Set in rural Australia and featuring a large cast of characters, this absorbing crime novel is something very different as the initial investigation into a murder and robbery expands rapidly in new directions. Along the way, the book touches on the mental and physical demands put upon the police, as well as the discriminatory and disparaging treatment and attitudes towards the aboriginal population. These do not detract from the mystery being investigated. In fact, they give a greater depth to the story, as they complicate the process of trying to deliver justice to the victims and their families as further crimes as uncovered as the case progresses.

an Australian police procedural. Joe Cashin is a former member of the homicide squad in a city force; after a bad accident in the line of duty, which cost another officer his life, he's been assigned to run a station in a small coastal town where he knows the lay of the land from spending his childhood there. He suffers from chronic pain, PTSD, and survivor's guilt...the back story is parceled out to the reader in fragments as the main plot unfolds. A highly respected member of the community is found dead in his home, possibly the victim of a panicked burglar caught in the act. But a few things fail to add up for Cashin, whose suspicions prompt him to ask questions even his superiors don't want answers to. This is an intense and absorbing story, made a bit difficult for me at times by the uber-natural dialog between characters who clearly share history and inside jokes that might be more easily understood by Australian readers than American ones. (An Aussie slang glossary at the end of the book was helpful, but did not erase all the language mysteries for me.) Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed the rough ride, and everything came together in the end. This one is not for the faint of heart. Gritty, noir, very well done, but trigger warnings are warranted for graphic descriptions of mutilations, racial epithets, sexual abuse of children and general profanity. Some of these elements are ubiquitous throughout, and others come fairly late in the narrative, with the potential to take the reader somewhere they didn't expect to go. ( )

Wow great story but a tough book to get through. Many other reviews have said what I would about this book.
1. Considering Australians not only have slang for everything, use strange terms (for an American reader), and love to shorten words just for the sake of shortening them (servo= service station, para=paramedics), it is amazing someone didn't shorten this book.
2. At least one hundred pages could be removed from this book and not affect the central story line.
3. To many distractions (side stories) competing with the main story.
With all that being said it is a very good murder mystery, but it is a tough read, not only because of the Australian slang- which the glossary in the back of the book covers some, but not all of the foreign words, but the language is at time reminiscent of an Irvine Welsh book, with prolific use of the C word. Don't say you were not warned. ( )

More than just a crime novel. The personality and problems of the central character are sensitively presented. ( )

Great book. Atmospheric, Australian, thought-provoking. ( )