Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Crimson Lake
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://candicefox.org/
CITY: Sydney
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2015008698 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2015008698 |
| HEADING: | Fox, Candice |
| 000 | 00617cz a2200169n 450 |
| 001 | 9760352 |
| 005 | 20150806104700.0 |
| 008 | 150121n| azannaabn |n aaa c |
| 010 | __ |a no2015008698 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca10066049 |
| 040 | __ |a TnLvILS |b eng |e rda |c TnLvILS |d IEN |d DLC |
| 053 | _0 |a PR9619.4.F694 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Fox, Candice |
| 370 | __ |e Sydney (N.S.W.) |2 naf |
| 375 | __ |a female |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 670 | __ |a Hades, ©2014: |b title page (Candice Fox) page 309 (Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs… Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney…) |
PERSONAL
Born in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia.
ADDRESS
CAREER
High school teacher; University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia, lecturer in writing.
MIILITARY:Officer in the Royal Australian Navy.
AWARDS:Australian Crime Writers Association, Ned Kelly Award for best debut, 2014, for Hades, Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel, 2015, for Eden.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Candice Fox is an Australian mystery and thriller writer, who published Hades, winner of the 2014 Ned Kelly Award for best debut by the Australian Crime Writers Association. She also writes the bestselling series featuring Sydney detective Ted Conkaffrey. In 2015, Fox began collaborating with powerhouse author James Patterson on New York Times bestselling book Never Never and its sequel Fifty Fifty, set in the Australian outback. Fox was born in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown, the middle child of a large family of biological, half, and foster siblings. She is a lecturer in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney.
Hades
In 2015, Fox published Hades, book one of the “Archer & Bennett” series. Homicide detective Frank Bennett has a beautiful new partner, the coldly efficient Eden Archer. Her erratic and lethal brother, Eric is also a cop. When a toolbox filled with body parts is found at the bottom of Sydney harbor, Bennett is glad to be working with the efficient Eden and Eric. However, in chapters alternating between the present and the Archer siblings’ childhood, we learn that ruthless crimelord Hades Archer rescued Eden and Eric as children, presumed dead and forgotten, and raised them to be cops and infiltrate the police force. Now Hades is running a ring to kill people and sell their organs to dying patients.
In this not-for-the-squeamish nightmare world, “Horrors abound in Australian author Fox’s first novel, a gritty police procedural set in Sydney,” noted a writer in Publishers Weekly. While some have compared the story to Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter, “this fast-paced first novel, with its unusual protagonists and dark, disturbing scenes stands on its own,” said Craig L. Shufelt in Library Journal. Online at Newtown Review of Books, Lou Murphy remarked: “There’s a constant sense of danger as concurrent stories of past and present creep towards each other in this intricate and gritty novel. Hades is not the kind of book to snuggle up in bed with at night—it would undoubtedly give you nightmares.”
Eden
In the sequel, Eden, Eden Archer is undercover at a remote farm that helps troubled people where three young women have gone missing, one of whom is sleeping with the farm’s owner, Jackie Rye. While Eden poses as an abused wife seeking refuge and dodging the degenerate farm employees, her partner, Frank Bennett is surveilling the farm to get clues and to look after Eden. Bennett is also there to find a missing woman for Eden’s crimelord father, Hades Archer.
In this nail-biting follow-up, Fox keeps her characters elusive and “it’s their complexity that drives this riveting thriller, right through to the gruesome, surprising finale,” according to a writer in Publishers Weekly. In a review in Library Journal, Madeline Dahlman wrote: “Each character adds depth and interest to an already absorbing plotline.”
Crimson Lake
Fox’s 2016 thriller, Crimson Lake, finds Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey, in the wrong place at the wrong time, accused of brutally raping a teenage girl. Needing to clear his name, he flees north to the crocodile infested wetlands of Crimson Lake. He enlists the help of private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself convicted of murderer. But like Conkaffey, she may be innocent too. Hounded by the press and sadistic cops who think he’s guilty, Conkaffey and Pharrell join forces to investigate the disappearance of a celebrity author.
Fox’s book “boasts fullbodied characters, suspense with a quirky edge, and a strong sense of place,” noted Michele Leber in Booklist. According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, “The surprising conclusion will leave the reader looking forward to Ted and Amanda’s further adventures.”
Never Never and Fifty Fifty
Collaborating with James Patterson, Fox published Never Never in 2017. With her psychopathic brother accused of several brutal murders, sex crimes detective Harriet “Harry” Blue is sent by her chief to the Australian Outback to stay away from the press. In a uranium mining camp, she investigates the disappearance of three young people. She is joined by the fastidious and annoying detective Edward Whittaker. Finding the perpetrators will be difficult among the camp’s prostitutes, environmental soldiers, and migrant workers. “It’s all delightfully Mad Max-ish, and more than a tad gothic, with the added joy of yet another feisty female warrior who is always going to win the war but not the battle,” said Sydney Morning Herald writer Sue Turnbull, who also noticed that troubled siblings Harry and Sam resemble Eden and Eric from Fox’s “Hades” series.
The sequel, Fifty Fifty, finds Harry on a mission to stop a planned massacre outlined in a diary. Meanwhile, partner Whitt is in Sydney investigating the case of the Georges River Killer, responsible for the murders that Harry’s brother Sam is on trial for. Sarah McDuling exclaimed online at Booktopia: “Fast-paced, action-packed, tightly plotted and bursting with crazy, explosive charm, Fifty Fifty is a great new addition to this wildly addictive series. And given the way this book ends, I suspect the next one will take Harry’s story to a whole new level!”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2018, Michele Leber, review of Crimson Lake, p. 43.
Library Journal, November 15, 2014, Craig L. Shufelt, review of Hades, p. 77; August 1, 2015, Madeline Dahlman, review of Eden, p. 82.
Publishers Weekly, December 15, 2014, review of Hades, p. 53; August 3, 2015, review of Eden, p. 37; January 1, 2018, review of Crimson Lake, p. 40.
ONLINE
Booktopia, https://blog.booktopia.com.au/ (August 10, 2017), Sarah McDuling, review of Fifty Fifty.
Newtown Review of Books, http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/ (February 18, 2014) Lou Murphy, review of Hades.
Sydney Morning Herald Online, https://www.smh.com.au/ (September 18, 2016), Sue Turnbull, review of Never Never.
About
Screen Shot 2017-09-18 at 11.23.59 am.png
Hades, Candice Fox’s first novel, won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut in 2014 from the Australian Crime Writers Association. The sequel, Eden, won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 2015, making Candice only the second author to win these accolades back-to-back. Her third novel, Fall, was shortlisted for the 2016 Ned Kelly and Davitt awards. She is also the author of the bestselling Crimson Lake, which introduces a new series character, Ted Conkaffey.
In 2015 Candice began collaborating with James Patterson. Their first novel together, Never Never, set in the vast Australian outback, was a huge bestseller in Australia and went straight to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the US and also to the top of the charts in the UK. The sequel, Fifty Fifty, will be released in August 2017. They have also co-written a prequel novella, Black & Blue, as part of the James Patterson BookShots series.
Candice is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. She lives in Sydney.
The best way to hear Candice’s story is in her own words. Listen to some of her best tales on the below podcasts.
Candice Fox in Richard Fidler’s ‘Conversations’
Screen Shot 2017-10-11 at 8.59.07 am
Candice Fox on ‘The Lapse’ podcast
Screen Shot 2017-10-11 at 9.01.15 am
play-button_318-42541.jpg
Candice Fox
HADES, Candice Fox’s first novel, won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut in 2014 from the Australian Crime Writers Association. The sequel, EDEN, won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 2015, making Candice only the second author to win these accolades back-to-back. Her third novel, FALL, was shortlisted for the 2016 Ned Kelly and Davitt awards. She is also the author of the bestselling CRIMSON LAKE, which introduces a new series character, Ted Conkaffey.
In 2015 Candice began collaborating with James Patterson. Their first novel together, NEVER, NEVER, set in the vast Australian outback, was a huge bestseller in Australia and went straight to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the US and also to the top of the charts in the UK. The sequel, FIFTY, FIFTY, is now in stores. They have also co-written a prequel novella, BLACK & BLUE, as part of the James Patterson BookShots series.
