Books & Literature

Book Review: Crime Scenes, Introduced by Zane Lovitt

An eclectic collection of 12 Australian crime stories that are unpredictable and diverse; a collage of disturbing mental and physical criminal images.

The title is somewhat misleading as this book is an eclectic collection of crime stories. Unpredictable and diverse, it brings the writing of twelve authors together in a collage of disturbing mental and physical criminal images.

Zane Lovitt provides a taste of the treasures to come with his familiar and colloquially styled introduction. The stories contain place names and scenes that will resonate with Australian readers enticing them and those from other places to seriously look at Australian crime writers.

crimescenes200Emotions of futility, desperation, guilt, loneliness, cruelty and disbelief are woven skilfully throughout tales in ways that sometimes sees the reader rereading a passage to digest its deeper meaning. The imagery in several pieces is vivid and descriptive to a point where the reader is able to see and even smell the scene being described as they take the next trepidatory steps into the upcoming twists of fate.

Stories are just long enough for the reader to grab a cup of coffee and read whilst on a break, but are engaging enough for that break to be pushed out in order to try to fit another in. The characters are believable and each story gives the reader just a strong enough glimpse of them to empathise with the moral dilemmas being portrayed.

Crime Scenes features stories from emerging Australian crime writers Amanda O’Callaghan, Eddy Burger, Melanie Napthine and Michael Caleb Tasker alongside award-winning authors Angela Savage, Peter Corris, Leigh Redhead, Andrew Nette, David Whish-Wilson, P.M. Newton, Carmel Bird and Tony Birch.

It is a book for lovers of crime stories and one to have with you on the train, when you have a five-minute break and need to escape, or just a bed time read. The diversity and content of this collection is nothing but unexpected.

Reviewed by Leanne Caune

Rating out of 10:  8

Publisher: Spineless Wonders
Release Date: Available Now
RRP: $27.99 paperback

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