Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck

A plane crashes into the Antarctic ice during a violent storm exposing a massive cave beneath. A rescue mission is launched but all contact is suddenly lost with them too: cue Alex Hunter and his team of super-soldiers or HAWCS ( Hot Zone All Forces Warfare Commandos) who, along with a team of scientists believing that an oil field exists within the cavern system, are sent in to investigate what has happened.

They find out that they definitely do contain oil fields, as well as discovering something that is very much alive below the surface. It is a force that dates back to the very dawn of time; an ancient terror that hunts and kills to survive. Naturally things do not go as planned and the group has to contend not only with Russian Black Ops (sent to make sure the US mission does not succeed), but also a number of unanticipated antediluvian biological horrors.

This is a story for the men (or for women who like me are drawn to a fast paced adventure/sci-fi/horror novel). Take a remote and dangerous setting, add in a vicious and deadly villain and a smattering of geopolitical intrigue, some cutting edge science, and you have the ingredients for a compulsive read.

There are lots of James Bond styled high-tech weapons and a hero in Alex Hunter who is a super-soldier with an Achilles heel. A near fatal accident has left him with near superhuman sensory and physical abilities that are almost more than human, a trait that the military have been quick to use to their advantage.

This book has it all. A remote and dangerous setting, a rugged hero, a feisty heroine, a band of elite soldiers baby-sitting a group of whining scientists and a mythological creature which has made its home in the ruins of an ancient civilization under the ice of Antarctica.

This is the first in a series of ‘Alex Hunter’ books. The fast paced action, coupled with characters who felt believable means that the reader is drawn into the adventure along with the other characters. If you enjoy fantasy mixed with science, mythology, frightening water demons and a super hero to save the day, then this is a must read.

Posted by Fiona

Catalogue link: Beneath the Dark Ice

Give Me the Child by Mel McGrath

Do we get the children we deserve?

Cat. Tom. Freya. A nice happy little family….until it isn’t.

Imagine that you wake in the middle of the night to a knock on the door. A police officer stands there with a young girl; a child you had no idea existed until that moment and just like that the familiar life that you knew is gone.

Cat Lupo is the woman whose world starts to fall apart after she discovers that her video games designer husband Tom has fathered Ruby after a one night encounter. Ruby’s mother has died in suspicious circumstances and Tom is the only family that she has.

As a clinical child psychologist Cat spends her days treating children who have been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorders. While Cat is in shock she does want to do what is right for the girl and tries to accept Ruby into their life, but all is not right with the girl. Items go missing, a dead hamster is found in Cat’s bed and Freya becomes quiet and withdrawn. Cat with all her training can recognise mentally ill children and she becomes convinced that that is what Ruby is. It is not long before she begins to fear for her own daughter’s safety, a concern she tries to share with her husband and her sister without positive results as they start to believe that an intensive period of psychosis suffered before the birth of her own child has once again taken hold of Cat.

Seeming to lose all her lines of support we are drawn into the claustrophobic intensity of the unfolding drama as Cat hunts for the truth about Ruby, her mother Lily her evasive husband Tom and dark secrets from the past..

Cat’s research tells her there’s no such thing as evil. Her history tells her she’s paranoid. Her instincts tell her different.

Give Me The Child is a skilfully written, engrossing read with an unforgettable twist at the end . This is the story of a dysfunctional family in meltdown which asks uncomfortable but important questions about how much we know about our partners, our children and ourselves.

Reviewed by Fiona Frost 

Catalogue link: Give Me the Child

Cook Beautiful by Athena Calderone

I cannot resist a good looking cook book. That doesn’t mean to say that I cook using the recipes from all the books I look at but rather that I get inspiration to day dream about dishes and places and situations and table settings.

This is the debut book from Athena Calderone, a ‘celebrated American interior designer, chef, entertaining expert and creator of an award winning lifestyle site EyeSwoon’ according to her personal blurb. The book contains 100 seasonal recipes for meals that look as gorgeous as I am sure they are delicious. Sometimes the ingredients sound terribly foreign as in grilled fluke (a white fish) or Gemelli ( a pasta dish), but the photographs that accompany each recipe are stunning and bring the food to life in a manner that makes you want to get into the kitchen right away and start cooking. .

