The Great Divide by L.J.M. Owen
Genre: Crime Fiction, Noir
Read: 24th November 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 4th November 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
What a jewel this read turned out to be!
When I read a friend's review of this book I just knew I had to read it. I mean, it's not often I come across an Australian crime thriller - new or old - but when I do, I am eager to check it out. And boy, am I glad I did! I certainly hope that THE GREAT DIVIDE is the beginning of what promises to be fantastic new series.
When Detective Jake Hunter transferred from the hustle and bustle of Melbourne to the remote town of Dunton in rural Tasmania, he expects it to be a quiet secondment for his duration. After all, not much happens in a small town, does it? But within the week, what begins as a missing boy ends up being a full blown murder investigation.
It is early morning when 10 year old Jamie Taylor quietly unzips the family tent and deftly makes his way through the bush and the fog to an old vineyard, where he can run and run and run. But all of a sudden he sees something big and black looming in front of him, growling. In blind panic, he tries to escape the "monster" chasing him but he can't find his way back through the fog. And then he trips. When he turns for a closer look at the obstruction that caused him to fall, he sees a bloodied hand...and he screams.
When Jake finds Jamie huddled beneath the bushes on the outskirts of the derelict vineyard, the boy is so frightened Jake wonders why. It isn't long before he is standing over a mutilated body amidst the gnarled old grape vines. The victim is Ava O'Brien who ran a local "bad" girls' home for several years before it shut down a decade earlier.
Jake and his constable, Murphy, begin to dig into the secrets that surround the home as well as those of Ava O'Brien herself. The only family Ava had was her brother Liam who also lived in the town, both of whom had moved from the mainland some thirty years ago. Liam is a quiet man who keeps himself to himself, but is there a more sinister reason why?
And what of the home? What happened to the girls that lived there? Apparently wards of the state, the children were to be cared for until adoption, but Jake can find no records of the children or their adoptions. So what happened to them? Two of the girls were adopted locally but the others are proving difficult to track down. The deeper Jake digs, the more he suspects that something strange and disturbing had been at play within the home. Secrets long since buried that were only now hovering beneath the surface.
And then there is his Senior Sergeant - Aiden Kelly - who seems more intent on keeping the locals happy by indulging their sensitivities than actually solving the crime. After watching Jake and his interview techniques, he decides to sit in on most of the other interviews, cutting them short before Jake could ask the hard questions. And what about Constable Patrick Murphy? His reports indicate he is barely literate, that Jake seems to spend more time re-doing than Murphy spends on writing them, not to mention his loose interpretation of the law. How did he even pass training to become a police officer in the beginning? And why, if he has such a blatant disregard for the law? Then there is the added complication of Evelyn Kelly, his boss' daughter and local Victims of Crime services counsellor, who appears to show up at every crime scene and every interview to sit in on. And yet Jake is shocked by her unprofessional behaviour on more than one occasion that he finds himself questioning her qualifications. What is it that Ms Kelly is hiding?
Despite the haphazardness of the police in Dunton, Jake is grateful to find at least one ally in forensic pathologist, Dr Meena Gill. She too is what the locals call "a blow-in" and isn't swayed by the sensitivities of the local's proclivities.
Over the days that follow, Jake continues to dig deeper with the investigation leading him back to Melbourne. And with it, some shocking revelations. As the secrets surrounding the home and Ava's murder come to light, the horror of what really went on within those walls are ultimately exposed as the suspects and bodycount rises. Who is behind these abhorrent atrocities? And how far will they go to keep the enormity of their barbaric actions secret?
The twist is the gruesome trophy that Jake uncovers at the end has to be one of the most sinister and twisted things I have come across throughout this genre. But it is well-played.
THE GREAT DIVIDE is a complex tale of secrets, duplicity and murder offering a sense of bleak and dismal foreboding that is so claustrophobic it is almost chilling. It is hard not to use the word "atmospheric" when writing about it because that is exactly what it is - in both plot and setting.
An exciting addition to the genre of crime fiction noir, THE GREAT DIVIDE is well-paced and intriguing that I devoured it within one evening. I loved everything about it, even those I loved to hate, in this remote town shrouded in fog and lies. I hope it is just the beginning and would love to see a sequel as Jake finds his feet in the small isolated town.
I would like to thank #LJMOwen, #NetGalley and #BonnierBooksUK for an ARC of #TheGreatDivide in exchange for an honest review.
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