Cass Moriarty (Author of The Promise Seed)

Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This beautiful hardback copy of The Boy and the Dog (Scribner 2022) by famed Japanese author Seishu Hase, translated by Alison Watts, won the prestigious Naoki Prize. A simple story of a dog named Tamon who, after the tragic tsunami, travels the leng ...more
Jan 31, 2023 01:29AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Boy and the Dog by Seishū Hase <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing Taken by Dinuka McKenzie	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Just breathlessly finished Taken (Harper Collins 2023) by Australian crime author Dinuka McKenzie, the second novel featuring Detective Sergeant Kate Miles. What a follow-up to her debut! This book focuses on any parent’s worst nightmare – a missing ...more
Jan 26, 2023 08:16PM · like · see review
Cass Moriarty rated a book really liked it The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I’ve read and loved all three of Dervla McTiernan’s previous crime novels featuring Detective Cormac Reilly. Her new book The Murder Rule (Harper Collins 2022) is different in so many ways from her previous work – a standalone, it is set in the US an ...more
Jan 12, 2023 05:45PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Cass Moriarty rated a book really liked it Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1) by Benjamin Stevenson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you are a fan of the recent Netflix hits Glass Onion and Knives Out, then you will enjoy this original and quirky crime story, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (Penguin Random House 2022) by Benjamin Stevenson. Wry, funny and full of myste ...more
Jan 10, 2023 09:10PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I absolutely adored Little Fires Everywhere so was keen to buy my copy of Celeste Ng’s new novel Our Missing Hearts (Abacus Books 2022) from Avid Reader. Ng is a writer of the highest calibre, managing to combine beautiful, literary pages with an acc ...more
Dec 28, 2022 07:51PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2022 has been the year for amazing debut crime novels by female Aussie writers, especially those writing outback noir or focussing on the intimacy and intensity of small rural towns. One such novel that has already garnered heaps of accolades is Hayl ...more
Dec 21, 2022 10:22PM · 1 like · like · see review
Cass Moriarty made a comment on their review of The Sun Walks Down " Thanks! Happy Christmas 🎄 "
Dec 18, 2022 01:32PM · see review
Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing The Nowhere Child by Christian White	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I have long been a fan of Christian White’s work but somehow never read his debut … until now. The Nowhere Child (Affirm Press 2018) is a classic Aussie crime novel that moves seamlessly between the US and Australia as a woman attempts to uncover her ...more
Dec 14, 2022 08:06PM · 2 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Nowhere Child by Christian White. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Nowhere Child by Christian White <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Cass Moriarty rated a book it was amazing The Promise by Damon Galgut	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, The Promise (Penguin Random House 2021) by Damon Galgut is a sweeping family saga that follows several characters over many decades, providing vignette scenes of intimate minutiae encompassed in an impressive overall ...more
Dec 08, 2022 03:55PM · like · see review
Cass Moriarty made a comment on their review of A Brief Affair " Thanks! Great book! "
Dec 07, 2022 02:02AM · see review

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This beautiful hardback copy of The Boy and the Dog (Scribner 2022) by famed Japanese author Seishu Hase, translated by Alison Watts, won the prestigious Naoki Prize. A simple story of a dog named Tamon who, after the tragic tsunami, travels the leng ...more

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Taken
by Dinuka McKenzie

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Just breathlessly finished Taken (Harper Collins 2023) by Australian crime author Dinuka McKenzie, the second novel featuring Detective Sergeant Kate Miles. What a follow-up to her debut! This book focuses on any parent’s worst nightmare – a missing Just breathlessly finished Taken (Harper Collins 2023) by Australian crime author Dinuka McKenzie, the second novel featuring Detective Sergeant Kate Miles. What a follow-up to her debut! This book focuses on any parent’s worst nightmare – a missing child – while also immersing readers more fully into the personal lives of the main characters. Taken is tightly plotted, surprising, tense, moving, reflective and full of the angst of parenthood.

