Catherine JinksCritiques

I began reading this last year and forgot about it, so I picked it up again a few days ago and managed to finish it this time. This is a funny novel. I mean, it's odd. I really wish I'd read it when it came out, in the 90s. I recognise many of the settings, and when this was published, I was of an age with many of the young characters: early 20s, having my eyes opened to great art, classical music, essentially 'The Western Canon'. But this book is a little confused, to me. I think it was meant to be a portrait of a charismatic person and the byzantine social machinations in his orbit. But there was something sneaky about the way one of the storylines ended up being about stalking, and consent. And it was left rather unresolved. So this gets 3 stars for reminding me of my youth, but really 2 and a 1/2 because it didn't end properly.

I listened to the audiobook version of Evil Genius. It was almost halfway through this long book before things got to be really interesting to me. Were I doing a regular read, I'm not sure I would have stuck it through that long. I say that by way of encouraging others to keep on plugging.
The whole book seemed to be built on a premise like "what if Harry Potter had a much more ambiguous moral compass?" I did find myself frequently thinking, "would I really want young teens reading this?" It wasn't a question of sex or inappropriate language (there is none). Rather, it was just the fairly casual way that the lead character accepted and/or participated in hurtful, illegal actions with almost no qualms or reflection. When he does eventually come around to the "good" side, it isn't because of any great moral conviction but rather out of pique at his erstwhile companions. Not exactly the sort of reinforcement one hopes that young readers are receiving.
I will say that I appreciated the fact that the ending wasn't exactly a complete success for Cadel. Real life rarely has a neat wrap-up, and this story reflects that fact.

Jane is a Covid-19 contact tracer, one of those trying to prevent the virus becoming endemic in Australia. So far her work has preserved her anonymity, but then she comes across a victim of domestic violence who gives Jane enough clues as to the identity of her perpetrator, and to her horror, Jane knows him!

A very engrossing read.½

I was under the impression that this was a whimsical, quirky book, but it turned out to be a dark thriller. I didn't care for it, and that's probably a big factor.

Strongly recommended for a 9-12 yo reader who enjoys a bit of thrilling historical fantasy. Set in 1870s London, a plucky young apprentice monster hunter and her master trap and kill the child-eating "bogles" that infest dark places. This is a fun little adventure, with the pace and child well-pitched to the target audience. If read out loud, be sure to practise your best faux-Cockney accent.

Beautifully paced, with a central character that leans out from the page, daring you to feel her pain, frustration, panic, fear and resolve, TRACED is a novel that shows the reader what it feels like to be afraid, and what protecting the ones you love the most in the world will drive you to do.

Full Review at: https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/traced-catherine-jinks

Francia, siglo XIV. El joven Raymond Maillot es un escribano pendenciero amante del vino, las mujeres y las canciones, pero cuando se pone al servicio del padre Amiel, un dominico encargado de investigar un crimen especialmente sórdido, su vida empieza a cambiar. El monje le contrata para que investigue el misterioso asesinato del ayudante del cardenal Di Vicio, el cual fue hallado muerto y con el pene amputado. La misión del escribano consiste en determinar la identidad del agresor -si es que hay alguno- o bien descubrir si se trata de actos de brujería. A partir de ese momento, Raymond se siente dividido entre su apego a los placeres y su deseo de encontrar refugio en la Iglesia. Catherine Jinks, autora de El inquisidor (también publicado por esta editorial) nos ofrece una nueva intriga medieval plagada de desmembramientos, libertinaje y visitas demoníacas.

Cinco años después de trabajar al servicio del famoso inquisidor del siglo XIV, Bernard de Gui, Helié Bernier se ha convertido en un respetable fabricante de pergaminos y está intentando olvidarse de su vida de engaño. Pero todo cambia cuando recibe un encargo de la Inquisición que lo obliga a retomar su antigua actividad: infiltrarse en un grupo herético y averiguar el paradero de un inquisidor que había intentado desenmascararlo. En sus pesquisas, Bernier se ve envuelto en una peligrosa conspiración, pero deberá llevar a cabo la misión que se le ha encomendado sin perder de vista su obligación moral de revelar la verdad.