Athena describes food as being our greatest unifier, something we can relate to regardless of our backgrounds, passions or palates. I know for me, food preparation and consumption has always been one of the most pleasurable ways of spending time with friends and family.

A cook book such as this is like taking a mini holiday. You can almost smell the salty tang of a summer beach barbeque or the smell of eucalyptus leaves as friends gather around a roaring winter fire.

Athena gives step by step advice on everything from preparation to presentation. Organised by season, each section closes with a table-scape inspired by nature, along with specific table décor and entertaining tips.

These are luscious dishes to make for friends and family. The tips at the bottom of the page give the impression that this is more of a conversation from one friend to another and adds to the feeling of being part of this culinary experience. Coming from a region that prides itself on it fresh fruit, vegetables and wine, the ingredients, if unusual, are the type that can be adapted to whatever we may be able to source. I can’t wait to try the creamy cauliflower soup with dukkah watercress pesto or the cardamom – cognac apple cake from her Fall section as we slowly wind our own way into Autumn.

Cook Beautiful lives up to its name. A beautiful cookbook.

Reviewed by Fiona Frost

Catalogue link for Cook Beautiful

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

I like books that draw me into the story so that each time I open the page I am once more a part of the action, surrounded ( in my mind) by the smells, tastes and sights, so that each time I stop there is a small wrench as I return to reality.

Lisa Gardner books do this for me. From the very first page she draws us into the story, pulling us along at breakneck speed until we are left breathless and exhausted, not wanting to stop, needing to be there, in the middle, watching and processing.

I also like books where the climax of the story isn’t telegraphed in capital letters, where right up until the end there is still uncertainty and doubt about what is really happening and who the real protagonists are.

This book sees the return of retired FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his partner Rainie Connor, very popular characters created by Gardner and back here in their seventh book. However, the story does not revolve around them, but their soon to be adopted daughter Sharlah and her brother Telly Ray Nash. As Sharlah herself tells us in the book, the one thing best about her new family: they are all experts on monsters!

Eight years ago Sharlah May Nash’s older brother Telly Ray beat their drunken father to death with a baseball bat and then went on to break Sharlah’s arm with that same bat. She hasn’t seen Telly since that day. Now thirteen, Sharlah has an about to be forever family and is starting to trust again.

Then the call comes in. A double murder at the local petrol station followed by the discovery of two more bodies, and the face in the video footage is that of Sharlah’s brother Telly.

Why after eight years has he started killing again? Why are photos of Sharlah found in his room and is Sharlah his next victim? Once upon a time her big brother saved her life. Now she has to ask herself: is her brother a hero or a killer? As Sharlah knows, the biggest danger is the one standing right behind you, so where is Telly Ray Nash?

Posted by Fiona

Catalogue link: Right Behind You

If You Knew Her by Emily Elgar

Everyone has secrets and the three main characters in this book are no exceptions. This psychological thriller has three main characters and a whole host of suspects.

We follow Cassie, a young, recently married woman, keen artist and free spirit who is brought into the intensive care unit at St Catherine’s Hospital, the victim of a hit and run accident. She is cared for by Alice, a hard- working nurse on the ward. Alice also cares for Frank, who is in a coma and suffering from locked- in syndrome brought on by alcohol abuse, which means he is aware of everything going on around him but is unable to communicate with the outside world.

Frank observes everything in his very limited world and takes particular interest in Cassie, noting that although she appears to have a loving family surrounding her , that there is more to them than meets the eye. Ultimately this means that his life too is placed in danger.

Cassie’s story is told through flash-backs to the weeks and days leading up to her accident interspersed with observations in real time from Frank and the thoughts and later suspicions of Alice as she comes to realise that all is not as it seems and that secrets abound with all the characters.

There are a number of themes within this book, the first novel for this author, including betrayal, shame of the past, obsession and emotional pain. We share with each of the main characters as they struggle to make sense of the situation in which they find themselves.

It did take me a few pages to become hooked into the book. Once I started to relate to the characters however, I quickly became engrossed in trying to work out why Frank felt Cassie was in danger. If you like medical crime thrillers then this is certainly one to consider. The whodunit theme ramps up as the book progresses, there is more than one twist and turn in the story and I was left guessing right to the end.

I did enjoy the book and would certainly read more by this author should she publish again.



Reviewed by Fiona



Catalogue link: If You Knew Her