Reading Notes : Ghostlines by Nick Gadd

The 2007 Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript was won by Nick Gadd for a novel about a washed up award-winning investigative journalist who now works for a suburban newspaper. That book has now been published as Ghostlines by Scribe Publications and it is an emotionally-charged debut occasionally marked with despair and guilt but presented with admirable style.

A tragic accident at a local railway crossing sees him simply going through the motions, more intent on getting home and drinking himself to sleep to the strains of Coltrane’s saxophone. Somewhere between asking people how they felt about the accident and filing the story his usual numbness to the people affected begins to wear off and he finds that there may be more to the story than a simple level-crossing accident.

A Melbourne art group from the 1950s, the work of a noted local artist and the haunting image of a woman captured in a portrait found in the house of a lonely old man are the catalysts to a most intriguing mystery. Phillip Trudeau is the troubled protagonist in the story, a man who has had his share of hardships, paying for crossing the wrong powerful people in the past. He’s the down but not out type of underdog whom you hope will succeed, but it could go either way.

Ghostlines is a worthy winner of the 2007 VPLA, it’s a powerful novel that is not without its surprises. Definitely one to look out for and a strong contender for future awards down the track. Put Nick Gadd down as an author to follow for the future.

I have written a full review for Ghostlines by Nick Gadd and it can be found by clicking on the link.

Review of Voodoo Doll by Leah Giarratano

I have recently finished reading Voodoo Doll by Leah Giarratano. This is the second novel to feature Detective Sergeant Jill Jackson, picking up where Vodka Doesn't Freeze leaves off. It's a psychological thriller of the highest order starting with a violent home invasion before exploring the dark mind of a killer who is dangerously out of control.

Leah Giarratano has done an outstanding job of taking us inside the minds of her characters, into a nightmare world of destruction and despair. With so many of the minds damaged or healing it is ensured that the unexpected is to be expected.

Voodoo Doll is one of the 50 books that has been chosen for the 2008 Books Alive initiative.

I have written a full review of the book over on the Australian Crime Fiction Database so to avoid duplicating it I will instead invite you to pop over and read my review of Voodoo Doll by Leah Giarratano.

Book Review: Fan Mail by P.D. Martin

Title: Fan Mail
Author : P.D. Martin
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
ISBN: 9781405038263
No Pages: 400
Published Date: February 2008
Sub-genre: Thriller


Your words could make someone act.
You must stop writing this filth. It can only bring you pain, believe you me.
Yours Sincerely,
A fan

Sophie Anderson is a profiler with the FBI. She has been working with the behavioural Analysis Unit at Quantico but recently decided that she can be of greater benefit to crime victims if she worked in the field and has applied to be transferred to LA.

Sophie is more than just a highly accomplished profiler, she has an added talent that she prefers to keep hidden from her superiors within the Bureau. She has visions of the crimes she is working on. These visions sometimes put her in the role of the killer, other times as the victim or as an observer. Initially they were a deeply disturbing intrusion into her life, but as they continued, it was apparent that they had a habit of being unerringly accurate. She can’t control them but is beginning to accept them as a part of her and as a potentially vital tool to help her as she works a case.

Before Sophie even has a chance to walk into her office to take up duties in LA she finds herself thrown into a murder case. A crime novelist, one who had visited the FBI at Quantico, has been murdered and the novelists assistant called Sophie. The murder imitates almost precisely the way one of the victims was murdered in the author’s latest novel. Although the murder falls to the Beverly Hills PD to investigate, Sophie is drawn in thanks to having previously met the author before she moved. It’s a delicate position she finds herself in, having to tread carefully to avoid stepping on the toes of the officers involved, who wouldn’t appreciate the FBI muscling in.

As it turns out, the man heading the investigation is Detective Dave Sorrell, a homicide detective who has worked successfully with the FBI in the past and understands the value of using their resources. He’s a man with an abrupt manner which Sophie initially finds a little off-putting but they soon develop an efficient working relationship that gradually becomes quite complementary.

However their excellent teamwork isn’t enough, initially, to draw any great breakthrough in the investigation. And when a second crime author is murdered, also in the same manner as laid out in their novel, the stakes are raised enormously. Frustratingly for Sophie, the visions she hopes for to help in the investigation are either not forthcoming or apparently irrelevant to the case. It feels as though things are spiralling dangerously out of control when the third author is reported missing.

Fan Mail is more than the murder mystery it first looks as though it’s going to be. The solid forensic evidence gathering and criminal profiling put in by Sophie and Sorrell throws up some related cases and it looks as though it’s going to become a serial killer case, but their investigation always seems drawn back to the original murder.

Integral to the appeal of the story is the development of the working relationship between Sophie and Sorrell. It looks as though it has the potential to be the kind of friendship that will become a defining feature of the series.

Equally, the paranormal abilities of Sophie are beginning to take on more importance in the story. It’s a feature of the Sophie Anderson books that author P.D. Martin has nurtured carefully, refusing to rush the advancement of her abilities. It’s with a significant sense of careful development that we are experiencing her growth as she does.

It appears that P.D. Martin has developed a series within a series with an ongoing subplot that runs beneath the main story that is carried over from The Murderer’s Club and promises more to come in future books. It’s like you’re getting a 2 for 1 deal with two solid stories providing a memorable, multi-faceted thriller.

A word of warning on that last point though for anyone who hasn’t yet read The Murderer’s Club. Vital information about that book is revealed in the course of Fan Mail and it would be recommended that you go back and read the earlier book, if only to gain a clear understanding about what takes place here.

Fan Mail continues a strong series that has seamlessly blended the science of criminal profiling with Sophie’s paranormal abilities in a thriller that offers a great deal to the reader.

Review : Shatter by Michael Robotham

Title : Shatter
Author : Michael Robotham
Publisher : Sphere
ISBN : 9781847441782
No Pages : 466
Published Date : April 2008
Sub-Genre : Psychological Thriller

In just three books Michael Robotham has established himself as a master storyteller whose new releases are much anticipated both home and abroad. He consistently crafts impressive thrillers around intriguing scenarios. Shatter continues the trend and brings back the protagonist from The Suspect, Joseph O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin, a psychology professor suffering the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, is a fascinating character both for his ability to understand the minds of others and for the insight he gives into the disease he is battling. But that's nothing compared to the ordeal he's about to undertake.

Everyone saw the naked woman jump from the bridge, so how could it be anything other than suicide? Joseph O'Loughlin isn't so sure the woman wanted to do it. He was closest to her when she stepped into thin air and, just before she took that step she was talking on a mobile phone before looking at Joe and saying "you don't understand". It's not until the woman's 16 year old daughter, Darcy, shows up unannounced on Joe's doorstep that he begins to believe that his misgivings are justified.