New South Wales, 1840. Tom Clay, transported to Australia at age twelve for poaching in Suffolk, has always loved animals and been good with them. It’s people he has trouble with, especially the murderous types British courts have inflicted on their infant colony in the name of justice. But as long as Tom can stick to tending sheep at the outpost station, he’s got a loyal dog, Gyp, and life’s not so bad.

Trouble is, Dan Carver, a fellow employee of the same rancher, has killed a couple of their coworkers and seems to be just getting started on the others. Consequently, young Tom, who, by rights, should be learning his letters in an English school, has to move fast to save his skin and that of Rowdy Cavanaugh, a glib jokester whose crime in England was passing counterfeit coin. His garrulousness, which he either can’t control or doesn’t care to, makes stealthy movement difficult if not impossible, and may cost Tom and him their lives.

I should add that the phrase “by rights” doesn’t exist for criminals like Tom, or for anyone else sent to Australia for punishment — “lagged,” it’s called. Therefore, even if Tom somehow manages to evade Carver and alert the rancher, he’s likely as not to hang for Carver’s murders. Nobody believes a “lag,” and when it’s one lag’s word against another, the stronger, older man will likely prevail.

As you may have guessed, this excellent thriller — I defy you to start it and put it down — has more to offer than unending sequences of reversals, gripping though they are. Shepherd tells the grisly, heart-breaking story of how lags come to Australia, or how Tom does, and the various stratagems he must employ to stay alive, let alone avoid flogging or any other casual brutality his masters may devise.

In beautifully crafted, brief flashbacks that seamlessly flow with the main narrative, you learn about the boy’s harrowing sea journey from England, the filthy so-called majesty of the law, and his dreadful childhood in a family of poachers: “I don’t think I’ve slept easy since I was in my mother’s womb.” Shepherd spares nothing, yet I never find the violence gratuitous or sense it’s included for shock value.

I wish the novel didn’t start with a prologue, and Jinks doesn’t need to tell the reader what’s coming, because her first chapter pulls you in right away. However, I like the writing in the prologue, which shows you much about young Tom in few words.

The passage suggests both the author’s gift for spare, direct prose and characterization: “I’m going to die among beasts I don’t understand and plants that kill me.” For Tom’s a born tracker, the one advantage he possesses in his attempt to escape Carver or get the drop on him — plans and circumstances change rapidly. How the boy copes with the natural world would make a novel in itself, for his knowledge and ingenuity constantly surprise; yet, as the prologue says, he’s conscious of what he doesn’t know.

His skill and humility set him apart from the other colonists. He’s also alone in his admiration for the Black indigenous people and their understanding of the land, flora, and fauna. He fears them too, because of what they might do, though Carver’s and their boss’s treatment of them troubles Tom. There’s muted social commentary in that as well, and though the indigenous folk linger on the fringes of the narrative, you sense them watching the whites act like maniacs.

This slim volume has a lot going for it — a lightning-paced story, a landscape physically rendered in emotionally resonant detail, and a teenager fighting not only for his life, but to live decently, in a place where no one understands the concept. Few Australian novels reach our shores, unfortunately, unless a major house picks them up. I wish more Americans knew about this small press in Melbourne, Text, which has given us Shepherd and also A Room Made of Leaves, by Kate Grenville.

Cinco años después de trabajar al servicio del famoso inquisidor del siglo XIV, Bernard de Gui, Helié Bernier se ha convertido en un respetable fabricante de pergaminos y está intentando olvidarse de su vida de engaño. Pero todo cambia cuando recibe un encargo de la Inquisición que lo obliga a retomar su antigua actividad: infiltrarse en un grupo herético y averiguar el paradero de un inquisidor que había intentado desenmascararlo. En sus pesquisas, Bernier se ve envuelto en una peligrosa conspiración, pero deberá llevar a cabo la misión que se le ha encomendado sin perder de vista su obligación moral de revelar la Verdad.

Robyn's career as a school teacher ended 10 years ago and she's now the Caretaker on Finch Island, located off the coast of Queensland. One of Robyn's clients is a group of Veterans who run a camp for troubled teens in an effort to turn their lives around with group activities, discipline and teamwork. The island is a former leper colony and served as the perfect setting for the action that follows.

