Scrublands by Chris Hammer

Scrublands by Chris Hammer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those books with a story, which if you thought things were bad they just might get even worse. Martin Scarsden is in a small outback town to report on the anniversary of a mass killing, but whilst having to battle the heat and drought he also has to contend with the fact there is more to this than just a mass killing. Using his talent for journalism Martin unpicks the history of the killing and find more about life in an unforgiving outback town. The author paints a very real picture of hardship inescapable if living in the outback - drought, heat, dust, heat and yet more heat.

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The Coldest Warrior by Paul Vidich

The Coldest Warrior: A Novel by Paul Vidich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A CIA story based on a true story of cover up. When ever the CIA is mentioned you always picture the worst. Spying missions and assassinations immediately spring to mind with a liberal dose of foreign despots. The despots are not in this story however something equally despicable is, the US Government is conducting drug experiments on their own, but who? Jack Gabriel is suspicious and starts to investigate and build a case. I guess as this is based on true events the author has given himself a very narrow window to work in and as a consequence it has made not as exciting as you would expect. I found it dragged a little whilst the back story was told,which made it more predictable. It was not billed as thriller so I was not disappointed on that score, but a little more action would have helped.

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