Darcy tells Joe that her mother was scared of heights, so why would she choose that way to killer herself? Still haunted by his failure to talk her safely off the bridge he takes Darcy to the police in the hope that they might be able to investigate the case as a murder rather than a suicide.
DI Veronica Cray is a tough, abrasive woman yet she's not unreasonable when it comes to listening to solid argument. However as far as she and the rest of the police are concerned, the death is a suicide and the case has been solved.

All of that changes when a second woman's body is found. Again the woman is naked, again she has died outdoors and this time, there is a mobile phone lying next to her. Joseph O'Loughlin, much to his wife's displeasure, is drawn deeply into the murder investigation.

Yet again I found myself sucked along by Robotham's smooth writing style. It flows effortlessly. Right from the very start there is an immediate mystery surrounding the story. There are too many anomalies surrounding the apparent suicide that opens the book to ignore, but the alternative generates all sorts of questions. Robotham cleverly nurtures these questions and, by gradually allowing us to become aware of the killer and what horrors he is capable of, maximises the feeling of tension and expectation.

The insecurities and psychological weaknesses of the victims play an important role in the drama that unfolds throughout the book. The killer is a craftsman of the most terrifying kind and, as such, appears to have all the answers. This is the type of story that plays on the fact that everyone has weaknesses - everyone - and Robotham manipulates the story with complete dexterity so that, as the reader, you find it all too simple a task to imagine yourself in the place of the victim.

The tone of the story is affected enormously by the fact that it is told from Joe O'Loughlin's first person perspective. Here is a professor of the mind who is fighting the inexorable progression of Parkinson's Disease. He also has to cope with the burden of the knowledge that he failed to stop a young woman from jumping off a bridge. He is a mixture of stoic determination and endearing naievete. He's a guy who believes he hasn't let his disease affect his personality, but there is an underlying tinge of sadness that is unmistakable.

As you may be aware, Michael Robotham has a history of taking minor characters from one book and using them as the protagonist in the next. In Shatter he has introduced another character who would make a perfect lead character. DI Veronica Cray, who is in charge of the police investigation. She's a quirky, exuberant in your face character with a past that begs to be explored. She is summarised on page 60:

Veronica Cray can render someone speechless. She's unavoidable. Immovable. Like a rocky outcrop in a force ten gale.

Every scene in which she appears throughout the book confirms this description.

In The Suspect, Joseph O'Loughlin was a deep-thinking character with a complex edge and a grave health battle ahead of him. Shatter takes that raw outline and fills in the man, his fears, emotions and responsibilities to an even greater extent. The psychological battle waged between O'Loughlin and the killer reaches epic proportions with the stakes promising to be far reaching.

Combine the hard work gone into character development with Robotham's free-flowing writing style, evidence of a natural storyteller at work, and readers will have no trouble becoming fully involved in Shatter. It's a story that plays hard on a wide range of emotions.

Find out more details about Shatter by Michael Robotham.

The Broken Shore is still Winning People Over

It's a rare book that can take someone from the impression that "this is not for me" right through to "Temple has gone onto my must read list", but that's exactly the impact that Peter Temple's The Broken Shore has had at Table Talk as part of the blog's Awards Project.

In one of the more articulate reviews of the book I have read the reviewer gets straight to the crux of what makes Peter Temple's books so darn readable, his social commentary and insight and his compelling use of language.

Peter Temple has that ability to take you from indifference to devotion in the space of around 350 pages.

By the way, it's worth visiting the Table Talk blog just to enjoy the serene uncluttered orderliness of a very nicely designed and presented blog. I really enjoyed my visit there.

Mystery Book Review : Eden by Dorothy Johnston

Title : Eden

Author : Dorothy Johnston

Publisher : Wakefield Press
ISBN : 9781862547605

No Pages : 217
Published Date : 2007
Sub-Genre : Mystery

Sandra Mahoney is a computer security consultant who, along with her partner Ivan, lives and works in Canberra, a city big on gas-bagging politicians and the occasional scandal. It's a little bit of both that sets alight Eden the 3rd mystery by Dorothy Johnston to feature Mahoney. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly, Eden Carmichael was a politician with clout and standing. But his heart attack in a Canberra brothel while wearing a blue dress and blonde wig was hardly the most dignified way to bow out. Before he died Eden had been about to back CleanNet, a company that produced filter software and would have stood to make a lot of money with government support in light of censorship laws.

Sandra is hired by an anti-censorship group that calls itself Electronic Freedom and they stand against censorship of any kind and believe some digging into CleanNet is warranted.
Her investigation begins on track as she does some standard background checks into the company. But the connection with the dead Eden Carmichael is irresistible and cannot be ignored, particularly given the legislation that was on the table.

At some point her investigation transforms from a company background check to an unofficial possible murder investigation. The turning point appears to centre around the brothel in which Eden suffered his fatal heart attack and the owner Margot Lancaster. There's nothing really specific apart from a vague feeling of unease and a clue about the make of the wig he was wearing when he died. The fact that her home is broken into and ransacked also changed her feelings towards her investigation.

The trail she follows takes her to Sydney where she meets with the head of CleanNet before spearing off into the past of brothel owner Margot Lancaster and the Sydney brothel in which she used to work. It's the beginning of a series of flimsy threads that Sandra starts pulling to begin to uncover a murky history and surprising links that compel her to dig further.

All the while she is given the uncomfortable endorsement that she must be making progress, first by evidence that she is being followed and then by the car that nearly forces her off the road.

This is an unusual amateur investigation in that we have a computer security agent investigating what could possibly be a murder investigation, yet not really having any evidence that a murder has actually been committed. To top it off her investigation relies heavily on Sandra's ability to continually pester people with a stack of questions, many of which aren't answered. This is not particularly surprising seeing as she has absolutely no authority to back her up at all. I suppose the real surprise is that anybody answers them at all.

Told in the first person by Sandra, the story unfolds as a series of, not so much interviews as confrontations. Sandra has her suspicions and a thin scrap of something resembling evidence and, armed with these, she confronts people, boldly demanding that they confirm her suspicions. Most times the technique fails but with enough front she manages to pick up enough information to keep her moving forward.

It is best to approach Eden with patience because it is the kind of story that comes together slowly. But the prose is strong and the plot is tightly held together through Sandra's determination and belief that she is following a trail that will lead her somewhere worthwhile.
Eden probably sits somewhere in between Dorothy Johnston's first two books (The Trojan Dog and The White Tower) of the series in terms of finding a compelling reason to keep reading. With no real crime to speak of, I often found myself wracking my brain trying to work out what it was that Sandra was trying to achieve.

Fortunately the pieces begin to click smoothly into place towards the end of the story and a satisfactory resolution ensures that the earlier reservations are somewhat assuaged.