Unfolding in two timelines (2009 and 2019), we flick between Robyn's teaching days and her current position on Finch Island. The increasing drama taking place at the school had me transfixed as a young boy is at the heart of a domestic custody battle involving his mother, domineering Policeman father and despicably bitchy Grandmother. I wanted Robyn to take more of a stand against the behaviour being exhibited by a number of the characters in the book and I found myself wishing her colleagues would do more to help.

Meanwhile, some of the boys on the camp are acting up with some pretty nasty pranks and Robyn notices one of them looks uncannily like Aaron. Except his name is Darren now. Can it be the same boy?

Slowly the tensions rise and situations escalate until we finally learn what happened to cause Robyn to leave her career behind and choose to live an isolated and lonely life on Finch Island.

The Attack by Catherine Jinks is a satisfying and entertaining read with a good mystery at its heart. Catherine Jinks is an accomplished Australian author of more than thirty books, however this is my first time reading any of her novels.

The Attack by Catherine Jinks is recommended for fans of domestic noir and Aussie crime thrillers.

* Copy courtesy of Text Publishing *

The story moves a little slow at times but overall a creative and interesting vampire story. Kinda also a book about navigating chronic illness.

Even though I like the author i put off reading this book because of the atrocious cover. Quite enjoyed it once I actually started into it though. Genuinly creepy at times and funny at others.

This book is an old favorite but it definitely has some aspects that aren't handled great. The depiction of autism is problematic, not maliciously I think but still not great. As far as I know its decent rep for cerebral palsy though a bit cliche.

The indignity and trauma Sonya ends up going thru in this book make me uncomfortable. Its shown as a bad thing but still was that necessary?

Couldn't finish this one

Quite a suspenseful read with a bit of unravelling to do. We flit between two main time frames: the present, and what happened ten years before, as well as Robyn's immediate past which led her to taking the job on Finch Island, literally getting away from everything.

It is hard to imagine Shaun's program on Finch Island for troublesome and troubled boys in their teens ever being particularly pleasant, but this particular group bring together a heap of real problems. Even putting potato peelers in their hands is fraught with danger. But many of the boys have their own vindictive agenda, not necessarily against Robyn, but she is a relatively vulnerable target.

There are a number of dramatic points, but the day of their graduation ceremony brings it all together,

The only word I can think of to describe it is ‘brutal”. Meg relationship with her parents caused her to leave and go as far from them as possible. Her abusive ex-husband still manages to harass her occasionally...but for the most part she’s content. Different definition of “content” than I have, but I guess it’s better than what she had. Seems to be enough that she offers a friend, Nerine, and her two daughters' refuge in her home for a month. Here's where the whole story made the reader want to hide in a closet. Nerine’s husband was worse than Meg’s if that was even possible, and Nerine is terrified of EVERYTHING making her children literally basket cases. The story by this point made me want to nail the door to my closet shut from the inside. Just way too much...too much violence...too much fear...too much paranoia. I had to give it up. I can’t imagine life like this ...not even in a book.

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Meg lives alone. Her little house in the bush outside town is the perfect place to hide. This seclusion is one of the reasons she offers to shelter Nerine, a young women escaping an abusive ex-partner. The other is that Meg knows what it’s like to live with the looming threat of a violence at the hands of someone you love.... Nerine is jumpy and her two little girls are frightened. This tells Meg all she needs to know about where they’ve come from, and she’s not all that surprised when Nerine asks her to get hold of a gun. But she knows it’s unnecessary. They’re safe now. Or so Meg thinks… Then she starts to wonder about some little things. A disturbed flyscreen. A tune playing on her windchimes. Has Nerine’s ex tracked them down? Has Meg’s husband turned up to torment her some more? By the time she finds out, it’ll be too late to do anything but run for her life.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Remember the first time the old aphorism, "No good deed goes unpunished," held real, tangible, awful Truth for you? Strap in....

Meg is the kind of friend you hope you'll have in an emergency or crisis. She's been there, she's done what she could, realizes how important the mere fact of showing up is. She'll give you shelter, she'll offer support, she will feed you and listen to you and Be There in the psychological, supportive sense of the words.

That's because she did not get those things when she so badly needed them during her devastatingly abusive marriage.

