What do you think?
Rate this book
Peter Tanner Thriller #1
Cyanide Games
How far would you go to save a friend?
When Melissa Cheung’s husband is arrested in China for corruption, her first call is to Peter Tanner.
As a criminal defence barrister, Tanner often crosses paths with some of the most evil but wealthy members of the nation’s underbelly. Melissa’s phone call takes Tanner away from drug dealers and crooked property developers into the highest end of corporate corruption – mining companies trying to cover up environmental disasters and families at the top of the rich list who think they’re above the law.
As he pursues those who had Cheung incarcerated, Tanner unearths cover-up after cover-up, putting his life and those of others in danger as he tries to bring the perpetrators to justice.
A tough, gritty legal thriller from the bestselling author of Hell Has Harbour Views
When Melissa Cheung’s husband is arrested in China for corruption, her first call is to Peter Tanner.
As a criminal defence barrister, Tanner often crosses paths with some of the most evil but wealthy members of the nation’s underbelly. Melissa’s phone call takes Tanner away from drug dealers and crooked property developers into the highest end of corporate corruption – mining companies trying to cover up environmental disasters and families at the top of the rich list who think they’re above the law.
As he pursues those who had Cheung incarcerated, Tanner unearths cover-up after cover-up, putting his life and those of others in danger as he tries to bring the perpetrators to justice.
A tough, gritty legal thriller from the bestselling author of Hell Has Harbour Views
423 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2017
About the author
Richard Beasley
6 books27 followersRichard Beasley's first work of non-fiction, Dead in the Water, was published by Allen & Unwin in February 2021. He is the author of five novels: 'The Burden of Lies' (book 2 in the Peter Tanner series) published by Simon & Schuster in December 2017, and 'Cyanide Games' (book 1 in the series, 2016). His previous novels are 'Me and Rory Macbeath', 'The Ambulance Chaser', and 'Hell Has Harbour Views', which was adapted into a telemovie by the ABC and Hilton Cordell productions.
He is a Senior Counsel at the NSW Bar, and was Senior Counsel Assisting the Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission in 2018-19, and Senior Counsel Assisting the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess in 2020.
He is a Senior Counsel at the NSW Bar, and was Senior Counsel Assisting the Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission in 2018-19, and Senior Counsel Assisting the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess in 2020.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 3, 2016
I think this author may be someone very exciting to look out for. Hint hint nudge nudge. Loved Me and Rory Macbeath and this was out of the park! My dad recommended both of these as he's a fan of Aussie authors, as am I. I love reading work from Australian authors! This was a fast paced legal thriller set in Sydney. Great settings described and lots and lots of wine and beer talked about too. Peter Tanner really does like some nice quality beverages. A very clever defence lawyer, who has stumbled across some world class corruption and dodgy behaviour from very rich and moral lacking business people. He's a clever guy, good dad and I'm thinking probably quite attractive too, all in all a nice package. I'd sum up a bit like this: a wine drinking defence lawyer with morals, apart from defending knowingly guilty clients. Peter is not one to get in the way of. He's a widow with a 13 year old boy who will stop at nothing to help his friend from law school that has become embroiled into this world wide web of underhanded behaviour. Throw in direct descriptions of local settings, good food and wine. I stayed after work today at the coffee shop next door, read at red lights, then stopped for five minutes before picking up Indy from pre school. Bad mum, great book. Read it!
October 13, 2017
Anne Warren was a ecotoxicologist and her gut feeling about signing the confidentiality document before the flight to the island of Tovosevu in Papua New Guinea forbade her doing so. But the lawyer was kind, seemed genuine and was also persuasive – so Anne signed it.
When Joe Cheung was detained in China, his wife Melissa rang their best friend, criminal defence barrister Peter Tanner. Peter was shocked at Joe’s arrest – a more honest guy he’d never met; his determination to discover the charges and why Joe had been arrested was foremost in his mind. But he was blocked at every turn, which in turn made him more determined to find answers.
John Richter was a wealthy man; but he was also a man with a penchant for cocaine and heroin. His love of women was well-known as well – finally his wife Nikky had had enough. The divorce was pending…
As Tanner and his legal team searched for answers, he understood that the danger to himself and others was high. The closer he came to the truth, the more the threats and innuendoes felt like a blanket. Would Tanner succeed in getting justice, or was the evil of the people involved paramount?
