Bryan Brown
Allen&Unwin Rrp $32.99
If murder mysteries are top of your favourite reading list here’s one that will capture you. Just be aware there are a number of slang words you may find offensive.
Actor Bryan Brown couples these in his second novel with one breathy sexual escapade after another. In fact, he sprinkles these explicit romps equally between his characters.
It seems there are as many romps in the back of white vans and behind trees as our author can think up, while bad people are doing very bad things.
Bryan is also no moralist if it helps the story. He writes that the end can justify the means if breaking the law “a little” helps solve what turns out to be a particularly difficult crime to crack.
He expertly weaves us into the lives of his characters, using a minimum of words, for he writes short sentences and Aussie slang that overseas readers might find hard to understand.
But then Bryan has never pretended to be anything other than a “true blue” Aussie with a strong “strine” accent and a droll sense of humour.
If you don’t know him don’t under estimate him and his brief writing style. He tells a good yarn. Underneath his easy- going manner he shows he’s a sophisticated clever thinker when it comes to plotting crime.
I worked as a press officer on several of his movies and saw how seriously he takes his work as an actor. It is only when he has thought deeply about his character and knows his lines off by heart, that he reverts to larrikin type and has fun, teasing and joking with his fellow actors and crew.
This same clever thinking has gone into the structure of The Drowning. Most readers of murder mysteries I know pride themselves on working out the crime half way through the book. This story will keep you intrigued right to the end.
The novel is deceptively easy, the characters perhaps too many if you try to rush through the book, especially as the writing is not over- burdened with descriptive passages.
Bryan nevertheless has managed to cleverly set the mood and stoke the reader’s fears. He then expertly heightens the drama leaving you wondering how on earth the country sergeant will crack this case. He has so few clues except for a niggling feeling, which Bryan calls “a nag,” that won’t go away.
Bryan piles a number of bad things one on top of the other as life appears to go on undisturbed in this peaceful small northern NSW coastal town beloved by surfers and shy locals.
Murder, drugs, liaisons and lies are all included as the novel winds to a close and suddenly it all makes sense. You find you have been thoroughly entertained by his brisk story telling. He won’t disappoint with this slim book.
Sherry Stumm