Catch the Zolt - The Debt: Instalment One (Phillip Gwynne)

Catch the Zolt - The Debt: Instalment One

Phillip Gwynne

Blurb: Pay the debt or lose a found of flesh.

It's a beautiful day in paradise. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And Dom Silvangni, indifferent student and elite middle distance runner, is turning fifteen.

But instead of cake and candles, Dom receives an unlikely gift. An ancient family debt to an organisation so secretive and powerful, they are non-negoitable: Dom must master six Herculean tasks or they'll take a pound of flesh.

Before long Dom has his first instalment - Catch the Zolt - the seventeen-year-old Facebook Bandit with a penchant for stealing light aircraft. But getting close to the Zolt means being nice to the smug, self-obsessed Tristan...and involving Imogen, the only girl close to Dom's heart.

The more Dom discovers, the less he seems to know. Only one thing is clear. The Debt want their payment...now!

ISBN: 9781742378442 (Paperback)

Year: 2013

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Pages: 275 (Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page

2. Buy from Readings

3. Official site of the series

4. Buy from QBD

5. Youtube trailer

The Secret Keeper (Kate Morton)

The Secret Keeper

Kate Morton

Blurb: 1961: On a sweltering summer's day while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds - Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy - who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatefully entwined.

Shifting between the 1930s, the 1960s and the present, The Secret Keeper is a spellbinding story of mysteries and secrets, threatre and thievery, murder and enduring love.

ISBN: 9781742374376 (Hardback)

Year: 2012

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 582 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Article on the book

3. Author's official site

4. The publisher's page

5. Buy from Amazon

Path of Beasts - The Keepers #3 (Lian Tanner)

Path of Beasts - The Keepers #3

Lian Tanner

Blurb: I'm fifth keeper of the museum of Dunt and I'm back where I belong.

When Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie steal into Jewel in the middle of the night, they find their city under the heel of the Fugleman, and the streets controlled by the Blessed Guardians and an army of ruthless mercenaries. The museum itself is seething with danger. Goldie, Toadspit and Bonnie must use all their clever tricks and hard-won bravery to undermine the Fugleman's brutal regime before he rounds up the children of Jewel.

But in order to save the children and defeat the Fugleman once and for all, Goldie must walk the Beast Road, an ancient pathway deep inside the museum, a pathway so secret and perilous that no one has ever returned from it. According to the old stories, she can take only two companions, and they must be mortal enemies...

ISBN: 9781742371979 (Hardback)

Year: 2012

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 358 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Author's official site

3. Publisher's page

4. Kids reads page for the book

5. Official page for the series

Remembering Josh: Bali, A Father's Story (Brian Deegan)

Remembering Josh: Bali, A Father's Story

Brian Deegan

Blurb: 'I've not slept for 70 hours or more, walking, watching, waiting, praying for the end of this nightmare from which, at some stage, I must awake. But the reality is beginning to set in and I know only too well that at least in this life I shall never speak openly with my son. Never again shall I laugh with him, drink with him, discuss his future or watch him take to the field.'

So begins a father's descent into hell.

On 12 October 2002, Brian Deegan's son Joshua was killed in the terrorist explosion that ripped apart the Sari Club in Bali's Kuta Beach. Through grief and anger, this father has gone on a journey no parent should have to take. He has confronted the ghosts of his son's death, challenged the government's version of the truth and fought for the answers nobody wanted to give.

Raw and powerful, Remembering Josh cuts to the heart of love and honesty. Nobody reading this book will be left unaffected by it.

ISBN: 1741142776 (Paperback)

Year: 2004

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 240 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Buy from the ABC

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. Wikipedia page on the Bali bombings

5. Australian government article on the event

Man on Fire - A Stunt of a Life (Grant Page with Steve Wright)

Man on Fire - A Stunt of a Life

Grant Page with Steve Wright

Blurb: If you've watched an Australian film, TV show or ad during the past fifty years, chances are you've seen stuntman Grant Page - falling from the sky, jumping off cliffs, crashing motorbikes, rolling cars, hang-gliding over skyscrapers, or setting himself on fire. He's fearless, forensic and there's nothing he won't try - which makes him the go-to man for anyone wanting a spectacular explosion, a kick-arse fight or an edge-of-your-seat adrenaline rush.

