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Broken Shore #1
The Broken Shore
Named by The Times as one of the top ten crime novels of the decade and winner of the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger, the Ned Kelly Award, the Colin Roderick Award and the H.T. Priestly Medal, The Broken Shore is a masterpiece.
Joe Cashin was different once. He moved easily then; was surer and less thoughtful. But there are consequences when you've come so close to dying. For Cashin, they included a posting away from the world of Homicide to the quiet place on the coast where he grew up. Now all he has to do is play the country cop and walk the dogs.
Then prominent local Charles Bourgoyne is bashed and left for dead. Everything seems to point to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community; everyone seems to want it to. But Cashin is unconvinced. And as tragedy unfolds relentlessly into tragedy, he finds himself holding onto something that might be better let go.
Peter Temple is the author of nine novels, including four books in the Jack Irish series. He has won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction five times, and his widely acclaimed novels have been published in over twenty countries.
'Peter Temple has been described as one of Australia's best crime novelists, but he's far better than that. He's one of our best novelists full stop.' Sun-Herald
'The greatest joy is Temple's use of language. Every word in The Broken Shore contains meaning...It's deliciously brutal and spare, full of unambiguous violence, prejudice and hatred one moment, and cavernous instances of insight and revelation the next.' Courier-Mail
'It might well be the best crime novel published in this country.' Weekend Australian
'The Broken Shore is one of those watershed books that makes you rethink your ideas about reading.' Sydney Morning Herald
'With this moving portrait of a detective at a turning point in his life, one of our most accomplished crime writers gives us not only a gripping whodunnit but grapples with issues ranging from race relations, friendship, loyalty, politics, the past and the future to the bond between a man and his dog.' Age
'The Broken Shore portrays a community in thrall to long-established prejudices and passions. It is also about the inner destruction of raw, cruel and moving.' The Times
'A towering achievement that brings alive a ferocious landscape and a motley assortment of clashing characters. The sense of place is stifling in its intensity, and seldom has a waltz of the damned proven so hypnotic. Indispensable.' Guardian
'It's a stone classic. Hard as nails and horrible, but read page one and I challenge you not to finish it.' Independent
'Having read the new novels of Michael Connelly and Martin Cruz Smith, I have to say that Temple belongs in their company. Australia is a long way off, but this bloke is world-class.' Washington Post
'The Broken Shore is superb, full of great characters, and set in rural Australia, a place Temple obviously loves. But it's his dialogue that carries the book.
Joe Cashin was different once. He moved easily then; was surer and less thoughtful. But there are consequences when you've come so close to dying. For Cashin, they included a posting away from the world of Homicide to the quiet place on the coast where he grew up. Now all he has to do is play the country cop and walk the dogs.
Then prominent local Charles Bourgoyne is bashed and left for dead. Everything seems to point to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community; everyone seems to want it to. But Cashin is unconvinced. And as tragedy unfolds relentlessly into tragedy, he finds himself holding onto something that might be better let go.
Peter Temple is the author of nine novels, including four books in the Jack Irish series. He has won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Fiction five times, and his widely acclaimed novels have been published in over twenty countries.
'Peter Temple has been described as one of Australia's best crime novelists, but he's far better than that. He's one of our best novelists full stop.' Sun-Herald
'The greatest joy is Temple's use of language. Every word in The Broken Shore contains meaning...It's deliciously brutal and spare, full of unambiguous violence, prejudice and hatred one moment, and cavernous instances of insight and revelation the next.' Courier-Mail
'It might well be the best crime novel published in this country.' Weekend Australian
'The Broken Shore is one of those watershed books that makes you rethink your ideas about reading.' Sydney Morning Herald
'With this moving portrait of a detective at a turning point in his life, one of our most accomplished crime writers gives us not only a gripping whodunnit but grapples with issues ranging from race relations, friendship, loyalty, politics, the past and the future to the bond between a man and his dog.' Age
'The Broken Shore portrays a community in thrall to long-established prejudices and passions. It is also about the inner destruction of raw, cruel and moving.' The Times
'A towering achievement that brings alive a ferocious landscape and a motley assortment of clashing characters. The sense of place is stifling in its intensity, and seldom has a waltz of the damned proven so hypnotic. Indispensable.' Guardian
'It's a stone classic. Hard as nails and horrible, but read page one and I challenge you not to finish it.' Independent
'Having read the new novels of Michael Connelly and Martin Cruz Smith, I have to say that Temple belongs in their company. Australia is a long way off, but this bloke is world-class.' Washington Post
'The Broken Shore is superb, full of great characters, and set in rural Australia, a place Temple obviously loves. But it's his dialogue that carries the book.
404 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2005
391 people are currently reading
4303 people want to read
About the author
Peter Temple
29 books342 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Peter Temple is an Australian crime fiction writer.
Formerly a journalist and journalism lecturer, Temple turned to fiction writing in the 1990s. His Jack Irish novels (Bad Debts, Black Tide, Dead Point, and White Dog) are set in Melbourne, Australia, and feature an unusual lawyer-gambler protagonist. He has also written three stand-alone novels: An Iron Rose, Shooting Star, In the Evil Day (Identity Theory in the US), as well as The Broken Shore and its sequel, Truth. He has won five Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction, the most recent in 2006 for The Broken Shore, which also won the Colin Roderick Award for best Australian book and the Australian Book Publishers' Award for best general fiction. The Broken Shore also won the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2007. Temple is the first Australian to win a Gold Dagger.
Peter Temple is an Australian crime fiction writer.
Formerly a journalist and journalism lecturer, Temple turned to fiction writing in the 1990s. His Jack Irish novels (Bad Debts, Black Tide, Dead Point, and White Dog) are set in Melbourne, Australia, and feature an unusual lawyer-gambler protagonist. He has also written three stand-alone novels: An Iron Rose, Shooting Star, In the Evil Day (Identity Theory in the US), as well as The Broken Shore and its sequel, Truth. He has won five Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction, the most recent in 2006 for The Broken Shore, which also won the Colin Roderick Award for best Australian book and the Australian Book Publishers' Award for best general fiction. The Broken Shore also won the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2007. Temple is the first Australian to win a Gold Dagger.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 829 reviews
September 29, 2010
When I finished this novel I realized two things: first, that I'd just read something outstanding and second, that (as it says on the dustjacket blurb), Peter Temple is a "master writer." This has to be one of the best and most beautifully-written crime fiction novels I've ever read, and I can't wait to get back to his next novel, Truth, which I've only just started and am already loving.