Review : The Beijing Conspiracy by Adrian d'Hage

Title : The Beijing Conspiracy
Author : Adrian d'Hage
Publisher : Penguin Australia

ISBN : 9780670029587
No Pages : 525

Published Date : September 2007

Sub-Genre : Action Thriller

Adrian d’Hage’s second novel, The Beijing Conspiracy is a global thriller of monumental proportions much like his debut novel The Omega Scroll. This time he uses the spectre of terrorism to set the pulse quickening, but amps the threat up by including an even more horrifying weapon – that of bioterrorism. The spectacle of the Beijing Olympics looms as the major target of al-Qaeda who issue a warning to the west to either meet their demands or suffer 3 warning blows before a final devastating blow is unleashed.

Dr Khalid Kadeer is a senior al-Qaeda leader, a member of a persecuted Uighur Muslim Chinese minority and a biochemist who is responsible for much of the planning of many of the major terrorist attacks of recent times. His latest warning delivered to the White House calls for the US and her allies to leave the Holy Lands of his people or face the consequences. In this day and age, it’s a threat that is more than credible. His early background at the hands of sadistic Chinese soldiers has fostered a deep-seated hatred and burning desire to strike back at his tormentors.
With the US presidential elections looming, the President doesn’t want to be seen to be pushed around by terrorists, so he takes the advice of his advisors and chooses to ignore the warnings. This will be the first of quite a few mistakes made by a government tainted by bigotry, racism and prejudice, not to mention a misplaced list of priorities. By making the elections the priority he opens the way for the first of the 3 warnings to go ahead.

Meanwhile, significant progress is being made on a project that aims to produce a superbug, a genetically altered organism that joins the smallpox virus with Ebola. If a viable delivery method were to be devised it would result in a potentially devastating biological weapon and, with no cure yet found, the death toll would be unimaginable. The scientific research and development is being conducted inside one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, but the head of the company is an overly ambitious man who is so driven by greed, he sets in motion his own sinister plan.

As if enemies from outside the US are not bad enough, a more insidious threat is being hatched from within. This threat feeds on hatred, paranoia and an unending lust for power. The surprise is that it emanates from one of the most powerful men in the world. Rather than prevent the feared devastating blow that has been promised, he and his accomplices could be unwittingly helping their enemies.

In d’Hage’s fictional world, it would seem that many of the world leaders in power are brainless dimwits, again, not so far from the truth casting our eye around at some of the heads of state gracing the world stage at the moment. Making an overwhelming impression on the decision making processes carried out in the story are figures with strong religious beliefs and, whether those beliefs stem from a Christian or Islamic background, the message is the same, when religious fervour takes over, the results can be unpredictable, even catastrophic.

D’Hage brings the story to consecutive peaks by devising the 3 warning blows before a promised devastating blow. By making each of the so-called warnings pretty damn substantial in their own right, the prospect of the final blow is given considerable significance. It’s a hectic thriller that doesn't hold back on delivering solid action sequences some of which manage to wreak the most devastating damage you can possibly imagine.

However, after a monumental build up, some devastating attacks and disastrous scenes of destruction there promises to be a finale that will batch the early highlights. This doesn’t prove to be the case with a rather subdued ending that is more abrupt than memorable and leaves you feeling slightly deflated rather than with the expected buzz.

The fact that Adrian d’Hage has worked as head of security for the 2000 Sydney Olympics where he was required to come up with possible horror scenarios and then devise ways to counter them makes the convincing nature of this story understandable. His field of expertise lies smack-bang in the centre of chemical and biological attacks, so he really knows what he’s talking about – and it shows in the authoritative voice in which this story is delivered.

The Beijing Conspiracy is your classic action thriller based around the modern day terrorist threat giving a tone of sheer desperation born from outrage and fear. Thrown into the mixing pot is the unknown spectre of microbiological weapons that promise death, not just in the hundreds, but in the thousands or even the millions and this gives the book a twist of monumental proportions. This is the kind of post-911 threat that is completely plausible in light of recent real life attacks.

Noir Book Review : The Low Road by Chris Womersley

Title : The Low Road
Author : Chirs Womersley
Publisher : Scribe Publications
ISBN : 9781921215476
Pages : 280
Date Published : Sep 2007
Sub-Genre : Noir Thriller
Author's Website : http://chriswomersley.com/

The Low Road is a dark chronicle of a brief life on the run as two men try to escape the consequences of their own weaknesses with a misguided belief that salvation is their destiny. Chris Womersley has written a confronting debut novel that offers little hope for the two central characters, pacing them along their desolate road, merely observing their desperate journey. This is an Australian noir thriller in the tradition of Jim Thompson’s The Getaway told in a rich, lavish voice.

In the dirty rooms of the Parkview Motel on the outer fringes of the city, the paths of two men on the run cross in desperate circumstances. Wild is a disgraced doctor hopelessly hooked on morphine and facing a charge of manslaughter, or rather, fleeing from those who would charge him. Lee, on the other hand is a petty crim, a young man currently lying on his motel room bed with a bullet in his side and a bag of cash next to him on the floor. He needs a doctor, no matter how doped up he might be.

Showing the kind of cowardly instincts that brought him the disgrace he now faces, Wild refuses to remove the bullet. Instead, he offers to take Lee to another doctor, someone who lives in an isolated country town, thus serving his own purposes of providing an opportunity to escape while making it look as though he is helping the wounded man.

With Wild at the wheel they set off with the expectation that their journey will be a simple one, albeit uncomfortable for Lee. However these two men have a history of unfailingly making poor choices and they haven’t travelled terribly far before they make their first, marking their passage for anyone who is pursuing them to follow.

Lee’s past begins to seep out as he becomes more affected by his wounds. We get a glimpse into the personal tragedy that marked his early life, the hardship he endured along with his sister and the choices he made that saw him slip into the life of a petty criminal, eventually picked up for his crimes and put into prison where he served a short stretch. It’s his time in prison that proves to have shaped him into a darker individual and this is the side of him that slowly emerges.

Addiction is a concentrated form of futility; it was almost worth it, never quite so.

Wild’s morphine addiction puts their freedom at risk after he loses his stolen supply and goes hunting for more. The needs of a drug addict override all other perils and this is never more evident than in Wild’s midnight forays while Lee slips into and out of consciousness. The story of his slide into addiction is a bleak one which simply gets worse when he reveals the reason why he has, firstly, been suspended from practicing as a doctor and, secondly, come to be facing criminal charges.

Finally there is the looming threat of Josef, an aging gangster who is on a search and destroy mission for making the mistake of entrusting Lee with the money that he has stolen.

The Low Road is set in the grimy outskirts of anytown, a setting that is distinctive only in that there is a feeling of hopeless desolation about it. The two central characters are as pitiful as each other. The first having risked his life for a paltry amount of money while the self-absorbed doctor believes he is travelling towards his own redemption yet still refuses to save himself.

As readers we are on a journey of discovery as we read The Low Road, watching as each character is dissected and laid bare in front of us. Whereas with most stories you feel a deepening affinity for the central characters as the story progresses, I found that the exact opposite was happening in this case. There is a rottenness in both Wild and Lee, a malignancy searching for a place to lie dormant.