Candice is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age 18. At 20, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. She lives in Sydney.
Candice Fox
Books by Candice Fox
Crimson Lake
by Candice Fox - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time --- that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction, Ted is now a free man --- and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake. There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past.
Fifty Fifty
by James Patterson and Candice Fox - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
Sam Blue stands accused of the brutal murders of three young students. Only one person believes he is innocent: his sister, Detective Harriet Blue. And she's determined to prove it. But Harry's outburst at her brother's trial earns her a reassignment --- to the outback. With no choice but to leave Sam's case alone, she relocates to Last Chance Valley, where a diary found on the roadside outlines a shocking plan: the massacre of the entire town. And the first killing, shortly after Harry's arrival, suggests the clock is already ticking. Meanwhile, back in Sydney, a young woman holds the key to crack Sam's case wide open. If only she could escape the madman holding her hostage.
Never Never
by James Patterson and Candice Fox - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
Harry Blue is the top Sex Crimes investigator in her department, but even she didn't see this coming: her own brother arrested for the grisly murders of three beautiful young women. Looking into a seemingly simple missing persons case, Harry has been assigned to a new "partner." But is he actually meant to be a watchdog? Still reeling from the accusations against her brother, Harry can't even trust her own instincts. Far from the world she knows and desperate to clear her brother's name, Harry has to mine the dark secrets of her strange new home for answers to a deepening mystery --- before she vanishes in a place where no one would ever think to look for her.
Crimson Lake
Michele Leber
Booklist.
114.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2018): p43. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* Crimson Lake.
By Candice Fox.
Mar. 2018. 352p. Forge, $25.99 (9780765398482).
How does a man rebuild his life after the media describes him as the pedophile who kidnapped, raped, and strangled a 13-year-old girl and left her for dead? Ted Conkaffey, a Sydney cop with a wife and baby daughter, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was unjustly accused and imprisoned for eight months until charges were set aside, leaving him in the purgatory of knowing he could be rearrested at any time. He flees to Cairns in the far north of Australia and tries to go by the name of Collins, but even there, he is recognized by two sadistic local cops, vigilantes, a sympathetic pathologist, and, eventually, the press. His supportive lawyer steers him to eccentric Amanda Pharrell, a convicted murderer, who has established herself as an investigator after getting out of prison, and the two of them start digging into the disappearance of a local celebrity author, while Conkaffey also probes his partner's past on the sly. This compelling first solo by one of James Patterson's many coauthors boasts fullbodied characters, suspense with a quirky edge, and a strong sense of place.--Michele Leber
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
1 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Leber, Michele. "Crimson Lake." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2018, p. 43. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525185600/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=8464ebd6. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525185600
2 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Crimson Lake
Publishers Weekly.
265.1 (Jan. 1, 2018): p40. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Crimson Lake
Candice Fox. Forge, $25.99 (352p) ISBN 9780-7653-9848-2
Sydney homicide detective Ted Conkaffey, the pariah narrator of this engrossing suspense novel from Ned Kelly Award-winner Fox (Hades), is halfway through his trial for the rape and attempted murder of a 13-year-old girl when the NSW director of public prosecutions withdraws the charges, since the evidence isn't strong enough to satisfy a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Per Australian law, Ted could be prosecuted later if more evidence emerges. After his wife asks him for a divorce, Ted moves north to Crimson Lake, Queensland, where he hopes to remain incognito. Ted's lawyer puts him in touch with Amanda Pharrell, a convicted killer who has become a PI after serving eight years in prison. Ted and Amanda decide to partner on an investigation to find a missing bestselling author. Meanwhile, Ted wrestles with harassment from local cops, a reporter on his tail, and vigilante attacks against him. The surprising conclusion will leave the reader looking forward to Ted and Amanda's further adventures. Agent: Gaby Naher, Naher Agency (Australia). (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Crimson Lake." Publishers Weekly, 1 Jan. 2018, p. 40. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522124968/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=b679c1da. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522124968
3 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Fox, Candice. Eden
Madeline Dahlman
Library Journal.
140.13 (Aug. 1, 2015): p82+. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* Fox, Candice. Eden. Kensington. (Archer & Bennett, Bk. 2). Sept. 2015. 320p. ISBN 9781617734434. $15; ebk. ISBN 9781617734441. F
Australian author Fox returns with another grim, gritty, fast-paced entry in the series featuring homicide detectives Frank Bennett and Eden Archer (after Hades). Frank and Eden are focused on a case involving three missing women whose only shared connection is a farm where miscreants go to hide. To track them down and determine who is responsible for their disappearance, Eden goes undercover as a runaway wife looking for refuge from an abusive ex- husband. While she gathers information and protects herself from the ire of resident degenerates, Frank keeps track of surveillance from the outside while also conducting his own investigation into another missing woman for Eden's crime lord father, Hades. VERDICT With multiple story lines and viewpoints, there is a lot to follow here, but each character adds depth and interest to an already absorbing plodine. Readers of the first installment will be especially interested to learn who and what made Hades the violent man he is today. Fox fantastically builds on her previous book, leaving a cliff-hanger that will have readers clamoring for the next series title.--Madeline Dahlman, Deerfield P.L., IL
Dahlman, Madeline
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Dahlman, Madeline. "Fox, Candice. Eden." Library Journal, 1 Aug. 2015, p. 82+. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A423818085/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=8e32c9fc. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A423818085
4 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Fox, Candice. Hades
Craig L. Shufelt
Library Journal.
139.19 (Nov. 15, 2014): p77. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Fox, Candice. Hades. Kensington. Feb. 2015. 310p. ISBN 9781617734410. pap. $15; ebk. ISBN 9781617734427. F
Frank Bennett is excited about his new homicide beat, mostly because he's partnered with the beautiful if inscrutable Eden Archer. Unfortunately for Frank, both Eden and her brother--and fellow officer--Eric combine their police work with a bit of serial killing on the side. When a number of toolboxes containing body parts are discovered in Sydney's harbor, the three uneasy allies must hunt down the madman responsible. Debut author Fox expertly connects alternating chapters that focus on Frank's present and the Archers' childhood with Hades Archer, the chief disposer for Australia's criminal underworld, while making it clear that the current murders may be related to the Archers' past. VERDICT The comparisons to Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter" series will be unavoidable, but this fast-paced first novel, with its unusual protagonists and dark, disturbing scenes stands on its own. Readers will anticipate eagerly the planned sequel. This was well received when released previously as an e-book and should prove equally popular with print readers.--Craig L. Shufelt, Fort Erie P.L., Ont.
Shufelt, Craig L.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Shufelt, Craig L. "Fox, Candice. Hades." Library Journal, 15 Nov. 2014, p. 77. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A389645672/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=d07786f2. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A389645672
5 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Eden
Publishers Weekly.
262.31 (Aug. 3, 2015): p37. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Eden
Candice Fox. Kensington, $15 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-61773-443-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In Australian author Fox's nail-biting follow-up to Hades, Sydney homicide detective Eden Archer goes undercover at a prosperous farm that employs troubled types, in order to find out what happened to three missing young women, one of whom was sleeping with the farm's owner, Jackie Rye. Meanwhile, crime lord Hades, who raised Eden, has asked her partner, Frank Bennett, to suss out information about a man who seems to be stalking him. The triple narrative is highly effective: Eden's time on Jackie's farm is dirty, wretched, and dangerous, though she maintains her cool under pressure, even when she must keep her darker proclivities in check; Frank, who resents Eden for having recently saved his life, is still reeling from a lover's death; and revelations about Hades's tragic past demonstrate that love takes many forms and motivations are complicated. Fox keeps her characters firmly in shades of gray, and it's their complexity that drives this riveting thriller, right through to the gruesome, surprising finale. Agent: Gaby Naher, Naher Agency (Australia). (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Eden." Publishers Weekly, 3 Aug. 2015, p. 37. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A424619994/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=91d2b3cd. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A424619994
6 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Hades
Publishers Weekly.
