December 2nd, 2024
Home | Log in!

On Top Shelf
ENCROACHMENTENCROACHMENT
Fresh Pick
THE KNIFE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
THE KNIFE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

New Books This Week

Reader Games

Video Book Club

Holiday Giveaways


December's delights are here! Thrilling tales, romance, and magic await you.

Slideshow image


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Family secrets aren't just dangerous, they are deadly.


slideshow image
A headstrong heiress and a noble gambler: wagers, intrigue, and irresistible romance.


slideshow image
An immortal vampire, a relentless agent, and a past that refuses to stay buried.


slideshow image
A PI protecting a determined daughter, a killer ready to strike again.


slideshow image
Three homeless puppies, two lonely hearts, and a massive snowstorm.


slideshow image
Two restless souls, one wild Christmas on the ranch�where sparks fly, and dreams ride free.


Canticle Creek

Canticle Creek, November 2022
by Adrian Hyland

Ultimo Press
Featuring: Jesse Redpath; Ben Redpath
348 pages
ISBN: 1761150030
EAN: 9781761150036
Kindle: B09CFTNB1W
Hardcover / e-Book (reprint)
Add to Wish List


Purchase



"If the Australian heat doesn't get you, the bushfires will"

Fresh Fiction Review

Canticle Creek
Adrian Hyland

Reviewed by Clare O'Beara
Posted August 24, 2023

Suspense Women Sleuth | Thriller Police Procedural

Senior Constable Jesse Redpath features in a vivid Australian police procedural. The bush country of Kulara in the Northern Territory is red and hot, so the grey book cover is a surprising contrast. But CANTICLE CREEK tells of the ever-present dread of bushfires, the smoke, ashes, charred bleakness, and ruins of lives.

Young idiot Adam Lawson is lucky to escape jail when Jesse vouches for him and sets him to work helping her father. That doesn’t last, and the lad takes off without warning. Three months later, Jesse hears that Adam was found dead in a crashed car, not far from where his girlfriend Daisy Baker was murdered in Canticle Creek. This is a small town not far from Melbourne in Victoria, a greener and treed landscape, still at risk of fire. The police assume Adam killed Daisy and made a run for it. Adam didn’t seem like a killer, and Daisy was trying to preserve trees from logging, so there might be more to the story.

Along with her resilient artist father, Ben Redpath, Jesse heads to Melbourne for a National Gallery exhibition that features Ben along with work by the late Kenji Takada from Canticle Creek. Here they meet the Asian artist’s family, who invite them to stay.  Lucy and Sam are the adults, Possum is their talented teen daughter who rides a powerful black horse, and Nick is their older son who has a girlfriend Nadia from a war-torn background. Along with local police officers and station owners, I found it hard to keep the names straight, as I did not read the book in one go. A few career criminals also feature, they are easy to identify. Sadly nowhere seems immune to what they are peddling.

Jesse is the woman having to outdo the men, who underestimate her and resent interference. While she doesn’t flaunt her qualifications, we’re told she first gained a law degree, then turned to the more lively side of the law.  Author Adrian Hyland spends time among the Aboriginal community, so on several occasions we see Jesse putting her lessons from an expert Aboriginal tracker in Kulara to good use. She’s not bad at self-defence either. My favourite character though, is Possum, as bright, nosey, and capable as Jesse; plus she is a horsewoman.  

CANTICLE CREEK is Adrian Hyland’s first novel of Australia for some years, and it’s brim-full of characters, packing a powerful punch. The heat ripples off the pages, and the fire, when it comes, pushes suspense over the edge into terror. Easily among the best outdoor thrillers this year.

Learn more about Canticle Creek

SUMMARY

Two bodies. One long hot summer. A town that will never be the same.
 
When Adam Lawson's wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s body, the whole town assumes it’s an open and shut case. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek. Where she comes from, the truth often hides in plain sight, but only if you know where to look. When Jesse starts to ask awkward questions, she uncovers a town full of contradictions and a cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets to hide and even more to lose.
 
As the temperature soars, and the ground bakes, the wilderness surrounding Canticle Creek becomes a powderkeg waiting to explode. All it needs is one spark.

A twisty crime thriller set in small town Australia perfect for readers of The Dry and Scrublands.


What do you think about this review?

Comments

No comments posted.

Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!

 

 

 

© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy