-
Review: Legacy by Chris Hammer (2025)
Martin Scarsden is back—and someone wants him dead. After an explosion rips through the boatshed in Port Silver set up for his latest book launch, and Scarsden’s family and friends are assailed by gunfire, the intrepid reporter is forced to abandon his home, and his entire life, while ASIO agent Jack Goffing investigates the assassination…
-
Review: Flashlight by Susan Choi (2025)
Susan Choi’s Flashlight clocks in at almost 500 pages. It felt like twice that size. I love a doorstopper novel; a story you’re going to invest days in, maybe a week; the excitement of a richly embroidered multi-generational saga. But this was dense as mud. I trudged through it, stirred onwards by the premise rather…
-
Review: Love Forms by Claire Adam (2025)
As much as I adored this—and I did love it, tremendously—I’m not sure it’s destined for the Booker shortlist. Why? Because it’s so tender and understated, and fellow long-listed books like Audition by Katie Kitamura and Endling by Maria Reva have a dash of unconventionality that I reckon might pip the titles I’ve most enjoyed.…
-
Review: Endling by Maria Reva (2025)
In Reva’s Booker-longlisted Endling, three women, a snail, and an RV full of kidnapped bachelors travel through Ukraine. It’s a madcap premise. Without context, you might be thinking—huh?! And depending on your predilections, you’re either enticed or dissuaded. Really, the novel is nowhere near as absurd as that description implies. Endling grapples with profound concerns, ranging from…
-
Review: Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (2025)
Hal Ebbott’s debut novel Among Friends is an excavation of friendship, parenthood and marriage as refracted by two wealthy white families from New York. We’re introduced to Emerson and Amos—whose friendship spans three decades, since college—and their families. Claire is married to Amos, and they have a teenage daughter named Anna. Retsy is the wife…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Simon McDonald 