261.52 (Dec. 15, 2014): p53. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2014 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Hades
Candice Fox. Kensington, $15 trade paper (310p) ISBN 978-1-61773-441-0
Horrors abound in Australian author Fox's first novel, a gritty police procedural set in Sydney. Hades Archer, the crime lord of the Utulla dump, disposes of the waste left over from human lives--and also creates artwork from "warped scraps of metal and pieces of discarded machinery." Hades once rescued two children, Eden and Eric, from a botched kidnapping and raised them to become police homicide detectives: Eden is dangerously intuitive and creative, Eric lethally wild. Eden and het new partner, tough cop Frank Bennett, track a serial killer who kills for body parts he can sell to dying patients desperate for a transplant. In this twisted noir world, love goes as wrong as it can go, as shown in Hades's relationship with the children he saved, and Bennett's relationship with a victim who escaped her captor's chop shop. Readers will look forward to the sequel set in this not-for-the-squeamish nightmare world down under. Agent: Gaby Naher, Naher Agency (Australia). (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hades." Publishers Weekly, 15 Dec. 2014, p. 53. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A395846313/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=b673d0f2. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A395846313
7 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Fox, Candice. Crimson Lake
Susan G. Baird
Xpress Reviews.
(Feb. 2, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews- first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Fox, Candice. Crimson Lake. Forge. Mar. 2018. 352p. ISBN 9780765398482. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9780765398505. THRILLER
This disturbing mystery is set in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, where Ted Conkaffey, a former Sydney cop, is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl and leaving her for dead. Because there is too little evidence, he is released from prison. Everyone abandons him, including his wife, who forbids him from seeing his baby daughter, so Ted moves to remote crocodile-infested Crimson Lake. For work, Ted's lawyer refers him to ex-con Amanda Pharrell, who did time for killing a school friend. She's rather eccentric but has the only PI business in town. She hires Ted to help investigate a complex case. Was local celebrity author Jake Scully murdered, did he have an accident, or did he commit suicide? It's complicated because part of his body was found in a crocodile's stomach! As the two delve into the case, they also surreptitiously probe each other's crimes. Vigilantes and corrupt cops see Ted as a pedophile and harass him. The atmospheric setting adds a prevailing sense of menace as readers are privy to not one but three criminal investigations.
Verdict Those who enjoy a gritty, graphic mystery will most enjoy this offering by a Ned Kelly Award-winning author (Hades) and James Patterson coauthor (Never, Never). [See Prepub Alert, 9/25/17.]--Susan G. Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Baird, Susan G. "Fox, Candice. Crimson Lake." Xpress Reviews, 2 Feb. 2018. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528197443/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=7abf93ba. Accessed 2 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A528197443
8 of 8 6/2/18, 4:09 PM
Review: Fifty Fifty by James Patterson & Candice Fox
by Sarah McDuling |August 10, 2017
Fifty Fifty by Candice Fox and James Patterson
Our Crime & Thriller book of the month is Fifty Fifty by Candice Fox and James Patterson – the second book in the highly addictive and super kickass Detective Harriet Blue series.
Given how much I loved Never Never (the first book in the series) and also the prequel novella, Black & Blue, I was a bit nervous about Fifty Fifty. Sometimes when a series starts out super strong it can be hard to maintain that same level of awesome in subsequent books.
I’m happy to say, I was worried for absolutely no reason! And really, I should have known better than to doubt the genius of this co-authoring dream team. James Patterson is, after all, a master storyteller, and literally every time Candice Fox writes a new book it becomes my new favourite thing! Every time.
Fifty Fifty sees Detective Harriet “Harry” Blue banished from the city after a dramatic incident of bad-assery gains her some unfortunate press during her brother’s trial. For those who need a reminder and for newcomers to the series, Harry’s brother, Sam, has been arrested and stands trial for multiple murders. Everyone believes Sam is the infamous Georges River Killer. Harry, however, is positive that her brother is innocent and is determined to prove it.
Unfortunately, before she can do anything to help Sam, Harry loses her temper in a rather spectacular way and finds herself banished to a small country town called Last Chance in western NSW. She is there to investigate a possible planned massacre and because she is Harry Blue, she soon finds herself up to her eyeballs in madness and mayhem.
My favourite thing about this series is definitely the main character, Harry Blue. A “wildcat cop” with iron fists, nerves of steel and a heart of gold, Harry is always ready with a knockout punch and a razor-sharp quip. Pretty much every line of dialogue she delivers in Fifty Fifty warrants a round of applause! She’s ferocious and bold, tough and smart, totally out of control most of the time and possibly a little bit sociopathic… but only when the situation really calls for it.
Fifty Fifty gives readers two mysteries to solve. Harry carries the main plot which involves the discovery of a diary outlining a town massacre. Harry arrives to find herself teamed up with an obnoxious ASIO agent who is exactly the kind of character you love to hate. Naturally, it doesn’t take long for fists to start flying.
Meanwhile, the other plot line follows Harry’s partner, Whitt, and her friend Tox Barnes (Tox from Black & Blue is back! Hooray!) who remain in Sydney to investigate the case of the Georges River Killer with hopes of clearing Sam’s name.
Fast-paced, action-packed, tightly plotted and bursting with crazy, explosive charm, Fifty Fifty is a great new addition to this wildly addictive series. And given the way this book ends, I suspect the next one will take Harry’s story to a whole new level! Eeeeeeeeeee! I need it now!!
PODCAST: Listen to Sarah McDuling chat with Candice Fox about Fifty Fifty.
Want more crime and thriller recommendations? Browse them all here!
For a limited time only, order Fifty Fifty and you will receive a copy signed by Candice Fox! *Offer available while stock lasts. Also, order Fifty Fifty, or any product from the Father’s Day Gift Guide by August 23rd, and you could win a book pack worth $700 RRP!
Fifty Fifty by Candice Fox, James Patterson
Fifty Fifty
by Candice Fox, James Patterson
The world's bestselling thriller writer James Patterson once again joins forces with award-winning crime writer Candice Fox for a compulsive page-turner in the Australian outback.
Sam Blue stands accused of the brutal murders of three young students, their bodies dumped near the Georges River. Only one person believes he is innocent: his sister, Detective Harriet Blue. And she’s determined to prove it.
Except she’s now been banished to the outback town of Last Chance Valley (population 75), where a diary found on the roadside outlines a shocking plan...
Order NowRead More
Candice FoxcrimeFifty FiftyJames PattersonSarah McDulingthriller
Fifty Fifty review: James Patterson and Candice Fox are back with more crime
By Cameron Woodhead
11 September 2017 — 11:02am
Send via Email
Fifty Fifty
James Patterson & Candice Fox
Fifty Fifty. By James Patterson & Candice Fox.
Fifty Fifty. By James Patterson & Candice Fox.
Photo: Supplied
Century, $32.99
A collaboration between James Patterson and Australian author Candice Fox, this crime series began with Never Never. Fifty Fifty features spiky loose cannon Detective Harriet Fox, whose brother stands accused of murdering several young women. She is determined to prove him innocent, and catch the serial killer responsible, but her latest case takes her far from her goal. This time, Harry is stuck in an outback town, having uncovered plans for a massacre. She will need all her grit and unorthodox method to stop that happening. Meanwhile in Sydney, Harry's former partner keeps working the case involving her brother, and brings us one step closer to the true perp. New readers should start at the series beginning to avoid confusion, but Fifty Fifty is hard-boiled crime with an Aussie flavour and a likeable female detective.
Never Never review: James Patterson & Candice Fox's combine to produce thrills
By Sue Turnbull
18 September 2016 — 8:34pm
Send via Email
THRILLER
Never Never
JAMES PATTERSON AND CANDICE FOX
CENTURY, $32.99
According to James Patterson, "life moves fast - books should too". Patterson should know, because as of January 2016 he had moved more than 350 million books worldwide and holds the Olympic - sorry - Guinness World Record for most number one New York Times bestsellers.
James Patterson.
James Patterson.
