In The Company Of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown In The Company Of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown is a romantic thriller set in the Australian tropics

Vivian Andrews has spent the last few years of her life building a new life.  In the far North Queensland Tropics of Australia, Vivian has been recovering from a serious injury that ended her life as she knew it.  And when she comes across an unidentified body in the mangroves, Vivian unwittingly enters into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Claire Walker, a behavioural scientist, is waiting for Vivian when she heads to the local Police Station to report the corpse.  Claire immediately discovers that Vivian isn’t quite ready to admit that she misses her old life, but when Claire’s partner is injured, she must rely on Vivian to help her find the killer, and the missing man she is tasked with finding.  Vivian is drawn to the excitement of the chase, and the excitement of Claire, and together they face the Tropical wilderness and an enemy who may just be closer than they think.

The Characters

The main character of Vivian is all you could ever want in a butch loner.  She is intelligent, darkly and mysteriously charismatic, and strong in all the right ways.  This perfectly complements Claire, a trained behaviour scientist who appears to be able to immediately draw out Vivian’s softer side and get under her skin.  Both characters are likeable and well written, and most importantly, they are believable.

The secondary cast of characters in the book are all fairly stereotypical Australian characters.  Which is great for me, since I am a New Zealander and have grown up recognizing those stereotypes.  Think Crocodile Dundee (google it if you don’t know what I am saying!) meets Steve Irwin.  All of which makes for some entertaining reading!

The Writing Style

This book was great from start to finish.  Hard to put down, there was always something happening or about to happen, and I genuinely wanted to reach the end and never let it end in equal measure.  Often in thrillers you can get a sense of what will happen, or who is behind everything, but Maggie Brown did a superb job of keeping everything so twisted and suspenseful that the revelation at the end was exactly what you want in a good thriller – surprising yet believable.

The Pros

This was a fast-paced great read with well-written location, characters and storyline.

The Cons

None… except I wanted it to keep going!!

erins favourite booksThe Conclusion

This book is a fantastic read, one of those genuinely great thrillers where you have no idea what is going to happen or who is going to cause it to happen until the last few pages.  Throw in more than a little splash of romance, and In the Company of Crocodiles is a book you will remember for all the right reasons.

Excerpt from In The Company Of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown

Claire lowered her voice and lightly touched her arm.  Vivian looked down at the hand.  It was exquisite, the fingers long and narrow like a musician’s, with delicate blue veins under the surface of the skin.  Though from the handshake the previous day, Vivian knew there was a surprising strength in the fingers.  Her voice was equally charming, throaty and articulated.  “It’s what I’m trained to do.  Read people.  I sense you know how to look after yourself and will be handy in a sticky situation.  And you’re honest.  We need someone like that.  Would you help us… me?

Vivian felt a pang to destroy the intimacy of the moment.  The agent was very persuasive.  “Sorry.  No can do.  This heroic, larger-than-life figure that you’re trying to portray me as is rubbish.”

The pale eyes widened in surprise then narrowed.  “So, what will it take to persuade you?”

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Bits and Bobs

  • ISBN number: 9781594935336
  • Publisher: Bella Books

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Note: I received a free review copy of In The Company Of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown.