Review: Sunburn by Laura Lippman

Prepare to be played like a violin as Laura Lippman wrings suspense out of every possible aspect of her revitalisation of the classic noir tale of the sexy stranger passing through town. Simon McDonald reviews Sunburn.

During a beach vacation with her husband and three-year-old daughter, Polly Costello — just one of the names readers will soon learn to identify her as — gets up and walks away; out of the sun, and apparently, out of their lives. Gregg is apoplectic, but not as shocked by her abandonment as every other husband might be; Polly is, after all, he reasons, a wildcat he picked up in a bar four years ago. So while he’s stuck playing single dad, Polly starts a new life, which is merely a phase in her long-term plan. She gets a job as the waitress at the High-Ho during the peak of the summer season; so, too, does the mysterious, attractive stranger she met on her first day on the lam. Only they didn’t meet by accident; Adam Bosk has been watching Polly for some time, and at first, his job as chef at the High-Ho is merely a cover story to stay close to her. But their chemistry is undeniable, and they quickly become lovers, both with secrets that could not only end their relationship, but cost their lives.

It’s not murder that makes Sunburn thrum; it’s deception, and the consequences of secrets, and the lengths people will go to in order to keep them sacrosanct. Lippman, who plots more conscientiously than anyone else in the field, digs deep into her characters, then deeper, into past and present until all is revealed, right up until the shocking climactic confrontation.

This is a gripping, wrenching, brilliant piece of noir, and quite possibly the best novel super-scribe Laura Lippman has penned. Sunburn will delight long-time fans and make the author new ones.

Our Top 10 Bestsellers of March 2018

Last Week's Bestsellers

Last Week's Bestsellers

1. The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton
2. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
3. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
4. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
5. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo
6. The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown
7. The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan
8. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
9. Iris Apfel - Accidental Icon by Iris Apfel
10. Silent Invasion by Clive Hamilton

Our bestselling books of last week include Tim Winton's powerful new novel The Shepherd’s Hut, staff favourite Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Chloe Benjamin's delectable The Immortalists, and Jordan Peterson's humorous, surprising and informative 12 Rules for Life. 

Review: Almost Love by Louise O’Neill

Simon McDonald on Louise O'Neill's raw and powerful Almost Love.

Almost Love follows a young woman named Sarah who falls in love fast — and hard — for a man twenty years her senior, and starts sacrificing her career, friendships, and relationships to be with him.

We have all been there, or witnessed it: a relationship destined for failure from the very start. The writing is on the wall; sometimes we’re the friend who knows this, but can’t — for the sake of the friendship — reveal our concern — and most of us have been the protagonist, invested in a romantic relationship going nowhere, certainly not the direction we want it to, but hopeful — so damn hopeful! — that our inner fears won’t be realised, that our gut instinct is wrong. We know from the very start that Sarah’s relationship with Matthew is fated to end badly, but we know what it’s like, to be in love, to think we’ve found the person who gets us, who appreciates us; or been so blinded by our own desires, our fantasy of What Could Be, that we overlook our partner’s failings. Hope overrides reality; the belief that we can change things, set a new path. Sarah is all of us, and bearing witness to her razing of everything meaningful in her life, and the erosion of her confidence, is truly agonising. There is humour throughout, certainly; but it’s the gallows kind, that only exacerbates the splintering of our hearts as Sarah’s journey unfolds.

Wry and devastating in equal measure, Almost Love is a delectable and heartbreaking tale about an all-consuming relationship gone wrong, and demonstrates how treacherous, agonising and addictive love can be; how love can be an exercise in self-sabotage, and falling for the wrong person is often akin to hitting the self-destruct button. O’Neill navigates the jagged edges of love so astutely. I loved it.

Review: The Night Market by Jonathan Moore

Harry Bosch meets Blade Runner in this brilliant thriller reviewed by simon mcdonald

Jonathan Moore’s frightening near-future thriller The Night Market is a thought-provoking noirish crime novel set in a gorgeously realised subtly-futuristic, overwhelmingly dystopian version of San Francisco, where copper thieves run rampant, drones buzz above the heads of the city’s citizens, and ostentatious consumer consumption runs riot. Think of a Michael Connelly Harry Bosch novel set in a Blade Runner-esque world.

When a man is found dead — his corpse in a terrifying state of decay  — in one of the city’s luxury homes, SFPD Homicide detective Ross Carver and his partner are called to the scene to lead the investigation. But before they’re able to get beyond a cursory glance at the victim, six FBI agents — or are they? —burst in and forcibly remove them from the premises. The detectives are hastened into a disinfectant chamber, sprayed with a metallic-tasting liquid, then rendered unconscious. When Carver wakes two days later in his apartment, he has no memory of the events that occurred; but his mysterious neighbour, Mia, is strangely determined to help Carver remember.

The Night Market steadily ramps up its revelations, and it gradually becomes clear there are larger forces at play. Moore resists the temptation to have Carver follow breadcrumbs into the darkest corners of his incredibly-imagined world, keeping the narrative tight and focused. Moore’s latest novel — the first of his I’ve read, but surely not the last — is a tense, gritty thriller, and near-perfect in its overall execution, with an ending that lingers well past the final page. Seriously, this is a book that nails its finale; it’s pitch-perfect and haunting. It’s one of my favourite thrillers of the year so far.

Our Top 10 Bestsellers of the Week

1. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
3. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
4. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos by Jordan Peterson
5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
6. The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan
7. This Is What Happened by Mick Herron
8. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
9. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
10. Silent Invasion: China's Influence in Australia by Clive Hamilton

A.J. Finn's compulsive domestic noir thriller The Woman in the Window reigned supreme last week, while staff favourites Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, The Immortalists and Pachinko maintained their place in the top 5. 

Our Top 10 Bestsellers of February 2018

1. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
2. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
3. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
4. The Only Story by Julian Barnes
5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
6. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff
7. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
8. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
9. Winter by Ali Smith
10. This is What Happened by Mick Herron

Our staff favourite The Immortalists tops our bestseller list this month, which is the kind of brilliant novel that swallows you whole and forces you to live in its world even when you’re not turning its pages. A.J. Finn's The Woman in the Window — a Hitchcockian brand of domestic noir whose pacing will force you  to reexamine our casual use of the word compulsive — is our highest-ranking crime novel. Meanwhile, Michael Wolff's controversial look inside the Trump White House remains lodged in the Top 10.