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Set in the 1980s and mostly in outback Queensland, this is a crime book with a psychological twist. It extends beyond criminal aspects to cover life in unforgiving parts of the outback and relationships within family and between individuals.

It deals with aboriginal relationships, including those with white people in a sensitive and wholly sympathetic and unpatronising way. The book presents indigenous people in an entirely appropriate manner and without stereotypes.

This is a thoughtful book and its themes remain in the reader’s mind. The book takes on a pleasurable life of its own with many entertaining episodes, all relevant to the story. The reader has to decide whether certain slightly mystical happenings are to be taken as having actually occurred or whether they are to be seen as existing only in the character’s mind.

The author is to be commended for his vivid and rich imagination in producing the story. Aspects are no doubt derived from his personal experience, giving the book a feeling of authenticity.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to the discerning reader.

Dennis Murphy