Hit by Tara Moss

First line in the book:  Meaghan Wallace pushed a damp lock of pale blonde hair off her face and squinted in the half-light.

Backcover blurb:  She's street-smart, stunning and hoping to leave her troubled past behind her.  Makedde Vanderwall is ready to start work as a forensic psychologist...and a new life in Australia with her detective boyfriend Andy Flynn.

Hoping to scrape together some extra cash, Mak begins working part-time for an infamous Sydney PI.  With a knack for investigation and bending the law, she might just have stumbled across her true calling - and the career that could break up her relationship once and for all.

Then she is hired to investigate the murder of A-list PA Meaghan Wallace.  The police believe it's an open and shut case but Mak discovers that it's a lot more complicated...

About the author:  Tara Moss, is the author of five bestselling crime novels published in fifteen countries in ten languages.  Writing has been a lifelong passion for her; she began penning gruesome 'Stephen King-inspired' stories for her classmates when she was only ten.  Tara enjoyed a successful international career as a fashion model before pursuing professional writing, first earning a Diploma from the Australian College of Journalism.  She began writing her debut novel, Fetish, when she was just twenty-three.  Her crime novels have been nominated for the Davitt and the Ned Kelly awards.  She has a star on the Australian Walk of Fame:  the first person so inducted for services to literature.

Not a writer to rely solely on imagination, she has toured the FBI Academy at Quantico, spent time in squad cars, morgues, prisons, labs, the Supreme Court and criminology conferences worldwide, taken polygraph tests, shot weapons, conducted surveillance, flown with the RAAF, and acquired her CAMS race driver licence.  Tara recently earned her PI licence, and was set on fire by Hollywood stunt company West EFX and choked unconscious by Ultimate Fighters 'Big' John McCarthy for her research.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Tara is a proud dual Australia/Canadian citizen, and divides her time between Sydney, Los Angeles and her hometown in Canada.  She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, as well as an ambassador for the YWCA and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

She hosts the true crime series Tough Nuts: Australia's Hardest Criminals on the Crime & Investigation Network and Tara Moss in Conversation on the 13th STREET Universal channel.  Previously, she hosted the crime documentary series 'Tara Moss Investigates' on the National Geographic Channel across Europe and Australia/New Zealand.

My thoughts:  I bought this book at W H Smith on my way to Copenhagen back in spring.  At that time, I was trying to fulfil my reading challenge obligation by looking at authors and books outside my comfort zone.  It is uncanny how I have never felt the inclination to read books from other countries apart from the UK and the USA.  In that respect, I am grateful for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge for widening my reading scope.

Having read so many books in my lifetime, Hit comes across as a mediocre thriller written by a mediocre author on first impressions particularly in the Prologue.  However, as I go on reading, my last impressions leave me with a fairly satisfying smacking of the lips!

I am impressed that Moss writes from first-hand experience and have enjoyed reading about the ins and outs of the life of a female private investigator in one of my favourite locations in the world, Sydney.  The fact that Moss mentions a few famous landmarks in Sydney and also the well-known television soap opera Neighbours brings back a lot of good memories and makes the story as close to realistic as possible.

Apart from Sara Paretsky (V I Warshawski), S J Rozan (Lydia Chin) and Cara Black (Aimée Leduc), I do not know any other authors who have written books about a gutsy female PI until Tara Moss (Makkede Vanderwall).  Or maybe I have forgotten.  Anyway, that makes four.

This is also my first foray into Sydney's crime world and police procedures and there is no doubt that there is a full injection of 'Aussie flavour' throughout the book in terms of lifestyle and dialogue, among others.  It certainly makes a nice change from reading my usual booty.

The author's knowledge of investigative procedures certainly lends an air of authenticity to the plots and Moss has written skilfully and successfully on both terms.  As for the protagonist, she comes across as independent and strong, sensible and pragmatic.  She possesses a good work ethic as she seems to be revelling in her job as a part-time private investigator.  I like a strong female character with baggage!  However, I cannot fully grasp her character in this book because she seems to be moving forward in her life from a trouble-filled past and even though there were tidbits of references to the past and her trying to start a career in her new home in Sydney, her personality did not jump out at me from the pages.  I would very much like to read the other books to get a better insight into her past and who she really is.  

Overall, I think Hit is a well-paced and entertaining read with 'chick attitude'.  On a last note, I would say do give it a fair go but it is not a book for everybody!

There are not a lot of reviews on the web for Hit but I almost agree with Maxine Clarke's review but not quite.

Rating:  3/5