Australia:
Dark Waters
Deborah Sheldon
Brendan Reilly emerges from the murky depths of a dam a changed man, caught between two worlds. In one he’s a respected patch member of the Overlords bikie gang; the other, a scumbag ex-husband and estranged father.
Black Teeth
Zane Lovitt
A well-paced and thoroughly enjoyable piece of Australian-noir. Draws on the 'feel' of Jim Thompson et al. without falling into age-old American noir tropes.
Clancy of the Undertow
Christopher Currie
Clancy is a misfit who doesn’t even fit with the misfits - she’s sixteen and just trying to work out who the hell she is when her dad is involved in an accident that kills two local teenagers, her girl-crush finally notices that she exists, and new-girl Nancy walks into her life.
The Rules of Backyard Cricket
Jock Serong
South Africa are 6/194 at stumps on Day 3 and I am wrecked by the brilliance of this book. If you have a crime-fiction loving cricket fan in the family, consider your Christmas shopping sorted.
Slaughter Park
Barry Maitland
A stunning conclusion to the Belltree Trilogy’s overarching mystery, an insightful comment on Australian history, past and present.
The Hate Race
Maxine Beneba Clarke
A powerful memoir and important reflection on Australia’s shameful and deeply ingrained racism.
The Road to Winter
Mark Smith
A compelling and intelligent story of survival in a bleak but beautiful Australian coastal setting.
Crimson Lake
Candice Fox
Where True Detective meets the Sunshine Coast. A tightly-written thriller in a sinister, humid setting.
Wimmera
Mark Brandi
Top-notch Aussie rural literary noir. A deeply unsettling exploration of boyhood and the rippling damage of child sexual assault.
And Fire Came Down
Emma Viskic
The dark and intense follow-up to one hell of a debut. ‘A wasteland of shattered people’ and some killer dialogue set in the oppressive heat of an Australian summer.
Terra Nullius
Claire G. Coleman
A powerful piece of speculative fiction imbued with empathy and a twist that will have your jaw on the floor.
Kill Shot
Garry Disher
He's the bad guy that's easy to root for - a master thief with his eyes on the liquid assets of a notorious corporate crook. Wyatt is back, and he was never here.
Steve Smith's Men
Geoff Lemon
A polished account of Australian cricket's fall into a cheating scandal, steeped with emotionally intelligent insights and beautiful prose.
The Bluffs
Kyle Perry
When a school group of teenage girls goes missing in the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers, the people of Limestone Creek are immediately on alert. Three decades ago, five young girls disappeared in the area of those dangerous bluffs, and the legend of ‘the Hungry Man’ still haunts locals to this day.