Joe Cashin is a homicide detective who's recuperating from physical and emotional trauma in the small town of Port Monro on the south coast of Australia. Port Monro is not his normal beat; he's been posted there to put some distance between himself and the events that left another policeman dead and himself hospitalized. It's a perfect place for Joe; he spends a great deal of his time with his dogs, and to get his mind off of his recent troubles, he's rebuilding an old ruined house, as well as himself, with the help of a "swaggie" named Rebb. But his peace is shattered when he finds himself smack in the middle of an intriguing crime: one of the town's wealthiest citizens has been found dead and the police in charge of the investigation want very badly to pin the murder on three indigenous teens. Cashin is called to help with the case, but he's not convinced that the racially-prejudiced local police are correct in their assumptions.
What sets this novel apart, making it an outstanding read, is not so much the plot, which is believable and well executed, but the writing. The reader is plunged into an Australia that is divided over racial issues, plagued by corruption among government and local officials, divided between development that would create new jobs but would wreck the environment and the landscape. While a reader can perhaps find those sorts of problems in his or her own country, Temple keeps it Australian through his use of the local lingo (and then puts a glossary of Australian terms in the back for reference-- which is itself quite funny in parts), description of little things like food, and especially in terms of a sense of place. The small community's colorful characters and the small-town problems he's involved with ("a man about a neighbour's tree, the report of a vandalised bench...") set the stage, as do the vivid descriptions of the landscape. Take, for example, the description of Cromarty's Kettle, located in the Rip:
...the huge sea, the grey-green water skeined with foam, sliding, falling, surging, full of little peaks and breaks, hollows and rolls, the sense of unimaginable power beneath the surface, terrible forces that could lift you up and suck you down and spin you...the power of the surge would push you through the gap in the cliff and then it would slam you against the pocked walls...
as well as the descriptions of the small pubs, truck stops, the "roads smeared with roadkill ---" or the road to Port Monro:
the "pocked junctions where one or two tilted houses stood against the wind and signs pointed to other desperate crossroads."
The characters are also very well developed, especially Joe Cashin -- a broken and damaged, yet decent man trying to get it all back together, whose backstory and troubled past (including an unstable childhood) are unfolded little by little, interwoven with his present. He doesn't mind solitude, although perhaps not so completely as he would have you believe, and he's the consummate professional, yet willing to go with his intuition when the situation demands.
This is an excellent book, and although I've focused mainly on the writing here, the story itself will also keep you turning pages until it's over. And then, I think, you'll be left wanting more.
Joe Cashin is a homicide detective who's recuperating from physical and emotional trauma in the small town of Port Monro on the south coast of Australia. Port Monro is not his normal beat; he's been posted there to put some distance between himself and the events that left another policeman dead and himself hospitalized. It's a perfect place for Joe; he spends a great deal of his time with his dogs, and to get his mind off of his recent troubles, he's rebuilding an old ruined house, as well as himself, with the help of a "swaggie" named Rebb. But his peace is shattered when he finds himself smack in the middle of an intriguing crime: one of the town's wealthiest citizens has been found dead and the police in charge of the investigation want very badly to pin the murder on three indigenous teens. Cashin is called to help with the case, but he's not convinced that the racially-prejudiced local police are correct in their assumptions.
What sets this novel apart, making it an outstanding read, is not so much the plot, which is believable and well executed, but the writing. The reader is plunged into an Australia that is divided over racial issues, plagued by corruption among government and local officials, divided between development that would create new jobs but would wreck the environment and the landscape. While a reader can perhaps find those sorts of problems in his or her own country, Temple keeps it Australian through his use of the local lingo (and then puts a glossary of Australian terms in the back for reference-- which is itself quite funny in parts), description of little things like food, and especially in terms of a sense of place. The small community's colorful characters and the small-town problems he's involved with ("a man about a neighbour's tree, the report of a vandalised bench...") set the stage, as do the vivid descriptions of the landscape. Take, for example, the description of Cromarty's Kettle, located in the Rip:
...the huge sea, the grey-green water skeined with foam, sliding, falling, surging, full of little peaks and breaks, hollows and rolls, the sense of unimaginable power beneath the surface, terrible forces that could lift you up and suck you down and spin you...the power of the surge would push you through the gap in the cliff and then it would slam you against the pocked walls...
as well as the descriptions of the small pubs, truck stops, the "roads smeared with roadkill ---" or the road to Port Monro:
the "pocked junctions where one or two tilted houses stood against the wind and signs pointed to other desperate crossroads."
The characters are also very well developed, especially Joe Cashin -- a broken and damaged, yet decent man trying to get it all back together, whose backstory and troubled past (including an unstable childhood) are unfolded little by little, interwoven with his present. He doesn't mind solitude, although perhaps not so completely as he would have you believe, and he's the consummate professional, yet willing to go with his intuition when the situation demands.
This is an excellent book, and although I've focused mainly on the writing here, the story itself will also keep you turning pages until it's over. And then, I think, you'll be left wanting more.
February 21, 2013
Challenge: review "The Broken Shore" without mentioning how "Australian" it is.
There are a lot of reviews on this site expressing frustration with The Broken Shore for its dialectical idiosyncrasies. I won't take this opportunity to express my frustration at the way in which shit rolls downhill, obliging Australian readers to maintain a familiarity with British and American dialects, but rendering Australian dialects "unreadable" to our northern cousins. I won't mention that gripe at all.
What I can say about the writing is that it is the best representation of everyday Australian speech I have ever come across. The dialect is there in all its glory - oblique, ungrammatical, sweary, replete with bold references to taboo subjects and clever euphemisms for the most innocuous ideas, often dreamt up for the speaker's own amusement. Foreign readers - American readers in particular - should note that the word "cunt" is often employed in this book and in everyday speech in Australia. It's not a malicious word, more often than not, and is rarely accompanied by the sexist/misogynist connotations that it carries in other contexts. If it offends or shocks you, try substituting "bloke" for "cunt". Read the original sentence the same way you would read it with the substituted word; don't dwell on the language that offends you; read it as it was intended.
There are a lot of reviews on this site expressing frustration with The Broken Shore for its dialectical idiosyncrasies. I won't take this opportunity to express my frustration at the way in which shit rolls downhill, obliging Australian readers to maintain a familiarity with British and American dialects, but rendering Australian dialects "unreadable" to our northern cousins. I won't mention that gripe at all.
What I can say about the writing is that it is the best representation of everyday Australian speech I have ever come across. The dialect is there in all its glory - oblique, ungrammatical, sweary, replete with bold references to taboo subjects and clever euphemisms for the most innocuous ideas, often dreamt up for the speaker's own amusement. Foreign readers - American readers in particular - should note that the word "cunt" is often employed in this book and in everyday speech in Australia. It's not a malicious word, more often than not, and is rarely accompanied by the sexist/misogynist connotations that it carries in other contexts. If it offends or shocks you, try substituting "bloke" for "cunt". Read the original sentence the same way you would read it with the substituted word; don't dwell on the language that offends you; read it as it was intended.
