📖 Book review ~ The Shark by Emma Styles

Sphere
12 March 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Every monster has a weakness.

At the height of Australian summer, a serial killer known as The Shark stalks a coastal suburb, hunting young female swimmers.

Afraid and furious at the failure of the police to protect them, two women fight back. Raych is grieving someone she'd have died to save, while Carmen hides her own disturbing connection to the murders.

In desperation, they form an uneasy alliance. And when another girl vanishes, they take matters into their own hands - by kidnapping the prime suspect. But as their interrogation spirals, horrifying truths surface on both sides of the table.

The clock is ticking to save the missing girl. And in their quest for justice, Raych and Carmen must face the darkest question of all: have they caught a monster - or become one?

📖 My Review..

On the western coast of Australia, in the Cottesloe area of Perth, young female swimmers are being targeted by a serial killer who becomes known as The Shark. With the murders made to appear like a shark attack it soon becomes apparent that there is someone out there who is prepared to do harm. Raych is a woman on a mission and is determined to find the perpetrator and seek revenge. In doing so she meets Carmen another damaged young woman who has her own reasons for wanting to catch the killer.

The story is slow in places, especially at the beginning, which I think is quite deliberate, however, because of this it took me a while to gel with the characters especially as both the female leads weren’t always particularly likeable but I sort of understood why this had to be as both are extremely damaged and vulnerable. Their complicated and flawed relationship is explored in detail and as we start to understand them so the story becomes clearer. The author controls the plot with good attention to detail, bringing the place and the people alive in the imagination.

Overall this an interesting crime thriller which looks at revenge and retribution and does so in a complex story which kept my interest until the whole thing came together.

About the Author

Emma Styles writes contemporary Australian noir about young women taking on the patriarchy. She grew up on Whadjuk Noongar country in Perth,Western Australia and now lives in London. Emma has an MA in crime fictionfrom the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel, No Country for Girls, won the Little, Brown UEA Crime Fiction Award pre-publication and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize post publication. It was also shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel and the ACWA Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction.

Review ~ The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth

Hodder
22 March 2018

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

The small suburb of Pleasant Court lives up to its name. It's the kind of place where everyone knows their neighbours, and children play in the street.

Isabelle Heatherington doesn't fit into this picture of family paradise. Husbandless and childless, she soon catches the attention of three Pleasant Court mothers.

But Ange, Fran and Essie have their own secrets to hide. Like the reason behind Ange's compulsion to control every aspect of her life. Or why Fran won't let her sweet, gentle husband near her new baby. Or why, three years ago, Essie took her daughter to the park - and returned home without her.

As their obsession with their new neighbour grows, the secrets of these three women begin to spread - and they'll soon find out that when you look at something too closely, you see things you never wanted to see..

My thoughts about it...

There's something perfectly ordinary about the families who live in Pleasant Court but under the surface of their orderly existence there is a whole bucket load of problems which are just waiting to be poured out. When the enigmatic, Isabelle Hetherington takes up a lease in Paradise Court curtains start to twitch and for the trio of friends, Ange, Fran and Essie, and their families, life will never be the same again.

The author captures the ennui of living in a small community. A place where everyone thinks they know what makes their neighbours tick, but what actually comes across is the fact that we never really know what is going on behind closed doors. She captures perfectly the art of always putting on a brave face for the neighbours, and of the irascibility of young motherhood when you long for a glass of wine and a good night's sleep.

I found The Family Next Door such a compelling story to read that I whipped through the book at top speed, pausing only occasionally look up in order to amble to the kettle to refresh my cup of tea. The story draws you in from the beginning and the author's ability to keep you turning the pages is nothing short of brilliant.The build up in done in a really subtle way so that when the skeletons start to emerge from their respective closets they come as something as shock. Discovering that the characters you have grown to like have so many secrets to hide, it soon becomes a real challenge to try to unravel all of their mysteries without loosing sight of them as people.

The more I connected with the characters, the more I found that I wanted to move into Pleasant Court just so I could observe all goings on at first hand, and believe me there are lots of shenanigans going on in this middle class suburb of Melbourne.

The Family Next Door is a real roller-coaster of a ride from start to finish and I loved reading it.

About the Author

Sally Hepworth us the bestselling author of three previous novels, and a human resource professional.

She has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the UK and Canada. Since the birth of her children, she now writes full time from her home in Melbourne, Australia.

Website

Twitter @SallyHepworth

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** Published by Hodder & StoughtonToday**

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Review ~ Black Teeth by Zane Lovitt

Text Publishing
2017

Blurb

Jason Ginaff doesn’t get out much. Partly because of the anxiety, mainly because he works at home. Researching people on the internet. Job candidates doing bucket bongs on Instagram accounts they thought they’d deleted; the prospective new head of sales stripping for a hens’ night…

He’s been searching for something on his own time, too.

Now he’s found it: the phone number of the man he believes to be his father.

Which is how he gets mixed up with Rudy Alamein. They’ve been looking for the same man.

Difference being, Rudy wants to kill him.

Black Teeth is a witty, dynamic contemporary thriller by an emerging master of the form. Beautifully written and darkly funny, it’s both a literary triumph and an irresistible read.

My Thoughts

I have to admit that this book is probably a little out of my comfort zone and as such it took me a while to settle into this rather bleak Australian noir tale of two disparate loners who are brought together in the most unlikely of circumstances.

The story reads well in places but there are times when it feels a little bit lost and there were times when I felt lost along with it. The contemporary thriller at the heart of the novel works in places but sort of loses its momentum towards the end which I felt was something of a disappointment.

The book's cast of characters play their role within the story with a strange fascination and I think this where the strength of the writing lies, in the way that the author shapes and molds them, so even though they are largely unlikable, you can't help but be curious about them and wonder how the story will eventually play out in the wider scope of the mystery.

Although the story didn't really work for me, I can't fault its originality and the author's commitment to writing something a little bit different.

 About the Author

Zane Lovitt was a documentary filmmaker before turning his hand to crime fiction. His debut novel, The Midnight Promise, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, was long listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize for Best First Book, and led to Zane being named one of the Best Young Novelists of 2013 by the Sydney Morning Herald. Zane Lovitt lives in Melbourne. Black Teeth is his second book.

My thanks to Phoebe and the team at FMcM Associates for my review copy of Black Teeth

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