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marryd 's review for:
The Broken Shore
by Peter Temple
This is a very dark book and I initially struggled both because of some of the confronting racist language and because some of the issues cut very close to the bone. It's both an excellent crime novel and a beautifully written literary piece but can happily be read as either.
Joe Cashin is a police officer who goes home to police in small town coastal Victoria. He's recovering physically and psychologically from a stake or gone wrong during his time with Homicide in Melbourne. Of course he now has to police people he grew up with. Pivotally this includes the Aboriginal population in town. Then he's called to the murderous assault on the town's richest man and philanthropist. And then it gets political ... And there are more deaths.
This is also an excellent portrait of someone attempting to put life back together after too many shattering moments. The physical, emotional and mental impacts are faithfully represented. The impact of trauma on police, those they serve and those they attempt to protect the public from is beautifully portrayed. The irony of trauma having such disparate impacts is rarely so well drawn.
Much, much more could be written about the merits of this book but most importantly I found it hard to put down and I will think about it for quite some time to come.
Joe Cashin is a police officer who goes home to police in small town coastal Victoria. He's recovering physically and psychologically from a stake or gone wrong during his time with Homicide in Melbourne. Of course he now has to police people he grew up with. Pivotally this includes the Aboriginal population in town. Then he's called to the murderous assault on the town's richest man and philanthropist. And then it gets political ... And there are more deaths.
This is also an excellent portrait of someone attempting to put life back together after too many shattering moments. The physical, emotional and mental impacts are faithfully represented. The impact of trauma on police, those they serve and those they attempt to protect the public from is beautifully portrayed. The irony of trauma having such disparate impacts is rarely so well drawn.
Much, much more could be written about the merits of this book but most importantly I found it hard to put down and I will think about it for quite some time to come.