nuclear weapon to blow up a city—again, that was okay, as the author came at this from a slightly different angle, with a new view while covering old ground, which freshened up a doomsday scenario with likeable enough characters that were engaging.

Set against the backdrop of simmering tensions between India and Pakistan, Palmer gives us a what-if that’s oh so plausible right now. And while most authors are focused on the usual suspects and setting that are becoming tired, he reminds us that the world at large is still a very dangerous place and has far more players on the world stage than we usually think about.

What sets SECRETS OF STATE apart from the average read, are the small things. And it’s not often we get a view of places like Mumbai and it’s slums—never mind the people that live there. A thoroughly enjoyable, and quick read, so much so I’ll be buying a few more of Palmer’s works as I suspect they’ll be just as enjoyable a romp as SECRETS OF STATE was.

Joe Lansdale’s western, THE THICKET, is wickedly smart, funny, vulgar, violent, philosophical and yes, even at times, a little whimsical. All in part due to the wonderful, quirky cast of characters and, of course, Lansdale’s own voluble prose. Prose prickling with acute observations, jibes, laconic wit, and snappy dialogue that reflect the era and characters, perfectly.

Lansdale also manages to sketch out an opening scene that’s akin to free-crack to a drug-addict: irresistible. I mean, come on, our young hero’s life is turned up side down and sideways within a heartbeat, and who does he end up going on a quest with? A philosophical-spouting dwarf (and circus escapee) who knows how to pistol-whip, a black ex-slave who has a perchance for digging up the dead when he’s not paid, and a wild boar who’s taken a liking to him. Throw in a love-interest for Jack who persuades him to help her escape the brothel were she works, and you have a recipe for explosive action, humorous antics, and a fast-paced plot that delivers right up to the end.

Each character in this western is finely detailed with their own distinct quirks and failings that add layers of depth to this story of rescue and redemption. Each is taking up Jack’s quest for their own personal reasons, and all looking to leave their pasts behind them, with a hope they can find a better future. Lansdale doesn’t hold back on the gritty details, so much so, you can almost taste and smell the grit, grim, and rot. But he also tempers the pervading darkness with plenty of snarky humour and lighter moments.

It takes a great deal of skill as an author to find just the right balance in what could have been a dark, brooding story, but Lansdale pulls it off with remarkable aplomb.

THE THICKET is a riveting, funny, darkly droll read, with a cast of characters you’ll be rooting for. I know I was.

Jane Harper has done it again. She has captured lightning in a bottle not once, but twice. With FORCE OF NATURE she has crafted a second beguiling novel, with a tapestry of threads that crisscross throughout the story weaving a masterpiece of misdirection till the final reveal. A surprise, I for one, never saw coming. The clever red herrings, the subtle misdirects, she does it all to perfection. You think you know what’s going on? You don’t. And believe me, I’m pretty good at sussing out the culprit early on. Not this time around.

Harper’s oh so believable cast of characters—highlighting the best and worst of human nature under duress, and in a hostile environment—are people you might know, people you might have met or worked with, people who, as the story progresses, start to come apart. I loved every scene and every page detailing what happened to the five women as they set out on what should be, a bonding weekend. As they dissolve into a female version of Lord of the Flies. Every bitching, snide remark, every possible slight, and hurt revealed. Every fibre of these women is shredded, slowly and surely, to they become their own worst enemies.

For me, this is writing at its best. The detail, the emotion, the pain and the secrets, are all slowly laid bare for us. Every scab is picked at till it bleeds, and we see what’s beneath the thin veneer of respectability. Five women from the same company, but from different strata, thrown together and then, go feral. But there is so much more than that, so much more than the in-fighting. Lives and secrets opened up along with the lies and deceit. And why people do what they do. Harper gets in there, beneath the skin, and exposes it all.

Aaron Falk, who was, for the most part, the focus of THE DRY, takes almost a back seat in FORCE OF NATURE, as Harper alternates chapters featuring the slow dissolution of the five women, and between Falk, his new partner, Carmen, and the search for the missing woman. Each dynamic has its part to play in the story as a whole, and each chapter dovetails cleverly to keep you guessing. I liked how we got to see a bit more of Falk’s history with his father, filling out more of his own backstory, while not deflecting from the story at hand, the missing women lost in an unforgiving outback.

A rugged brutal landscape that is the perfect backdrop to this kind of story, and a character in and of it self. All adding to the tension that slowly builds towards a heartbreaking reveal. Nothing and no one is ever what they seem, and Harper makes sure we are left wondering right up till the last few pages about the who, why, and how.

Clever twist and turns, so that you never quite know what’s going to happen next, or what these women might say or do next, is, believe it or not, a gripping read. Try it for yourself, you will not be disappointed.