Still by Matt Nable

Darwin, 1967, is a harsh and unforgiving place. The men are hard, rough, heavy drinkers, while the women wait at home. Still is set before the time of Cyclone Tracy, and Nable provides a vivid description of the stifling heat and the stillness that might come before such a storm, with people living on the edge of violence. It is a story of police corruption, entrenched racism and brutality, and it slowly builds in tension as bodies are discovered, but are too readily dealt with by a disinterested police force.

Ned is a good but flawed man. He is a Senior Constable trained in detective work, and he wants to investigate but finds himself drawn again and again into the heavy drinking culture that pervades the place, until a decisive moment when he has to decide how much he values his relationship with his young wife and baby daughter.

Charlotte, the unhappy wife of a rodeo rider come fire-serviceman, also becomes enmeshed in the mystery. Ned and Charlotte are two characters living separate lives, and with separate problems, but each has a part to play in solving the crimes. It is a slow burning story; the tension is drawn out until the end. The threads are all there, and they all come together neatly at the end, but the real interest lies in the characters of Ned and Charlotte, two very ordinary unheroic people, or people for whom heroism is in the small things.

Complex characters, an extreme environment, and disturbing crimes, all make for an engrossing detective story.

Themes: Darwin N.T., Police corruption, Violence, Alcoholism, Racism, Fear, Detective story.

Helen Eddy