Paul Thomas

I'm more than a bit of a fan of books by Paul Thomas.  I'm more than a bit of a fan of his short stories now as well.  SEX CRIMES is a series of fantastic short stories themed around sex.  As the blurb puts it "exploring the unpredictable and sometimes fatal consequences that can occur when sex rears its not-so-uly head."  (To say nothing of the odd looks you get when you're sat in public places, with a book which declares it's title obviously on the cover, and you, the reader, are snickering and outright laughing at points).  Needless to say - this book quickly became a home based guilty pleasure.

Universally these stories are incredibly clever in the way that they build up the scenario quickly, create strong plots and/or strong characterisations, and deliver the resolution in such a short, sharp burst of words.  The only story that perhaps doesn't work as well is, strangely, the longest one - revenge being a fantastic subject to explore, unfortunately this vehicle may have just simply been a bit too long at the end of a book that delivered so many other short, sharp, elegantly composed offerings.

I really do wonder why it is that short story collections have been so rare at points.  They are the perfect fodder for busy readers, they work as a quick read before turning off the light, they are perfect for the time spent waiting in the car for whoever it is that's running late from wherever, they are particularly perfect for that "sitting around" waiting time that seems to go with all appointment based services these days.  Although, given that you're not going to be able to get through this entire book without collapsing with laughter at some point, it might be best to wrap SEX CRIMES in a plain paper cover - you might find the area around you clears a bit and people start crossing the road to avoid you otherwise. 

INSIDE DOPE by Paul Thomas won the inaugural Ned Kelly Award and I blinked and then struggled to get my hands on a copy.  I managed to track down GUERILLA SEASON years ago, and then not so long ago at the end of a long quest I found a copy of INSIDE DOPE.  But still the search went on.  The first book in the IHAKA series - OLD SCHOOL TIE continued to evade me.  So you can imagine the joy when THE IHAKA TRILOGY arrived.  I was so pleased that it jumped a considerable number of books to the top of the reviewing pile.

I just love these books.  I love the settings, I love the humour, the quality of the plots and all of the characters.  I love the way that Tito Ihaka is a central character, but not necessarily THE central character.  These are very much ensemble cast books with Tito and others never taking the entire focus.  I also love the way that these books are not necessarily straight-forward police procedurals, although they do involve police investigations (and ex-police investigations) and journalistic investigations and a whole bunch of things happening all at once.  Making Ihaka not the entire focus of these books is quite an achievement as he's a larger than life sort of bloke.  Maori, toe treading, unconventional, he's balanced beautifully against his very proper, very buttoned up, very Irish, dour boss Ulsterman Finbar McGrail.  These two are a wonderful unlikely pairing - very very different, yet understanding of each other and able to work together in the most unlikely of partnerships.

Each of the three books in the trilogy stand up really well on their own, but presented in this book together, they also show just how much Paul Thomas must have enjoyed writing these stories.  OLD SCHOOL TIE is all about the suspected suicide of a man who had it all.  It's not until freelance journalist Reggie Sparks' investigation connects this man to the 24-year old suicide of a teenage girl at a private school ball, that things really start to move.  This opening book sets up a style, a series of characters and a great sense of New Zealand place.  Oh and a feud between the Sydney Mafia and a Maori gang.  The second book, INSIDE DOPE, involves a race for the lost treasure of the Mr Asia drug syndicate between a rogue American narcotics agent, the CIA, Ihaka, an ex-cop and assorted family and hangers on.  The final book GUERILLA SEASON has Ihaka looking into a series of very high profile murders, all in the name of an unknown terrorist group.  

Cleverly each of these books weaves a little truth into the fiction (Mr Asia / the terrorist group with connections to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior), whilst also incorporating a hefty dose of humour, some sad moments, some clever plots and some magnificently lunatic goings on.  You can probably tell from this review - I loved the two books I'd previously read, I loved reading them again, I loved the first book and I loved having all 3 in the one trilogy.  And it was most definitely not a trial to read three Ihaka books in a row - it's a bit of a trial knowing that's it for the time being.  Hopefully just the time being.

(Paul Thomas is the author of seven works of fiction.  In addition to the Ihaka novels there are two Sydney-based crime novels (Final Cut and The Empty Bed), as well as collection of short stories (Sex Crimes) and a non-crime novel (Work in Progress).)