Friday 6 December 2013

A Certain Malice by Felicity Young


Inspector Cam returns back to his hometown from Sydney after his Wife and son were killed because of the undercover operation he was involved in. Back in his hometown Cam is called to investigate a charred body found in, what is thought to be, an accidental bushfire in a school. Who is the victim? Is the death accidental? A drunk caught in an accidental fire? Or the fire set to cover up the death? Inspector Cam has also deal with his corrupt subordinate who may have carelessly moved the body thus destroying some evidence and not owning it up. Or did somebody else turn the body?

The book cover is quite misleading, kind of steering the whole story in another direction. After a point, I did read the first few pages again to see if the misleading is deliberate on the author's part, nothing wrong with that. But I found that there is nothing in words that brought in that perception, it is just the cover, that coloured my perception thus keeping me off the track. Not that I would have guessed. 

I didn't realise it is a debut novel until I finished the book. While reading I felt that there is probably at least one earlier novel that features Inspector Cam that talks about his earlier bikies undercover operation and the fire that killed his wife and son. It is interesting how everything is tied up in the end. 


No comments: