Roo I. MacLeod's Blog

Bad Debts
by Peter Temple

Jack Irish is a great Aussie character with a life of hurt buried deep in his soul. But Jack is a fighter. Jack is a Fitzroy Boy. Make some noise. The story is complex but it roils and boils and the pace toward the end is electric. An old client, Jack being a lawyer, leaves him a message asking for help. jack doesn't get the message until it is too late. And from that point the story goes underground. There is violence, intrigue and a whole lot of bad guys waiting for Jack to find them out. I love this story and this was after having seen Guy Pearce playing him on tv. Here is an actor who represents the fictional character truly. Take note Lee Child and Mr. Cruise.

By V.E. Schwab]

Hey, this book has got some complicated stuff in it and I'm not the reader to be explaining it. But in the spirit of The Review, I'm going to happily get it wrong, just wrong enough, so you'll get the spirit of the genius of this story and want to read it. Serious.
It involves four worlds, each with a version of London. Like Red London where magic is celebrated, Grey London, called grey because it has no magic going on. And then there is white London and it uses magic to control and rule. In the old days travel was possible between each world, but the magic turned bad and the doors were closed and Black London, baddest of all, completely shut off to all.
The main guy is Kell, adopted child of the King and Queen in Red London. He's special because he can travel between the worlds through magic, and he works as a royal messenger between the royals in the different Londons.
The main girl is Lila, a picket pocket from Grey London, who dreams of becoming a pirate. Arrr surly one she is, but her path crosses Kell's when she pickpockets a treasure he's been asked to transport from one world to another.
So that's my truly crude attempt to capture the magic of the backstory to A darker Shade of Magic.
Did i mention it was good. The worlds are unique and vibrant. The characters deep and engaging.
The pace builds, slow at first for sure, but there are skirmishes as you get to know who's who that keep you engaged. But when the climax nears the pace is full on.
And the ending is ... Well no one wants to hear about the ending. Not from me.
Read it, it really is brilliant and the first in a series.
Roo

The Wolf Road
By Beth Lewis

'Back as pitch them eyes, black as disease and disorder and hate and lies.'
Ever since the 'Damn Stupid' life has been tipped up and rattled about, and brought back to a basic existence.
Elka is a feral girl, found in the woods by a trapper. He doesn't exactly care for her, but he teaches her how to survive.
When she is allowed into town for the first time and sees the Wanted poster all she knew about life is slapped in her face as wrong. Her trapper is wanted for the murder of a child and Magistrate Lyon, the mother of the child is hot on his trail. What makes matters worse is Lyon wants a conversation with Elka.
Her home is gone, the only father she knew is a killer, and the law wants to talk, so Elka takes to the road in search of her true parents and salvation.
This is dark, but the light bits shine bright. Elka is a character that you want to lead you into the darkest storm, knowing she'll know where to shelter. She'll feed clothe and heal you, but don't be asking too many questions. She don't like talking much.
2017 is only young, but this book is a great start. Loved this book a lot.
Roo

Red Rising
By Pierce Brown

I liked this book a lot and am looking forward to book two in the trilogy.
But there was a point where i thought i was going to give it up. It slowed down to a pace that only Turbo the snail's mates could match.
The story is set on Mars and starts underground with a social class of earth dwellers called the Reds. They are miners, digging into the guts of Mars looking for some mineral needed to change the atmosphere in the stratosphere. Little do they know ... But see that would be giving a bit of the plot away that needs to be a surprise.
Anyway, there is a rebellion going on. I can give that much away, and the narrator, Darrow, has been chosen to infiltrate the Golds by turning from a Red into a Gold. This is the bit where the story drops down too many gears and almost selects reverse. But once you get past the transformation bit, the turning from Red to Gold the story becomes a cross between Lord of the Flies and Hunger Games.
Darrow is cool and the Mustang compliments him well.
This story is gruesome and fast paced. There's a bit of blood shed, but there's romance as well. And the characters are deep and stand out.
This is a good book. Serious
Roo

The Cold Hard Truth

BY Amanda Leigh Cowley

Yeah, first book down, which is an appalling attitude, but the book wasn’t great mate. Not for me anyway. But then I don't care for this teenage angst, does he love me crap. It was the murder mystery that I was interested in. The side line romance stuff will draw a different crowd and the book maybe worth a look just for that.

Anyway, here's my two sentence synopsis. Girl is attacked by the killer of her father and survives but is bereft by father's death. Girl is then invited to america to live with estranged mother and half sister, where an angst ridden romance evolves and the killer is revealed.