These days, Patterson doesn't do the sprints alone. Over the years he has taken to co-publishing books with other authors, from Sweden's Lisa Marklund to Australia's Candice Fox - twice. The pair also have a volume in Patterson's BookShots series, which appear on his website under the banner "All thriller. No filler". Like a blockbuster action film, Patterson's fiction seems determined not to let you look away.
In an interview Patterson said he comes up with the vision and plotline for these thrill-packed co-productions while the designated authors do the bulk of the writing, under the master's editorial control. Hopefully they also reap the shared royalties of the Patterson no-frills all-thrills brand as a result. One of the more intriguing aspects of Never Never comes from trying to work out where Patterson ends and Fox begins.
Author Candice Fox.
Author Candice Fox.
Photo: Supplied
Hazarding a guess, the soldier in night-vision goggles we encounter at the start, hunting his human prey in the Great Victorian desert in Western Australia with a Barrett M82 rifle he's brought back from the Gaza strip, is a Patterson tough-guy invention.
But then Detective Harriet (Harry) Blue, working sex crimes in Surry Hills, with a psychopathic brother, Sam, who has just been arrested for the Georges River murders, is pretty tough too. The dead give away is that Harry and Sam, who shared a "traumatic childhood in state care", bear more than a passing resemblance to the brother and sister characters created by Fox in her award-winning trilogy, Hades, Eden and Fall. Harry is pure Fox, right down to her boxing prowess and fast mouth.
Needing to get as far away from Sydney and her errant brother as possible, Harry is diverted to the "never never" to investigate an "unexplained death" in a uranium mining camp five hours from Kalgoorlie. Once landed, she meets up with her new offsider, another detective escaping his past. Edward (Whitt) Whittaker's Armani luggage and prepared gourmet meals signal a need for control and a fastidiousness that will be challenged by the overcrowded mining camp and the "donga" he and Harry are forced to share.
According to the collective intelligence of the worldwide web, in this instance, donga probably means a temporary dwelling, rather than a dry gully or a penis. One wonders what Patterson's global readers will make of all this Australiana.
Never Never by James Patterson & Candice Fox.
Never Never by James Patterson & Candice Fox.
The camp is a "steel monstrosity" dominated by 14-storey-high cranes that tower over giant holes in the ground. Most workers fly in and fly out with some routinely serviced by the "Bilbies", or camp prostitutes, with whom Detective Blue forms a cheery alliance. Meanwhile the mine is haunted by the politically motivated EarthSoldiers in their hi-tech four-wheel drive who proclaim impending global doom if the rape of the outback continues. There are lots of suspects to eliminate.
It's all delightfully Mad Max-ish, and more than a tad gothic, with the added joy of yet another feisty female warrior who is always going to win the war but not the battle. It is also – no surprise here – a very fast read.
Review - Never Never, James Patterson and Candice Fox
HideBook Cover
HideAuthor Information
Author Name:
James Patterson
Candice Fox
Author's Home Country:
USA, Australia
HidePublication Details
Book Title:
Never Never
ISBN:
9781925324938
Year of Publication:
2016
Publisher:
Penguin
Publisher Website:
Penguin - Never Never (link is external)
Review Originally Published At:
Pile By the Bed (link is external)
HideCategories & Groupings
Category:
Crime Ficiton
Location:
Outback Australia
HideBook Synopsis
Detective Harriet Blue needs to get out of town, fast.
With her brother under arrest for a series of brutal murders in Sydney, Harry’s chief wants the hot-headed detective kept far from the press. So he assigns her a deadly new case - in the middle of the Outback.
Deep in the Western Australian desert, three young people have disappeared from the Bandya Mine. And it's Harry's job to track them down.
But still reeling from events back home, and with a secretive new partner at her side, Harry’s not sure who she can trust anymore.
And, in this unforgiving land, she has no idea how close she is to a whole new kind of danger . . .
HideBook Review
James Patterson best known to adults as the author of the Alex Cross series and to young adults as the author of the Maximum Ride series. But much like Tom Clancy, Patterson has become more than just an author, he is an industry. The back of Never Never lists over eighty novels for which he is co-author. Candice Fox, on the other hand, has written three crime novels in the Archer and Bennett series. But they are three of the best Australian crime novels of recent years, the first two of which took out Ned Kelly Awards for best first novel (Hades – reviewed here (link is external)) and best novel (Eden – reviewed here) back to back. So what happens when the two get together to write a crime thriller? Well, the answer is the Australian-set Never Never.
Never Never opens with a point-of-view character known as the Soldier, killing someone out in the desert at night as part of some sort of sadistic military-style game. Switch to Sydney and Detective Harriet “Harry” Blue is being shunted off to Western Australia to avoid the fallout of her brother being picked up as a suspected serial killer. The next minute Harry is working for the Western Australian police, has a local partner and finds herself investigating the possible death of a young miner at a remote mine full of fly-in-fly-out miners, a local drug lord, environmental activists and a group of Bilbies (local prostitutes). It is not long before she catches the attention of the Soldier, who gets more creepy POV chapters, and the mind games begin.
Suspects come and go and Patterson and Fox ratchet up the tension but the build-up is fairly contrived and the final twist is obvious. The setting is interesting – an isolated place where no one is truly permanent, people can disappear without a trace and the overriding driver is profit over safety or wellbeing. And Harriet’s kick-arse, slightly out of control character is well handled. Although she and many of the other characters are pale imitations of the much richer characters who inhabit Fox’s stand-alone novels.
Never Never is a paint-by-numbers thriller, one that clearly comes from the type of book factory that can turn out a number of “co-authored” novels per year. But it is enjoyable for what it is and thriller fans will be kept happy as the pages turn. And, hopefully, teaming up with a juggernaut like Patterson will give Fox some additional international profile that might encourage readers to pick up her far superior Archer and Bennett books.
Submitted 1 year 9 months ago by Robert Goodman.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - 2:04pm
All Reviews of Books by this Author
eview - HADES, Candice Fox
HideBook Cover
HideAuthor Information
Author Name:
Candice Fox
Author's Home Country:
Australia
HidePublication Details
Book Title:
Hades
ISBN:
9780857981172
Year of Publication:
2014
Publisher:
Random House Australia
Publisher Website:
Hades - Random House Australia (link is external)
HideCategories & Groupings
Category:
Crime Fiction, Thriller
Location:
Sydney
Recommended For Fans Of::
Psychological Thriller
HideBook Synopsis
A dark, compelling and original thriller that will have you spellbound from its atmospheric opening pages to its shocking climax. Hades is the debut of a stunning new talent in crime fiction.
Hades Archer, the man they call the Lord of the Underworld, surrounds himself with the things others leave behind. Their trash becomes the twisted sculptures that line his junkyard. The bodies they want disposed of become his problem for a fee. Then one night a man arrives on his doorstep, clutching a small bundle that he wants 'lost'. And Hades makes a decision that will change everything...
Twenty years later, homicide detective Frank Bennett feels like the luckiest man on the force when he meets his new partner, the dark and beautiful Eden Archer. But there's something strange about Eden and her brother, Eric. Something he can't quite put his finger on. When the two detectives are called to the scene of an attempted drowning, they find a traumatised victim telling a story that's hard to believe - until the divers start bringing up bodies.
Frank is now on the hunt for a very different kind of serial killer: one who offers the sick and dying hope at murderous cost. At first, his partner's sharp instincts come in handy. Soon, he's wondering if she's as dangerous as the man they hunt.
HideBook Review
Sometimes you have to wonder who on earth comes up with the claims on blurbs - but this one "HADES is the debut of a stunning new talent in crime fiction" is so apt the temptation is to call it quits here for this review.
Hades Archer run a junkyard, and desposes of more than just the standard form of rubbish you'd expect. Although one night, he's confronted by an unusual situation - when the "refuse" he's called on to dispose of turns into two living children that he saves and takes into his life.
The storyline sets up the lives of these three and then moves into the present and the police who are on the trail of a serial killer. In the process detective Frank Bennett is partnered with Eden Archer. Both of them have recently lost their working partners in confrontational circumstances, but developing a working relationship between them proves more fraught than Frank could possibly imagine. Made even more difficult when their first case together turns into one of the more bizarre serial killer scenarios presented - a killer who seems to be harvesting of organs. A lot of organs.
