I’m going to state at the outset that I think it was a fantastic call on Chris Hammer’s part to move on from Martin Scarsden (protagonist of previous novels Scrublands, Silver and Trust) as his lead character, and instead follow Ivan and Nell, the detectives, into new novels.  Martin was getting to be annoyingly omniscient, and ever so slightly… overbearingly self righteous about it.  Following the detectives means we have a legitimate entry point into each new murder, and allows Hammer to mine the back […]

I really enjoy Chris Hammer novels, which surprised me.  I have that pesky Cultural Cringe factor around Aussie books in general, and I feel like Hammer specifically just throws every single thing he thinks of into each book.  At a certain point, all 273.802 plot threads being miraculously interconnected starts to beggar belief, you know? So this new one, being described as his “most ambitious yet” was a bit concerning – what was he going to do, have Scarsden find evidence that put Trump away […]