Now I liked the start. Murder is good. Witness alive, but damaged emotionally and physically is good. But then the story, in USA, reverts to a romantic v family saga with vague references to the the killing via text.

I enjoyed the read. Liked Em, the narrator, but everyone else lacked depth. I felt no real emotional loyalty to Em and her life. And don’t get me started on the antagonist.

Oh all right I will. It was a good twist, the clues good, red herrings satisfactory and with a limited list of suspects the killer reveal was acceptable. But it didn’t ring true. There was such a shallow portrayal, a lack of detail to the insanity involved in the killers psyche and motives that I felt duped, robbed even when the killer was revealed.

But if you like a lighthearted read of teenage angst and love, and enjoy a cozy murder then you may get more from this tale than I did.
It wasn’t bad, no way, but it wasn’t super good either.

Sentinel Rising: The Reardon Files #1
By Andrea Drew

I guess you could describe this as a standard PI story set in the suburbs of Melbourne in Aus. Except the PI Connor is a Sentinel. Now I had no idea what a Sentinel was until i read this book, but apparently a Sentinel sees dead folk. Which is handy when you're investigating a murder. It cuts out all that bothersome stuff like looking for clues and doing the graft.
So a girl is murdered and the obvious suspect is the husband who's recently remortgaged the house and there's some weird stuff going on with cross dressing and black mail is suspected. But all of that is red herrings. Sorry if that wrecks the tale, but everyone excepts there's going to be red herrings getting in the way, eh?
I've got to be honest the supernatural stuff didn't do it for me, but if you like that sort of stuff give it a try. I like my PI's straight, investigative, smoking and drinking rye from the bottle. But that's just me.

The Confluence
By Puja Guha

The Confluence is a heartfelt letter from the mother to her adopted child. The letter is used as a prop to tell the tale of a child's family history. When Naina, the mother, is proposed to by Dev, his family being of a certain class not wanting scandal, they begin private investigations into Naina's past. This in turn inspires Naina, partially in fear of what might be uncovered, to go and search for her cousin she lost contact with twenty years previous. We are whisked away to the turmoil in East Africa, then to the slums of Calcutta as Naina attempts to understand the intricacies of her families past.
What begins as a mystery turns into a heartfelt tale as Nitu, the cousin, is found, as too his child and the mother that abandoned him.
I enjoyed this book. It is light but engaging. And wears its pathos well.
Roo

A Whole Latte Murder
By Caroline Fardig

A cozy mystery with a female lead. Complex, likeable and clever is Juliet.
A failed country and western singer, Juliet manages an eatery called the Java Jive. Her boss, Peter, a luv interest cum fellow amateur slueth, is her boss.
One night Juliet arrives home to find her neighbor murdered/suicide and soon after her barista also goes missing and there is a feeling they are connected. Juliet has been warned off sticking her nose into police matters, but fate has other ideas.
This was an easy read with the odd twist along the way. The baddie was a surprise to me, but then I'm pretty thick when it comes to guessing who dunnit.
I found the motive for the murders a little thin, but I enjoyed the book.

Pulse
BY Craig Zerf

Note for the reader, this book is 1/3 fantasy 2/3 apocalyptic. Just so you know. And this is part 1 of many.
Saying that it is a damn good read.
The world as we know it has suffered a cataclysmic event, an emp type thing that wipes out anything electrical. Sort of like what a nuclear explosion would do. Nothing works. Human kind has been reduced to the dark ages and very few are coping.
Step forward the Forever Man, an american marine, orc big and good through and through.
Meanwhile in galaxy far far away, a dying civilization is being wiped out by elves and decides to settle on earth.
See, I am right. It is fantasy meets apocalyptic and good fun.

By Any Other Name
By Jeannie Meekins

Every now and then a story becomes a part of you, your friend and confidante. By any other Name has been one of those stories.
The story follows Declan from infancy growing up in Australia, doing boy type stuff. Getting into trouble, scrapes with danger, girls and religion. Until one day someone asks him 'what does your dad do for a living.' Declan doesn't know and what he discovers changes the dynamic of this story. Suddenly there is an edge, an underlying threat that follows every episode, every decision declan and his family have to make so that Declan survives to follow a different path to his father.
For the past week I have laughed and cried, and rejoiced at Declan's attempts to be a good person and survive on his own.
This is a grand read. A family saga of sorts. A thriller to a degree. But it is bloody good. I loved it. Read it eh?