Given the scenario, HADES is obviously going to be a dark and confrontational read. A combination of police procedural and psychological thriller, the current serial killer storyline, combined with the past of Eden and Eric, mesh to produce something that's an exploration of justice and revenge. To say nothing of the fraught right and wrongs of ... let's call it "private organ transplantation".
What is most compelling about HADES, however, is the exploration of damage. As the past of Eden and Eric is revealed, and how they came to be possible problems for Hades to dispose of, questions of right and wrong become increasingly grey, and the reader is confronted with a series of situations more likely to be found in a psychological thriller than a police procedural. Despite that there's no inconsistency, somehow all these elements are woven together as tight as a drum.
The balance between the current investigation and the past is also pitch perfect, and the pace of HADES utterly enthralling. The characters are clear, precise and nuanced elegantly between understandable, sympathetic and frustrating. These people read like they are real, and imperfect.
It's very rare that you come across a debut novel that's just about perfect. Sure it's violent and confrontational and uncomfortable. But it is utterly memorable and an absolute standout.
Submitted 4 years 1 month ago by Karen.
Friday, May 2, 2014 - 8:44pm
Crime Scene: CANDICE FOX Hades. Reviewed by Lou Murphy
Tags: Australian crime fiction/ Australian women's writing/ Candice Fox
hadesThere’s a constant sense of danger as concurrent stories of past and present creep towards each other in this intricate and gritty novel.
Hades is not the kind of book to snuggle up in bed with at night – it would undoubtedly give you nightmares. This disturbing crime debut from Candice Fox is best read armed with a stiff drink and a strong stomach.
Set in a dark, mysterious Sydney, the story begins with Hades, a criminal fixer who runs an underground disposal business for ‘the bodies of evil ones’. His shadowy existence is turned upside down when two children, Morgan and Marcus, the orphaned survivors of a botched kidnapping, are delivered to him by an ill-informed stranger. Hades makes the decision to take the traumatised children into his care. Through his criminal connections he is able to garner new identities for them – Eden and Eric – and raise them as his own. As they mature, Eric develops sinister needs of his own, which, lacking any moral compass, he is free to act on:
Eventually the boy pulled an object from under him and set it in Hades’ palm. Hades studied the object in his fingers. It seemed to be an animal tail.
‘What is this?’
‘It’s a cat’s tail. I was trying to touch Eden with it. That’s why she was screaming.’
‘Where did you get it?’
‘I’m sorry, Hades.’ Eric tried to compose his face into what he thought was remorse but all he achieved was a quizzical frown. ‘We’re both sorry.’
That word again. Sorry. It was a learned thing. They thought they could say it and make things better, but they had no conception of what it meant.
Running concurrently to the unfolding of Eden’s and Eric’s childhood and growing to maturity is the contrasting reality of their world as adults. Both have become police officers, though none of Eric’s menacing qualities have been left behind. When homicide detective Frank Bennett is partnered with the beautiful and elusive Eden, her brother is quick to assert himself through violence. Bennett has strong instincts, however, and is not easily intimidated. Enamoured by his new partner, he is determined to win her confidence:
She bent to adjust her boot and I noticed a long scar running the length of her hairline, faint and barely detectable.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘So what’s your deepest, darkest secret?’
She coughed over her drink and smiled.
‘Come on, Frank. The whole my-partner-is-my-soulmate thing has been seriously overcooked by Law and Order, don’t you think? We don’t have to be intimate to be effective.’
‘I want to be intimate with you.’ I grinned.
‘Uh huh.You’ll get over that.’
‘I’ll tell you mine.’
‘I don’t want to know yours.’
Fox captures the snappy incisiveness of the police world with cutting dialogue and believable anguish.
Eden and Bennett become embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer who performs organ transplants on his victims. He is Jason Beck, ‘The Body Snatcher’. His sick vocation is vividly depicted through gruesome details of his transplant operation donors:
The pathologist lifted a sheet from a body at the end of the row. I stared at the bloodless cavity in a young woman’s torso where some part of her had been removed.
While searching for the body farmer, Bennett also tries to get to the heart of what happened to Erin’s previous partner – his predecessor, Doyle, who was shot on the job. Eric warns him off trying to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding this death but again Bennett pays no heed.
The constant threat of danger pushes the intricate plot into unmapped territory. Fox names big issues – nature, Darwinism, natural selection – but does not ruminate on them, choosing instead to allow these ideas to pepper the landscape of the gritty world she has created. The stories of past and present creep towards each other with an energy that is at once captivating and sickening – leading to an unexpected yet hideously logical climax.
Candice Fox Hades Bantam 2014 PB 352pp $29.99
Lou Murphy is the author of the crime novel, Squealer, and has worked a mix of jobs including on the Sydney dockyards, in crime reporting and in hospitality: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LouMurphy
You can buy this book from Abbey’s here or from Booktopia here.
To see if it is available from Newtown Library, click here.
Review - EDEN, Candice Fox
HideBook Cover
HideAuthor Information
Author Name:
Candice Fox
Author's Home Country:
Australia
HidePublication Details
Book Title:
Eden
ISBN:
9781617734434
Series:
Eden Archer
Frank Bennett
Year of Publication:
2014
Publisher:
Random House Australia
Publisher Website:
Eden - Random House Australia (link is external)
HideCategories & Groupings
Category:
Crime Fiction
HideBook Synopsis
'I fool myself that Eden has a heart – that she would at least have trouble killing me...'
Most police duos run on trust, loyalty, and the desire to see killers in court. But Detective Frank Bennett's partner, the enigmatic Eden Archer, has nothing to offer him but darkness and danger. She doesn't mind catching killers – but it's not the courthouse where her justice is served. And now Eden is about to head undercover to find three missing girls. The only link between the victims is a remote farm where the desperate go to hide and blood falls more often than rain. For Frank, the priority is to keep his partner monitored 24/7 while she's there – but is it for Eden's protection, or to protect their suspects from her?
Across the city at the Utulla Tip, someone is watching Hades Archer, a man whose criminal reputation is the stuff of legend. Unmasking the stalker for him might be just what Frank needs to stay out of trouble while Eden's away. But it's going to take a trip into Hades's past to discover the answers - and what Frank uncovers may well put everyone in danger . . .
HideBook Review
Right from the commencement of HADES, the first Archer / Bennett book by Candice Fox, it was obvious that this was a series to be watched. Dark, confrontational, emotional and compelling, that book started a journey into the consequences of human damage, and EDEN picks that up, twists it around your throat and pulls tight.
When Eden Archer goes undercover to catch a potential killer, the deprivation of the world into which she immerses herself is unsurprisingly apt. She's a woman with a dark core, a vigilante, an edge dweller, and the way she can step into the odd world of that remote farm makes enormous sense. Even if her fellow-police watchers struggle to understand that. Apart from Frank Bennett of course - part fascinated by Eden, part terrified, his ambivalence about the reason for keeping an eye on Eden is a reflection of his own personal feelings.
Bennett has problems of his own though - the death of his girlfriend in HADES is still having a profound effect on his own sanity / stability, which he's been trying to self-medicate with alcohol and wisecracks. Much of the backstory from that first book is pulled apart / and thrown against a few walls in EDEN, and it might be that missing the earlier book will mean you miss some of the nuances of these interactions. It may also be that you'll struggle to read the clues and hints in the tensions between Hades, Eden's Tip dwelling father, and Bennett. Bennett's agreement to help Hades when he finds he's being watched, stalked, ultimately harassed might be hard to fathom even after reading both books, but the hold / sway / charisma of this old man is there. Buried. Particularly in his past.
"Out there, on the surface, Heinrich's money walked, passed, tumbled from hand to hand, bumped into other piles of money and multiplied, the way that rats will triple and triple again in narrow passageways filled with torn paper. It was gathered and presented in stacks on tables in backrooms and cardrooms and changing rooms. It arrived unexpectedly into groups of men in the shadows of crowded clubs, was passed in envelopes into confused and bloodstained hands, was tucked into coat pockets as lips brushed against the rims of strained ears."