Whether it's falling backwards from a great height on fire, sliding a motorbike under a rolling truck, standing in for Mel Gibson - or Shelley Winters! - or mixing in with the maddest and baddest stars and stunties the film industry can offer, Grant's seen and done it all, and had a wild old time along the way. Strap yourself in for the funniest, most outrageous ride of your life as Man on Fire catapults you into the heart of the action.

ISBN: 9781741758184 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 316 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Amazon

2. Publisher's page

3. Wikipedia page for the author

4. Google books page

5. Look at the book

Thereby Hangs a Tail - A Chet and Bernie Mystery #2 (Spencer Quinn)

Thereby Hangs a Tail - A Chet and Bernie Mystery #2

Spencer Quinn

Blurb: Bernie Little and his canine companion, Chet, are private investigators. Both have had some setbacks in life - Bernie in combat, Chet in K-9 dog-training school - but together they make up a team like no other.

In Thereby Hangs a Tail, Bernie and Chet are hired to investigate threats made against an unlikely target - a pretty, pampered show dog named Princess. What seems like a joke turns serious when Princess and her owner are abducted. And to make matters worse, Bernie's on-again, off-again girlfriend, reporter Susie Sanchez, disappears too.

When Chet gets separated from Bernie, he tries to put the pieces together, find his way home, and save the day.

With genuine suspense and intrigue, combined with humour and insight into the special bond between man and dog, Thereby Hangs a Tail will have everyone talking - and chuckling.

ISBN: 9781741759358 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 309 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Publisher's page

4. Review of the book

5. Official site of the series

Erebos (Ursula Poznanski)

Erebos

Ursula Poznanski

Blurb: Nick Dunmore is given a sinister but brilliant computer game game called Erebos. The game is highly addictive and asks its players to carry out actions in the real world in order to keep playing online - actions which become more and more manipulative. As Nick loses friends and all sense of right and wrong in the real world, he gains power and advances further towards his online goal: to become one of the Inner Circle of Erebos.

But what is virtual and what is reality? How far will Nick go to achieve his goal? And what does Erebos really want?

Exciting, addictive, suspenseful and totally unputdownable. Enter Erebos at your own risk.

ISBN: 9781742379531 (Paperback)

Year: 2010

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 418 (Fiction)

Links

1. Goodreads page

2. Review of the book

3. Buy from Readings

4. Another review

5. One more review

The Ultimate Wave - Storymaze #1 (Terry Denton)

The Ultimate Wave - Storymaze #1

Terry Denton

Blurb: OK! So you're not sure whether you want to read this book or not?

I'm not going to tell you what you're missing out on if you don't read it.

(You won't believe me anyway.)

(Besides, I haven't read it.)

I'm not going to tell you how funny this book is.

Or that it was not tested on animals, or that 16 dolphins died when the forests were cut down to make the paper for this book. (They fell out of the trees.)

I'm not going to tell you that this book is about surfing and that it contains a story with heroes of either sex who travel to parallel universes.

It has very little violence and absolutely no blood.

ISBN: 186508378X (Paperback)

Year: 2001

Publisher: Allen&Unwin

Pages: 143 (Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from the publisher

2. Buy from Amazon

3. Author's official site

4. Wikipedia page for the author

5. Feature on the author

Keeping The Faith: Collingwood...the pleasure, the pain, the whole damned thing (Steven Strevens)

Keeping The Faith: Collingwood...the pleasure, the pain, the whole damned thing

Steve Strevens

Blurb: In a world of constant change, one of the few things that never alters is the passion of the footy fan for their club.

In Keeping the Faith, Steve Strevens charts the 2004 season, a winter of black and white agony and ecstasy, through his own story and those of the many ordinary supporters we never hear about, the backbone of any footy club. From the bleak, afternoons sitting in the outer to the president's lunch, from the memories of ANZAC Day games long gone to a train journey to Sydney with the cheer squad, Steve Strevens paints an affectionate and humorous portrait of those who follow 'the Pies'.

