Frantic (Detective Ella Marconi, #1) in Great Aussie Reads

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Feb 12, 2012 Simone rated it liked it

Shelves: great-aussie-reads-challenge, aww2012-challenge

This is probably more a 3.5, than a 3 - but not quite a 4 (for reasons explained at end).

Not having read a lot of Australian crime fiction, I was excited to discover a new author and her first novel Frantic did not disappoint. Right from the beginning I was drawn into the storyline and really felt the terror of Paramedic Sophie when she discovers that not only has her policeman husband been shot, but her 10 month old son Lachlan has been kidnapped.

The pace of Frantic is great - it is quite fast This is probably more a 3.5, than a 3 - but not quite a 4 (for reasons explained at end).

Not having read a lot of Australian crime fiction, I was excited to discover a new author and her first novel Frantic did not disappoint. Right from the beginning I was drawn into the storyline and really felt the terror of Paramedic Sophie when she discovers that not only has her policeman husband been shot, but her 10 month old son Lachlan has been kidnapped.

The pace of Frantic is great - it is quite fast and furious with short chapters, which lead you from point to point throughout Sophie's ordeal. The time labels are a good touch, making you feel you are in a true police hunt and also helping you track just how long Lachlan has been missing, adding to the sense that time is running out and they have to hurry, hurry to find him.

The characters are also really well drawn. The two lead females - Sophie and Detective Ella Marconi are both strong, fiesty women, who won't let anything stand in the way of them getting their particular job done. For Sophie this is both as a Paramedic and a mother. I probably got more of a sense of Sophie than Ella, but I understand she features in later novels, so that character development will no doubt continue.

I loved the Sydney setting. It's great to read a crime/thriller novel set right in our most famous city (rather than LA or New York) and hear it's landmarks talked about in general conversation. As a paramedic/police officer Sophie and Ella both are both very familiar with the city and this shows throughout the story. I also enjoyed the intimate knowledge of the job of a paramedic (because the author is one herself). This brought an amazing sense of realism to the story.

The suspense element is great, you are left guessing right until the end. And on that point I'll explain about the .5 deduction. While the main part of the story is resolved, I felt there were a few loose ends that weren't quite tied up - particularly relating to another fairly major character and his link with the eventual perpetrator.

Overall a great read and I will definitely look out for more of Katherine Howell's books. ...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Helen McKenna rated it really liked it

Shelves: aww2012-challenge, great-aussie-reads-challenge-2012

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