The Seven

​This is another title in the current popular trend of “Outback Noir”, i.e. stories with a dark underbelly set in regional and remote Australia.  
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Those who have read the author’s previous novels will be familiar with Detective Sergeant Ivan Lucic who, with his trusty sidekick, DC Nell Buchanan, is called to the town of Yuwonderie to investigate the grisly death of a local accountant, Athol Hasluck.  
 
In an area of Australia with erratic rainfall, the town has become the fiefdom of seven families who initiated a major irrigation scheme in the early 20th Century to channel the water of the Murrumbidgee River. This continues to ensure that their farms and business ventures remain prosperous even in times of severe drought. 
 
But it seems there is much that is sinister hidden beneath the Seven's façade as Ivan is progressively drawn into the dubious dealings of these families. Narrated in tandem with the present-day investigation is the 1990s research project by Davis Heartwood, historian son of one of the Seven, and letters written during World War I by Bessie Walker, an indigenous woman. 
 
While the plot does have a few of the usual exciting hallmarks of the author's earlier novels, it loses impetus as it becomes bogged down in its cast of shady/stereotypical characters overlorded by a group of entitled individuals hard to distinguish from one another who all seem to wear RMs (slang for a well-known brand of boots favoured by Australia's country "gentry"). The convoluted information on financial records, corporate structures, land dealings, water control, and contributions to political parties starts to feel like a lecture in finance or economics rather than a fast-paced thriller.
 
The past narrative featuring Davis works the best in establishing the background, but the letters written by Bessie border on cringeworthy. Even if one accepts that she was an unusual indigenous woman for her time and fortunate to have received an excellent education in grammar and semantics, the letters feel contrived and more of a nod to modern reformist attitudes on indigenous issues than in conveying the honest expressions of an intelligent young woman writing to her loved ones during this era. 

Apart from a final unexpected twist, the conclusion holds no surprises and involves another unnecessary layer as it hauls in the author's other well-known character, the journalist Martin Scarsden, who has past history with Ivan. 
 
Disappointing, two-and-a-half stars. 

Note: This book is also called "Cover the Bones"
 
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amazon.co.uk 
 
Booktopia ​

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