Candice Fox: Fall

Dark, Violent and Quirky
This is #3 in the Archer and Bennett series by Candice Fox and it is as dark, violent, quirky and outstanding as her first two highly awarded thrillers.

There is a strange bond between Detective Frank Bennett and his partner Detective Eden Archer. Maybe it is because Frank is damaged because he had seen his girlfriend murdered or because Eden volunteered to go underground to trap a couple of serial killers who had slit her open from her sternum to navel. However, the strongest bond is because Frank knows that Eden is also a serial killer, who hunts down and kills whatever lowlife she finds, in a kind of Robyn Hood role. It is also because Frank knows and has worked for Eden's "father" Hades Archer who brought her up in a world where he is a body disposal expert using his own garbage tip.

Eden is still recovering physically and is now able to get around with only one crutch. Their first case when they get back to work is a couple of gruesome murders of night-time joggers in Sydney's public parks. The killings look very personal with violent destruction of the victims' faces. There is great public interest in the killings and there is a race to find the killer before he/she strikes again.

Frank is dating Imogen, the psychologist trying to banish his anxieties following his girlfriend's death, who just happens to be a dangerous narcissist. She is especially dangerous because she is digging up the 20-year-old Tanner case and wants to prove that Eden was one of the missing children.

Fox also introduces us to another unusual character "Hooky" who is a diminutive young Vietnamese girl recovering from personal tragedy when her sister murdered her parents. She is a genius, dresses as a punk-Japanese-rocker, and has superintelligence which saw her get top honours at University in computing science with an engineering major. Her chosen therapy is to work with the police who investigated her parents' murder and she soon becomes an unofficial but very valuable asset to Frank and Eden, especially in using the dark web to hunt down and identify pedophiles. The scary part is when she meets Hades and Eden on their home turf, at the tip.

While the serial killer case is reasonably straightforward, there are a couple of clever endings that come out of left field and will leave you stunned.

Candice Fox sprang to fame as an Australian author of very different type of thriller when she released her award-winning debut novel HADES a couple of years ago. Last year she followed up here success with a similarly quirky, dark and violent successor, EDEN. I have been a Candice Fox fan from the beginning and this book certainly caps an outstanding trilogy. There may be a clue to the direction of further​ books which could be stunners.

There is no doubt the Candice Fox is one of the most creative authors of Australian crime thrillers. I see that she has landed a co-authorship with James Patterson of a book set in Australia which should help her international reputation. I wish her well with that venture and hope that the Patterson book editing factory doesn't decimate her writing talents to bring them into line with their standards.

Candice Fox: Eden

Compelling gritty story about evil
Last year Candice Fox made a stunning debut with HADES which emotionally flogged me with the pace of the action, the violence, the body count and episodes of pure fear. It is always hard to follow up on such a performance but IMHO she has done this with EDEN - quite a different story but just as gritty, heavily based on savagery but showing some signs of humanity that was missing from her first book.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted. It is a story about an imaginary savage underworld that most people cannot envisage - murderers, rapists, peodophiles and even a cannibal. Some even come from respectable society and the police force. This time we hear the story of how Hades Archer became a monster whose main profession is disposing of dead bodies. Once again, as with his "adopted" children, Eric and Eden, he became what he was because he was taken in as a child by a monster.

At the end of HADES Candice Fox left us with Detectives Eden Archer and Frank Bennett both under traumatic stress following the death of Eden's brother Eric and Frank's girlfriend Martina. They were taken off active duty until they complete a full psychological program.

Frank is still stunned by what happened and uses alcohol and pills to placate his sorrow but Eden's upbringing covers any personal reactions. Eden tries to get Frank back to work to take him out of his misery. She asks him to do some work for father, which he surprisingly accepts and he finds that even Hades has his vulnerabilities.

When they are back in the force as homicide partners Eden risks her life by accepting an undercover assignment in the company of with the worst of low-life to uncover a possible serial killer of three missing young women. While Eden's upbringing leaves her emotionally cold and unfeeling, this time we get the feeling that deep down there may be some good among the evil as she takes enormous risks to find the killer.

While EDEN lacked the stunning impact of HADES it was still a brilliant work of creative writing about an underworld that begs imagination. Well done Candice Fox, you have shown that you can keep up your creativity and change it sufficiently to keep things absorbing, At the end you left us with a fascinating clue to keep us on tenterhooks until the next book.

My thanks to The Reading Room and Random House Australia for providing a copy of this book for review.

Candice Fox: Hades

Click to see in Amazon

Amazing, chilling, violent and emotionally challenging first novel
WOW, what an amazing first novel. I am emotionally flogged by the pace of the action, the violence, the body count and episodes of pure fear. With that background it is hard to say I enjoyed the ride but it will certainly stand out in my memory as one of the most unusual, outstanding and memorable crime thrillers I have read in the last 12 months.

Hades Archer is the man they call the Lord of the Underworld. He lives in a junkyard  in Sydney that contains twisted sculptures he has created from scrap. He will arrange to dispose of anything, including bodies - for a fee. Even Hades decides draw the line when someone wants him to dispose of two small bodies - who are still alive. Hades actions will affect many for years to come.

Twenty years later, homicide detective Frank Bennett meets his new partner, the dark and beautiful Eden Archer. Her brother, Eric, is also in the homicide squad and immediately makes it clear that he has real problems with anyone chosen to be Eden's partner. While they are experienced detectives, it is soon clear to Frank that there is something very unusual about Eden and Eric.

While investigating the attempted drowning of a drug addict the homicide squad don't believe his story about a cache of large toolboxes on the floor of the harbour until the divers bring up the boxes and the bodies they contain.  Hilary Mantel wrote a classic book called "Bring up the Bodies". Candice Fox could have easily given the same title to this book.

Frank and Eden are now looking for an unusual serial killer who kills to keep others living. While the body count keeps climbing Frank is faced with two challenges, to find out the dark secrets that power Eden and Eric, and to protect a potential victim of the serial killer.

This book is not for the faint hearted (an example - Hades observed "An adult body needed a long tooth saw"). It paces you through an emotionally charged, violent and bloody environment from the very start to a stunning climax. It is dark, compelling and very original crime fiction written by an author with a bright future. I totally agree with the book description that Hades is the debut of a stunning new talent in crime fiction. It only seems to be listed for release in Australia and New Zealand and definitely deserves a wider audience.

Candice Fox tells us on her website that she has a multi-book contract and she is close to completing her next book "Eden". While I look forward to that book I hope that the publishers will give me time to recover from this one.

My thanks to Random House and The Reading Room for providing an advanced copy of this book.