June 27, 2009
I love a good crime thriller, and this is better than your average good. I know I have a connection & I know, I know many of the locations mentioned in the book & that his lead character Joe Cashin - in 'The Broken Shore' has two huge black poodles & every morning Mon - Fri they scare the absolute crap out of my Son & I on our morning walk to school (they have built in stealth (the neighbour & I have discussed) & never hit you at the same point of the fence line). So yes lots of funny connections, but on a more serious note this book won what's deemed as the most coveted award internationally for best crime novel 'The Duncan Lawrie Dagger'. Awarded books & myself usually don't hit it off all that much of recent but this is an exception. It is very Australian very Victorian (the State not the era), but I think the personalities & humour are universally appealing. The second of which is not far from release.
The plot is your standard - somebody dies that shouldn't and you have to follow the story till the coppa catches the who & the why. However the writing and character development was far & above standard. I really enjoyed this & can't wait till the next. Would have given it 4 1/2 stars but can't so it gets 4 with a half for the dogs held over with their stealth like abilities.
The plot is your standard - somebody dies that shouldn't and you have to follow the story till the coppa catches the who & the why. However the writing and character development was far & above standard. I really enjoyed this & can't wait till the next. Would have given it 4 1/2 stars but can't so it gets 4 with a half for the dogs held over with their stealth like abilities.
June 13, 2025
Crime as a genre is not something I have enjoyed in the past, but this novel has surprised me.
Detective Joe Cashin gets involved in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy local figure in a town on the southern Victorian coast. The tale told is tragic, not just a criminal murder but an exposé of small-town racism, big city protection of the appalling and with that descent into mental illness and revenge for those lives affected by the abuse of innocent youth.
There is no joy in this tale. Its gritty realism and unflinching cynicism may unsettle some readers, and also the uncomfortable truths as to human nature.
Detective Joe Cashin gets involved in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy local figure in a town on the southern Victorian coast. The tale told is tragic, not just a criminal murder but an exposé of small-town racism, big city protection of the appalling and with that descent into mental illness and revenge for those lives affected by the abuse of innocent youth.
There is no joy in this tale. Its gritty realism and unflinching cynicism may unsettle some readers, and also the uncomfortable truths as to human nature.
March 12, 2019
I was very disappointed in this book. I realize Peter Temple is an award-winning Australian crime writer, but the writing style was not for me. I found the characters and the storyline hard to connect with, and the book failed to interest me. The narrative seemed disjointed and slow paced with choppy sentences. Most troublesome was the frequent use of Australian slang and jargon, making conversations difficult to follow. I lived in Australia for 3 years and have visited several times since, but many terms were unfamiliar to me. There were too many racist slurs and other vulgarisms, as well as unnecessary minutiae which detracted from the plot, and to any buildup of suspense Hints of the main character’s backstory developed too slowly, giving the mistaken feeling that I was middle of a series.
It really bothered me knowing that critics and many readers regarded this book highly and felt that I was missing something. I put a lot of effort into appreciating it but to no avail.
It really bothered me knowing that critics and many readers regarded this book highly and felt that I was missing something. I put a lot of effort into appreciating it but to no avail.
August 13, 2007
A BROKEN SHORE (Police Procedural-Australia-Cont) – Poor
Temple, Peter – Standalone
Quercus, 2006- UK Hardcover
*** Detective Joe Cashin is recovering from his injuries at his hometown in South Eastern Australia. He is there to run a one-man police station and is rebuilding the wreck of a home begun by his grandfather. A brutal attack on a local man is quickly blamed on a three young men from the Aboriginal community. When the plan to arrest and question one of the young men goes deathly wrong, Cashin starts taking a hard look at what is really going on.
*** This book has received a lot of great reviews. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me because of one main element—character development. The author doles out bits of Cashin, and other characters, past in very small doses well into the story. I found this incredibly distracting as it left me with the feeling I was starting a series in the middle and needed to read previous books. Unfortunately, there were no previous books with Cashin. I don't mind learning about a character as I go, but this felt too divisive to me, almost in the some vein as the cliff hanger at the end of the chapter. His reference to the background of a policewoman was almost a casual "okay, I'll throw this in to make her interesting" manner. For me, it destroyed the flow of the story and would cause me to stop reading. But, because of all the positive reviews, I continued and put aside my need for character development and just read for story, which was better. I did get into the plot, although it took me awhile. At a certain point I definitely saw where it was going, but the climax was suspenseful and somewhat horrific; however, a couple elements of the very ending where disappointing. Many people loved this book; I didn’t.
Temple, Peter – Standalone
Quercus, 2006- UK Hardcover
*** Detective Joe Cashin is recovering from his injuries at his hometown in South Eastern Australia. He is there to run a one-man police station and is rebuilding the wreck of a home begun by his grandfather. A brutal attack on a local man is quickly blamed on a three young men from the Aboriginal community. When the plan to arrest and question one of the young men goes deathly wrong, Cashin starts taking a hard look at what is really going on.
*** This book has received a lot of great reviews. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me because of one main element—character development. The author doles out bits of Cashin, and other characters, past in very small doses well into the story. I found this incredibly distracting as it left me with the feeling I was starting a series in the middle and needed to read previous books. Unfortunately, there were no previous books with Cashin. I don't mind learning about a character as I go, but this felt too divisive to me, almost in the some vein as the cliff hanger at the end of the chapter. His reference to the background of a policewoman was almost a casual "okay, I'll throw this in to make her interesting" manner. For me, it destroyed the flow of the story and would cause me to stop reading. But, because of all the positive reviews, I continued and put aside my need for character development and just read for story, which was better. I did get into the plot, although it took me awhile. At a certain point I definitely saw where it was going, but the climax was suspenseful and somewhat horrific; however, a couple elements of the very ending where disappointing. Many people loved this book; I didn’t.
November 27, 2021
Cashin thought that there was no firm ground in life. Just crusts of different thicknesses over the ooze.
Dark story, the gritty underbelly of society, corruption and cover-ups, racial tension with aboriginals, drops you in and you sink or you swim. Cop, damaged goods the extent of which is never fully clear, scratches beneath the surface and doesn't stop digging. Rural Australia is the real star maybe, clipped speech patterns, lots of Aussie slang like "swaggie" and "pommy" but no shrimps end up on any barbies. Just read it, mate.
Dark story, the gritty underbelly of society, corruption and cover-ups, racial tension with aboriginals, drops you in and you sink or you swim. Cop, damaged goods the extent of which is never fully clear, scratches beneath the surface and doesn't stop digging. Rural Australia is the real star maybe, clipped speech patterns, lots of Aussie slang like "swaggie" and "pommy" but no shrimps end up on any barbies. Just read it, mate.
November 22, 2019
I wonder if a Peter Temple addiction awaits me.
Read
January 15, 2015Peter Temple is a master. Picked this up based on Books To Die For and loved it. Plus, the detective has standard poodles that act like mine. (Meaning they act like real dogs.)
June 17, 2017
This was a dark and twisting noir with an impish heart that I thoroughly enjoyed despite the lingering questions it left me with.
We meet Joe Cashin, a taciturn, damaged cop "on leave" in the suburbs from the wilds of Melbourne after a dubious stake out left a fellow officer dead. He's going through the motions of rebuilding his families crumbling estate, a project that seems doomed to fail. His only company are two standard poodles (possibly the weirdest pair of pets I've ever encountered in a book like this) and a few friends as quiet and solitary as he tries to be.
When a local philanthropist is brutally murdered Cashin finds himself embroiled with the local police force, a rabidly racist bunch who are determined to pin the crime on a couple of local aboriginal teens. It isn't long before Cashin discovers the so called philanthropist may have been doing more than just providing poor teens with a chance to go to summer camp and it quickly becomes apparent that quite a few people might have wanted him dead.
This is a wide ranging novel with a huge cast of characters that occasionally gets super unweildy but despite a lot of twists and turns and some unresolved story lines I found myself really enjoying this. Its very much a character driven book with very sharp and often very funny dialogue that calls to mind an Australian version of a Bogey and Bacall movie. Author Peter Temple comes from a journalistic background and his sharp, staccato, David Mametish dialogue bears that out. There isn't a whole lot here visually, this was not a novel I "saw" in my mind as I read it, but it still works. Temple's characters linger. Cashin is an incredibly likable hero. He ticks all the "damaged cop with a heart of gold" check boxes but there's a certain je ne sais quoi that sets him apart. He's a good person, you just feel that in the way he deals with victims and perps and witnesses and the people he cares about. He's an introspective, troubled man, but he isn't mired in his problems. You get the sense that he wants to be happier, more settled and comfortable with himself and you root for him to find that inner peace that seems to elude him.
Temple doesn't reinvent the wheel here but he certainly makes it spin faster and more elegantly than most of his fellow noir crime fiction authors. I might have known where things were heading but I still wanted to see how it all played out and Temple doesn't disappoint. The end is brutal, disturbing and not every loose end is tied up neatly but it somehow doesn't matter.
There's a bit of a tacked on romantic element and readers may be a tad bit confused by the motherload of Australian slang (there's a super helpful glossary at the back of the book) but this is straight up a very good book and I'm looking forward to reading more.
We meet Joe Cashin, a taciturn, damaged cop "on leave" in the suburbs from the wilds of Melbourne after a dubious stake out left a fellow officer dead. He's going through the motions of rebuilding his families crumbling estate, a project that seems doomed to fail. His only company are two standard poodles (possibly the weirdest pair of pets I've ever encountered in a book like this) and a few friends as quiet and solitary as he tries to be.
When a local philanthropist is brutally murdered Cashin finds himself embroiled with the local police force, a rabidly racist bunch who are determined to pin the crime on a couple of local aboriginal teens. It isn't long before Cashin discovers the so called philanthropist may have been doing more than just providing poor teens with a chance to go to summer camp and it quickly becomes apparent that quite a few people might have wanted him dead.
This is a wide ranging novel with a huge cast of characters that occasionally gets super unweildy but despite a lot of twists and turns and some unresolved story lines I found myself really enjoying this. Its very much a character driven book with very sharp and often very funny dialogue that calls to mind an Australian version of a Bogey and Bacall movie. Author Peter Temple comes from a journalistic background and his sharp, staccato, David Mametish dialogue bears that out. There isn't a whole lot here visually, this was not a novel I "saw" in my mind as I read it, but it still works. Temple's characters linger. Cashin is an incredibly likable hero. He ticks all the "damaged cop with a heart of gold" check boxes but there's a certain je ne sais quoi that sets him apart. He's a good person, you just feel that in the way he deals with victims and perps and witnesses and the people he cares about. He's an introspective, troubled man, but he isn't mired in his problems. You get the sense that he wants to be happier, more settled and comfortable with himself and you root for him to find that inner peace that seems to elude him.
Temple doesn't reinvent the wheel here but he certainly makes it spin faster and more elegantly than most of his fellow noir crime fiction authors. I might have known where things were heading but I still wanted to see how it all played out and Temple doesn't disappoint. The end is brutal, disturbing and not every loose end is tied up neatly but it somehow doesn't matter.
There's a bit of a tacked on romantic element and readers may be a tad bit confused by the motherload of Australian slang (there's a super helpful glossary at the back of the book) but this is straight up a very good book and I'm looking forward to reading more.
February 11, 2011
Australia shows up strongly in these pages, in the characters, in the vernacular. Detective Joe Cachin has seen a bit too much, but still has room in his heart for bad kids wrongly charged. When he pursues an open-and-shut case he uncovers horrors a small town has hidden a lifetime. Several lifetimes, it turns out.
The clipped style of short sentences and scraps of thought work well here with a busy, distracted man allowing the case to build itself. Things seen and heard out of context begin to take on new meaning as the bits of information accumulate. Below I give you Peter Temple talking about his work, and American influences:
Peter Temple is not well-known in the United States, but he has long sought a wider audience. Apparently his editors told him his work was "too Australian." I am here to say that can never be the case--the difference is the cache, especially in this time of interconnectedness. If mysteries are your thing, and you have wondered about Australia, try this wonderful addition to the genre.
The clipped style of short sentences and scraps of thought work well here with a busy, distracted man allowing the case to build itself. Things seen and heard out of context begin to take on new meaning as the bits of information accumulate. Below I give you Peter Temple talking about his work, and American influences:
"I like American writing, in general. I'm an enthusiast for [Don] DeLillo, John Updike, Cormac McCarthy. And I grew up on James Hadley Chase, [Raymond] Chandler, Ross Macdonald. I've always loved the plots, the interest in the unveiling of secrets from the past and in the intricacies of families, which is distinctively American, invented by American writers. [I love] the gradual unearthing of things and the plodding from one thing to another that those writers, Macdonald in particular, did so well. And also, of course, there is the tradition of loner heroes, dysfunctionals who don't connect fully with society, who do what they do or they wouldn't get up in the morning." The full article can be read here.
Peter Temple is not well-known in the United States, but he has long sought a wider audience. Apparently his editors told him his work was "too Australian." I am here to say that can never be the case--the difference is the cache, especially in this time of interconnectedness. If mysteries are your thing, and you have wondered about Australia, try this wonderful addition to the genre.
