Good Weekend's cool summer reading round-up


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THRILLERS


Thanks to Jane Harper, whose The Dry has gone gangbusters here and internationally, Australia’s very own crime genre, rural noir, is on a roll. Two new ones, Harper’s own The Lost Man (PAN MACMILLAN, $33), her third book, and Chris Hammer’s Scrublands (ALLEN UNWIN, $33), his first, both set in the drought-stricken outback, are excellent summer reads. Harper’s book is about the mysterious death of one of three brothers from a rural family. It is as much a family saga and love story as a thriller. Hammer’s book opens with the priest in a small country town shooting dead five of his parishioners. Martin Scarsden, a journalist battling his own demons, is sent to cover the story. Gripping, with a fiendishly clever dénouement.


For those who prefer non-fiction, bestselling English author Ben Macintyre’s The Spy and the Traitor (VIKING, $35), about a senior KGB agent who became a British spy during the Cold War, will have you reading into the small hours. It’s a riveting, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction espionage story, with all the intrigue, suspense and subterfuge you’d expect. Brilliant.


BIOGRAPHIES


Australian journalist Damon Kitney’s new biography of James Packer, The Price of Fortune (HARPERCOLLINS, $45), is the best book yet about the troubled magnate. Drawing on extensive interviews with Packer, his friends and associates, Kitney describes his business dealings, personal crises (Mariah Carey; a battle with sister Gretel over their father’s estate) and mental health challenges. A reminder that, in Packer’s words, “wealth and fortune don’t guarantee happiness”.


Article source: http://smh.com.au/act-news/police-investigating-apartment-fire-in-lyneham-20170126-gtz3a4.html

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