Cyanide Games is the first in the Peter Tanner thriller series by Aussie author Richard Beasley, and is an intense and gritty legal thriller with evil for the first course! Money says it all in the lives of the corporate criminals – nothing they did was wrong and with those that mattered on their payroll, they got away with it! So how does someone like Peter Tanner succeed? Set mainly in Sydney, Cyanide Games is a thriller I highly recommend and I’m looking forward to #2, The Burden of Lies, very soon.
With thanks to Simon & Schuster AU for my ARC to read and review.
When Joe Cheung was detained in China, his wife Melissa rang their best friend, criminal defence barrister Peter Tanner. Peter was shocked at Joe’s arrest – a more honest guy he’d never met; his determination to discover the charges and why Joe had been arrested was foremost in his mind. But he was blocked at every turn, which in turn made him more determined to find answers.
John Richter was a wealthy man; but he was also a man with a penchant for cocaine and heroin. His love of women was well-known as well – finally his wife Nikky had had enough. The divorce was pending…
As Tanner and his legal team searched for answers, he understood that the danger to himself and others was high. The closer he came to the truth, the more the threats and innuendoes felt like a blanket. Would Tanner succeed in getting justice, or was the evil of the people involved paramount?
Cyanide Games is the first in the Peter Tanner thriller series by Aussie author Richard Beasley, and is an intense and gritty legal thriller with evil for the first course! Money says it all in the lives of the corporate criminals – nothing they did was wrong and with those that mattered on their payroll, they got away with it! So how does someone like Peter Tanner succeed? Set mainly in Sydney, Cyanide Games is a thriller I highly recommend and I’m looking forward to #2, The Burden of Lies, very soon.
With thanks to Simon & Schuster AU for my ARC to read and review.
February 4, 2019
Cyanide Games is book one in the new series by Richard Beasley called Peter Tanner Thriller. Criminal defence barrister Peter Tanner was investigating the pollution of local waters ways when he received a call from Melissa Cheung about her husband, and his friend Joe Cheung arrested in China for corruption. As Peter Tanner investigates both cases, he unearths cover-up that effects him and his family. The readers of Cyanide Games will follow the twist and turns in Peter Tanner investigations into freeing Joe Cheung.
Cyanide Games was the first book I have read of Richard Beasley and I so pleased that a friend recommended his books to me. The plot of Cyanide Games engaged me as soon as I turn the first page. I love Richard Beasley portrayal of his characters and the way they interact with each other. Cyanide Games is well written and researched by Richard Beasley. I like Richard Beasley descriptions of his settings and lays out the plot for his readers.
The readers of Cyanide Games will start to understand the consequences of business and political corrections for everyone involved. Also, the readers of Cyanide Games will learn about the role of criminal defence barrister.
I recommend this book.
Cyanide Games was the first book I have read of Richard Beasley and I so pleased that a friend recommended his books to me. The plot of Cyanide Games engaged me as soon as I turn the first page. I love Richard Beasley portrayal of his characters and the way they interact with each other. Cyanide Games is well written and researched by Richard Beasley. I like Richard Beasley descriptions of his settings and lays out the plot for his readers.
The readers of Cyanide Games will start to understand the consequences of business and political corrections for everyone involved. Also, the readers of Cyanide Games will learn about the role of criminal defence barrister.
I recommend this book.
October 25, 2016
Styled as a thriller from the legal world, CYANIDE GAMES introduces Peter Tanner - criminal defence barrister, widower, father. Very much one of the good guys, one of those that takes on a hell of a lot and seems to pull results together despite the odds.
There's some complicated set up underway in CYANIDE GAMES, so a greater part of the book is devoted to what feels like considerable framework construction. Which, given that Tanner is a lawyer, appears to end up involving a large amount of personal investigation, involvement and prodding of various bears with a variety of sticks. Once the action actually moves to a court room, Tanner's involvement - and skills - are considerably more believable and the action seems, oddly given it's mostly court room tactics, to actually heat up quite a bit.