November 4, 2015
This is a very dark book and I initially struggled both because of some of the confronting racist language and because some of the issues cut very close to the bone. It's both an excellent crime novel and a beautifully written literary piece but can happily be read as either.
Joe Cashin is a police officer who goes home to police in small town coastal Victoria. He's recovering physically and psychologically from a stake or gone wrong during his time with Homicide in Melbourne. Of course he now has to police people he grew up with. Pivotally this includes the Aboriginal population in town. Then he's called to the murderous assault on the town's richest man and philanthropist. And then it gets political ... And there are more deaths.
This is also an excellent portrait of someone attempting to put life back together after too many shattering moments. The physical, emotional and mental impacts are faithfully represented. The impact of trauma on police, those they serve and those they attempt to protect the public from is beautifully portrayed. The irony of trauma having such disparate impacts is rarely so well drawn.
Much, much more could be written about the merits of this book but most importantly I found it hard to put down and I will think about it for quite some time to come.
Joe Cashin is a police officer who goes home to police in small town coastal Victoria. He's recovering physically and psychologically from a stake or gone wrong during his time with Homicide in Melbourne. Of course he now has to police people he grew up with. Pivotally this includes the Aboriginal population in town. Then he's called to the murderous assault on the town's richest man and philanthropist. And then it gets political ... And there are more deaths.
This is also an excellent portrait of someone attempting to put life back together after too many shattering moments. The physical, emotional and mental impacts are faithfully represented. The impact of trauma on police, those they serve and those they attempt to protect the public from is beautifully portrayed. The irony of trauma having such disparate impacts is rarely so well drawn.
Much, much more could be written about the merits of this book but most importantly I found it hard to put down and I will think about it for quite some time to come.
October 11, 2020
Peter Temple was one of Australia's favourite crime writers, especially for his Jack Irish series which can be seen on repeat television series.
His last two books introduced a new main character, Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin: I thought this might be one of those clever names that indicates that he's on the take, but no, he is honest. It's the others who are rotten.
Cashin has been seriously injured in a stakeout that went wrong, though we never learn enough about it to understand what he was doing at the time or why. In the event, that's typical of the whole book, which has story trails like streamers in a breeze, snapping off and floating away somewhere....
There are at least three strands of crimes in this novel - the murder of local powerful man Burgoyne, the first in a series; the crimes committed by Burgoyne and his associates; and the blackmail, bribery and corruption of the local police (not Cashin).
There's too much left up in the air for me, no resolution to many of the questions that I want answered.
There was so much left trailing that I thought that the sequel Truth, must address the missing bits, but I've checked it up and it seems to take a different tack altogether with central characters who are present but mainly offstage in The Broken Shore. I don't think I need to read it.
His last two books introduced a new main character, Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin: I thought this might be one of those clever names that indicates that he's on the take, but no, he is honest. It's the others who are rotten.
Cashin has been seriously injured in a stakeout that went wrong, though we never learn enough about it to understand what he was doing at the time or why. In the event, that's typical of the whole book, which has story trails like streamers in a breeze, snapping off and floating away somewhere....
There are at least three strands of crimes in this novel - the murder of local powerful man Burgoyne, the first in a series; the crimes committed by Burgoyne and his associates; and the blackmail, bribery and corruption of the local police (not Cashin).
There's too much left up in the air for me, no resolution to many of the questions that I want answered.
There was so much left trailing that I thought that the sequel Truth, must address the missing bits, but I've checked it up and it seems to take a different tack altogether with central characters who are present but mainly offstage in The Broken Shore. I don't think I need to read it.
August 3, 2011
A lot of this was very predictable. I mean, Aboriginal kids are killed or harassed to death by police, the local Christian organisers of a boys’ camp for orphans turned out to have been kiddy-fiddlers (it always surprises me how long it takes the police to figure out this connection – you’d think by now the phrase ‘Christian Boys’ Camp’ might ring the same kinds of immediate warning bells as ‘Danger – High Voltage’ or ‘Best of ABBA’ do), the rich and powerful look out for one another and, you’re never going to believe this, the hero (damaged as he might well be – even though with a good heart) sorts it all out in the end – even when you least expect it.
There are, admittedly, some interesting things going on here with the form, both of the writing and possibly also playing around with the genre – the prose is clipped and Spartan and some of the Aussie-isms are at least amusing. But overall I have to say that this hardly carried my interest. Look, at least the hero wasn’t a loveable larrikin (so, at least we are spared one Aussie cliché, mates and sheilas) – but if anything he was a kind of cowboy come home seeking peace and quiet only to be destined to lift the lid on racism, corruption and a child sex ring. I thought the Opera was a little heavy-handed too, though, unfortunately.
Now, listen, far be it from me to endorse having sex with children – don’t get me wrong here – I hate paedophiles as much as your average red blooded Aussie bloke. But I do get a little sick of the endless references to it in novels and how this is invariably then used as a kind of excuse for the most graphic and bloody tortures committed to the bodies of these new fiends and monsters. And - as with the Spanish Inquisition – we lesser sinners, we much lesser sinners, seem to be redeemed, to be washed clean by the blood and screaming torment of these wicked, wicked men.
And isn’t there lots of blood and don’t we get treated to lots of detailed screaming torment?
Thank goodness there is one class of person left to whom no extremity of torment is too much for them to endure to sate our need for revenge, especially now that torturing blacks to death like we used to in the good old days is only approved of by the sorts of people none of US would choose to be seen dead with. No, we cheer when a racist is punched in this – but do we give a stuff if the paedophile lives or dies at the end? If you are into eternal damnation, anal probes of red hot pokers or get-off considering the perfect punishments God has planned for those who transgress his narrow path to righteousness, then this book will give you quite a preview of the entertainment the Elect can expect for primetime viewing from Right-Hand-of-God-TV - after they’ve finished their daily chanting of “Holy, Holy, Holy”, of course.
The metaphor of the ‘broken shore’ is interesting and a nice comparison with the destruction brought upon our society by the all too various forms of corruption the book details. However, I much preferred the more subtle idea in the title, that there is also a homophone working here – the broken sure. This is a book where certainties all come broken.
All the same, with the high-camp local café owner, the suicidal, homosexual brother, the extremely attractive girl from high school who remains just as attractive in midlife and whose knickers just fly off at the very suggestion of party pies (by the way, a lot of the food in this book is utter crap) all this, and the fact there were enough deaths, attempted deaths, suicides and near fatal woundings to make even a writer from Midsummer Murders blush, made this book a little disappointing.
