Action and adventure fiction is the epitomy of escapist reading. Browse all our articles, starting with the most recent, featuring books that contain elements of action and adventure, whether it is travel, charting new frontiers, hunting down others or being hunted themselves. Often there is some sort of peril to evade, mystery to solve and/or justice to deliver.
Recent stand out reads in this genre for us include The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, Stuart Turton’s The Devil and the Dark Water and TJ Newman’s Falling, and then of course you can’t go wrong with the iconic bestsellers Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. All these novels are guaranteed to entertain. There is a book to satisfy everyone’s quest for adventure from the safety and comfort your favourite reading chair.
Two titles with a travel theme – Ursula Bloom’s romantic fiction Wonder Cruise and Mr Snack and the Lady Water, a collection of travel essays from Brendan Shanahan. Wonder Cruise Synopsis Ann Clements is thirty-five and single, and believes nothing…
Part detective story, part brutal alternate history, Peter Tieryas’ United States of Japan is a stunning successor to Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. Read on for our full review. United States of Japan Book Synopsis Decades ago, Japan won…
Lynnette Lounsbury’s We Ate The Road Like Vultures was one of our dozen Top Aussie Reads of 2016. We Ate The Road Like Vultures Synopsis: Lulu, a teenage Australian runaway on an unlikely mission, knows bullshit when she hears it and…
One Synopsis : The last bushrangers in Australian history, James and Patrick Kenniff, were at the height at their horse thieving operation at turn of the 20th century. In One, troops cannot pull the Kenniff Gang out of the ranges and plains…
The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish Synopsis : Painted in white, red and black ochre, the heart-shaped mask was one of the greatest creations of primitive man. The size of a dining table, it was carved with crazed, spiky lines that…
That Devil’s Madness by Dominique Wilson ranks as one of my dozen Top Aussie Reads of 2016. That Devil’s Madness Synopsis In 1896 Louis and his father, seduced by the allure of North Africa, travel to Algeria in search of a…
I listened to the Northern Lights / Golden Compass audiobook. Whether adult or child, you will adore His Dark Materials Trilogy heroine Lyra Belacqua. This series is also commonly referred to as Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights trilogy. Northern Lights / The…
THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE . . . in which Sydney Padua transforms one of the most compelling scientific collaborations into a hilarious series of adventures. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage Synopsis: The (Mostly) True Story of…
Under the Net, Iris Murdoch’s first novel, features Jake Donaghue and sidekicks getting into predicaments, barbed banter and deception. Under the Net Synopsis: Iris Murdoch’s first novel is set in a part of London where struggling writers rub shoulders with successful…
Three Lives Down Synopsis : Dan Taylor has survived two attempts on his life. The rest of his team are missing, and now a terrorist group has stolen a radioactive isotope from a top secret government project. Can Dan survive long enough…
Beauty is a Wound is the first of Indonesian author Eka Kurniawan’s novels to be translated into English. Beauty is a Wound Synopsis: Compulsively readable, Beauty Is a Wound combines history, satire, family tragedy, legend, humour, and romance in an astonishing epic novel,…
Supersymmetry, the sequel to David Walton’s Superposition. Supersymmetry Synopsis : Ryan Oronzi is a paranoid, neurotic, and brilliant physicist who has developed a quantum military technology that could make soldiers nearly invincible in the field. The technology, however, gives power to the quantum creature…
Superposition Synopsis: A Mind-Bending, Near-Future, Science Fiction Techno-thriller. Jacob Kelley’s family is turned upside down when an old friend turns up, waving a gun and babbling about an alien quantum intelligence. The mystery deepens when the friend is found dead in…
Jenny T Colgan’s Resistance Is Futile is a wonderful romantic comedy come save-the-world adventure with a rebellious, geeky tone. Read on for our full review of this under-appreciated gem. Resistance Is Futile Synopsis: She’s smart. She’s funny. But she’s only human…. As a…
Ann Turner’s debut novel The Lost Swimmer is an entertaining and compelling contemporary thriller, that would easily translate to the big screen. The Lost Swimmer Synopsis: Rebecca Wilding, an archaeology professor, makes sense of the past for a living. But suddenly, truth…
Part satire, part revenge tale, part wilderness adventure — with a heavy dash of noir espionage — This Is How It Really Sounds explores the seductive power of the Other Life, and what happens when you finally grasp it. This…