Hades, Eden and Bennett to some extent all follow that pattern, they slip unseen, quietly, ominously into situations. They are the crooks best and worst friend, avengers and perpetrators - each in their own way.
Needless to say, this reader is a huge fan of both of these books. EDEN is different from HADES in that there's a power-shift between Eden and Bennett, there's a strength transfer and a vulnerability handover. It's not so different in that the central investigation of a series of horrific crimes is one thing (and to be honest not that hard a perpetrator to pick), but the bigger thing is that constant picking away at damage. At power, control and the weirdness of the human condition.
Submitted 3 years 6 months ago by Karen.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - 12:07pm
All Reviews of Books by this Author
Eden by Candice Fox
Author: Candice Fox
Publisher: Random House
Copyright Year: 2014
Review By: Anne Bruist
Book Synopsis:
Most police duos run on trust, loyalty, and the desire to see killers in court. But Detective Frank Bennett’s partner, the enigmatic Eden Archer, has nothing to offer him but darkness and danger. She doesn’t mind catching killers – but it’s not the courthouse where her justice is served.
And now Eden is about to head undercover to find three missing girls. The only link between the victims is a remote farm where the desperate go to hide and blood falls more often than rain. For Frank, the priority is to keep his partner monitored 24/7 while she’s there – but is it for Eden’s protection, or to protect their suspects from her?
Across the city at the Utulla Tip, someone is watching Hades Archer, a man whose criminal reputation is the stuff of legend. Unmasking the stalker for him might be just what Frank needs to stay out of trouble while Eden’s away.
But it’s going to take a trip into Hades’s past to discover the answers – and what Frank uncovers may well put everyone in danger
Fox has produced another page turner where we follow Eden, still a cop, going under cover to investigate a story of missing girls who all stayed in a dead beat community residence Eden now joins. Juxtaposed with these chapters are first person account from her police partner, Frank, who as well as running the operation is recovering from his girlfriend being murdered and doing some work on the side for Hades, Eden’s crime king “father”. To add to the richness, we also follow Hades himself from young boy to disappearance of the girl he loved—the work on the side, because this is who Frank is trying to find. It sounds complicated and I guess it is, but the stories intertwine, are easy to follow and each one brings its own level of suspense and interest.
The world of Hades we are introduced to in the first book, Hades, is less strange and a little more standard crime, but has a lot of heart and fills in background of why he is the man he is. Though I’ve said this is 4 rather than 4.5, this is only because the ‘wow’ factors isn’t there in the same way, but like the first, is a good read. I read a lot—and mostly forget books pretty quickly. I didn’t forget either of these.
I look forward to more work from this author.
Review - Crimson Lake, Candice Fox
HideBook Cover
HideAuthor Information
Author Name:
Candice Fox
Author's Home Country:
Australia
HidePublication Details
Book Title:
Crimson Lake
ISBN:
9780143781905
Series:
Ted Conkaffey
Year of Publication:
2017
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Publisher Website:
Penguin Books - Crimson Lake (link is external)
HideCategories & Groupings
Category:
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre:
Thriller
Location:
Australia
HideBook Synopsis
12.46: Thirteen-year-old Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop
12.47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her
12.52: The girl is missing . . .
Six minutes – that’s all it took to ruin Detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of Claire’s abduction, he escapes north, to the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.
Amanda Pharrell knows what it’s like to be public enemy number one. Maybe it’s her murderous past that makes her so good as a private investigator, tracking lost souls in the wilderness. Her latest target, missing author Jake Scully, has a life more shrouded in secrets than her own – so she enlists help from the one person in town more hated than she is: Ted.
But the residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move. And for Ted, a man already at breaking point, this town is offering no place to hide . . .
HideBook Review
Candice Fox announced herself as an Australian crime writer to watch with her Ned Kelly Award winning debut Hades, followed up a year later by its award winning sequel Eden. The Archer and Beckett series took a couple of fairly recent crime fiction tropes (including the serial killer cop) but Fox made them completely her own. After a shortlisted third in the series and a humdrum collaboration with one-man crime fiction factory James Paterson, Fox launches what is potentially a new series with Crimson Lake. And is, in a few words, absolutely back on form.
Crimson Lake is a small tropical town outside of Cairns. It is where Ted Conkaffey has gone to ground after his life fell apart. Conkaffey was a policeman, charged with the brutal assault on a teenage girl but never convicted. He continues to protest his innocence but is scarred by his experience on the other side of the justice system and, not cleared of the crime, is still suspected of being a paedophile. His lawyer hooks him up with local detective Amanda Pharrell. Amanda is in some ways more damaged than Ted, having spent ten years in prison for stabbing a fellow teenager to death. Amanda has been hired to investigate the disappearance and possible death of a local writer who has made it big on the international scene with a series of quasi-religious post-apocalyptic thrillers.
There is so much crime here it is hard to know where to start. From the disappearance and possible suicide by crocodile of author Jake Scully, to Conkaffey’s case through to what really happened to Amanda. But Fox juggles the various plot lines and backstories masterfully. The majority of the narrative is from Ted’s post-traumatic point of view. With some creepy fan letters thrown in to up the tension but also throw some light on one of the book’s themes - the sometimes toxic nature of fandom.
Fox excels at the interpersonal relationship of her protagonists. Just when you though the Archer/Beckett relationship was weird, she ups the ante with Conkaffey and Pharrell. While both are dealing with their own particular issues, the thing that makes their partnership work is their widely divergent investigative styles. Conkaffey, ex-police is methodical and considered while Amanda has a serious disregard for the law and an almost Holmesian ability to make and act on lightning deductions. As always, Fox litters their world with rounded minor characters including the local coroner, Scully’s wife and son and Fabia an investigative journalist after Conkaffey.
Overall, Crimson Lake is top notch Australian crime fiction. The main characters are flawed but relatable, the plotting, full of the requisite red herrings, is tight, and the climax, complete with vigilantes, tropical storms and crocodiles as extremely satisfying. While Crimson Lake will stand on its own, another book or two featuring Conkaffey and Pharrell seems inevitable and will be anticipated.
Submitted 1 year 3 months ago by Robert Goodman.
Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 7:18pm
All Reviews of Books by this Author
Interview With Candice Fox, Author of Crimson Lake
February 15, 2018torforge
We sat down with Crimson Lake author Candice Fox to ask her a few questions about her process, her inspirations, and her recommendations for fans of crime novels.
What are your writing rituals?
I grew up in a disgracefully noisy household that frequently had 12 or more kids in it, some of them foster kids who stayed with us for up to 12 months. My mum fostered over 150 kids during my childhood. I didn’t have my own room for a lot of the time, so I learned early on to write anywhere, and at any time, because the setup was rarely perfect. Because of my childhood I have the ability to tune out of my environment and work on plots and dialogue anywhere, no matter how stressful or chaotic the circumstances.
What do you enjoy most about writing? What’s the most frustrating part?
I like the power and control afforded to me as a writer – I get to create people I’d like to be and experience things that have nothing to do with my real life, consequence free. I don’t have to sit around wondering what it might be like to escape to the solitude of the tropical north and live like a hermit on the edge of a lake – I can explore that for tens of thousands of pages if I want to. The most frustrating part of this job for me is the editing process, by far. My novels go through five or six edits, and sometimes they’re edited by up to five different people. By that time I’m usually midway through my next book, so my mind and my heart are tangled up in new adventures, and I don’t like to go back.
What’s your favorite method of procrastination?
Oh, but there are so many. I knit and crochet little toys and give them away to children. I look at crime scene photographs or listen to criminal confessions and interrogations I find online. I clean the house or reorganise storage cupboards. I ‘research’ by bingeing on true crime TV or podcasts. I’m a big napper. I’m down for the count for at least an hour every day, around 2pm.
Where is Crimson Lake? Is it inspired by a real place?
Crimson Lake is inspired by a real place, but I’ve been advised not to name that place, and I can understand why. In the book I write about two very corrupt, menacing police officers, and with the small towns of tropical north Queensland manned by small police forces, it’s too dangerous that someone might take offense. My characters are actually almost never inspired by real people, because I find it too restricting.
