Opal Country

By Chris Hammer https://chrishammerauthor.com/

Published by Wildfire (an imprint of Hachette UK Limited) https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/chris-hammer/opal-country/9781472272997/

498 pages ISBN 9781472272966

Publication date 6 January 2022

I was kindly sent a review copy by Caitlin Raynor at Headline Books in exchange for a fair review. Thank you to Caitlin, Chris Hammer and Wildfire for arranging this.

From the blurb/synopsis

Opals… In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable youngsters and billionaires do as they please.

Bodies… Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner’s death is straight-forward, not even who found the body. Homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up, and if so, by whom?

Secrets… As time runs out, their only chance at redemption is to find the killer. But the more they uncover, the more harrowing the mystery becomes, and a past long forgotten is thrown into scorching sunlight.

Because in Finnigans Gap, nothing stays buried for ever.

My thoughts

At the beginning of the year, after reading SR White’s “Hermit”, I said that I should get around to reading more Antipodean fiction. So here I am reviewing a book set on the fringes of the Australian Outback and what a cracking book it was too.

There’s an endorsement on the dust jacket by the great Michael Connelly ‘Hammer is a great writer – a leader in Australian Noir’ which caught my eye. Australian Noir? Surely not? Noir conjures up images of rain and dark, Soho in the 1950s, downtown LA or Chicago, of derelict areas of Northern England or Scotland not a land of sunshine and barbecues. It is noir though, just seen from a different perspective. In Finnigans Gap the author has created an opal mining town where the opals are played out and with them the money. It’s a town whose fabric is beginning to decay and offering little else will trap those residents who don’t move on soon. He could just as easily be describing one of many small towns in South Yorkshire, Durham or Fife.

This is a very descriptive book. I have never been fortunate to visit Australia, but I feel as if Mr Hammer has captured what life is like away from the big cities. Cut off and isolated, where basic facilities can be a two-hour drive away and where the flying doctor service remains a lifeline. You really do get a flavour of the place, the dust, the oppressive heat, the restricted choices open to residents and characters living on the margins. This slows the pace down somewhat, and it is quite a long book at 498 pages, but it feels just right, almost as if attuned to living life at 40c where a natural rhythm is adopted. When the action comes the pace does pick up rapidly and you can sense the urgency of the protagonists.

Just as ‘American English’ is the same but different, the reader is treated to a nice sprinkling of Australianisms. Thongs are worn on the feet (flip flops/sandals) not underwear, the Bowling club is naturally known as the Bowlo and rooted of course is the equivalent to that most ubiquitous of English words the F bomb. The possibility that a mining magnate Robert Inglis can be known as ‘Bullshit Bob’ even by their media just feels so Australian to me. Again, this all comes naturally and flows within the prose.

Early in the novel the plot seems to be straightforward but later it become apparent that there is a second element which bisects the narrative and then later then become somewhat intertwined. Then there is a liberal sprinkling of Professional Standards with investigations into Lucic’s partner as well as both him and Buchanan. Professional Standards or Internal Affairs does seem to be the ‘flavour of the month’ in crime circles, but I guess its just art mirroring life and hardly due to reduce if 2021 is anything to go by. The disputes between the two mining magnates also touches current concerns with the switch away from fossil fuels and the exploitation of the rare earth elements. The treatment of the religious sect is perhaps a little clichéd albeit a key element of the central plot as we discover late into the story. Perhaps it just goes to support the view that if they can’t make it in Rock n Rock strange/ugly men see religion as a route to attracting women.

The characters are engaging, and the length of the book allows the two principals to become well developed. Both have baggage but this is not overplayed and doesn’t follow the obvious paths. I noted that Ivan Lucic is a Balkan sounding name and I am aware there is a Balkan diaspora in Australia, but I never would have guessed the connection to Lucic’s poker machine (pokies) addiction. The minor characters retain the reader’s interest, there’s the reconciliation with Richter, the troubles of Stanley Honeywell, the mysterious Seer and the gang from Deadman’s Well all adding colour to the pastiche.

The ending is clever and doesn’t leave all the ends tied up neatly which left me satisfied but may frustrate others. This is a standalone novel, but it would appear to leave some openings for a follow up at sometime and I for one would read it.

A novel that captures the oppressive heat and small-town paranoia of a settlement on the edge of the Outback. An early contender for any must read lists for 2022.

You Never Said Goodbye #LucaVeste #YouNeverSaidGoodbye

By Luca Veste https://lucaveste.wordpress.com/

Published by Hodder & Stoughton https://www.hodder.co.uk/

368 pages ISBN 9781529357332

Publication date 17 February 2022

I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley.  Thanks to the author and publisher for organising this.

From the blurb

A devoted mother
Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there’s something he can never forget – the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father allowed his grief to tear them apart and Sam hasn’t seen him in years.

A Loving Wife
Until an unexpected call from Firwood hospital, asking Sam to come home, puts in motion a chain of devastating events. On his deathbed, Sam’s father makes a shocking confession.

A liar?
Who was Laurie Cooper? It’s clear that everything Sam thought he knew about his mother was wrong. And now he’s determined to find out exactly what she did and why – whatever the cost.

What happens if you discover you’ve been lied to by your own family for twenty-five years?
Sam Cooper is about to find out.

Synopsis

On finding out from his dying father that there was a chance that his mother may still be alive, Sam’s life if thrown into turmoil.  When confronted by the two men who badly beat his father he must run for his life and then is determined to find out whether his father was right.

His only hope is his mother’s friend Tom but that means going back 25 years and to the place where she died, along with his younger brother, and relive the trauma that has blighted his life. He flies out to Connecticut to find Tom and the answers he is looking for, but it becomes clear that he is not the only one interested in the outcome. Mysterious figures seem to follow his every step but who is friend and who is foe?

My thoughts

I know the author has the DI Murphy and DS Rossi series (there is at least one on my Kindle waiting to be read, I really must get around to it) but this is a standalone novel. Having previously read The Bone Keeper, another standalone, which is a mixture of psychological thriller bordering on horror (think The Candyman) and police procedural I was expecting something a little bit different, and You Never Said Goodbye certainly is. This is a psychological mystery which becomes an action thriller at times.

Initially the plot appears to be thin, centring on whether Sam’s mother Laurie is alive and his search to uncover the truth. Complexity is added by the uncertainty built around the past and the introduction of several mysterious characters. It is these factors that sustain the reader’s interest rather than the usual cliff hangers and action set pieces found in many thrillers.  I must confess that what was meant to be a minor red herring of the type often played out on screen, a simple phone call, left me awfully confused for a few pages, but you will spend much of the book trying to decide who Jackson and Quinn really are and whose side they are on.

There are two strands to the narrative. In one the reader follows Sam’s current pursuit of the truth, the other is set in the mid-1990s and follows the life of his mother, then these are brought together near the end. Sam’s part is written in first person, and we see the progress of the search through his perspective as it unfolds, and this allows the reader to be kept in the dark over the roles Jackson and Quinn play out. The overall writing style is unfussy and this allows for a good pace throughout and the intensity never lets up.

The themes and motivations throughout are strong. Laurie’s desire to escape the clutches of controlling men, Tom’s desire for what he can’t have, David’s despair at his loss and Sam’s regret at his inability to save his younger brother. All these result in psychological damage in one way or another. Former lover Anthony’s obsession with Laurie causes all the pain and misery because he is both ruthless and resourceful, though we eventually discover that there is more to his desire to find Laurie than just to possess her. It’s a story of the power that corrupts and seeking to control the lives of others.

The main character Sam is agreeable and suitably out of his depth both in terms of experience and being in a foreign country. The villains, ruthless Carson and Hunter are from thugs central casting but their boss Anthony is entertainingly demented throughout. In Tom the Afghanistan War veteran we have a credible all action hero who seems to be everywhere and carrying emotional baggage of his own. The most interesting character though is Laurie who must be selfish in her bid to be free from controlling men. She is unable to live her life on her terms but still at times has you thinking ‘how could you?’ even though she is very much sinned against rather than being sinner. In the end though it is difficult not to feel empathy for her and there are many others who suffer her plight in the real world.

As one would expect there is death and brutality throughout, though none of it is particularly graphic. There is, however, a surprising lack of law enforcement. Being one step ahead of the police is a staple of the genre but perhaps stretching it a little too much here for me.

The subject matter could have made for a very dark novel but instead Mr Veste has turned it into an enjoyable thought-provoking thriller. Later I will have to visit Murphy and Rossi and give my thoughts on that series.