PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- DSC Craig Watson has been seconded to a small coastal town a three hours north of Sydney for six months. Barely there an hour and he's handling a missing teenager's enquiry; has decided the sergeant is a class-A loser; and really needs some chemical help. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Watson has a massive drug habit, and a few other really serious problems besides, and he really doesn't want to be there - or anywhere. As the sullen and depressed township is threatened by heavy rains which flood the roads in and out, Watson and his two female colleagues (who have their own problems dealing with small town and workplace misogyny) find themselves cut off from help - and with a killer who wants them dead. Watson has to fight not only his serious withdrawal symptoms, but also the overwhelming emotional and physical traumas of his past that set him onto his habit in the first place. A brooding and bleak novel, with interesting characters and a satisfying resolution. Lindy
Born in Sydney, John moved to Mid North Coast of New South Wales with his wife and three children in 2012. He has a broad range of life experience having spent time in the Australian Army, worked fishing trawlers out of Darwin, worked bars and doors in pubs and clubs all over Australia, and somehow ended up with an Economics Degree. He started writing in 2015 and has a fascination with the darker aspects of the human condition; the addicted, the malevolent, the scarred. He cheers for the outsider, the slacker, the contrarian, the non-conformist. When he is not writing or pondering the darkness within men's souls he works part-time in financial services.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- DSC Craig Watson has been seconded to a small coastal town a three hours north of Sydney for six months. Barely there an hour and he's handling a missing teenager's enquiry; has decided the sergeant is a class-A loser; and really needs some chemical help. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Watson has a massive drug habit, and a few other really serious problems besides, and he really doesn't want to be there - or anywhere. As the sullen and depressed township is threatened by heavy rains which flood the roads in and out, Watson and his two female colleagues (who have their own problems dealing with small town and workplace misogyny) find themselves cut off from help - and with a killer who wants them dead. Watson has to fight not only his serious withdrawal symptoms, but also the overwhelming emotional and physical traumas of his past that set him onto his habit in the first place. A brooding and bleak novel, with interesting characters and a satisfying resolution. Lindy
"""Is pulp rural noir fiction a thing? If not perhaps Headland by Australian author John Byrnes is the first of its kind. Dark, lurid, gritty and violent, this debut novel includes elements of both crime fiction subgenres. . . . Aggressive, fast paced and gripping, I couldn't put it down."" --Book'd Out ""A propulsive, lean and gritty crime thriller from a distinct new voice in Australian crime writing. It reads like John Byrnes hails from the school of Mickey Spillane. His debut is packed with debauched sex and gunplay. . . . Crisp and economical prose means ""Headland"" won't gather much dust on your nightstand. It's relentlessly paced, and no-holds-barred."" --Simon McDonald"