Nerine and her two daughters are, as we're shown, in a situation where Meg, her home (which she's ever so aptly named "Bolt Hole"), and her way with others are just exactly what they need. In they come; settle they do not. Nerine is in constant motion, constantly talking taking talking about how horrible the girls' father is (right in front of their scared little faces), how bad their lives were, how the courts have...insanely, incomprehensibly...given this vile predatory abuser visitation rights! Can you even imagine! she asks Meg, never waiting for an answer.

Then the nightmare turns real...awful things having been said, there are suddenly weird and unnerving things happening...frightening but, as yet, not violent things...footprints and noises where and when they shouldn't be, and all the time Nerine's talk talk talk about the horrors of the past makes little Analiese and Collette, her very young daughters, scared and jumpy. Meg, a grown woman with an estranged daughter living in England (can't forgive Mum for staying with the awful narcissistic personality disorder-having Dad), empathizes with all three, tries her best to distract and entertain the girls with rural life's many pleasures. Nerine? Nothing changes her focus. She is wound way too tight, experiences all things as threats and blames everything on the violent, awful ex who will, it comes to seem, jump down from a tree onto them with a machete!

As the unnerving stuff escalates into actual violence (CONTENT WARNING: ANIMAL CRUELTY), Meg begins to piece together some very, very strange facts and comes up with a truly frightening picture.

As I read the story, I was genuinely unsettled and disturbed. I can't say I expected the twist, having thought from the get-go there was going to be one. What it was, however, surprised me. Author Jinks deserves big ups for her unnerving choice of an ending. It was not what I'd thought it would be, and made the story that much more appealing to me.

Animal cruelty cost the book a star. I understood why Author Jinks made that choice, and I wasn't inclined to put the book down for good because of it, but it was dreadful and I warn my more sensitive readers (Kathy!) not to consider this tale for their own shelves.

The topic of incest and the crime of rape are factors in this story. They are hot buttons for many. I will say that Author Jinks does not sensationalize them. They aren't dwelt on with ghoulish and repugnant "look! LOOK at how AWFUL men are!" glee. They are presented as facts, and as crimes; they are part of the women's experiences, and are told to us, the readers, as such.

I quite liked the pace set by Author Jinks. We're not in a hurry to get where we're going; there are interesting side characters and the land itself is a character of a sort. That, from my point of view, set the stakes effectively high for Meg, and for the reader. Anything that disrupts this lovely woman's Bolt Hole is a Bad Thing. And boy oh boy, the bad thing is very, very bad indeed. As Spooktober reads go, I think this one is as scary and as nightmarish as they come. Perfect for y'all ghoulies looking for a safe place to be wound up and scared witless!

This book is hilarious. It is also crude, crude and crude. The rest of the series is like that. Unless you happen to like crude (of which it possesses an abundance) I recommend you pass on this one.

This book is not your typical vampire book.

I know, I know, there have been a ton of books claiming that since the zenith of the Twilight Saga, and hardly any of those books delivered. In the end, ‘Not your typical vampires’ mostly comes down to Vampires who have slightly different powers, but unless they are portrayed as animalistic monsters, they are still elegant, powerful beings who put the super into supernatural.

IMMORTALITY WITHOUT THE PERKS

But Catherine Jinks’ vampires turn a ton of our pre-conceived notions on its head. Yes, they are still immortal; yes, exposure to the sun still kills them; and yes, they still need blood to survive; but they are not powerful, and they are not elegant. The best word to describe Jinks’ vampires is weak. And I am not talking about Twilight ‘We are vegetarians, so we are slightly less strong than other vampires’ weak. I mean newborn kitten weak. Old sick woman weak. The kind of weak you get after going through chemo therapy. They are so lethargic that they have to spend most nights lying on couches and watching TV because they have no energy for more, they can’t carry anything that’s too heavy, any kind of bright like makes them sick, and they suffer from constant headaches and nausea. If they are injured, they don’t heal, and while it won’t kill them, it will significantly lower their quality of life.

I have taken a look at the goodreads comments, which I don’t usually do before I write my own review, and I’ve seen that a lot of people didn’t like what Catherine Jinks did with her vampires, because they’re not ‘real’ vampires anymore, or because it’s something they weren’t expecting and couldn’t find a way to enjoy it. To be honest, I was incredibly happy that this book was not about ‘normal’ vampires. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a huge Anne Rice geek in my teens, and I still enjoy the one or other paranormal romance with swoon-worthy, all-powerful vampire heroes, but this version of vampires, of immortality, was so absolutely compelling that I did not miss Lestat’s elegance or Marius’ strength one second. In “The Reformed Vampire Support Group”, immortality is deeply unpleasant, but the vampires in this are still our heroes, and having a group of heroes with so many physical impairments makes the stakes so much higher.