This review is harsher than I had intended. Some of the writing is quite perceptive and some is even quite interesting. But I really don’t think there needed to be quite so much death and destruction. From memory only two people die in China Town – but I left that feeling much more uncomfortable about both paedophilia and social corruption. All the same, I probably ought to read Truth at some stage. Unfortunately, in the end I can’t pretend that I wasn’t a disappointed with this.
There are, admittedly, some interesting things going on here with the form, both of the writing and possibly also playing around with the genre – the prose is clipped and Spartan and some of the Aussie-isms are at least amusing. But overall I have to say that this hardly carried my interest. Look, at least the hero wasn’t a loveable larrikin (so, at least we are spared one Aussie cliché, mates and sheilas) – but if anything he was a kind of cowboy come home seeking peace and quiet only to be destined to lift the lid on racism, corruption and a child sex ring. I thought the Opera was a little heavy-handed too, though, unfortunately.
Now, listen, far be it from me to endorse having sex with children – don’t get me wrong here – I hate paedophiles as much as your average red blooded Aussie bloke. But I do get a little sick of the endless references to it in novels and how this is invariably then used as a kind of excuse for the most graphic and bloody tortures committed to the bodies of these new fiends and monsters. And - as with the Spanish Inquisition – we lesser sinners, we much lesser sinners, seem to be redeemed, to be washed clean by the blood and screaming torment of these wicked, wicked men.
And isn’t there lots of blood and don’t we get treated to lots of detailed screaming torment?
Thank goodness there is one class of person left to whom no extremity of torment is too much for them to endure to sate our need for revenge, especially now that torturing blacks to death like we used to in the good old days is only approved of by the sorts of people none of US would choose to be seen dead with. No, we cheer when a racist is punched in this – but do we give a stuff if the paedophile lives or dies at the end? If you are into eternal damnation, anal probes of red hot pokers or get-off considering the perfect punishments God has planned for those who transgress his narrow path to righteousness, then this book will give you quite a preview of the entertainment the Elect can expect for primetime viewing from Right-Hand-of-God-TV - after they’ve finished their daily chanting of “Holy, Holy, Holy”, of course.
The metaphor of the ‘broken shore’ is interesting and a nice comparison with the destruction brought upon our society by the all too various forms of corruption the book details. However, I much preferred the more subtle idea in the title, that there is also a homophone working here – the broken sure. This is a book where certainties all come broken.
All the same, with the high-camp local café owner, the suicidal, homosexual brother, the extremely attractive girl from high school who remains just as attractive in midlife and whose knickers just fly off at the very suggestion of party pies (by the way, a lot of the food in this book is utter crap) all this, and the fact there were enough deaths, attempted deaths, suicides and near fatal woundings to make even a writer from Midsummer Murders blush, made this book a little disappointing.
This review is harsher than I had intended. Some of the writing is quite perceptive and some is even quite interesting. But I really don’t think there needed to be quite so much death and destruction. From memory only two people die in China Town – but I left that feeling much more uncomfortable about both paedophilia and social corruption. All the same, I probably ought to read Truth at some stage. Unfortunately, in the end I can’t pretend that I wasn’t a disappointed with this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2013
I had to read this book for university, otherwise I would have been very willing to take up the Independent reviewer's dare to read page one and not finish it. There were several issues I had with this book.
The most annoying was the writing style, the voice. I'm not talking about the actual dialogue here, this is about all the other bits of writing. Which were terribly fragmented, incomplete sentences all over the place. I know this is a stylistic choice, but it just didn't work for me. I kept wanting to add in 'and's and 'with's and 'the's, etc. About a third of the time I actually had to re-read sentences to make sense of them, because they were just a smidgeon away from becoming dangling modifiers.
Now we go to dialogue. Probably the best thing about this book, incredibly realistic, incredibly witty. But every single character spoke with the same voice, everyone was sarcastically, excellently witty, not taking any time to think up a clever response, never not hitting the mark. I just didn't find this realistic. Oddly enough, the one character whose dialogue I didn't feel was particularly sarcastic in tone was the main character. To me it sounded like a genuine attempt at good natured humour every time he spoke, which is completely out of character with his world-weary internal landscape.
Another issue with the main character was that I didn't actually get a sense of him being injured until about a third of the way through the book. Yes, the teaser on the back of the book said he was in the country recovering from life-threatening injuries, but you shouldn't have to rely on the teaser to know such an important piece of information, it should come through in the writing. There was no real mention of those injuries, or the effects they would have, until a long way into the book - the very fist scene is him walking (I read it as a long walk), with no mention of it being tiring to him or painful, as you would expect from a recovering person.
Cashin's relationship with Helen was also entirely unbelievable to me. Every time they actually have a conversation they devolve into antagonism very quickly, yet she throws him into bed so quickly? Maybe if we'd had any description of Cashin being hot or somehow attractive that would be more believable, but I remain completely clueless as to what he actually looks like. All the incidental characters have wonderful descriptions, but all the main characters are left vague and faceless.
The plot was alright, I guess, but it was very, very slow to start going anywhere. Once the main plot of the murders started getting introduced (about half way through the book) it was very engaging, though it quickly became obvious who the culprit was.
All in all, definitely NOT the most thrilling book I've ever read.
The most annoying was the writing style, the voice. I'm not talking about the actual dialogue here, this is about all the other bits of writing. Which were terribly fragmented, incomplete sentences all over the place. I know this is a stylistic choice, but it just didn't work for me. I kept wanting to add in 'and's and 'with's and 'the's, etc. About a third of the time I actually had to re-read sentences to make sense of them, because they were just a smidgeon away from becoming dangling modifiers.
Now we go to dialogue. Probably the best thing about this book, incredibly realistic, incredibly witty. But every single character spoke with the same voice, everyone was sarcastically, excellently witty, not taking any time to think up a clever response, never not hitting the mark. I just didn't find this realistic. Oddly enough, the one character whose dialogue I didn't feel was particularly sarcastic in tone was the main character. To me it sounded like a genuine attempt at good natured humour every time he spoke, which is completely out of character with his world-weary internal landscape.
Another issue with the main character was that I didn't actually get a sense of him being injured until about a third of the way through the book. Yes, the teaser on the back of the book said he was in the country recovering from life-threatening injuries, but you shouldn't have to rely on the teaser to know such an important piece of information, it should come through in the writing. There was no real mention of those injuries, or the effects they would have, until a long way into the book - the very fist scene is him walking (I read it as a long walk), with no mention of it being tiring to him or painful, as you would expect from a recovering person.
Cashin's relationship with Helen was also entirely unbelievable to me. Every time they actually have a conversation they devolve into antagonism very quickly, yet she throws him into bed so quickly? Maybe if we'd had any description of Cashin being hot or somehow attractive that would be more believable, but I remain completely clueless as to what he actually looks like. All the incidental characters have wonderful descriptions, but all the main characters are left vague and faceless.
