If you're going to have a rough reading month - I can highly recommend that you treat yourself to this book. Fantastic Australian voice, fun in places, serious where it needs to be clever. Strong plot but best of all, great female and male characters. Bigger, better, real review to come.
From the Blurb:
The world is in economic meltdown but the mining town of Hopetoun, Western Australia, is booming.
With the town's population exploding, it's easy enough to hide a crime - and a dirty past.
Disgraced police-service golden boy DSC Cato Kwong is doing time investigating roadkill with the Stock Squad. But when the ocean throws up a human torso onto the shores of Hopetoun, Cato is called in from the road.
Opening Lines:
Prologue: Saturday, May 5th 1973. Late Afternoon, Sunderland England.
Something is changing, he can tell. There's a shift in power. The underdog is snarling. The meek are about to inherit the earth. Colours from the screen flicker in his eyes and he leans forward, fingers tightening into the arms of the chair. The hairs on the back of his arm stiffen and crackle like a crop before the approaching storm.
The world is in economic meltdown but the mining town of Hopetoun, Western Australia is booming.
With the town's population exploding, it's easy enough to hide a crime - and a dirty past.
Disgraced police-service golden boy DSC Cato Kwong is doing time investigating roadkill with the Stock Squad. But when the ocean throws up a human torso onto the shores of Hopetoun, Cato is called in from the cold.
Cato faces powerful opposition in the town when his investigation lifts the lid on the exploitation of migrant workers. The stakes are raised higher when the Chinese whispers started by Cato disturb an even darker criminal mind.