For starters, you don’t need super-powered villains if your heroes don’t have superpowers themselves, and since the villains of this book are basically p-o-s hillbillies with A TON of guns, our heroes were pretty goddamn outmatched. Remember, if they get injured, they stay injured. Imagine living an eternity with a fractured lung or a shot liver. Their inability to heal makes the stakes even higher than if they’d be able to die, to be honest, because a normal human could take a bullet to the arm or the belly and heal and have a normal life after that. But one of the support group vampires? No chance.

Also, I just kinda like reading about people with physical limitations. Not just because it makes every conflict more interesting, but because there are a lot of people in the real world who are physically limited in some way, whether because of an injury, a chronical illness or a disability, and those people very rarely get to be heroes who save the day through pure daring. Even one of the most iconic physically limited characters in literature, Tyrion Lannister, doesn’t really survive because of usual heroic means, but because of his wits.

Don’t get me wrong, Nina, our protagonist, is pretty clever, and the second most important vampire, Dave, even more so. But Nina is, above all, rash and courageous in the kind of way you only get to be when you know you are outnumbered on all sides, but you still want to do the right thing, and Dave’s loyalty makes him follow Nina into the most dangerous situations, which also can’t quite be called ‘witty’, if we’re honest. But they still survive, they still beat the villains. They get to be heroes like any other young heroes in books, even though they are weaker, slower, and extremely handicapped by the fact that they are basically dead throughout the day. I really liked that, and I’d really like to read more books like this, if I can find them.

HELLO, MY NAME IS NINA AND I’M A VAMPIRE

Another thing that just really made this book extremely fun to read was the characters. Since the whole thing revolves around a vampire support group, of course this group had to have members, right? So we have a pretty big cast, which can be a bit tricky for some authors because the temptation to just ignore some of them completely is very big, and readers can get confused about who is who quite easily. The members of the reformed vampires support group, though, are all distinct and honestly interesting enough to stay visible behind the more illustrious characters of Nina, bitten at 15 in the ‘70s and still living with her mother, Dave, a local ex-musician, and the unofficial leader of the group, Sanford, a doctor and the guy who created the means by which they can survive without human blood. There is Bridgette, who used to be a nun and got bitten as an old woman and spends most of her time knitting, Gladys, who used to be a streetwalker in 1920s Sidney before she was bidden and who whines all the time about everything, Horatio, who was the first vampire created in Australia and who is reeaaally into the whole powerful-gothic-vampire thing, even though he’s as weak as any of them and George, who doesn’t do a lot except breed the guinea pigs they live off (instead of drinking human blood), but who is also described as generally not being the most clever bloke, so I guess that’s okay.

(Can I just say how much I love the concept of a nun vampire? I love the concept a lot.)

The whole cast is just so goddamn interesting and the scenes were all of them are together are so absolutely funny that I feel like I actually really know all of these characters (except George. Poor George. But a guy who likes guinea pigs can’t be so bad). There are just so many interesting details about vampire life that really feel fresh and new, and I also love that they actually need a ton of human help, which they get in the form of Father Ramon, a local priest, and Nina’s 60-year-old mother. God, I loved Nina’s mother so much. Not just her absolute no-bullshit attitude, but also her huge commitment to her daughter made her an incredibly compelling character. Father Ramon was also just such a lovely person, and an honest to god saint for not once complaining about all the bullshit the vampires keep putting him through.

The plot was also really interesting. The basic premise is that one vampire was killed, and now they know that a vampire killer is looking for them. When they turn the tables and start looking for him (to explain to him that they are no danger to anybody but guinea pigs), they stumble into a plot that is far too big for any of them. There are a ton of really interesting twists, and Nina’s PoV voice is just a lot of fun to read. I kept catching myself walking to the kitchen without actually putting the book down (and walking into doors because of it) because I just didn’t want to stop reading.