The story builds to a shocking conclusion as despair overcomes hope and rage and violence spew forth in a sickening final display. The inevitability of the ending makes it no less provocative and ensures that you’re left thinking about it long after it’s over.

If ever there were a book that screams Ned Kelly Award contender then this is it with outstanding character development coupled with a strong sense of place that simply leaps off the page at you. The subject matter is dark, perhaps even depressing and some readers may be put off by this, but the truth is, Chris Womersley captures the uglier side of life with a vivid clarity that cannot be ignored.

Detective Book Review : The Big Score by Peter Corris

Title : The Big Score

Author : Peter Corris

Publisher : Allen & Unwin

ISBN : 9781741752236

Pages : 214

Date Published : Dec 2007

Sub-Genre : Private Detective

Peter Corris has taken his private detective through all manner of hairy situations over the year with varying degrees of success and heartache. In The Big Score, Cliff Hardy is put through his paces, short story style, with his usual no-nonsense attitude, smart-arsed disregard for authority and genius sifting through the chaff to get at the wheat.

Plenty of familiar names and faces make appearances, seen at various stages during the 30 plus books in which Cliff has operated to date. Getting a mention are familiar names like girlfriend Lily Truscott, movie director Bruce Haxton, Cliff’s reliable doctor Ian Sangster, Harry Tickener who has been a faithful source from the very first book and, of course, his ex-wife Cyn gets a mention or two.

This can be a trip down memory lane for you or simply a chance to enjoy the rough and tumble, attitude-fuelled detective as he bullocks his way around Sydney and straight to the heart of the matter.

A quick overview of each of the 11 stories will give you the best idea of what you’re in for when you tackle The Big Score.

Ram Raid : Cliff arrives home to his Glebe house to a welcoming committee of the local cops, one of whom informs him that he is wanted for questioning regarding a shooting. The man he was supposed to have shot was a crim named Cleve Harvey, a bloke Cliff has butted heads with on the odd occasion. To save himself, Cliff has to find out who the real shooter was and why he was implicated.

Copper Nails : It’s a story Sydneysiders may have read about in the local papers. Trees blocking the view of the ocean from a certain set of apartments are suddenly starting to wither and die. Cliff has to find out who is the most likely to benefit from the improved view…and then prove it.

D-i-v-o-r-c-e : Cliff is hired to investigate the husband of a couple going through a sticky divorce. The suspicion is that he’s hiding some of his assets to reduce the settlement he will be obliged to pay. This is a case in which Cliff has to use his charm rather than his brawn and makes a pretty good fist of it.

Crime Writing : A con artist contacts Cliff from the Silverwood Correctional Facility where he has been writing his memoirs, the contents of which he promises will blow some pretty hefty lids off some major names. The manuscript was typed up, old style, on a typewriter and is the only copy. He tells Cliff that he gave it to a screw to smuggle out of the prison so that it could be taken to his literary agent, but the prison guard has disappeared, along with the manuscript. Cliff has to find the guard and the manuscript, but nothing’s ever that straight forward.

Blackmail : The wife of a movie director has been kidnapped and Cliff is hired to find her. But wait a sec, the title of this story is Blackmail, not Kidnap, something screwy’s going on here. It’s a good thing Cliff’s around to drink loads of booze and throw his weight around, all in the line of duty while unravelling a very tangled problem.

Last Will and Testament : A former client is in the final stages of a terminal illness and hires Cliff to track down his ex-wife and child so that he can leave them his fortune. Hardy’s hunt takes him to Wollongong as he chases down an aboriginal former boxer turned country singer in a moving, yet low-key job. This particular story contains many of the elements (compassion, understanding, forthrightness) that makes Cliff Hardy the complicated protagonist that makes him so popular.

Break Point : An up and coming tennis pro has a tendency to go walkabout after playing his tournaments. A sports management agency keen to sign the kid is concerned he might be getting up to no good. Cliff is hired to find the truth and instead finds himself in the middle of a moral dilemma.

Worst Case Scenario : Cliff recounts an investigation at the prompting of his girlfriend Lily and tells a story that would have to be the stuff of nightmares for any private investigator. It’s a story designed to shock and achieves its goal with brutal frankness.

Bookworm : This is an unusual story about a book thief who is stealing the same obscure book from used bookstores around the country. Cliff is hired to take part in a set-up to catch the thief red-handed. Things don’t really go to plan, but there’s a deeper story behind the object of many thefts.

Patriotism : The final story takes Hardy away to a survival camp - an army-type group that undergoes a military experience. Cliff is there to keep an eye on his client’s son. His client is afraid the group could be a terrorist front. In no time flat cliff has gotten under the skin of the camp leader and finds himself ejected from the place but not before he gets involved in a daring escape bid.

The stories that make up The Big Score are diverse and are pure Cliff Hardy at his unpredictable best. Not all investigations have neat endings and so, not all of these stories end neatly. However, they do make you think, asking you to put yourself in the hot seat and challenges you to come out smelling as fresh as Hardy.

Mystery Book Review : The Perfect Suspect by Vincent Varjavandi

Title : The Perfect Suspect
Author : Vincent Varjavandi
Publisher : Longueville Media
Date Published : 2006
ISBN : 1920681191
Sub-Genre : Thriller

A quiet country town is usually the ideal destination for people looking to escape the horrors of the past. But in Vincent Varjavandi's debut thriller, The Perfect Suspect, sometimes evil is not quite that simple a thing to escape.

Senior Sergeant Jack Maguire is the commanding officer of the Sanctuary Police Station, a sleepy little coastal town on the New South Wales south coast, a place where nothing much ever happens. It's the kind of place that puts a guy like Maguire into an unsettled reverie.

He wasn't thrilled to admit it, but this morning had provided him with just about the most challenging problem for quite some time. He shook his head with that, trying to avoid another bout of reflection on the way things had panned out since being exiled here. It was an activity he'd spent a lot of time on recently. Either, he'd decided, because he was getting on in years and felt the need to take stock of his life, or more likely, as some kind of bizarre self-inflicted psychological punishment for the way he'd sat back and allowed his life and career to taper off into oblivion.

He doesn't know it at this point but Maguire is about to enter a tumultuous period that will threaten to rip the until now peaceful town apart in the form of the most brutal of murders imaginable.

Working on a two week rotational basis at the Sanctuary hospital is young surgeon Tom Hackett. He has returned from a stint in the US where he worked at the New Orleans Children's Hospital. His return from America comes after his wife was murdered in their family home while he was at work at the hospital. In a bid to occupy any spare time he may have so that he is distracted from the grief over the loss of his wife, he is using the job in Sanctuary to seek what the place is named for.

Unfortunately, this will prove to be the last thing he will find.

