Notable Books: what to read this week

True crime and crime thrillers on this week’s list of Notable Books from literary agent Samuel Bernard.

16x9 - Notable Books Overington

Mark Wales had always wanted to join Australian Special Forces. His decision led him to Afghanistan where he took command of 30 elite soldiers leading combat missions behind enemy lines. These days, he is well known as a reality TV star, a corporate speaker and an actor in George Miller’s Mad Max film Furiosa. He is also a best-selling author of the 2021 memoir Survivor: Life in the SAS. Outrider is his explosive first novel, which takes place in the aftermath of a global conflict. Most of Australia has fallen to foreign forces, who are desperately trying to eradicate the remaining freedom fighters. Enter Jack Dunne, an Outrider. Jack is an elite special operations soldier, one of few remaining in the Resistance. Already likened to Matthew Reilly, we may have just found the next Scarecrow in Jack Dunne.

Outrider by Mark Wales

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is a sincere, heartfelt, and laugh-out-loud debut from a writer who took the age-old advice to write what you know. When author Anna Johnson left a looming career in medicine to follow her heart into her grandfather’s nursing home, she didn’t do it in the usual way. Her role as the social support co-ordinator provided her much delight in shaking up their usual program. When she was unable to continue working in aged care, she began writing about it. The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife has a fantastic premise. Fred is on the brink of homelessness at the age of 82. But when he stumbles into a curious case of mistaken identity, Fred takes the place of cranky old Bernard at Wattle River Nursing Home. You can feel Johnston’s love and warmth towards our aged community in this novel. It is a genuinely delightful read.

New Cold Wars by David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger writes as though we are standing on the edge of a cliff, and in many ways, perhaps we are. New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West is an account of the new Cold Wars against Xi Jinping’s China and Putin’s Russia. During the chaotic period of the early 2000s, when the age of terrorism was at the forefront of US foreign affairs, America was confident that a growing Chinese economy and a strong democratic Russia would fall into Western-led order. It is now an arm-wrestle for economic, technological, and military supremacy. David E. Sanger is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and best-selling author of The Perfect Weapon.

Woman, Missing by Sherryl Clark

Sherryl Clark started writing books for children and young adults in 1996, resulting in a prolific publishing career of 70 books, but she never stopped writing a genre that she has always enjoyed, crime fiction. “For me, writing crime fiction is like solving a mystery that’s happening in front of my eyes,” she wrote. In 2018, Clark was short-listed for the CWA Debut Dagger Award for her novel, Trust Me, I’m Dead. In Woman, Missing, former police officer Lou Alcott was forced to hand in her resignation after she attacked a domestic violence perpetrator. Now a private investigator, Lou picks up two cases involving at-risk women. She always swore that she would amount to more than her grandfather, Melbourne’s biggest crime boss, but is it that easy?

The Lady Vanishes by the podcast team

In 1997, Marion Barter disappeared while making her way to the airport for an overdue holiday to England. She was dropped at a bus depot in Southport, Queensland and was never seen again. For many years, police put this down to voluntary disappearance, a divorced mother abandoning her family. But her daughter, Sally Leydon, never gave up on her. This case was the subject of the addictive global podcast smash hit, The Lady Vanishes, which had more than 20 million downloads. Now, a small team of investigative journalists have put their research into this thrilling book. Totalling well over 100 years of experience between them, as well as multiple awards including a Walkley, Alison Sandy, Bryan Seymour, Sally Eeles and Marc Wright are exceptionally placed to investigate this gruelling true crime thriller.

We Will Not Be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo

This may well be the first memoir by an Indigenous tribal leader of the Amazon. We Will Not Be Saved is by Nemonte Nenquimo, a Waorani tribe woman of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, who fought Big Oil. The book also explores and explains the importance of one of the most remote places on Earth. “I’m here to tell you my story, which is also the story of my people and the story of this forest,” she writes. Nenquimo led an alliance of representatives of Indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and was on the frontline in a historic win against Big Oil. In We Will Not Be Saved, Nenquimo partners with husband Mitch Anderson, who is the founder of Amazon Frontlines, as they explore the generational history, the expelling of racist ideas of Indigenous people of the Amazon, and their journey to save more than half a million acres of primary rainforest.

Love from Scratch by Amy Hutton

Love From Scratch is a raucously funny and joyously romantic comedy from the author of Sit, Stay, Love. Heart-throb actor Ethan James is about to start filming but he needs someone to puppy sit Harry, his overly anxious dog. Hazel, a gorgeous, down-on-her-luck former sous chef, takes up the advertised role. The author, Amy Hutton, is an award-winning television producer and writer living on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She has a rescue dog named Buffy. Love From Scratch is her second novel.

Big Time by Jordan Prosser

In Big Time, Australia’s eastern states have become the world’s latest autocracy. Set in the near future, the country is slowly moving into a state that rejects science, where moral indecency will get you locked up, and pop music is a propaganda machine. Jordan Prosser is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, and his short films and screenplays have won multiple international honours. His short story, Eleuterio Cabrera’s Beautiful Game, was published in Meanjin, having won the 2022 Peter Carey Short Story Award.