Black River, by Matthew Spencer.

         

 

         Matthew Spencer’s debut novel  is bolstered by the fact that he knows irrefutably Whereof he Speaks:  as a journalist for twenty years of a prominent Australian newspaper, he is well-versed in the way news is reported, and how influential (or not) certain people can be in its presentation.

            One of his main protagonists is a sad-sack, mid-forties journo, usually consigned to the very minor news stories, suddenly promoted to a huge murder investigation, solely for the fact that he used to go to the posh high-anglican school that is the scene of the crime – and the police are not letting anyone onto the grounds.  Does he know, from his schooldays, any secret ways in to have a snoop around?  Well, of course he does, as would any other Prince Albert schoolboy.  Adam Bowman can’t believe his luck:  is he finally catching a break?

            The police are investigating the murder of the 17 year-old daughter of the school chaplain, and they are hoping it’s not linked to two other vicious rapes and murders of teenage girls who lived near each other in river suburbs.  The investigating detectives don’t have a lot to go on, except that the killer leaves strange ‘t’ signs close by and really likes his ‘work’, according to the police behavioural psychiatrist;  in fact he likes it so much it won’t be long before he strikes again.  He has been baptised BMK (Blue Moon Killer) by one newspaper, because both his killings so far have been on a Blue Moon.  The police have certain extra evidence which they arrange to release gradually – to keep the killer on the back foot –exclusively through Adam Bowman’s newspaper:  Bowman’s Editor is ecstatic, and Bowman should be feeling the same, but his feelings are the opposite, for returning to Prince Albert has stirred up many traumatic memories:  this was the place where his parents’ marriage crashed and burnt after the terrible accidental death of his little brother, leaving Adam with scars that will stay forever.  This is why he’s an alcoholic.

            But he can still get the job done, and matching him drink for drink is Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, who relies on her gut instinct as much as hard evidence – and there’s something off about Adam Bowman.  Nobody is above suspicion.

            Mr Spencer is a no-frills writer – there’s nothing fancy or romantic here, just the hard facts of living – and dying, as his characters play their roles capably in his fast-paced plot.  But Sydney and its rivers is the star, wild and crowded and beautiful, as always.  FOUR STARS.

             

 

City on Fire, by Don Winslow.

 

            

Homer's classic‘The Iliad’ gets a 20^th century makeover here by the great Don Winslow in the first book of a new trilogy.  And what a trilogy it will be -  if he gets it right - as he transfers the Grecian siege of ancient Troy to avenge Spartan king Menelaus for the abduction of his breathtakingly beautiful wife Helen by Trojan prince Paris, to the modern setting of Rhode Island, U.S.A.

            August, 1986. A summer clambake is being held by the local Italian mob boss.  His Irish counterparts who run the docks and the unions also attend, for the two sides have had a peaceful co-existence for many years, dividing the various rackets equitably between them – you could almost say they were good friends until …..

            “Danny Ryan watches the woman come out of the water like a vision emerging from his dreams of the sea.

            Except she’s real and she’s going to be trouble.

            Women that beautiful usually are.

            Danny knows that;  what he doesn’t know is how much trouble she’s going to be.  If he knew that, knew everything that was going to happen, he might have walked into the water and held her head under until she stopped moving.

            But he doesn’t know that.”

            Winslow’s Danny Ryan is a minor captain in the Irish gang led by John Murphy, and through his eyes we see the disintegration of trust and vengeful territorial incursions that start after Murphy’s son Liam makes a pass (oops!) at Pam, gorgeous new girlfriend of Italian mobster Sal Antonucci.  Liam earns a huge beating for his attempts to touch the untouchable, so severe that he nearly dies in hospital, BUT!  The beauteous Pam visits him to apologise for causing him to come within an inch of losing his life – and the Gods must have laughed themselves to a standstill at their devious manipulation of events, for she ends up forsaking the brutal Sal and retiring to a safe house with Liam when he’s well enough to leave hospital.

            The new hostilities soon degenerate into outright war, with all its attendant tragedy:  Murphy’s gang is on a hiding to nothing through lack of numbers, including the loss of his son Pat, Danny’s best friend, in a brutal and bloody ambush.  It’s time for Danny to decide his own fate, especially as his wife is dying and he has a young son to care for. It’s time to desert the sinking ship.

            Everyone speaks like a 1940’s Private Eye in this novel, which I thought was overkill;  some of the dialogue sounds almost like parody but as always, Mr Winslow has created sufficiently compelling new characters and situations out of the ancient verses (the new version of the Trojan Horse is particularly convincing), that his story can only improve.  And there was even an excerpt from Book Two at the end.  A taste of better things to come?  FOUR STARS.       

 

Managing Expectations, by Minnie Driver.             Non-fiction.

         

           

            From the time she reluctantly became an 8 year-old boarder at a school she loved going to as a day-student, actress and writer Minnie Driver has questioned situations that she thought unfair,  loudly and vociferously at times as she did when not wanting to return to stay at school, demanding other drivers trapped at the same traffic lights to ‘Call the Police – She was Being Abducted!’ while her mother stoically eyed the road ahead.   As all witnesses were British, stiff upper lips were shown and an air of faint embarrassment persisted until the lights changed, freeing everyone to heave sighs of relief.

            Minnie has blessed us with a book of reminiscences, a ‘memoirish’ book, as she says - well, it’s quite the most charming Memoirish book I have read for some considerable time, and I can’t help wishing that Other People’s Memoirs were even half as entertaining:  book sales would go through the roof!

            Minnie questions everything, especially everything she considers unfair, and when she was a child, there were many situations that earned her  attention, especially when her father had Minnie and her sister for the summer holidays in Barbados.  His new girlfriend was there too, and Minnie disapproved loudly of her micro-bikinis, asked her how long she was staying, then asked her if she was twenty or thirty years younger than Minnie’s dad.    Ah, the sweet satisfaction of girlfriend tears!  Until her father demanded an apology, which 11 year-old Minnie refused to give, and was staggered to be evicted from the holiday home and sent back to England.  By herself.  And thereby hangs a tale, of revenge, chastenment, and character-building – but of whom? 

            Due to unavailability of flights, Minnie was stranded for a day at a plush Miami hotel – with her father’s credit card details to hand:  she wrought her revenge in the Gift Shop by starting out with one travel bag and had to purchase another two.  She doesn’t record her father’s reaction to her excesses, but her sister was thrilled to get some duty-free ‘Charlie’ by Revlon, something her father would never have allowed because he said ‘it smells like a tart’s window-box’.  Which all proves that Minnie is a force of nature, and does indeed make her mark upon the world – as she should.  And just in case readers are persuaded that Minnie Driver is 100% unconquerable and never has a bad day, there is much poignant proof to the contrary:  life, as we all know, is unknowable.  In her words:  ‘the story doesn’t necessarily begin or end where it should:  happy endings are overrated, and happy endings are almost never the end.’  This book is funny and wise and true.  Everyone should read it.  SIX STARS.