Have any real life crimes found their way into your books?
They have. Usually it’s that I’ve become fixated on a particular case or a particular killer I’ve come across in my true crime research, and I’ve asked myself why I’m so interested in them because most true crime just washes over me in an enjoyable but indistinct manner. Parts of Black and Blue, which I wrote with James Patterson, were inspired by the killing of Thomas and Jackie Hawk by Skylar Deleon and his pregnant wife Jennifer. The Columbine massacre and other mass shootings are mentioned in our book Fifty Fifty, and I began to think about accusations of child sexual assault and their effect on a person’s life for the Crimson Lake series when Rolf Harris and Robert Hughes were arrested for those crimes.
What are some books, movies, shows, podcasts, etc that you might recommend?
There are so many. For a strings-free crime podcast that’ll disturb you on the go, head straight to Sword&Scale. For a run-on series with in-depth analysis try Someone Knows Something. I wrote Crimson Lake with True Detective in mind, so that’ll have to be my television recommendation. If you haven’t seen Casino or Good Fellas, by Scorsese, you’re missing out in life. And at the moment I’m reading and loving lots of James Lee Burke.
How has your love for rescuing animals found its way into Crimson Lake?
Along with collecting children, my mother was a big animal rescuer (and trash picker). She used to love the feeling of bringing home something or someone that had seemingly lost all hope and needed her as its redemption. I wanted to get involved, and my mother was insanely busy with all her responsibilities, so she gave me any birds that would come in because mostly they weren’t worth her trouble. Many of them died. It was an odd parenting decision.
I wanted readers to be confused as to whether or not to trust Ted in my novel, so I immediately presented them with conflicting evidence – a strong case that he had done something awful to a teenage girl, and a very vivid rescue scenario in which you see all his humanity laid bare. Originally, I’d thought of having Ted rescue a family of cats, but I know what it’s like to have a warm, frantic, injured bird in my hands and they say you should write what you know. It was fun to write because a scared bird is very obviously vulnerable. You get the misplaced feathers and the panting breast and the bulging eyes, something beautiful all messed up in its distress. And who doesn’t like fluffy baby geese?
Who have been your best teachers or muses?
I had a teacher in my university days named James Forsyth who was really one of the first people to dive deep into my writing on a line-by-line basis. I’d attended night college classes as a teen, but those really only assessed whether I could write short stories. James and I were supposed to work on a 40,000 word piece together, but I asked whether we could look at the whole novel I’d just completed. The guy had no idea what he was in for.
I’d tried to break down the door of the publishing scene with a tank – my manuscript was a 250,000 word multi-genre mess with a cast of thousands. There was a storm that went for four pages in the book, just a regular old storm that meant nothing to the plot. James faithfully took out his carving knife and slashed that manuscript to pieces with me, day by day, for six months. He was endlessly patient as I tried to argue for every piece of description, every brilliant sub plot. He was a brilliant teacher, and I’m glad to hear he teacher high school. Hopefully he’s catching writers before they end up writing enormous monstrosities like I did.
Order Your Copy
amazon bn booksamillion indiebound audible
Follow Candice Fox online on Twitter (@candicefoxbooks), Facebook, and on her website.
Forge Books, Forge Guest Post, forge sidebar, guest post
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox: Book Review
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox Book Review
What is this about?: Ted Conkaffey is a victim of circumstances in the worst way possible. Accused of a horrific crime he flees to Crimson Lake in its aftermath where he tries to rebuild his life and himself. His lawyer, Sean, introduces him to Amanda, a woman convicted of murder who has opened the only PI agency in the area. Together, they’re asked to solve the case of missing author Jake Scully.
What else is this about?: Ted’s and Amanda’s cases respectively. Fox takes on three different cases in a way in this book, balancing Jake’s case with their respective cases too. It’s taut writing, drawing readers in to these characters and their pasts, and making you think about them differently.
Stars: 4/5
Blurb: From the award-winning author of Hades and Eden comes an ingenious and edgy suspense novel that will keep you guessing to the very last page . . .
12.46: Thirteen-year-old Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop
12.47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her
12.52: The girl is missing . . .
Six minutes – that’s all it took to ruin Detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of Claire’s abduction, he escapes north, to the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.
Amanda Pharrell knows what it’s like to be public enemy number one. Maybe it’s her murderous past that makes her so good as a private investigator, tracking lost souls in the wilderness. Her latest target, missing author Jake Scully, has a life more shrouded in secrets than her own – so she enlists help from the one person in town more hated than she is: Ted.
But the residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move. And for Ted, a man already at breaking point, this town is offering no place to hide . . .
Circumstances are a bitch
I think that about sums up this book.
Ted was a good cop before chance and circumstance turned him into an accused paedophile and an outcast. Stopping at the side of the road to fix his car, he becomes the last person to be seen with a girl before she’s raped. From there, Fox unfurls his case, and the circumstances that helped shape him as the best suspect for the young girl’s rape.
Safe Haven
He is never convicted, so after the case ends he flees to Crimson Lake in an effort to find some peace from the public and the media, and soon finds himself working with Amanda to investigate the disappearance of author Jake Scully. That quickly becomes a murder investigation as Amanda and Jake try to find out what happened to him, and how part of him ended up in a crocodile.
Crimson Lake is a small town, the kind Ted hopes doesn’t pay attention to news from Sydney and where people are content to go about their lives. That lasts for a short time before Amanda and Ted find themselves coming up against cops that hate them, and want him back in jail, a public out for blood and media determined to get their last ounce of blood from his story.
Ted and Amanda
Ted is in ruins when the story opens, and remains as such for the book – how do you recover from being helpless to circumstance? You don’t – you become afraid. Of being recognised, hated, assaulted or having a mike shoved in your face, and said face and safe haven plastered all over the papers and TV. We live in a time when our lives are on camera, so for Ted his escape to Crimson Lake only lasts so long.
Ted doesn’t know how to begin to rebuild himself, but it has to start somehow, so for a man whose lost his wife and daughter, Fox gives him hope in the littlest of things – a goose and her goslings. It’s such a simple and elegant way to show him rebuilding his life, I might have worried for the survival of his geese family by the end. Ted needs something else to care about to even start to care for himself, and that segues into working with Amanda, herself a convicted killer. Whereas Ted doesn’t know how to hide himself yet, 10 years in prison have made Amanda an expert.
She is sharp-tongued, always ready with a comeback and adept at navigating a life with a M(urderer) on her chest that the whole world can see. Curious about her case, he starts to do some of his own investigating into it and starts to learn about who she was and who is now.
They couldn’t be more different characters and ill-suited to each other as partners. Amanda is crass and Ted still thinks like a cop, so she isn’t ideal partner material. Their partnership is at least fuelled in large part by Amanda, and the force of her personality in wearing him down. That personality is a façade in some ways, but Ted sticks around to earn the right to see past it.
Ted, on the other hand is too careful, too new to this life of notoriety to be able to deal with what it brings him. The flashbacks take us back to the trial, to the events that still haunt him. I’m not always a fan of flashbacks, but they’re short and to the point. It’s gradual, but as the case he progresses and he sees Amanda in action, he begins to realise what he can learn from Amanda to survive this new life of his.
Three cases for the price of one
Crimson Lake is a story of three cases: Jake’s, Ted’s and Amanda’s. Which, I didn’t actually realise until I was well into the book. Fox’s writing is taut, riveting stuff so much so that you don’t mind that three different stories are happening. She holds on to the threads of each firmly, keeping them clear in her writing. Ted is Fox’s long game, but Amanda’s case is a revelation in subtle writing that kind of smacks you upside the head by the end.
Their investigation into Jake Scully’s case takes them through the town and the secrets people have, showing that small-towns, as always, have the best kept secrets. Their investigation into his private life is seemingly less interesting than the investigation into his professional life and the heady world of YA publishing and its fans. It did make me wonder about the fanmail Fox gets, because Jake, the author, gets some seriously disturbed stuff. Amanda and Ted’s search into work unwraps a bit of the seedy, scary underbelly of fandom I admit, but of course nothing is quite so simple.
