REVIEWS FOR MY BOOKS
I don’t generally like sticking reviews up on my site even though I am lucky they are normally good. But when a reader takes the trouble to write to me then I think it’s worth sharing. Here is an email I got from Liz West recently.
`Hello Dave.”Exxxpresso” I read this book about 10 years ago. I loved it!It went straight into my “read again” shelf.
Well, sitting here in lockdown I have been reading through the “read again” shelf – and drinking too much coffee!I think I laughed even more the second time around – especially so after actually having driven from Perth to Kalgoorlie in the intervening period of time.
Great book. Thank you for the laugh.
Regards. LIZ.
Exxxpresso is available from Amazon in paperback
It is also available on Apple Books
And on Kindle
As for my Ned Kelly shortlisted River of Salt I was pleased to see that an American George Easter was intending to review as follows.
RIVER OF SALT
by Dave Warner
Fremantle Press, $19.95, 2019
Kindle Edition, $9.99
Rating: A-
I was impressed to read this Australian crime novel by three
things: 1. the author has won the Ned Kelly Award (for BEFORE IT BREAKS)
and I had never read any of his prior novels; 2. a glowing review by
Jeff Popple on his blog, and; 3. an intriguing plot: Blake Saunders is a
young hit man for the Philadelphia mob, who is running for his life from
his bosses. He makes his way to a remote area of Australia, where he
builds a successful life – even though haunted by ghosts from his past.
Events conspire against Blake and he has to resort to skills he hoped
had been firmly put to bed. He also becomes an amateur detective to
save a friend who is falsely accused of a murder. And of course Blake is
not shy about breaking the law to find the killer. There are a number
of surprises that crop up along the way to that goal.
RIVER OF SALT more than lived up to its promise and I found myself
totally immersed in its plot and the lives of its well-defined
characters. Now I have another author to add to my growing list of
admirable Australian crime writers to read. Reader warning: there is a
depiction of a pornographic film in detail that you may want to skip,
which is easy to do.
Published 2019 and shortlisted for Ned Kelly for Best Australian Crime Writing.Order on Booktopia
Out Now!Re Over My Dead Body I’ve seen several reader reviews and they have been excellent but I generally avoid reviews for months. I’m afraid that I found after Rolling Stone gave a bad review to my album This Is My Planet (forty years ago) I got angry and down about it. I was, and remain very proud of the album and the reviewer – who I recall well but won’t mention, was the ultimate poseur. I was especially pissed off that he accused Car Park of ripping off the riff of Summertime Blues, when in fact Bob Searles my guitarist had worked hard to find a riff that evoked Summertime Blues without it being the same. The whole idea of the album was that it should be a back to basics, rock-rockabilly style album in direct contrast to the synth sounds and slick vocals that were dominating the airwaves.
And so I tip-toe around media reviews hoping I don’t tread on glass BUT I LOVE LOVE it when a fan – listener or reader takes the trouble to contact me.
Here’s just one review I got from a reader I’ve never met who got a copy from Better Reading. And no – this wasn’t the best or highest star review (it was 4 stars)
Karen rated it really liked it Wow. What a fun ride this book has been. I love a bit of Sherlock Holmes and this was great. Putting him into modern day and seeing him deal with all the challenges of life in the 21st century was fascinating. He handled it far better than I would have imagined. That is perhaps the only shortcoming of this book – even setting aside a belief in reality, it’s a stretch to some of the events. None of that spoils the fun though. An original, enjoyable read.