Despite the disaster that was the 2004 season, Collingwood survived - and support flourished. For those who follow the Magpies, it was simply a matter of faith. You love your club, to the exclusion of all others. You support it, even when times are tough. In many ways, winning and losing are not as important as belonging.

Keeping the Faith is a glorious celebration of Australian Rules football - and the fans who make the game great.

ISBN: 1741146682 (Paperback)

Year: 2005

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 258 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Review of the book

2. Google books page

3. Good reads page for the author

4. Joffa, the Collingwood fan's page

5. Buy from Dymocks

Wisdom: Life Lessons from an Australian Legend (Ron Barassi)

Wisdom: Life Lessons from an Australian Legend

Ron Barassi

Blurb: Ron Barassi is an iconic figure in Australian sporting culture, with a record of personal and team success that is unrivalled. Beyond sport, he has become a greatly respected elder in our broader society.

In Wisdom, he shares with us 31 maxims and quotations that he has collected and which are integral to forging that reputation. Ron reflects on reach and explains their importance in delivering ideas, motivation and inspiration, and how he applied them in sport and life - words of wisdom, indeed.

Containing beautiful illustrations from artist James Money, Wisdom is a book to come back to time and time again.

ISBN: 9781742378756 (Paperback)

Year: 2011

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 115 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Buy from Borders

2. Article on the book

3. Buy this and other AFL related books

4. Radio interview with the author

5. Wikipedia page on the author

The Coming of the Whirlpool - Ship Kings Book One (Andrew McGahan)

The Coming of the Whirlpool (Ship Kings Book One)

Andrew McGahan

Blurb: 'If you go to sea, you will come to the attention of the Ship Kings. And if they discover who you are, they will kill you.'

Young Dow Amber is no sailor. But driven by a strange sea-longing he ventures down to the great grim bay known as the Claw. He hopes to learn there of seafaring, but he finds only a fearful people who scarcely dare sail at all, for they have been cursed by a monstrous whirlpool that haunts the bay, stealing away their sons.

Then the rulers of all the world - the proud and cruel Ship Kings - arrive in the Claw. Dow is fascinated by their fine tall vessels, and even more so by a mysterious girl who lives aboard their flagship.

It is a perilous attraction to be sure, but could it be that his future somehow lives with the Ship Kings? Or will he be called upon to descend to his death, when the terrible whirlpool rises once more?

ISBN: 9781742376479 (Hardback)

Year: 2011

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 289 (Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page

2. Goodreads page

3. Review of the book

4. SMH Article on the book

5. Buy from Readings

The Wide World of Ken Sutcliffe (Ken Sutcliffe with Ian Heads)

The Wide World of Ken Sutcliffe

Ken Sutcliffe with Ian Heads

Blurb: He's been a fixture in Australian lounge rooms for decades - the face of sport on the Nine Network for 30 years. He's presented the sports report on the evening news, been the long-time host of The Wide World of Sports and acted as the network's anchorman at many of the world's biggest sporting events, including the Winter Olympics, The Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon and the US Masters.

He has been a legendary survivor in an industry notorious for its fickleness and has worked closely with some of the biggest names in Australian television and sport. Who could forget his almost nightly fits of giggles as Graham Kennedy's 'straight man' co-host?

He is Ken Sutcliffe, much-loved journalist, sportscaster and personality.

The story of Ken's life also takes in many landmark events in Australian sport and television, and it is told with characteristic good humour and larrikin charm. His firmly help opinions on all things sport are fascinating and insightful, and included here is his insider's view on the Matthew Johns and Cronulla Sharks scandal that threatened to blow rugby league apart.

How a boy living in a tent beside a railway line grew to become one of our most familiar faces and respected names makes for an entertaining and revealing read. He is the man behind the face of Australian sport and his is a great Australian story.

ISBN: 9781741757903 (Paperback)

Year: 2009

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Pages: 289 (Non-Fiction)

Links

1. Publisher's page for the book

2. PDF file of the first chapter of the book

3. Nine News page on the author

4. Wikipedia page on the author

5. Buy the book from Angus and Robertson