McKenzie’s debut, The Torrent, finished with a very pregnant Kate (already mother to toddler Archie) severely injured after a harrowing incident. Taken opens some months later, and while much has changed in Kate’s world, some things have become more ingrained and difficult. She is struggling with her return from maternity leave to policing while navigating motherhood a second time and McKenzie depicts with pinpoint accuracy the minefield of guilt and shame mothers feel, whether they are in paid employment or not – am I giving the baby enough attention? Do I have enough milk? Is bottle-feeding ok? Am I sacrificing family time for work time, or vice versa, am I neglecting work because of my family? Do I expect too much of my partner? Am I being unreasonable? Why can’t anyone understand how difficult it is to parent and work and be a good partner and friend and daughter? What if I fail? What if I drop one of the many balls I am juggling? What role model am I for my children? These issues are explored with nuance, emotion and compassion.

Kate’s relationship with her father, a former policeman, is also unpacked further in this second book, not only their personal difficulties, but other professional problems that may reflect poorly on Kate. The reader must wait until the very end of the novel to find out what exactly is going on with Gray, and whether the two will reconnect and resolve the important issues.

These relationships, between Kate and her father, between Kate and her husband Geoff (poor, long-suffering Geoff!), between Kate and her colleague Josh, and Kate and her boss, Skinner, were all introduced in the first book but are teased out in Taken, expanded, with some of the gaps and backstory and history filled in. We feel that we get to know all of these people, not just Kate, a lot better in this novel, yet are also left with the feeling that there is so much more to be revealed.

But of course this is foremost a crime story (albeit one with a layered and developed structure of interpersonal relationships). And the crime is unthinkable: a baby girl missing. There in her bassinet one minute, simply disappeared the next. Over the course of the week during which Taken is set (and I love that McKenzie tongue-in-cheek makes reference to one of the characters reading a crime novel where the ‘police solve the crime in a week’!), suspects spring from everywhere. Baby Sienna’s mother, Elissa, is depressed and downtrodden. Sienna’s father, Aaron, can’t account for his movements over the critical time period. Elissa’s former partner is a violent man with a dangerous past and possibly a grudge and Elissa’s mother is controlling and protective. Many others connected to both Aaron and Elissa emerge as persons of interest during the investigation. The police unit is divided about which suspect to prioritise, which only dilutes the resources to investigate any one person. So many people could have committed this crime that Kate is stymied at every turn by conflicting evidence, emerging motives and incorrect assumptions.

One very clever structural device used by McKenzie is the italicised voice of an unknown person, which appears intermittently during the story. While this is not a new idea, the way McKenzie utilises it is unusual. Certainly, by the end of the story, I had to go back to the beginning and reread these sections to understand quite how easily she had misled me and how complex the narrative is; some of the assumptions I had made were erroneous, and some paths I had trodden were in completely the wrong direction. Exactly the makings of a great crime novel! Readers will reach the end and marvel at McKenzie’s skills of misdirection, distraction and diversion.

The missing child is naturally very close to the bone for Kate Miles, who has a new baby herself. This makes this case personal, and we discover it’s political too. The bureaucracy, corruption and favouritism of the police force is alive and well, as is the eagerness to use Kate as a prime example of ‘diverse policing’, something she is annoyed by but tolerates.

McKenzie is a fine writer and her instinct for what makes a good crime novel is well tuned. The plot of Taken will keep you guessing, and the background setting of relationships and family will feel authentic and familiar. ...more

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The Murder Rule
by Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author)

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I’ve read and loved all three of Dervla McTiernan’s previous crime novels featuring Detective Cormac Reilly. Her new book The Murder Rule (Harper Collins 2022) is different in so many ways from her previous work – a standalone, it is set in the US an I’ve read and loved all three of Dervla McTiernan’s previous crime novels featuring Detective Cormac Reilly. Her new book The Murder Rule (Harper Collins 2022) is different in so many ways from her previous work – a standalone, it is set in the US and concerns The Innocence Project, a legal team working to prove the innocence of certain convicted killers. Passionate young law student Hannah Rokeby joins the team under the pretence of wanting to reform a brutal and unjust system. But there’s more to Hannah’s backstory than she lets on - her real reason for joining the Innocence Project is to sabotage one particular defendant, and she intends to do so using every avenue she can.

This is a great premise for a story – already we have a protagonist who is not who she says she is; a narrator who is hiding secrets from the other characters. But we also have diary extracts from Hannah’s mother, which reveal the real reason for her quest, and the story reveals a number of unexpected twists that turn the whole story upside down.

McTiernan is one of Australia’s best crime writers, especially her ability to make us care intensely about her characters. Her stories are complex and intricate, and her knowledge of legal procedures and court room drama authenticate the plot.

The US setting combined with the filmic plot makes this story very ‘Hollywood’ and I’m not sure I enjoyed that aspect as much as her previous books. That said, McTiernan is definitely now writing in the space occupied by Gillian Flynn and the like, and there is a huge market for this type of psychological thriller / unreliable narrator / epistolary novel. In fact, the book was named #1 bestselling New York Times thriller of the year 2022 so clearly it has ticked all the boxes for passionate crime readers! The first half of the book kept me reading but it was at a point just over halfway that I realised she had upended my perspective on several of the characters – a simple but clever manoeuvre that then made me question everything I had read up until that point, and hooked me firmly on to finding out what would happen next.

McTiernan’s strengths are authentic dialogue and superb characterisation, as well as an intriguing plot, and she demonstrates these skills again in The Murder Rule. And while I found a few points unlikely or semi-predictable, generally this is again a well-written and constructed crime story with realistic characters and some page-turning suspense, especially towards the last third of the book, where the action comes thick and fast (there’s even a great car chase! Once again, perfect for Hollywood.)

This book delves deep into themes of classism, prejudice and the accountability and fairness (or not) of the legal system, asking questions about who is targeted, and how; the resources devoted to one claimant over another, and the presumption of innocence (or guilt). If you are interested in the complexities of the legal system (particularly the US model, and its variations from state to state), this book provides well researched and compelling reading. ...more

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Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)
by Benjamin Stevenson (Goodreads Author)

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If you are a fan of the recent Netflix hits Glass Onion and Knives Out, then you will enjoy this original and quirky crime story, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (Penguin Random House 2022) by Benjamin Stevenson. Wry, funny and full of myste If you are a fan of the recent Netflix hits Glass Onion and Knives Out, then you will enjoy this original and quirky crime story, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (Penguin Random House 2022) by Benjamin Stevenson. Wry, funny and full of mystery, this is a crime novel with a difference. Narrated by Ern Cunningham, the book begins with a list of 10 rules for crime fiction writers, moves quickly onto a covered-up murder, and then settles in for some truly madcap scenarios at the Cunningham family reunion in an isolated ski resort.

The prologue begins with a cracking opening: ‘Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once.’

Ern’s brother, his stepsister, his wife, his mother and father, his (former) sister-in-law, his aunt and uncle, his stepfather and Ern himself have all, you guessed it, killed someone. Some are historical crimes and some occur during the storm at the mountain resort, with the snow (and the body count) piling up. This book is a whodunnit but it also addresses a whole host of other questions including ‘who will die next?’, ‘how will the next victim die?’, ‘who will this character kill now?’, ‘who is hiding what secret?’ and ‘who should I trust?’. The answer to the last question is ‘nobody’.

Inspired by the traditions of great detectives such as Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple, the story involves a group of people forced together in an enclosed space, unable to leave despite knowing there is a killer amongst them. There are twists and turns, red herrings, misunderstandings, fakery, lies and revenge. Ern is the author of self-published books about writing crime stories, so there is an interesting meta level of complexity to his narration of the story. He inserts himself often, addresses the reader directly, admonishes his editor, and generally gives a highly original narrative in a format rarely used in this genre.

The book is divided into sections, each titled with one of his relatives. That chapter, predictably, goes on to disclose who that person has killed. But the inventive backstories and the eclectic circumstances are far from foreseeable. This novel goes in some very weird directions.

It is clever, well-plotted and tongue-in-cheek hilarious. The characters are all mysteriously appealing and as each layer of the story is peeled back, the strangeness of the story and its characters only becomes more compelling.

A great holiday read, and a fascinating and insightful parody companion to traditional crime novels. ...more

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Our Missing Hearts
by Celeste Ng (Goodreads Author)

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I absolutely adored Little Fires Everywhere so was keen to buy my copy of Celeste Ng’s new novel Our Missing Hearts (Abacus Books 2022) from Avid Reader. Ng is a writer of the highest calibre, managing to combine beautiful, literary pages with an acc I absolutely adored Little Fires Everywhere so was keen to buy my copy of Celeste Ng’s new novel Our Missing Hearts (Abacus Books 2022) from Avid Reader. Ng is a writer of the highest calibre, managing to combine beautiful, literary pages with an accessible and intense plot, and this book also carries beneath its sentences some very contemporary and important issues.

The story is set in the United States in the near future, some years after a major ‘crisis’ (both economic and social), where for a decade citizens have lived under the new stringent PACT laws, written to preserve American culture, particularly from any Asian influence (but especially Chinese). In this society of fear and watchfulness, 12-year-old Bird lives with his white father, Ethan, in a small apartment in a building owned by the university where Ethan works reshelving books in the library, a long way down from the previous work he did as a professor of linguistics. Bird’s mother, Margaret Miu, a Chinese-American poet, disappeared from their lives three years earlier. Ethan has distanced himself from everything they once shared as a family and encourages half-Chinese Bird – or Noah – as he is renamed, to do the same. Bird’s mother is never spoken of; it is as if she never existed. But in the opening pages of the book, Bird receives a cryptic drawing that he feels certain is from this mother that he barely remembers, and the novel charts his journey of not only trying to find her, but find out what happened to her, why she abandoned them and her mysterious connection to the city-wide anti-PACT slogans that appear frequently overnight and are cleaned away by the next morning. Ranging from yarn bombings to graffiti, the slogans all refer to OUR MISSING HEARTS in some way, a line from one of his mother’s books of poetry.

But Bird’s attempts to find out any information are hampered, not least because any books or websites containing positive information about China or Chinese history have been removed from shelves or taken offline. Censorship is at the centre of the new form of control wielded by the government. Libraries are still places of sanctuary however, and as Bird discovers, may yet hold the key to a network of underground dissidents.

The most disturbing and alarming aspect of this book is that mixed race children are being removed from their parents, or from people who support the anti-PACT movement. As Ng says in her author’s note, ‘There is a long history, in the US and elsewhere, of removing children as a means of political control.’ Drawn from real life examples such as the stolen generations of First Nations people, government boarding schools for Indigenous children, the separation of migrant families at the border and the iniquities of the foster care system, and also referencing well-known works of fiction such as The Handmaid’s Tale, this frightening scenario is widespread. Families rarely speak up publicly however, as to do so would only prove that they are unfit to raise the children that have been taken.

One of the best characters in the book is feisty Sadie, a stolen child who has fled from foster home to foster home, trying to find her parents. She befriends Bird when they are younger and she becomes an important figure for him as he attempts to find out about his mother.

These issues – horrific and yet with a basis in what’s going on in different countries all over the world right now – elevate this novel from an engaging story to a complex examination of our policies, our prejudices, our politics and our personal positions on dubious laws. We all know that might is not always right but do we have the courage of our convictions to stand up and speak for those without a voice?

As the story unfolds, the horror and terror operating in plain sight is revealed, and the tension builds to a nail-biting climax that will have you turning the pages in anticipation and dread. Only one thing is certain: not everything is as it seems. This is an absolutely remarkable and thought-provoking book that invites you to question our own historical and current political and social systems. ...more

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Dirt Town
by Hayley Scrivenor (Goodreads Author)

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2022 has been the year for amazing debut crime novels by female Aussie writers, especially those writing outback noir or focussing on the intimacy and intensity of small rural towns. One such novel that has already garnered heaps of accolades is Hayl 2022 has been the year for amazing debut crime novels by female Aussie writers, especially those writing outback noir or focussing on the intimacy and intensity of small rural towns. One such novel that has already garnered heaps of accolades is Hayley Scrivenor’s Dirt Town (Pan MacMillan 2022), an earlier version of which was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award.

For crime lovers, there are many familiar themes in this story. Best friends Ronnie and Esther wave goodbye to each other on one ordinary day after school, but Esther never makes it home. Ronnie is determined to find her, with the help of their friend Lewis. But Lewis holds a secret that terrifies him and keeps him from being entirely honest during the search. The featured cop in the story, Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels, is brought in from the city to lead the investigation. She has her own private demons and is very aware that people can be driven to desperate acts, completely out of character, through extraordinary circumstances.

The entire story takes place over only a week, so every day is filled with the intense minutia of the investigation and the thoughts and deeds of everyone associated – potential witnesses, suspects and victims of other crimes, if not this particular one. The chapters are from alternating points of view, which allows the reader into the heads of more than one main character.

But there are two things that make this story stand out. The first is that in the opening chapter, by page three, we (the reader, although not the other characters) become aware that Esther is already dead. This is an interesting revelation because the story then becomes not about whether she might be still alive, but rather what has happened to her and who is involved in her disappearance and death. In this book, the reader knows more than the characters, which adds a complex perspective to the subsequent investigations.

The second highly original construct is that the chapter points of view include one titled ‘WE’, interspersed throughout the novel. It is at first unclear who the ‘we’ is meant to be, but it is obvious it is a collective ‘we’, and that it is something to do with the town itself, the community, the very fabric holding Durton (or Dirt Town) together. As the novel progresses, this ‘WE’ becomes more complex and nuanced, and the final chapters from this perspective tie together the whole notion of a small town community, where everybody knows everybody else and their business, where rumours are rife, legends become lore, and the crimes and critical incidents of the town are embedded in the community like the rings of a tree, marking important events that have changed or affected the town over the years. This perspective is very clever structurally and lifts the story onto another level.

The characterisation is rich and detailed, and the depiction of life in a small town is evocative and nuanced. The reader is kept guessing until the very last page as to the details of what exactly happened to Esther, along with other tangential plots and themes that have been woven into the story. The book traverses some complex themes of family violence, diversity and the legacy of trauma, neatly threading these issues through the main plot with a subtle and restrained hand. The power of lies and why we tell them, even to ourselves, is explored in a genuinely refined way. I highly recommend this complex and thought-provoking novel. ...more

Cass Moriarty made a comment on their review of The Sun Walks Down

" Thanks! Happy Christmas 🎄 "

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The Nowhere Child
by Christian White

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I have long been a fan of Christian White’s work but somehow never read his debut … until now. The Nowhere Child (Affirm Press 2018) is a classic Aussie crime novel that moves seamlessly between the US and Australia as a woman attempts to uncover her ...more

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The Promise
by Damon Galgut

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Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, The Promise (Penguin Random House 2021) by Damon Galgut is a sweeping family saga that follows several characters over many decades, providing vignette scenes of intimate minutiae encompassed in an impressive overall Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, The Promise (Penguin Random House 2021) by Damon Galgut is a sweeping family saga that follows several characters over many decades, providing vignette scenes of intimate minutiae encompassed in an impressive overall picture of not just a family but an entire nation and its culture and politics.

The title is both literal and metaphorical. A white South African family is gathered for the funeral of Ma, who on her deathbed, promises a house and parcel of land on their vast property to Salome, the black maid who has cared for her perhaps more than anyone. But after Ma’s passing, somehow time marches on and the promise is never fulfilled. Two of her children, Anton and Amor, want desperately at the time to honour her wishes, but in the midst of extended family dramas, the chance to do the right thing gets further and further away, until some begin to question whether it was ever a promise at all.

This is set against the backdrop of the changing political tide in South Africa, where promises of fairness and equality have been made to entire sections of the population, but again, time passes, and the actual fulfilment of these promises seems more difficult than the words that represent them.

This novel is raw, moving and powerful. It allows the reader a bird’s eye view into the Swart family on their farm in Pretoria, and the complex racial and cultural machinations that go on around them. We see the interiority of both Anton and Amor in particular detail. In fact, the author moves fluidly from character to character, giving us different perspectives and challenging all the rules of writing: we go from one point of view to inside the head of another; some is written in the second person, addressing the reader as ‘you’; the lens shifts languidly from person to person, place to place, wrongfooting the reader with sudden changes and swerves. Only an experienced and talented writer could pull this off without it becoming confusing. Galgut not only does it well, but he draws the reader into this ethereal, almost unreal world, carrying us along as we flit like a butterfly from one perspective to the next.

And beneath the story of this one family, and the promise that seems destined never to be fulfilled, is the larger and confronting reality of a country at war with itself, attempting to honour the promises to its people but hampered by its own history. ...more

Cass Moriarty made a comment on their review of A Brief Affair

" Thanks! Great book! "

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