by NRB | 2 Aug 2018 | Non-fiction |
In exploring the death – and life – of Mollie Dean, Gideon Haigh covers a lot of fascinating ground. A young woman walks home after a Melbourne theatre performance, making a phone call to a friend along the way. Then, metres from her front door, she is...
by NRB | 18 May 2017 | Non-fiction |
The Family is a chilling account of how a cult arose that would leave a legacy of damage in its wake. What is true? What is false? In the quest for enlightenment what does it take to convince regular – often well-educated – members of society to abandon the norms of...
by NRB | 10 May 2016 | Crime Scene |
A Murder Without Motive is an intriguing and compelling true crime with much to say about the Australian suburbs and the national psyche. Martin McKenzie-Murray, the Saturday Paper’s chief correspondent, has written a gripping true crime story about a murder that...
by NRB | 21 Aug 2014 | Crime Scene |
Questions of masculinity and notions of guilt and innocence are probed in Helen Garner’s disquieting examination of the tragic death of three young boys and the murder trial of their father. Most Australians will be familiar with the high-profile case at the...
by NRB | 9 Apr 2013 | Crime Scene, Non-fiction |
The real-life hanging of a 19th-century baby-farmer inspired award-winning poet Judith Rodriguez to tell the story in a variety of literary forms. I am Minnie Thwaites. I am under Melbourne. Wherever lime goes, where it seeps, where the sour juices of the city are...
by NRB | 28 Mar 2013 | Crime Scene, Non-fiction |
This true crime account attempts to explain the mind of a manipulative killer. It’s a cliché, but in this case it’s apt; if you came across a scenario like this in crime fiction you’d be hard pressed to stop your eyes from rolling. As is often the...
by NRB | 17 Jan 2013 | Crime Scene, Non-fiction |
Crime novelist Anne Perry began her life as Juliet Hulme, who in 1954 was convicted of murder. Heavenly Creatures, Peter Jackson’s eerie film about the Parker-Hulme murder (starring Kate Winslet) is not easily forgotten. Set in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand, it...
by NRB | 12 Mar 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Mad Dog: William Cyril Moxley and the Moorebank Killings is the first non-fiction book (not counting a few ‘as told to’ autobiographies and some co-edited anthologies) since my history of prize fighting in Australia, Lords of the Ring, in 1980. All fiction in between....
by NRB | 19 Feb 2012 | Crime Scene, Non-fiction |
Why watch Underbelly when this factual account of the 1970s Kiwi-led drug empire is so gripping? Richard Hall’s The Mr Asia Connection (originally published as Greed: the Mr Asia Connection in 1981) traces the rise of Terry Clark from small-time, small-town boy in New...
CHER The Memoir Part 1. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell16 January 2025Cher is a genuine superstar who has had an extraordinary career across music, [ … ]
PETER GODWIN Exit Wounds. Reviewed by Ann Skea15 January 2025Peter Godwin’s memoir charts a life of exile, ranging from the horror of civil [ … ]
MARK SMITH Three Boys Gone. Reviewed by Michael Jongen14 January 2025Mark Smith’s first novel for adults is both a psychological thriller and an [ … ]
NRB readers’ favourite reviews of 202419 December 2024Welcome to our most popular reviews of the year. Is your favourite among them? [ … ]