First one woman and then a second is murdered, savagely beaten to death with a frying pan, the blows numbering more than 100. In both cases the attacker was invited into his victim's home using 8 year old Laura Roberts as a means of winning their trust.

The second victim was Tom Hackett's secretary and, seeing as he was the last known person to see her before she was killed, he is brought in and questioned by Maguire and his young partner William Tucker. At this point the story gets a little interesting because we learn that Jack Maguire is blessed (or cursed) with an unexplainable ability to accurately read other people's body language and is able to perceive with a high level of accuracy when someone is lying to him. His inability to explain how he does it has gotten him into trouble in the past, indeed, it's the reason he is a small-town cop rather than a big-city homicide detective. After his interview with Tom Hackett he's sure that Hackett is not the killer. His young partner is not as easily convinced and requests that he be allowed to do a little more digging to which Maguire reluctantly agrees.
What follows is a steady build up of damning evidence against Dr Tom Hackett that paints him as a stone-cold killer who has embarked on a spree of slaying that began with his wife. It's only the belief that Jack Maguire has in Hackett's innocence that prevents his immediate arrest. Unfortunately, the only leg Maguire has to stand on is his gut instinct and even he is beginning to doubt it.

The Perfect Suspect begins as a tight psychological thriller that appears to be told along the usual lines where a killer will pick off his victims until our protagonist tracks him down. But this is no ordinary psychological thriller and it soon blossoms out into a much more complex thriller that becomes increasingly confrontational.

The book is imbued with a certain exasperation that builds as the story unfolds emanating through the persona of Jack Maguire. Although certain that Tom Hackett is no killer, he is so riddled with self-doubt that he cannot force himself to convince his partner of the fact. Consequently there is an inevitability about where his hesitancy will take things.

For Tom Hackett's part, his role is that of a victim. The compelling question is why he was chosen to take the blame for the killings. The answer proves to come hidden inside a much more elaborate set up than could ever be imagined. The establishment of the personalities of the characters taking part in proceedings cannot be faulted, having been provided with just the right level of modesty to make them sympathetic yet with a broad streak of capability so that their reactions to various situations are believable. The only weak aspect to the book that I could find was a lack of atmosphere surrounding the setting of the town of Sanctuary. Normally you would get a real sense of small-town community about a country town with a local busybody, most people knowing everyone else, etc. There was absolutely none of this in the case of Sanctuary and I felt the tone of the story suffered as a result. The Perfect Suspect proves to be a compelling thriller with a hidden complexity that plays out to a resounding finale. It's a tightly plotted story that will run you through the gamut of extreme emotional responses.

Review : Skin and Bone by Kathryn Fox

Title : Skin and Bone

Author : Kathryn Fox

Publisher : Macmillan Australia

Date Published : 2007

ISBN-13 : 9781405038225

Sub-Genre : Police Procedural / Thriller

Similar to Michael Robotham's practise of taking minor characters from his previous books and featuring them as protagonists in the next, Kathryn Fox has promoted Detective Sergeant Kate Farrer from bit player in the Anya Crichton books (Malicious Intent, Without Consent) to lead in Skin and Bone. In so doing she has moved the focus away from the forensic pathology side of criminalistics and moved to the coal-face of the homicide detective office in a police procedural story that twists behind a series of cunning facades.

The pressure is on Detective Kate Farrer right from the first page of Skin and Bone. She has just returned to work after recovering from a hellish ordeal a few months earlier and is determined to carry on with her usual high quality efficiency. Our first impression of her, though, is that she is far from rehabilitated and is still hampered by side-effects from being held captive, battling panic attacks and claustrophobia. She also has to go through the added aggravation of breaking in a new partner. Then there's the rampant chauvinism thrust at her by some of her fellow detectives.

The story opens at the scene of a suspected arson that is complicated by one victim found in the ashes, making it a possible murder investigation. The victim appears to be female and the presence of a nappy bag in the house suggests that the dead woman has also recently had a baby but there are no remains found in the wreckage, meaning that there is also a missing child to worry about. Her new partner is DC Oliver Parke, a young and enthusiastic family man with whom Kate is particularly aloof, allowing herself to be irritated by his attempts to win her favour.

Before Farrer and Parke can get started on the complicated arson/murder/missing investigation they are handed a second case to look into. To Kate's great annoyance the new case is a missing person case that has been given a high priority because the woman who has gone missing is the daughter of a wealthy businessman who is in turn a friend of the police commissioner. It's a case that looks like it will lead nowhere and can only waste time that would be more valuably spent on their original case.

The missing woman is Candice Penfold and when they begin their investigation they learn that she had been involved with a man named Mark Dobbie. Dobbie had been pursuing her sister and, when he was soundly rebuffed, turned his attention to Candice. His police record flags him as a definite avenue though which they can travel and what they find is a repulsive piece of work who believes is God's gift to women. He is a man who obsessively works out and who uses women in the most abhorrent ways. The man is obviously a piece of trash and he has committed more than his fair share of crimes in the past, some of which are unearthed by Kate and Oliver...but the question of whether he is involved in Candice's disappearance remains unclear.
Just as all the pieces appear to be falling into place in a complicated investigation, a series of seemingly unrelated incidents tumble in on each other. The results of which mean that Kate 1) loses her prime suspect, 2) finds herself in danger of losing her job , and 3) comes within a whisker of losing her life.

Skin and Bone is anything but straightforward. Not only are there a multitude of complexities laid into the parallel investigations, but there is a rich development in the relationship between Kate and Oliver providing it's own fascination. A further dimension of intrigue is injected into the story by the inclusion of a side-story that will sound familiar to many Australians Australian readers will also recognise a particular side-story that sounds similar to a recent high profile trial in Sydney.

As a police procedural, the story builds gradually in momentum as leads are chased down, suspects are interviewed and dismissed and forensic evidence is examined. But that's not to say that the story wanders in any way. In fact, with two key investigations to take care of, there is a feeling that progress is constantly being made.

On the whole I found Skin and Bone to be an extremely entertaining novel. However, there are a couple of problem areas that had me scratching my head. The first comes when Kate Farrer suddenly decides to interview the friend of her prime suspect, which wouldn't normally seem so unusual, except she decided to pop over to his house at 5 in the morning. It was a totally implausible scenario and comes across as a clumsy attempt to set up a thrilling scene.

My only other problem is that the plot is overly dependent on coincidence. As a reader you kind of guess that when a protagonist works on two cases at the same time there's more than a reasonable chance that they will somehow be related to each other, but in this case, the piece just seem to snick together too neatly for my liking.

Skin and Bone is a solid murder thriller that is strong in character development. The issue of the mistreatment of women by men is a strong theme throughout the book, not just of the murder victims but also the treatment that Kate herself has to endure. Kate Farrer proves to be a fiercely independent woman who starts out as a fairly unlikable protagonist but who grows and develops greatly as the story progresses. One feels there is more to learn about the Sydney homicide detective.

You can find out more about Kathryn Fox including the UK release date for Skin and Bone by visiting her website.

Ross Duncan Review and Interview

The folks over at The Compulsive Reader have been busy with a steady stream of reviews and interviews. One of their more recent subjects has been Ross Duncan, author of All Those Bright Crosses. The transcript of the interview conducted by Magdalena Ball can be read on The Compulsive Reader website or, alternatively, you can sit back and relax and listen to the audio version of the interview.

Accompanying the interview is a review of All Those Bright Crosses in which Magdalena effecitvely captures the unmistakable strengths of the book.

Review : Bye Bye Baby by Lauren Crow

Title : Bye Bye Baby
Author : Lauren Crow
Publisher : Harper Collins Australia
Date Published : August 2007
ISBN : 0732284457
Sub- Genre : Psychological Thriller

A brutal tale of revenge that will have many readers torn between what is right and what is just is the theme of Lauren Crow’s debut thriller Bye Bye Baby. This is a psychological thriller that takes you deep into many tormented minds laying emotions bare in confronting fashion. Crow also does a tremendous job of allowing us to identify fully with her characters, whether they be good or bad, allowing us to decide on our feelings towards them.

A despicable crime was committed 30 years ago, schoolyard bullying was taken to a much more dangerous level than normal and lives were changed beyond repair as a result. Now those responsible must pay…and the price is their lives.

The deep wound that he and the others had inflicted upon me all those years ago had only pretended to heal. Beneath the scab of the new life I’d built, the injury had festered.

The first body was found in Lincolnshire. The man had been drugged with Rohypnol, stabbed in the chest and then been emasculated and had his lips cut off before his face was daubed with blue paint. It was a very distinctive murder. So when the second body turned up in another part of the country with the same distinctive MO, the police quickly realise that they have a serial killer on their hands and call in Scotland Yard.

Heading the investigation is DCI Jack Hawksworth, one of the finest young detective at the Yard who is widely acknowledged as the rising star in the force. Blessed with good looks he backs it up with a strong temperament and a personality that encourages a fierce loyalty in his subordinates. He puts together a strong team of detectives, among them is DI Karen Carter, a particularly sharp and insightful investigator in her own right.

The investigation progresses apace and while it does we are given first hand insight into why Jack has been promoted to DCI at such a young age. We also learn of the admiration that Karen Carter has for her boss, an admiration that goes beyond the professional. It’s something that Hawksworth is unaware of but, for the engaged Detective Inspector, it’s a distraction that impinges on her concentration and decision making ability. (It’s pretty obvious from early on that her feelings will become important later in the story). The tensions and emotions that develop throughout the book are finely handled by the author making them an important part in the development of the plot.

An unusual feature of the book is that we become closely acquainted to the killer and, at times, feel as though we can readily identify with the emotions that are displayed. You can even be forgiven for asking yourself whether you wouldn’t be tempted to do the same thing if you were put in a similar situation, making this a very involving book.

Lauren Crow writes with great maturity and style. The story contains a series of plot twists but she chooses not to draw them out for unreasonable lengths of time, instead she uses them to progress the story to its next level. I found that by the time I realised where I was being led, my suspicions were quickly confirmed and we were moving on.

Only occasionally did the dialogue deteriorate although when it did, it did so in jarringly obvious fashion. The most noticeable occasion occurred when a father was talking to his son and said, “I beseech you, son.” Beseech? In my 40 years on this earth I can’t say that I have ever heard a single person actually use that word in conversation. This minor negative can be easily overlooked, however.

Bye Bye Baby is more confronting than your average psychological thriller and Crow's detailed character analysis ensures that this is also more than a simple police procedural mystery. The story satisfies on many levels, the well-ordered investigation, Jack Hawksworth’s barely in control personal life, and the need of the killer to continue seeking revenge. There is a tangible deadline set from early on and everything leads inexorably to that point.

With any luck this is the first book in a series to feature DCI Jack Hawksworth and DI Karen Carter. Their relationship is far from what you might expect and he is the kind of character who begs to be continually discovered.

Review : Golden Serpent by Mark Abernethy

Title : Golden Serpent
Author: Mark Abernethy
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13: 9781741752250
Sub-Genre: Action Thriller

The espionage / thriller subgenre has been through a bit of a change of direction over the past few years. In the 60s and 70s it was all about the Cold War and US and British spies fought the Russians and the East Germans. In the 80s we drifted over to a war against South American drug lords thanks to a Tom Clancy novel or two. These days the enemy is the terrorist. And whether he comes from the Middle East or Indonesia, Russia or East Germany or Colombia, the stakes are usually the same. The lives of millions of unsuspecting people are in the hands of a few brave soldiers working covertly at an incredibly high level of efficiency.

Mark Abernethy continues this fine tradition with his stirring debut thriller, Golden Serpent. It's a novel that is quite reminiscent of a Tom Clancy thriller or, if you want to remain closer to home, a David A. Rollins thriller.

The protagonist is Alan "Mac" McQueen, a spy with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) who is within spitting distance of retirement. But getting out of the intelligence game is a lot more difficult than simply applying for a new job and his superiors give him one last assignment.

Mac's assignment is to locate and return an Australian agent who had been posted to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta but is now missing. She may have been kidnapped or she may have turned and has disappeared of her own free will. Either way she has to be found.

To help him on his mission he has at his disposal a team of US Green Berets who will provide a lot of the hands-on "wet work". They will also provide us with heaps of action sequences to get our teeth into. But once he arrives in Jakarta and contacts his informant there Mac soon learns that this job will be anything but straightforward. There are killers on his trail and he's not sure whose side they're actually on. Before he knows what has happened he has strong suspicions that someone from his office is working against him.

His mission becomes even more complicated when he learns that one of the men he is chasing is Abu Sabaya, one of the most highly organised and dangerous terrorists in the world. This comes as a nasty shock to Mac because he thought he had killed Sabaya 5 years earlier. Now he finds that not only is he alive but he is also in possession of a bulk load of a deadly nerve agent known as VX and is threatening to unleash it on one of the most populous cities in Asia.

If only that was all Mac had to worry about. This is only the beginning of a very bad week for the retiring intelligence agent.

Covert operations involving highly trained men such as US Green Berets or British SAS soldier, who have been given a licence to infiltrate enemy camps and use whatever force they deem necessary is generally a recipe for a fast-paced thriller. This is exactly what Golden Serpent delivers. Plenty of Aussie dialogue is mixed in with full-on action sequences performed by professional soldiers unencumbered by annoying obstacles like consciences and rules of engagement. When the mission involves using whatever force is deemed necessary you can be sure that there will be plenty of force used.

The book reaches ever-increasing high points as one mission carries on into the next, each one more dangerous that the last. Failure carries ever greater implications as we go along, too, as we are taken from one crisis to the next. It slowly becomes apparent that we are being drawn into a complicated scenario with the waters muddied by a complex web of lies and deceit making it difficult for Mac to operate.

