Pantera Press

Even allowing for the theories about the limited number of plot lines there are out there, it's always surprising when you come across a couple of books that have a central premise that's remarkably similar, written within the same time period.  And this isn't a particularly common shared premise.  THE CROSSING by B. Michael Radburn is the second book with a male protagonist mourning the inexplicable and sudden disappearance of a much loved young daughter.  In THE CROSSING Taylor Bridges' is completely traumatised by the unexplained vanishing of his daughter Claire - so much so that his marriage falls apart, and he exiles himself to a small town in Tasmania.  

Bridges is a national park ranger, and somehow this new job, based on the fringes of a drowning town, in the dark, damp and cloying forests of Tasmania fits.  He mourns his daughter as the community around him mourns the loss of their town, overall there's a sense of loss and despair everywhere.

As with the first book I read on this theme, there are elements of the supernatural.  Bridges does see / talk to his daughter and whilst there's definitely a feeling of the "other" about that aspect to the book, overall it seems to fit within what is really a very creepy, odd, unsettling sort of atmosphere.  Bridges is uncertain, unsure, suffering, frightened and yet baffling, questionable.  He is a chronic sleepwalker, often waking up outside his cabin, cut and bruised, with no idea what he has been doing or where he has been.  Which doesn't help when a little girl goes missing from the neighbourhood.  A little girl he's recently spent time with.

Undoubtedly the feeling that you come away from THE CROSSING with is overwhelming grief, although along the way there's just creepiness, disquiet and discomfort.  As the story of how Claire Bridges came to disappear is revealed, Bridges' overwhelming sense of loss, responsibility and complicity matches perfectly with the weird, insular, dark, enclosed and vaguely sinister world that he now lives in.  Even the possibility that supposedly extinct Tasmanian Tigers could be lurking in the surrounding forest seems to fit with the idea that this place, this little drowning town, is just slightly off.

The earlier book I read covering this subject matter is one of my favourites, but then the author of that book is the only person that has yet been able to convince me to read horror or vampires and not run screaming from the room.  So I was a little leery when I realised what was going on in THE CROSSING.  Would it stand up against the earlier one?  It's undoubtedly a different book and whilst the supernatural elements don't come across as intrinsic to our culture or sense of place, they absolutely do work in terms of this man's mind, his state of being if you like.  The story of the disappearance of Claire is slowly revealed, it's plausible and undoubtedly poignant, and whilst the discovery of the truth may require a little suspension of disbelief, the result is really quite moving.  

Radburn has written a most unusual book in THE CROSSING.  Even if, like me, you're very leery of supernatural elements, if horror normally leaves you more than underwhelmed, the emotional journey of this man, combined with the wonderful sense of place that is built around him, really makes THE CROSSING one of those books to step outside your comfort zone with.

"So much to make me twitch, so little to have worried about" would have to be the short version of this review.  The blurb on BORN TO RUN didn't bode well to be honest.  Politics in thrillers, a bit of pushing the envelope with the chance of the first woman to win the White House.  An Australian software whiz, a TV journalist digging for dirt, and terrorists working on a daring attack on New York City and I'll be honest, I felt an urge to yawn.  Never got a chance.  It is undoubtedly the mark of a very good thriller that all of the unlikely elements of the plot, all of the potential cheap targets of the scenarios disappeared.

A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN introduces Rowland Sinclair to fans of Australian historical crime fiction.  Set in 1930's Sydney and Yass, A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN takes a reader into a world where the affects of the Great Depression are being felt, and the tension between the Proto-Fascists and Communists in Australian society veers dangerously close to civil war.

Not that the central character of this novel, Rowland Sinclair, is feeling any of the Depression affects.  He is the youngest son of an extremely wealthy, influential farming family.  His oldest brother runs the farm on a day to day basis, the middle brother was killed in the First World War.  A painter, he lives in the family mansion in Sydney, along with a selection of his closest artist friends.  Under his patronage, although it's really more friendship and generosity, they lead a life of luxury, privilege and ease.  That doesn't stop them mixing with Communist elements - committed or fringe-dwellers.

When Rowland's uncle (of the same name) is bashed in his home and dies, Rowland returns to the family homestead for the funeral and a visit over Christmas with his mother, brother and sister-in-law.  He finds his mother more and more mentally disturbed by the loss of her middle son, and his brother deeply involved with the New Guard.  The New Guard was a mostly NSW, Sydney-centric proto-fascist movement committed to fighting the perceived "Communist threat".  The Old Guard boasted a similar philosophy but were altogether more shadowy and militant.  Both these movements were convinced that armed rebellion against the communists was required, and New Guard actively campaigned the overthrow of the then NSW Premier Jack Lang.  For those interested in these things, the man who cut the ribbon at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge before the Premier could, Captain Francis de Groot, was a member of the New Guard... but I digress.

A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN is set in a very short period of Australian history when open rebellion was discussed and enmity and mistrust held very close to hearts.  The battles between the Old and New Guard, the Communists, and sympathisers from all sides are covered within the context of this book, which has, at the heart of it a fairly simple murder plot.  Even though Rowland Sinclair, the elder, is bashed to death, the death is mostly handled delicately and there's very little dwelling on the events and/or details.  Where this book is very strong is in the clarity of the events that it describes, the way that the characters of Rowland and his friends are seamlessly woven into a true history, and the manner in which this period in Australia is described.

Not that this is a heavy, hard-work historical novel.  The characters are wonderfully drawn.  Rowland and friends are eccentric, but not overly so, they fit within that period of history well.  The members of the New and Old Guard's are nicely shadowy, dedicated to the cause, slightly mad in their own right, but not cartoonish or overdone.  There are light touches of humour, and there are some sad moments - the loss of Rowland the elder, the descent of Rowland's mother into complete madness are deftly drawn.   

A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN would be a good book for readers who like their murder and mayhem more on the incidental side.  It's not that hard to pick the why very early on, and the who narrows down as events progress.  But the murder doesn't read as the point of this book.  It's the overall environment, and that short, sharp, mad period of Australian history, which is really very well handled.