THEM

by Adrian Deans

Rob Lasseter is the great grandson of a legendary explorer. His prized possession is an old parchment, which is thought to be a map showing the location of the fabulous reef of gold. Unfortunately, however, there are no points of external reference on the map. The only words are ‘You are here’, next to an X, but Lasseter doesn’t know where X is – he doesn’t know where to start looking. Inspired by the strange disappearance of the White Haired girl, and the receipt of a letter addressed in his own handwriting from a place he had never been, Lasseter (with his friend Miles, who claims to be dead) embarks upon an odyssey into the centre of Australia and has some very strange adventures. Lasseter thinks he is looking for gold, but instead he finds something far more interesting. An Australian story of pan-cosmic enormity.

About Adrian

Adrian Deans has been writing seriously for nearly 20 years. His first published novel was Mr Cleansheets (Vulgar Press, 2010) which has proved amazingly popular and continues to sell in both hard copy and ebook form. Adrian’s new novel, the one you are about to read, has been in development for over ten years and takes the reader down strange new paths. Those who enjoyed Mr Cleansheets may find THEM a little more challenging but will recognise the style. Adrian continues to write novels, but he also dabbles in numerous other forms which can be further explored at www.adriandeans.com. Feel free to contact him if you wish to discuss his work.

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First published February 10, 2012

About the author

Adrian Deans is a lawyer, journalist and novelist. He has been writing seriously for 30 years and in that time has seen his darkly comic speculative fiction stories gradually morph into darkly comic crime - then back to spec fiction. His novels, Mr Cleansheets (Vulgar Press, 2010) and Straight Jacket (High Horse, 2013) received some critical acclaim and Straight Jacket was optioned by Ealing Studios in the UK. The Fighting Man was his debut historical novel (High Horse, 2017), but in 2020 he blended offbeat crime with spec fiction to produce Welcome to Ord City. His latest novel, Asparagus Grass (2023), sees Adrian on the edge of science fiction and firmly entrenched among Australia's more original storytellers.

Adrian is represented by Golvan Arts Management.

Reviews

[Roseanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still pondering this book, and I reckon I will be for a while. There’s never been anything like it that I've read, that’s for sure. I read the other two reviews before posting my own and I agree with most of what Mandy and Sean said, except I think the author deserves a bit more credit for what he’s achieved. I would call it not so much confusing as challenging. THEM is a highly original and thought-provoking book which took me places I never dreamed of. It was intriguing, gripping, funny and very profane. Lots of swearing and quite a lot of sex, although it’s mostly an intellectual rather than a bawdy sort of sex.

Part one was an excellent set up. You’re introduced to the world of the book which is just slightly skewed off the real. Lasseter’s curiosity is inspired by the secret world and the theft of his map and he heads out into the desert and goes though some strange transition to a simpler place. But for a simple place, it’s awfully weird – reminded me of Alice Through the Looking Glass. The conflicts of the real world are supposed to be more starkly in focus but what makes it confusing, or challenging, is that the author spells nothing out until later. As you’re reading it, you’re thinking “What the hell is going on?” but when you get towards the end you start to twig, and I read back through a couple of sections and that’s when I realised how clever he was being. This book definitely needs to be read more than once, as the writer himself said on the conversation he started.

From the end of part two you start to get all the explanations and that’s when I wanted the whole thing to slow down so I could savour the pay off. The pay off is huge.

As Sean mentioned in his review, he was worried about misogyny at the beginning, as was I. Have no fear, it is not a misogynistic book, but the so called battle of the sexes is one of the important themes. It seems like it’s going to be a bit hamfisted, but turns out to be very cleverly done.

A challenging book but highly recommended. Would not be surprised to see this book achieve some sort of cult status.

[S.B. Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Them, published by Really Blue Books, is Adrian Deans second published novel. It’s the story of Rob Lasetter, the fictional descendant of the very real historical figure of Harold Bell Lasseter.

The Marketing Copy

Rob Lasseter is the great grandson of a legendary explorer. His prized possession is an old parchment, which is thought to be a map showing the location of the fabulous reef of gold. Unfortunately, however, there are no points of external reference on the map. The only words are ‘You are here’, next to an X, but Lasseter doesn’t know where X is – he doesn’t know where to start looking.

Inspired by the strange disappearance of the White Haired girl, and the receipt of a letter addressed in his own handwriting from a place he had never been, Lasseter (with his friend Miles, who claims to be dead) embarks upon an odyssey into the centre of Australia and has some very strange adventures. Lasseter thinks he is looking for gold, but instead he finds something far more interesting. An Australian story of pan-cosmic enormity.

Hmmm how do I feel

I don’t know how I feel about Them. Parts of it had me laughing when I shouldn’t have been, other parts had me cringing. At all times, though, I was faintly aware that I might be missing some point that Adrian was hinting at; that he was being very clever and I was missing the signposts. Then again maybe it was the nature of the novel where realities and characters alter at different points.

There was misogyny from the main character early on which didn’t endear me:

Things were going pretty well for Lauren and me. We’d been living together for nearly a year and were to be married in the spring. We were 100% fully compatible, with much more in common than the average couple. We both like sex and too much wine. She even likes football, and, for a woman, is blessed with uncommon wit.

But I was willing to keep reading, plenty of good books with absolute dicks as the protagonist. The description of office politics was interesting as well and again I wasn’t entirely sure if Deans was being playful, I am sure that there will be guys that will read about the “Lesbian Network” and nod in agreement. What I am not sure whether Deans is having a go or playing with the reader.

I did enjoy the pop culture references and the digs at Tolkien.

As realities alter and Lasseter travels to more simplified realities, more stark in their conflicts, we have some veiled commentary on the city and country divide.

“We call it The Cause. It’s a war against the Eggheads ‒ the fuckin’ smartarses in Sydney and Melbourne who reckon they’re born to rule!”

I must have looked confused because she attempted to clarify.

“The Eggheads tried to tell us that their votes were worth more than our votes coz they had fuckin’ degrees an’ shit. Doesn’t mean they know how to run a fuckin’ cuntry!”

All well and good, and I enjoyed the poems of Darian Sande (with apologies to Banjo Paterson I'm sure). Being dragged off to a Feminazi internment camp called OZschwitz though had me cringing. Was Deans taking things to an extreme, to point out the ridiculous nature of extremes . Having fun with the reader? Leading the reader or just telling a story?

It’s a reality hopping ride that could be about the nature of reality, a quest novel, or just about Rob Lasseter getting the life he wanted. It’s well written but not a book that I could give to friends without some reservations and not one that I am entirely sure that I have understood.

I can say it’s different and if you want to stretch yourself and get out of your comfort zone give it a crack.

This book was provided at no cost to myself by the publisher