Abernethy uses a subtle but effective technique to generate an insidious fear of the unknown feeling about the mission by never letting us catch a glimpse of the men that Mac is pursuing. Their names are mentioned often so that they are given an other-worldly aura about their power, but they remain tantalisingly insubstantial for much of the story.

Often times in these kinds of books (action / adventure) the hero is portrayed as an emotionless automaton who wades into battle with nary a second's thought to the danger that lies ahead. These kinds of guys are about as difficult to feel any affinity with as you can get with the average Joe reader encumbered with a normal helping of fear. With Alan McQueen you've got a guy who is fully responsive to what lies ahead and his body reacts in much the same way as I would imagine mine would - the sweating, the racing heart, the adrenaline, the vomiting - all natural human reactions and all attributable to our hero.

Fans of high volatile, well-planned covert operations will enjoy Golden Serpent as it charges fearlessly into battle. A balance of action and political intrigue backed by a protagonist with whom it is easy to identify makes it an easy to digest thriller.

Sensitive New Age Spy Promo on YouTube

The latest in book promotion techniques has just been unleashed by Geoff McGeachin with the launch of his publicity video for Sensitive New Age Spy on YouTube.

Reviews in newspapers are so nineties and internet reviews in e-zines and blogs are a dime a dozen these days. But nothing beats snappy montages of plot teasers interlaced with (fantastically well-written, ahem) blurbs about the book all topped off with just a hint of skin to get you interested in a book.

So what does it all look like? Pretty damned good, if you ask me - which I believe you just did. But don't take my word for it, have a look for yourself.

The Positive Peter Temple Reviews Continue

Peter Temple has had some good press for The Broken Shore, he's won the odd award or two for it, too. But when it comes to positive reviews, I doubt he's received the plaudits that he has received in a review of the book at Material Witness.

It's hard to ignore raves such as: "a book that is so powerful, so atmospheric, so well written, that time seems to stand still while reading it."

Followed later in the piece by "This is a staggeringly good novel, which has just about everything."

And finished off with : "The Broken Shore is, lights out, the best book I have read this and probably last year."

All of this is completely true, of course, (he says in a totally unbiased, unjingoistic way) and continues on the wave of acclaim that has been sweeping across international borders of late. With news that Temple's new book (titled Truth) is in the offing in 2008 and containing characters from The Broken Shore, it is already the book whose publication I am most anticipating for the new year.

You can also read a pretty good review of The Broken Shore here too.

Review : All Those Bright Crosses by Ross Duncan

Title : All Those Bright Crosses
Author: Ross Duncan
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13: 97803304253250
Sub-Genre: Modern Contemporary

Hell and back. It's a long hard journey and one that often has to be made alone. It's a savagely emotional trip that may be dealt with any number of ways. All Those Bright Crosses, the debut novel by Ross Duncan introduces us to Martin Flint who is half-way through his trip. He's been to hell and this is the story of his attempt to get back.

The story begins in Fiji with Martin drinking kava with the proprietor of the Twilight Homestay guesthouse and a Fijian stranger. The man enquires how Flint came to be in Fiji and the sad tale of his past comes pouring out. He tells of his gambling addiction and the debt that he put himself and his wife into thanks to long sessions playing poker machines. After the accidental death of his 4 year old daughter he had become detached and in need of a distraction and it was to the flashing lights and promise of a big pay-out that he was drawn.

It was only after he realised just how hopelessly in debt he had placed them that he confessed his addiction to his wife. The inevitable separation hit him hard, numbing him into inaction, leaving him to mope around the house, seeking help from Gamblers Anonymous and lurching desperately for some kind of distraction.

The distraction comes in the form of an old newspaper article that tells about a shipwreck off a Fijian island and of a treasure that may have been on board. He initially began searching for references to the shipwreck merely as a means of escaping the problems he was facing. But as his research grew, so did the possibility that the story had merit and that much of the treasure may still not be recovered.

The death of his father leaves him a small inheritance and he uses it to follow his research to Fiji, not really knowing where it will lead him but willing to chase it nonetheless.

Tinged with regret yet still tainted by the gambling compulsion that grips him, Martin tells his story straight, acknowledging his mistakes and weaknesses frankly. His nature, which is happy to embrace risk, even thrives on it, means that he is going to follow the research that brought him to Fiji despite the occasional person who tries to dissuade him from attempting to find the treasure.

But the treasure really only ever sits as a partially formed idea on the edge of our consciousness, never really solidifying into reality. Instead, it is the motivation for keeping him in Fiji while he encounters others who are similarly trying to get a grasp on their own lives. As his rehabilitation progresses, the importance of the treasure diminishes and the friendships he has formed strengthen and grow. Chief among these is a young Fijian woman named Tabua whom he meets in a nightclub. Tabua is a poor woman who has resorted to prostitution in the past to survive. The self-inflicted cigarette burns on her arms speak of the self-loathing she battles. Their deepening friendship forms the pivotal point to the story with Martin learning much about himself though her.

When searching for a few words that might effectively describe All Those Bright Crosses I considered mystery, and there is a hint of a mystery within, but more definitively this is a psychological struggle reminiscent of that which is seen in a noir novel. It is a contemporary story of hope and forgiveness found after a battle with the compulsions that threaten to consume you.

The plot unfolds in a sedate, unhurried fashion finding a comfortable rhythm as we are taken back via a flashback to the circumstances that led to Martin Flint to be drinking kava in a dingy Fiji guesthouse.

The only moment of disquiet for me came at the end of the novel which is left wide open, and while that had me grasping for a meaningful sense of closure, it also emphasised the fact that Martin's journey was ongoing. When I closed the book on the final page I couldn't help but wonder whether he was going to make it. One thing is for certain, All Those Bright Crosses is a richly rewarding story of growth and renewal that smoothly deals with addiction, grief and senseless loss.

The Butcherbird - A New Release, A Review, A Recent Read

Philip Rennie of The Bulletin casts his eye over The Butcherbird, the debut novel by Geoffrey Cousins. Now, Cousins is a familiar name in Australia's corporate industry having been CEO of such public companies as George Patterson and Optus as well as holding positions on the boards of 10 companies such as PBL and Telstra. So when his first novel is about corporate greed and corruption and filled with big, greedy, corrupt CEOs and board members it gets people thinking.

Actually, it has Rennie speculating on who the villains might be based on, whether Cousins had a particular person in mind or if he just crammed as many people together to form one (or two) evil corporate leader(s).

I'm reading this book right now and the same thoughts were shooting through my mind, particularly when the giant fictional company in Cousins' book is called HOA Insurance (HIH anyone?) From the outside looking in it's a corporate thriller but apparently Cousins considers the book a satire.

I'm sure there'll be more than 1 CEO eager to read The Butchbird (pub. Allen & Unwin) hoping to spot someone they recognise or at least, like to think they recognise...