When the killer is revealed, it’s only one answer to a raft of questions you’ll have, but I have to say I think the answers will be worth the wait.
Now, I have to wait on pins and needles to see when the next book will be out. Crimson Lake is out now.
Book of the Week: Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
February 21, 2017
9780143781905 - CoverWhy we love it: She’s taken the Australian crime fiction world by storm in recent years and the latest, highly anticipated thriller from Candice Fox does not disappoint. With an intricately woven, thrilling but believable plot, combined with complex, likeable characters and a vividly drawn location at Australia’s top end, Crimson Lake will delight Fox fans and new readers.
Ted Conkaffey is an off-duty police officer in the wrong place and time when a thirteen-year-old girl disappears from a bus stop, is brutally raped and left for dead. It’s bad luck for Ted with numerous witnesses putting him near the scene, CCTV switched off in the wrong places, and unreliable testimony from the traumatised child. After time in prison and a harrowing trial there’s not enough evidence to convict him but that doesn’t mean he’s proved innocent – his life is ruined, his wife and friends have abandoned him, he can’t see his baby daughter and the press is hounding him. As far as anyone’s concerned he’s a dangerous paedophile and there are only two people who think otherwise – Ted and his lawyer Sean.
So we find Ted in hiding at Crimson Lake, a tropical suburb of Cairns – hot, humid, lush. He’s surrounded by the crocodiles that live on the edge of his home and by many others who’d like to get their teeth into him – a tenacious female journalist intent on a scoop, two dodgy policemen determined to catch him at something and the outraged vigilantes from town. His lawyer, worried about Ted, puts him in touch ex-con Amanda Pharrell, who was convicted as a teenager of murdering another student by stabbing her nine times in the back. Amanda did her time and now runs her own private investigator practice in Crimson Lake.
Understandably, Ted is reluctant, but life takes on new meaning once he’s on the case of missing celebrity writer Jake Scully whose pseudo-Christian, apocalyptic novels have spawned a whole class of conspiracy theory stalkers. Jake’s disappearance is creepy and mysterious – part of his body has been found in a croc’s stomach so they’re sure he’s dead but there’s no clue who or why. His alcoholic wife hires Ted and Amanda in attempt to confirm her husband’s death, if only for the insurance money. As well as this crime, Ted and Amanda each become obsessed with each other’s past, Ted wondering whether this quirky, cat-loving, girl could really have brutally murdered someone and why. Meanwhile, the Sydney press closes in on Ted. Once his identity becomes known in this small town he’ll be hounded out with nowhere to go or he’ll framed for another crime he didn’t commit.
Fox, Candice - Author picIn the wonderfully fast-paced Crimson Lake it could be said there are three fantastic stories for the price of one: we’re almost breathless with anticipation as we try to solve the Jake Scully case, but we’re also on tenterhooks to know what really happened in Ted and Amanda’s cases. The two PI’s are likeable yet flawed characters. Fox’s characterisation is detailed, and authentic, and the sense of place is fully realised, too – we can almost feel the hot and fetid air of the tropical rainforest of Australia’s top end and hear the crocodiles rumbling in the swamp lands. Lately Fox has received a lot of attention and we’re really glad to report – you CAN believe the hype surrounding this talented young Australian author.
Sydney born writer Candice Fox’s first novel, Hades, won the Ned Kelly Award for best debut and the sequel, Eden, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel 2015. Her third novel Fall was widely acclaimed. Last year she collaborated with bestselling international writer James Patterson on Never, Never, a thriller set in the Australian outback.
Purchase a copy here or start reading today!
Tagged with: candice fox, Crime, Crimson Lake, mystery, thriller
Comments
When an author meets her book's voice... backstage at Hamilton
Atlantic Records; Tom Doherty Associates
Christian Holub January 29, 2018 at 11:33 AM EST
Even now, in January 2018, more than two years after it took Broadway by storm, seeing a performance of Hamilton still feels like a marquee event. The show on Jan. 11 had even more significance for bestselling Australian author Candice Fox. Not only was she seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s acclaimed musical for the first time; Fox was also getting to see the voice of her own art in person. Her latest novel, Crimson Lake, was recorded as an audiobook by Euan Morton, who currently plays King George in Hamilton. EW accompanied her to the show, and then followed her backstage to meet her book’s voice.
Crimson Lake is a crime novel, set in Fox’s home country of Australia. Both of its main characters (disgraced detective Ted Conkaffey and private investigator and Amanda Pharrell) are violent criminals. Amanda stabbed someone to death, while Ted is an accused rapist after briefly parking his car by the side of a road where a young girl went missing. But as Miranda’s musical does with Aaron Burr (“the villain in your history”), Fox turns both these fallen souls into sympathetic characters; in the book’s first few pages, Ted rescues a family of geese from crocodiles in the Cairns marshlands, spending the last of his money to get the mother medical attention before building the animals a makeshift cardboard-box home in his backyard.
After the show ended, Fox was escorted onto the stage to meet Morton. The actor was immediately complimentary, telling her that he found the book “smartly sympathetic: it makes you ask larger questions.” Both agreed that Crimson Lake makes a particularly interesting read in the current zeitgeist, where every week seems to bring new disturbing allegations against another famous celebrity or artist. Certainly, Ted’s arc in the book demonstrates that sometimes crimes aren’t what they seem — in Fox’s words, “looking creepy is not enough” to determine guilt in every case. Then the conversation turned to Morton’s performance, which once again turned the King into one of the more colorful characters on stage. Morton himself was a little disappointed because he had forgotten his crown during his final song, resulting in a few moments of nervous silence before the backup mic in his wig came online.
Fox came to the show with early preview copies of Crimson Lake (whose American release is set for March 6) to gift Morton. In order to give her space to make out a personal inscription, Morton led her backstage. On the way to his dressing room is, of course, the wall of signatures, where so many of Hamilton’s celebrity attendees have signed their names next to a figure of the man himself. “No words, just exultation,” reads Oprah’s message. Shaquille O’Neal’s signature, a more recent addition, towers above the rest. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders signed his name as well, though as Morton explained, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did not get the chance before being whisked away by Secret Service at their viewings.
Morton’s dressing room begins with a colorful emblem of his Scottish heritage. In lieu of a door, the room is bordered by a giant shower curtain featuring an illustration of a redheaded man playing bagpipes, much to the consternation of a nearby Loch Ness Monster. The reason there isn’t a door, Morton says, is that “Jonathan Groff felt very lonely in the role. So he had the door removed, and would have ‘tea with the King,’ where people could come up and visit.”
As Fox inscribed his copy of Crimson Lake, Morton explained that he had always been fascinated by Australia.
“I’ve never been, but when I was very young, I used to go to the library and take out the picture books of Australia and sit in the bedroom and look at Australia and imagine what it would be like to be there,” Morton told her. “I never imagined America, this place used to freak me out. But I thought Australia would be so good, and kangaroos were so weird!”
Fox certainly knows a thing or two about kangaroos. During her childhood, her mother worked as a rescuer, fostering over 150 kids in their house over the years, as well as a bevy of animals — including kangaroos! Young Candice would try to take care of the injured birds her mother found. Though they often died from their injuries, decades later the birds would go on to inspire the creation of Ted’s geese in Crimson Lake.
“I wanted people to like Ted immediately so that they’d question whether he did it or not for the whole book and they’d feel really uncomfortable,” Fox told Morton. “I was like, he’s gotta rescue an animal, so you know he’s a good guy. So I thought geese, and it worked! I’ve had people write to me and say ‘if anything happens to the geese in the subsequent books, I’m never gonna read you again.’”
“You should kill the geese just to show them,” Morton said.
“Well I’m writing book 3 now, and I’ve threatened them,” Fox said (the first sequel to Crimson Lake, Redemption Point, will be published in Australia in February). “On page one, one of the geese is already missing. I just like to mess with people. You can’t threaten me!”
Crimson Lake will be published in America on March 6 from Forge Books. The audiobook version, read by Morton, will be available from Macmillan Audio at the same time.