The plot was alright, I guess, but it was very, very slow to start going anywhere. Once the main plot of the murders started getting introduced (about half way through the book) it was very engaging, though it quickly became obvious who the culprit was.
All in all, definitely NOT the most thrilling book I've ever read.
October 11, 2020
The Broken Shore takes place in and around the small town of Port Monro, on Australia's southern coast. It's a threadbare place, populated by fulltime residents resentfully serving the wealthy, who come for the beach during the warm months, but leave as the Antarctic winds signal the arrival of winter.
Joe Cashin is the senior policeman in Port Monro, ostensibly on indeterminate loan from the largest nearby city, Cromarty, minding the shop while recovering from the psychological and physical effects of an arrest gone wrong that saw him severely wounded, his partner killed, and the perpetrator vanished without a trace. The days are long and largely uneventful - especially during the offseason - but the murder of one of the town elders quickly brings things to a boil.
Three aboriginal youths are identified as prime suspects, but when a rolling roadblock, led by another cop with a very checkered past, ends with all three boys dying in a hail of gunfire, the case surfaces simmering racial and class tensions, and invites interest from politicians looking to either leverage the event for their own benefit or tamp it down in the name of the status quo.
Temple writes beautifully - the sense of place and time in The Broken Shore reminded me of nothing more than what James Lee Burke might put to the page were he focused Downunder rather than on Louisiana. The characters are sharply drawn, the dialog crackles with a naturalness and a wit that is rare, and the overall experience is immersive.
A few cautions: The author includes a glossary of Australian slang - which is highly useful - but the non-Aussie reader may still struggle on occasion to follow every bit of dialog. Likewise, the plot is not entirely about the crimes - there are layers here devoted to loss and memory that are deeper than one will find in the run of the mill whodunnit. Finally, the first half of the book may seem a bit slow for some readers, as it is devoted to frustation and a lack of leads. It picks up momentum quickly, however, as a key clue suddenly begins to unravel what really took place.
For readers looking to go a bit deeper than a simple mystery - and who value "show" rather than "tell", The Broken Shore will be rewarding. I loved it and recommend it highly.
Joe Cashin is the senior policeman in Port Monro, ostensibly on indeterminate loan from the largest nearby city, Cromarty, minding the shop while recovering from the psychological and physical effects of an arrest gone wrong that saw him severely wounded, his partner killed, and the perpetrator vanished without a trace. The days are long and largely uneventful - especially during the offseason - but the murder of one of the town elders quickly brings things to a boil.
Three aboriginal youths are identified as prime suspects, but when a rolling roadblock, led by another cop with a very checkered past, ends with all three boys dying in a hail of gunfire, the case surfaces simmering racial and class tensions, and invites interest from politicians looking to either leverage the event for their own benefit or tamp it down in the name of the status quo.
Temple writes beautifully - the sense of place and time in The Broken Shore reminded me of nothing more than what James Lee Burke might put to the page were he focused Downunder rather than on Louisiana. The characters are sharply drawn, the dialog crackles with a naturalness and a wit that is rare, and the overall experience is immersive.
A few cautions: The author includes a glossary of Australian slang - which is highly useful - but the non-Aussie reader may still struggle on occasion to follow every bit of dialog. Likewise, the plot is not entirely about the crimes - there are layers here devoted to loss and memory that are deeper than one will find in the run of the mill whodunnit. Finally, the first half of the book may seem a bit slow for some readers, as it is devoted to frustation and a lack of leads. It picks up momentum quickly, however, as a key clue suddenly begins to unravel what really took place.
For readers looking to go a bit deeper than a simple mystery - and who value "show" rather than "tell", The Broken Shore will be rewarding. I loved it and recommend it highly.
February 6, 2022
A thin but steady rain fell on the men as they walked down the balding gravel path and along the pavement to the vehicle. The gutters were running, carrying leaves and twigs and acorns. In some dark tunnel, they would meet the sordid human litter of the city and go together to the cold slate bay.
Returning to work after life-threatening injuries, Vic Police homicide detective Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin is posted to Port Munro, the town on the south coast where he grew up, a short distance from regional centre Cromarty – (a thinly-veiled Port Fairy and Warrnambool perhaps?) Ridden by pain and haunted by nightmares, he attends to mostly minor infringements while trying to restore the home built by his grandfather. Few of his cohorts from school went on to better things (a politician and solicitor) - outnumbered by the feckless and reckless - while his cousin Bern buys and sells building supplies and equipment of questionable origin. Add an Indigenous auntie who once took him in.
Everything changes when he is called to “The Heights”, owned by elderly businessman and local benefactor Charles Bourgoyne, found brutally-bashed by his house-keeper/cleaner. Cashin is sidelined from the investigation by detectives from Cromarty, led by Hopgood. A missing watch casts suspicion on three youths from the Daunt aboriginal community and fearing political backlash, Cashin’s boss in Homicide in Melbourne, Villani, sends Indigenous liaison officer, DS Paul Dove to Port Munro to oversee their arrest and interrogation. In a town divided along racist lines, innocence until proven guilty is the first casualty, and as Cashin digs deeper into the elderly victim’s past, unexplained deaths and a fire resurface.
Those readers looking for the light-headed Jack Irish may be disappointed as author Peter Temple delves into darker themes and the depraved side of society, touching on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. As always, the writing shows a keen ear for dialogue and eye for detail, with a wicked sense of the absurd, parsing the weather and landscape in minimalist terms.
Beyond the gravel expanse and the box hedges, a row of tall pencil pines was moving in the wind, swaying in unison like a chorus line of fat-bellied dancers.
Here a coastal town in winter, when the tourists stay away, left to the locals from Leon, the gay dentist turned coffee lounge owner, a developer seeking council-approval for a resort within the coastal reverse, a politician making social justice his electoral platform, an itinerant swaggie with a past, and a host of shifty characters and questionable police methods.
The jetty planks were old and deeply furrowed, the gaps between them wide enough to lose a fishing knife to the sea, see it flash as it hit the water. Only three other people were out in the weather, a man and a small boy sitting side by side, arms touching, fishing with handlines, and an old man layered with clothing, holding a rod over the railing. His beanie was pulled down to his eyebrows, a red nose poking out of grey stubble.
I read the sequel “Truth” some years back, where Villani plays the lead role to Cashin, and I enjoyed this one (though I guessed the main villain early in the piece). My only reservation was the ending with several loose threads left hanging. That in itself is more a reflection of true life than fiction.