Legal thrillers must be a tricky undertaking for an author - working what seems to be a mostly intellectual role into that of an all action hero. Believing the central character is capable of just about anything really helps with this reader's level of acceptance. Giving them a seriously good reason to be off on a lone wolf crusade is also vital, which meant that CYANIDE GAMES was a little on the hit and miss side for this reader. Perhaps the character of Tanner was too "out of the box" - he's ticking a lot of the good boxes, and doesn't seem to have much on the downside. Perhaps it's also that the sheer bulk of the set up meant that so much of the book read like a prelude to something really good - which ended up being too short lived to create balance.
Not to say that the series, on the whole, doesn't have potential. The court-room scenes showed more than enough promise of some very good tactical thinking - and game playing, which hopefully would be more to the fore now that the background is filled out. Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of legal thrillers.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
There's some complicated set up underway in CYANIDE GAMES, so a greater part of the book is devoted to what feels like considerable framework construction. Which, given that Tanner is a lawyer, appears to end up involving a large amount of personal investigation, involvement and prodding of various bears with a variety of sticks. Once the action actually moves to a court room, Tanner's involvement - and skills - are considerably more believable and the action seems, oddly given it's mostly court room tactics, to actually heat up quite a bit.
Legal thrillers must be a tricky undertaking for an author - working what seems to be a mostly intellectual role into that of an all action hero. Believing the central character is capable of just about anything really helps with this reader's level of acceptance. Giving them a seriously good reason to be off on a lone wolf crusade is also vital, which meant that CYANIDE GAMES was a little on the hit and miss side for this reader. Perhaps the character of Tanner was too "out of the box" - he's ticking a lot of the good boxes, and doesn't seem to have much on the downside. Perhaps it's also that the sheer bulk of the set up meant that so much of the book read like a prelude to something really good - which ended up being too short lived to create balance.
Not to say that the series, on the whole, doesn't have potential. The court-room scenes showed more than enough promise of some very good tactical thinking - and game playing, which hopefully would be more to the fore now that the background is filled out. Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of legal thrillers.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
August 11, 2016
I loved this book...wonderful characters, intelligent and racy...it corners like it's on rails! From Sydney to London to Italy...it educates and comments on real and very relevant environmental issues and has a murder trial which outstrips Perry Mason in the classic courtroom drama stakes. I hope they make a TV series out of it.
January 30, 2017
Fantastic legal thriller
February 6, 2017
A great read - one of those books that you don't want to finish. My first Beasley but not my last - love a good Aussie drama
April 5, 2017
Ticks several thriller boxes: lawyer, courtroom scenes, environmental wrongs committed by unprincipled corporation with enough twists to keep you interested.
October 19, 2016
great story, well constructed plot with some good twists. Nice to have a book based in sydney.
February 20, 2020
Quite good, especially the Court case towards the end of the book.
May 10, 2021
This is the first of Richard Beasley's novels that I have read and I will definitely be seeking out his other books. I heard Richard speak about his non-fiction book on the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission findings at Adelaide Writers' Week 2021, and thought I'd try one of his novels.
This Australian legal thriller incorporates many contemporary themes and issues affecting Australia which makes it feel scarily real. The plot revolves around several threads and starts with Tanner, a defense attorney/barrister, vowing to help a friend who has been arrested in China for fraud. There are links to a mining company that is exploiting resources, endangering the environment, and covering up spills and environmental damage.
It's a dark plot with characters that are complex and definitely three-dimensional. The writing is sharp and carried me along. I read this 424-page book in a couple of days (and I'm a slow reader).
Tanner is an intriguing main character, interesting, with redeeming qualities but also pragmatic and a little jaded. It will be interesting to see where he treads in the next book.
Highly recommended
This Australian legal thriller incorporates many contemporary themes and issues affecting Australia which makes it feel scarily real. The plot revolves around several threads and starts with Tanner, a defense attorney/barrister, vowing to help a friend who has been arrested in China for fraud. There are links to a mining company that is exploiting resources, endangering the environment, and covering up spills and environmental damage.
It's a dark plot with characters that are complex and definitely three-dimensional. The writing is sharp and carried me along. I read this 424-page book in a couple of days (and I'm a slow reader).
