Crime thrillers

NEVER HAVE I EVER by Joshilyn Jackson, Raven Books

When newcomer Angelica Roux arrives at Amy Whey’s book club night, their lives take a sharp turn. Roux – as she prefers to be called – takes over the evening and initiates a seemingly innocuous game of ‘Never Have I

Ever’, which turns out to be a rather dangerous take on Truth or Dare. Now Roux is in control and as the plot unfolds, it’s clear she knows something serious the book club hostess has been hiding from the suburban neighbourhood.

No-one understands the human psyche like thriller writer extraordinaire Louise Doughty, whose Apple Tree Yard had us all on the edge of our seats. Platform Seven is another triumph and tackles coercive control. It’s 4am on Platform Seven on a deserted railway station in England. Thinking he is alone, a man edges towards the platform edge only to encounter Lisa Evans, who knows what he wants to do and intervenes. Both die. How did it come to this?

The railway station and its staff hide a myriad of secrets.

SILVER by Chris Hammer, Allen & Unwin

Following his brilliant outback thriller Scrublands, author Chris Hammer is back with likeable journalist protagonist Martin Scarsden. This time Martin returns to his hometown of Port Silver to try to put the traumatic memories of his past behind him. Girlfriend Mandy has inherited a house in the pretty town and both feel this could be the new start they desperately need. But then Martin discovers his best friend from back in the day has been murdered and it is Mandy who is the prime suspect. Hammer’s pacing is brilliant as the tension mounts, set against the welletched Aussie landscape.