The Broken Shore

Crime but with such achingly good prose, I sometimes have to stop and re-read a sentence just to admire the way Temple wrote it. It’s a slow-burn, with a very dark, noir feeling, and the more you learn about the backstory of protagonist, Detective Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin, the more intriguing he becomes. A great plot, and I love the way Temple weaves different threads together to bring about the slick resolution. If you’re unfamiliar with Australian slang, expect a crash course in the first part of this novel. What makes this book one I return to again and again… show more.

Temple is another internationally renowned and multiple award-winning Australian writer. Several of his novels (The Broken Shore and Jack Irish series) have been turned into telemovies. The Broken Shore protagonist is Joe Cashin, a police detective who moves from the big city to live in the small South Australian town where he grew up but if he thought he'd swapped frenetic for calm he's in for a shock. This is not merely a crime novel, it plumbs life on every level. Temple's not called one of Australia's finest writers for nothing.