All our shimmering skies - Trent Dalton
Where the crawdads sing - Delia Owens
Slow Horses - Mick Herron
The Dry - Jane Harper
Scrublands - Chris Hammer
These are in no particular order of preference and they are so different from one another any ranking would be meaningless.
All our shimmering skies was Trent Dalton's follow up to Boy Swallow's Universe. Both are wonderful stories and the tone of voice of the protagonist in both books is utterly unique. For me the setting in the stunning Australian outback near Darwin in the Northern Territory, the collection of quirky and often downright scary characters he conjures up, set during the Second World War, makes All our shimmering skies one of my favourites of all time.
I feel the same about the unique world that Delia Owens conjures up for her protagonist Kya in Where the crawdads sing. It's a thriller, but the world of the "marsh girl" from the swamps and waterways of North Carolina is utterly intoxicating and the story riveting. In fact just writing this paragraph makes me want to read it again! There is a movie coming out in mid 2022. I'm not sure I want to see it, it's bound to jar versus Kya's world I have conjured up in my imagination!
I'm currently knee deep in the world of Jackson Lamb and the spooks from Slough House. I was so excited to discover that Slow Horses was the first of a series of spy novels. Mick Herron's writing is so enjoyable to read. The plots are complex and the main characters wonderfully flawed, but it's the dark humour and his one-line zingers that make this such a great read. I'm revelling in every paragraph.
I loved The Dry by Jane Harper and Scrublands by Chris Hammer for the same reason. The settings in Australia's beautiful but harsh and unforgiving outback is wonderfully captured. I'm in love with Australia having lived here for the last 25 years and these books do a wonderful job of describing its facets. The fact that both stories are cracking, complex, noir thrillers adds to the joy.
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