Review: Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier

Sydney in 1932 is the setting for this paranormal story featuring two young women who are very different, but for one quirk. Both can see ghosts. Kelpie is a kid living on the streets of Sydney. The ghosts help (or sometimes hinder,) her survival. Meanwhile Dymphna is the girlfriend of a gangster who has long learned to ignore the ghosts. The pair bond over the corpse of gangster Jimmy Palmer, and Dymphna declares herself Kelpie's new protector. But things in Sydney are changing and neither Kelpie nor Dymphna is safe ...

Told over the course of a day, Razorhurst is a mostly entertaining read. I say mostly as it had some faults that hindered the storytelling--in many ways it feels overlong and a little claustrophobic. The depiction of Sydney, and of the era, feels quite authentic. In some ways, the book felt a bit like a Sydney version of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, bigger, showier, bolder and with a bit more gore.

Recommended.

This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018

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