The Woman in the Window by A.J Finn

Child psychologist Dr Anna Fox is suffering from agoraphobia following a trauma, and hasn't left her five storey house in ten months. She spends her days drinking, spying on her neighbours and watching her collection of old black and white movies. When she sees a woman stabbed in the house across the street she needs to work out what happened and who she can trust.

The book was unputdownable from the first page, although about 100 pages in, when she still hadn't seen whatever she was going to see across the street, I started to wonder where the book was heading.  At 425 pages it's a long book, but there are enough events and plot twists that it could have been longer and still been great. Anna often has old movies playing in the background. The incorporation of lines and themes from the movies with the scenes in the book is masterful. I can't wait to see the film version (with Amy Adams) due to be released in May 2020.

What you pay for by Claire Askew

This 2019 crime-fiction novel is the second book in the D.I Birch series. While the first book was all about a mass shooting at an Edinburgh college, this sees the return of Helen Birch's younger brother Charlie who disappeared from university without trace fourteen years earlier.

The chapters alternate between Charlie's perspective (first person) and Helen's (third person). Charlie is caught up in a case Helen is working on and we slowly find out what he's been doing all these years. It's a great read though there's more violence than the previous one. If Askew writes a third book I'll definitely read it.

Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

I've read a lot of books that include domestic violence but this is the only one that was laugh out loud funny. It tells the story of an Aboriginal family, the Salters. Thirty-five-year-old Kerry Salter returns to her hometown on a Harley because her grandfather is dying. He brother Ken is the same bully she left behind and his teenage son Donny is suffering from anorexia.

The book touches on intergenerational trauma, land rights and loss of culture. It helps the reader develop a better understanding of Aboriginal culture. The writing is witty and concise. I wasn't sure where the story was going for the first 100 pages but the plot twists were great.

The Dry by Jane Harper

This is one of the best books I've read this year. It's set in the Australian outback. One of three brothers is found dead at a remote spot not far from his car which is full of water and supplies and in full working order. As his brother Nathan tries to work out what happened to Cameron, we slowly find out just how hard and unforgiving life in rural Australia is. The plot is great but it's the charcters that make the book such a page turner. I really wanted to find out what Nathan had done that made the locals hate him and who might have wanted Cameron dead.

All the Hidden Truths by Claire Askew

This 2018 debut novel tells the story of a mass shooting at an Edinburgh college by a young student.  Each chapter is written in the third person from the perspective of the shooter's mother, one of the victims' mothers or the detective that is overseeing the investigation. The first chapters are set the day before the shooting and the book covers the month afterwards. Unlike the novel We need to talk about Kevin, there's very little reflection on the perpetrator's past. The focus of the story is the response of the gutter press and social media, and how that affects the families and the police.

It's a great story and an easy read. I'm looking forward to reading Askew's second novel What you pay for.

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

I enjoyed this much more than Wood's previous novel. It tells the story of three female friends in their seventies. They are clearing out the home of their fourth friend, Sylvie, who has recently died. Jude is a proud and fastidious restaurateur who has lived the life of a kept women. Adele is a widowed actor with money problems and Wendy is a widowed academic and writer. Wendy brings along her dog Finn who is so old and frail he should probably haver been put down some time ago.

The loss of Sylvie has changed the dynamic of the foursome and they're wondering if their friendship will survive it. The tension slowly builds as the women begin to get on each others nerves. It reaches its climax on Christmas Eve, which just happened to be the day I finished the book. There is very little backfill, the book focuses on the present. The dog acts as a symbol for ageing. He's frightened, frail, messy and constantly needs accomodating for, but Wendy still loves and needs him.

The wife and the widow by Christian White

This is an easy to read crime thriller with a great twist (the sort that has you going back through the earlier chapters looking for the clues). It takes place on a Australian island. Kate (the widow) has a holiday home there and Abby (the wife) is a local. Kate's husband is killed at a secluded part of the beach that is a known gay cruising spot.