Review : Gospel by Sydney Bauer

Title : Gospel
Author: Sydney Bauer
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13 : 9781405038027
Sub-Genre: Legal / Political Thriller
Protagonist : David Cavanaugh




A daringly shocking conspiracy to murder an incredibly popular politician is the premise behind Sydney Bauer's second deeply compelling political / legal thriller Gospel. This is an ambitious thriller that tackles a crisis of monumental proportions and delivers an unforgettable story that is as unpredictable as it is enjoyable.

All that being said, it took me a little while to get into the flow of the story with plenty of preliminary ground to cover in setting up the various disparate threads. Once we are introduced (and reintroduced for those who've read Undertow) to the characters and caught up with their inter-relationships with each other, the story fairly races ahead.

David Cavanaugh is a Boston defence attorney and is asked to represent the man he considers he dislikes most in the world. Professor Stuart Montgomery has just been accused of murdering Vice President Tom Bradshaw and his wife has turned to Cavanaugh for help. Karin Montgomery hasn't spoken to David Cavanaugh since she walked out on their marriage without a word of explanation. Cavanaugh has to somehow put his personal feelings aside so that he can represent a man who he honestly believes is innocent. He also has to somehow break the fact that he has taken the case on to his girlfriend.

We know that the Vice-President has been murdered by a power-packed gang of 4. The conspirators have taken the codenames Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and have set themselves a dual-edged goal of gaining money and power in extreme proportions. Their meticulous planning looks as though at least 1 of them is destined to reach the most powerful position in the country.

Once a drug addict, the murder is made to look as though the Vice President has succumbed to his addiction again and has accidentally overdosed. But this is quickly discarded for the more damning possibility that his physician has administered a deadly dose of Oxycontin knowing it would kill him.

Despite a solid case against Montgomery put together by FBI Assistant Director in Charge Antonio Ramirez, detectives with the Boston Police Department have their doubts. Lieutenant Joe Mannix - friend of David Cavanaugh's - leads the doubters and is forced by his own peace of mind to open a parallel, secret inquiry.

The VP is only the first in a series of murders to take place around the country, all of which can be connected with his death and the plot of the Gospel IV as the conspirators have come to be known. Being seen to be connected to the case suddenly becomes dangerous to your health and no-one appreciates this more than David Cavanaugh.

Building from the shock of the opening murder we are given time to digest the fallout that is to come. Past relationships form an important part of the emotional turmoil surrounding the case and Bauer takes her time in impressing how difficult it is on all concerned. But the careful lead up pays huge dividends with a back half of monumental proportions that manages to take every idea that you've formed and turns it on its ear.

At times the dialogue struck me as overly melodramatic with turns of phrase scattered here and there that I simply couldn't imagine being used anywhere in the real world and this impacted enough to be annoyingly distracting. But the story is so well plotted and came together with such impeccable timing that it overshadows any of those small quibbles.

No legal thriller would be complete without its share of gripping courtroom scenes and, while the quantity of such scenes is not high, the quality most certainly is. One show-stopping witness follows the next in what turns out to be a very entertaining evidentiary hearing.

This is a legal thriller with a myriad pleasing aspects that makes it unique and fresh. The book is blessed with complex and interesting personal relationships, villains that are assholes just begging for a good kick in the teeth (lets face it, we all love to hate the bad guys and these bad guys make it easy to do). To top it all off, the ending is well worth waiting for with a series of ingenious twists thrown in for good measure.

Review: The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan

Title : The Unknown Terrorist

Author: Richard Flanagan
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2006
ISBN: 0330422804
Sub-Genre: Thriller

Richard Flanagan is a well-credentialed author whose past novels have all been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award as well as picking up a slew of other prizes. The Unknown Terrorist is his first thriller and it makes use of the post-911 worldwide fear of terror attacks as the driving force behind this savagely relevant novel. We are taken on a nightmare ride through a city that has been whipped up into an "alarmed, not alert" frenzy.

Sydney has been hit by a terrorist bomb scare when 3 children's backpacks are found, filled with explosives, near the Homebush Olympic Stadium. Images of New York, Beslan, London and the Sari Club are prominent on the local news as the city is in turmoil over the near miss.

Oblivious to all of this is The Doll, a pole dancer working at a Sydney nightclub whose sole focus is finishing her shift with enough tips to bring her closer towards her goal of earning enough money to put a deposit on her own home. Sure she notices that the terrorist threat has reached her city, but it's not the sort of news that will affect her directly so it hardly registers with her.

The Doll's real name is Gina Davies, but her stage name is Krystal and the name she is known by at the club is short for The Russian Doll, a name that was bestowed upon her by the club's owner.

The Doll spread her legs very slowly and, finally, with a knowing, complicit look that she sealed with a smile, lowered her gaze to her hand that she had begun running between her legs, while all the time thinking of a Louis Vuitton handbag she had seen spectacularly reduced to six hundred dollars. She could buy it tomorrow if the fat suit fell for her. It would make this shitful night worth it.

The night of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is party time and the Doll is ready to make the most of the night. While watching the parade she meets Tariq, a darkly handsome man with whom she gets swept up with in a wild night of dancing and passion. When she wakes the next morning Tariq has left her alone in his apartment and she leaves without seeing him again.

The next thing she knows she is watching the news on television as they report an unsuccessful raid on a terrorist's apartment that day. But it's not until photos of the terrorist and his female accomplice are displayed that her head starts spinning - one of the photos is of her.

At first she treats it as a bit of a joke, something that can be easily and quickly cleared up by a visit to the local cop shop, but the situation spirals dangerously out of control on the back of some sensationalist journalism and a city that is in the grip of terror that, until now, was foreign to it. Unable to contact Tariq, afraid to return to her apartment and her job, the Doll is cast adrift, a fugitive accused of the most serious of crimes - terrorism.

While life as a pole dancer hasn't exactly been easy for the Doll, she had plans for the future and was almost at the point of reaching some of her goals. This is a bleak examination of the total breakdown of a life through the momentum of lies, fears and the determination to sell a story.
The numb feeling of disbelief never really subsides from the moment Gina sees herself on the television. At times this hampers the progress of the story while she wanders aimlessly around the streets of Sydney, not knowing who to turn to for help. But it also starkly illustrates the fragility of our place in society and the ease with which everything can be pulled out from under us.

Flanagan litters the book with barely functioning characters who are managing through their professional lives while their personal lives are crumbling around them. From Richard Cody, the sleazy television journalist representative of the worst in reporting, to the drugs cop, Nick Loukakis with a crumbling marriage and an uncertain future with a former lover, it seems that no-one is destined to escape unscathed.

The Unknown Terrorist has an important message to impart, one that is made in no uncertain terms and, regardless of the Doll's destiny, it is a story that is particularly relevant in today's uncertain global climate.