Tanner is an intriguing main character, interesting, with redeeming qualities but also pragmatic and a little jaded. It will be interesting to see where he treads in the next book.
Highly recommended
October 8, 2017
I'm not sure about this book. It seemed to jump about a little too much for me. When Tanner began acting as the lawyer for Mathewson in a murder enquiry I guessed that it had to be involved with the detention of his friend in China. I felt that there could have been more about this. Citadel certainly seem very crooked and it was sad that Tanner left Lisa to sort out these problems. He basically used her to get what he wanted.
July 1, 2021
Great story! I really like the main character. I was disappointed in the number of spelling and other errors. The author has gone to a lot of effort to write a good novel so the publisher should ensure the book is error-free. Do they use proof readers anymore or just rely on spell check on the computer?
January 3, 2018
Good read. Two main stories in one, one focusing on a murder trial and the other environmental issues. I enjoyed the murder trial more than the other storyline. Very underbelly, which was a nice change from the run of the mill crime novel.
August 6, 2021
This thriller was thrilling! A bit heavy on the legal details but a powerful and effective recreation of the way the world of contemporary global business works and the games the powerful play with other people's lives.
September 14, 2017
I think I found this book interesting because I'm intrigued by law.
It's a good book which gets better as it goes along and then takes it's time to wrap things up. All in all a very good read.
It's a good book which gets better as it goes along and then takes it's time to wrap things up. All in all a very good read.
December 31, 2017
An author to follow. Great read, interesting, intriguing, believable and satisfying! Next one please.
March 5, 2018
Great read. If you were in strife with the law, you would want Peter Tanner representing you. Terrific characters that are very real. I hope there are more Peter Tanner stories to come!
April 7, 2018
I like Tanner...make this 3 1/2 ! Corporate cover up...who would have thought !!!
September 19, 2018
Slow to start as the author sets the scenes, but then the intrigue becomes overpowering. A classic hard to put down thriller.
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
February 11, 2019
Took me awhile to get into it but once I did I couldn’t put it down until I got to the end!
April 13, 2020
Lovely book and good thriller
July 12, 2020
I read this quite some time ago so I can't really remember it! I'm giving it 4 stars to be on the safe side, haha! I'm not even sure how I came across the book.
August 5, 2021
Peter Tanner is willing to go out on a limb for his client, digging deep and in some cases on the shady side for justice.
February 16, 2017
Took me a long time to get into it and, to be honest, I skim-read a lot of it. But it was a good easy read after a long day.
May 21, 2018
Peter Tanner is a barrister specialising in criminal cases. When his friend is arrested and charged with corruption in China he sets out to do all that he can to free him. Not an easy task as he is stonewalled at every turn by the Chinese government, his friend's former employer and clients and his friend who seems ready to except things as they are.
He is also hired to defend a man charged with a murder that occurred at the home of the company director that was once his friend's client. Things soon don't add for Peter and he had to persevere to get to the truth in both cases.
I enjoyed this legal thriller though the two story lines were a bit hard to deal with at times. The conclusion was a bit abrupt and not fully explained. However, very recommended.
He is also hired to defend a man charged with a murder that occurred at the home of the company director that was once his friend's client. Things soon don't add for Peter and he had to persevere to get to the truth in both cases.
I enjoyed this legal thriller though the two story lines were a bit hard to deal with at times. The conclusion was a bit abrupt and not fully explained. However, very recommended.
December 6, 2016
Am half way thru but after I got to the part of the girl accidentally killed I went to the last section and read the court case. I just wanted to get that all sorted and then get back to the mines and water and murders of the main part.
I skimmed over the chats with his son etc as I felt he was writing for a movie and put it all in there. I felt that could have been summarized and left to anyone if they did the movie to put in more conversation.
I skimmed over the chats with his son etc as I felt he was writing for a movie and put it all in there. I felt that could have been summarized and left to anyone if they did the movie to put in more conversation.
May 22, 2018
My problem with this book (which I enjoyed but not as much as I was hoping to) was that the deus ex machina wasn't quite believable. Putting that to one side, it's an interesting combination of legal and political thriller with environmental issues, drugs and corruption all thrown in to the mix.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews