Australia

Things that go bump in the night add to the suspense in this cautionary tale of young adult friendships.

Marketed as Young Adult, Sweet Damage is the second novel from Rebecca James delving into the nature of friendship and relationships in a way that works for older audiences as well.

http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2013/06/13/crime-scene-rebecca-james-sweet-damage-reviewed-by-karen-chisholm/

A local author whose work I admire very much has a bit of a mantra I've heard her recite on many occasions. Show, don't tell. Show don't tell. On one level you know, immediately, what she means, but it's not often I've seen a book that demonstrates the opposite of that mantra quite as strongly as A MOTHER WITHOUT A CHILD.

Set in Manly, Haglundh has a great eye for the place. Perhaps that comes about as an incomer to the society. She sees and writes about the places in this book with an eye for detail that's illuminating.

There's also an interesting plot as the basis of this book - the idea that a man could suddenly die, on a Manly ferry, shot from a long distance for no apparent reason was quite intriguing. Each of her main characters also have a back story, although some of that was just a tad melodramatic for my particular taste.

Unfortunately what worked considerably less well for this reader is the way that the story was drawn out. There was something that just didn't scan about the dialogue, the pacing of the book and the way that every single element was constantly explained and spelt out. Whilst sometimes I got the distinct feeling I was being shown a place, I was so bogged down in being told what was happening, what everyone was thinking, what everyone was doing there were times when I got the sneaking feeling there was going to be an exam at the end. The major problem I had, however, was with the dialogue which was so stilted, so unnatural, so odd that it just didn't work for me.

Whilst claims of Australia's Midsomer Murders seem a little ... let's say opportunistic, I understand Haglundh is planning a series for these characters, set in Manly and surrounds, and as is often the way with debut novels that haven't quite worked for me, follow-on books hit their paces and get moving. Perhaps a look at the dialogue, and a touch of show don't tell, and the ongoing series will continue to improve.

It is just possible that a book about a middle aged, female, technical writer working for a software company might, just, perhaps be set in a world that feels more than a little bit comfortable (sans daughter of course). I will admit that when NO SAFE PLACE arrived I was more than a little bit excited!

Despite her close working relationship with your classic sort of ubergeek, working for an average software company as a technical writer is not the sort of job that you think would put you in a gunman's sights. So when her elderly neighbour, Mabel, who has simply stepped out her own front door to speak to Elly, is shot dead, and her ubergeek workmate is another victim, Elly is definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Even fleeing Melbourne to Sydney doesn't end the attempts on Elly's life and it's only through the assistance of her colleagues that she's able to keep one step ahead of whoever it is that's so intent on killing her.

As is often the way with debut novels, not everything is plain sailing in NO SAFE PLACE, although I won't be at all surprised if readers have different viewpoints simply because of the world that the book is set in.

It's obvious that this author has worked as a technical writer herself. There is quite a bit of detail throughout the novel about what being a technical writer actually is - frequently a little too much information to be honest. I don't think that's just because it's a world I know as well, as it frequently slowed down the action at the absolute worst possible time. Some of the technical elements were reasonably well done although there is the occasional clanger... IPP addresses being the one that stopped me dead in my tracks, but really, most readers may not even notice the occasional bump in that area.

In terms of things that all readers might notice was a tendency for some gobsmacking feats of fem-jep that just didn't need to be there. Combine that with a bit of daring do's from an unlikely support cast of programmers turned would be real-life adventure gamers, and there were points where credibility took a bit of a battering.

Whether or not the plot is one that has a few hiccups along the way, the great part of NO SAFE PLACE is undoubtedly the central character Elly Cartwright. Middle-aged, white-collar worker, accidental detective and very realistic portrayal. She's could very well be a welcome series in the making.

It is possible that the reader of a lot of mystery fiction could come to BAY OF FIRES with a predisposition to like it very much. It's an unusual twist on what is, frequently, a rather formulaic style. More importantly, it's a lot more about the people involved in a community than the tragic death.

The story revolves around Sarah Avery, who was second on the scene when the bikini-clad body is found on the beach. She and her family are long-term holiday residents at the Bay of Fires, so they were there the year before when a young girl went missing. As were a lot of the characters in the story, this being the sort of holiday destination where people own shacks and return every year.

The only incomer in the story is Journalist Hall Flynn, sent to the coast to write a story on the dead girl, he soon finds himself attracted to the odd little community, and to Sarah.

The people who occupy this mostly transient community are a very quirky bunch, and because of the style of BAY OF FIRES there's an intense and concentrated view of them. Avery herself is quite a character, a fishing fanatic, obviously running away from a relationship that went pear-shaped in Queensland, she's a prickly, tricky character. Her encounter with the local teenage peeping tom is just one of the problems she's trying to process, her attraction to Flynn another big problem. Although Flynn quickly comes to share her feelings of protectiveness for the local intellectually disabled town loner who is picked on, bullied and suspected of both the murder and the disappearance.

Cleverly there's no shortage of suspects within the community, and whilst there's not a lot of overt concentration on the actual murder, or even, until towards the end, the disappearance of the young girl, there is a slow build up of possible suspects, of strange behaviour and odd occurrences that make you question the tranquillity of the location.

Being a huge fan of the why's of crime fiction, BAY OF FIRES ticked just about every box for me. It's not absolutely perfect, and there are some parts that do wander around a bit, as well as the occasional feeling of disconnection or lack of purpose. Minor problems in what is overall an interesting, and refreshing debut novel.