GIVE ME JUSTICE OR GIVE ME DEATH – OH, WAIT

Now, you might wonder why I have decided to not give this book 5 points even though I liked it so much. The reason for that is pretty simple: I want bad people to be punished in books, and this book did not do that. I mean, even A Song of Ice and Fire killed off a whole ton of their most despicable characters, but in this book, two extremely horrible, abusive people do not get punished, and when the victim of their abuse complains about it, it is shut down because ‘they have changed’.

I think I have already hinted on this in my review about “The Door That Led to Where” but I do not like ‘but they changed’ as a reason to redeem characters who did horrible things to people who were powerless to fight them. I am not going to spoiler the book, but something absolutely horrible happens to a person in it, something that would even make some of the more assholey ASOIAF characters pause, and this person doesn’t even get to openly advocate for punishment for their abusers because they ‘changed’??? That is goddamn bullshit, and I was very, very disappointed by this. Disappointed enough that I’ve subtracted a whole point, not just half a point like I’d usually do. I know you don’t always get your revenge in real life, bad people aren’t always punished in real life, but that’s why I read books – because they aren’t real life.

But even despite its very disappointing ending, I did still just enjoy this book too much to give it less than 4 stars. I’m going to read the second book in the series soon (which you REALLY shouldn’t look up, guys, because MAJOR spoilers), and I really hope that there might be a bit of justice for the poor character who didn’t get his revenge in this book. But if not, I just hope I’ll get more of what made this book great, because I just really loved the characters in this book and I loved the humor and I loved the plot. So, let’s hope for the best.


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“I took one look at him and it all came flooding back. Otford. Joyce. The lies. The police. I’d fled to a deserted island, but I couldn’t seem to escape Aaron Rooney.”

Robyn Ayres is the caretaker of Finch Island /Buangan Pa, a former leper lazaret, repurposed for the use of campers and organised groups. The basic facilities and lack of phone/wifi service dull the island’s appeal to holidaymakers, but Vetnet, a boot camp for troubled teen boys run by ex military officers, are one of the island’s few regular bookings. When Shaun and his staff arrive with the latest group of delinquent recruits, Robyn is shocked to realise she recognises one of the boys. He is ten years older than the last time she saw him, and using a different name, but she is sure it is Aaron Rooney, who indirectly led to her self-imposed exile on the island. The knowledge leaves Robyn on edge and her anxiety worsens as she is targeted by a series of malicious pranks.

The story of The Attack unfolds over over two timelines, Robyn’s past as a kindergarten teacher in a small town caught between two warring families locked in a custody battle, shows why the sudden appearance of a now sixteen year old Aaron is so destabilising.

There is tension as Robyn wonders if Darren/Aaron remembers her, which builds with a series of worrying incidents, among them rubbish dumped on her bed, deliberately broken plumbing, and a kitchen fire. Robyn considers Aaron the most likely suspect, but there are fourteen other troubled teens on the island who might think that harassing Robyn would force the VetNet operators to send them home.

Though the pace for much of the book is quite restrained, there is a definite sense of anticipation that develops in both timelines. Everything comes to a head in the last quarter of the novel where Jinks provides a thrilling, action-packed climax as Robyn is forced to confront the past.

I really enjoyed The Attack for its original premise, interesting setting (inspired by Queensland’s Peel Island) and characterisation. This is a well written, absorbing and satisfying thriller.½

I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller (which lives up to the word). A woman living in hiding from an abusive husband takes in a similarly-fugitive woman and her kids when a network she belongs to connects them. The woman is a nervous basket case who doesn't seem to see how badly her constant anxiety is affecting her children, but she insists her violent ex will kill them all, given the chance.

There's an interesting combination of domestic context (the day-to-day women's work of taking care of a baby and a traumatized little girl) with suspense as both women's exes pose a threat, though it becomes increasingly clear that the children's mother is a threat in her own way. The plot works, though getting through the twisty end requires the narrator to behave in ways not totally consistent with what we know of her. But overall, a thriller that delivers on the suspense while probing the trauma of living with manipulative and violent men.

Teen science fiction/thriller. The first 50 pages are a confusing whirlwind of names, characters, and futuristic descriptions, but after the action starts (about 50 pages in) readers will be hooked. Quite a bit of biological science (and some pseudo-science) in this one, and once it gets going it reads like a movie.