Returning to work after life-threatening injuries, Vic Police homicide detective Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin is posted to Port Munro, the town on the south coast where he grew up, a short distance from regional centre Cromarty – (a thinly-veiled Port Fairy and Warrnambool perhaps?) Ridden by pain and haunted by nightmares, he attends to mostly minor infringements while trying to restore the home built by his grandfather. Few of his cohorts from school went on to better things (a politician and solicitor) - outnumbered by the feckless and reckless - while his cousin Bern buys and sells building supplies and equipment of questionable origin. Add an Indigenous auntie who once took him in.
Everything changes when he is called to “The Heights”, owned by elderly businessman and local benefactor Charles Bourgoyne, found brutally-bashed by his house-keeper/cleaner. Cashin is sidelined from the investigation by detectives from Cromarty, led by Hopgood. A missing watch casts suspicion on three youths from the Daunt aboriginal community and fearing political backlash, Cashin’s boss in Homicide in Melbourne, Villani, sends Indigenous liaison officer, DS Paul Dove to Port Munro to oversee their arrest and interrogation. In a town divided along racist lines, innocence until proven guilty is the first casualty, and as Cashin digs deeper into the elderly victim’s past, unexplained deaths and a fire resurface.
Those readers looking for the light-headed Jack Irish may be disappointed as author Peter Temple delves into darker themes and the depraved side of society, touching on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. As always, the writing shows a keen ear for dialogue and eye for detail, with a wicked sense of the absurd, parsing the weather and landscape in minimalist terms.
Beyond the gravel expanse and the box hedges, a row of tall pencil pines was moving in the wind, swaying in unison like a chorus line of fat-bellied dancers.
Here a coastal town in winter, when the tourists stay away, left to the locals from Leon, the gay dentist turned coffee lounge owner, a developer seeking council-approval for a resort within the coastal reverse, a politician making social justice his electoral platform, an itinerant swaggie with a past, and a host of shifty characters and questionable police methods.
The jetty planks were old and deeply furrowed, the gaps between them wide enough to lose a fishing knife to the sea, see it flash as it hit the water. Only three other people were out in the weather, a man and a small boy sitting side by side, arms touching, fishing with handlines, and an old man layered with clothing, holding a rod over the railing. His beanie was pulled down to his eyebrows, a red nose poking out of grey stubble.
I read the sequel “Truth” some years back, where Villani plays the lead role to Cashin, and I enjoyed this one (though I guessed the main villain early in the piece). My only reservation was the ending with several loose threads left hanging. That in itself is more a reflection of true life than fiction.
March 10, 2011
Wow. A very fine book indeed. With a nice tight prose style, this mystery transcends the genre with the quality of its writing, well drawn characters, and nuanced exploration of racial issues. Main character and homicide cop Joe Cashin returns to his economically depressed home town in Southern Australia to recuperate from a car accident that resulted in a dead partner, an escaped suspect, and chronic crippling back pain for Joe. A wealthy man is murdered in his home, and Joe is forced out of his recovery to work on the case, then forced back on leave when three young aboriginal suspects end up dead due to a brutally botched plan to take them into custody. This book explores race in a way that I never would have expected from a crime procedural. Almost reminds me of Raymond Chandler, but with better writing and a more interesting setting. Peter Temple, I'll be back for more.
July 2, 2017
Ένα αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα με ιδιαίτερη πλοκή που σε μεταφέρει στην Αυστραλία, ίσως στην πιο ενδιαφέρουσα χώρα του σύγχρονου κόσμου.
Εκεί συναντάμε τον αστυνομικό Τζο Κασιν ο οποίος αναλαμβάνει να λύσει την υπόθεση της δολοφονίας ενός πλούσιου μοναχικού κατοίκου της περιοχής. Όταν τα πρώτα στοιχεία δείχνουν ότι για τον φόνο ενδεχομένως να ευθύνονται νεαροί αυτόχθονες (Αβορίγινες, "γυφτοι" κατα τους λευκούς κατοίκους) η υπόθεση παίρνει διαφορετική τροπή καθώς βήμα βήμα αρχίζει και ξεδιαλύνει το παρελθόν του θύματος. Ταυτόχρονα, βρίσκονται δολοφονημένοι και άλλοι δυο άνθρωποι με κοινό παρελθόν με το πρώτο θύμα.
Αστυνομική πλοκή με ροπή προς το κλασικό, αλλά με στοιχεία σύγχρονου κοινωνικού έργου που καταφέρνει να σε εισάγει στην τοπική κοινωνία.
3,5/5 γιατι κουράζει λιγο σε κάποια κεφαλαία με μακροσκελείς περιγραφές που τελικά δε χρησιμεύουν σε κάτι!
Εκεί συναντάμε τον αστυνομικό Τζο Κασιν ο οποίος αναλαμβάνει να λύσει την υπόθεση της δολοφονίας ενός πλούσιου μοναχικού κατοίκου της περιοχής. Όταν τα πρώτα στοιχεία δείχνουν ότι για τον φόνο ενδεχομένως να ευθύνονται νεαροί αυτόχθονες (Αβορίγινες, "γυφτοι" κατα τους λευκούς κατοίκους) η υπόθεση παίρνει διαφορετική τροπή καθώς βήμα βήμα αρχίζει και ξεδιαλύνει το παρελθόν του θύματος. Ταυτόχρονα, βρίσκονται δολοφονημένοι και άλλοι δυο άνθρωποι με κοινό παρελθόν με το πρώτο θύμα.
Αστυνομική πλοκή με ροπή προς το κλασικό, αλλά με στοιχεία σύγχρονου κοινωνικού έργου που καταφέρνει να σε εισάγει στην τοπική κοινωνία.
3,5/5 γιατι κουράζει λιγο σε κάποια κεφαλαία με μακροσκελείς περιγραφές που τελικά δε χρησιμεύουν σε κάτι!
May 10, 2016
I wish I had picked this book up earlier. For no other reason than that it completely and utterly immersed you into the setting of the book. I could imagine Joe Cashin's property perfectly. The lining of gums and scrub along the creek. The coast along the Great Ocean Road, some of the wildest and most beautiful I have ever seen. The invoking of the crazy autumn weather that can be calm and sunny one day, and then gale force winds and horizontal rain the next. Sometimes within the same day. For this alone, I found it a pleasure to read.
Throw in a well written, layered crime novel into the mix and you're on to a winner. The book doesn't shy away from the ugliness still prevalent in some parts of Australian life. And that is important and makes the book feel more real. Sometimes I did feel like it was pushing the envelope on the gritty elements and social problems more than it needed too, but this may be my own experience as a city kid instead of from out bush.
I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it for a read. Particularly if you like your crime/murder fiction, but want to read something not set in Sydney or Melbourne to get a better understanding of the more rural parts of Australia.
Throw in a well written, layered crime novel into the mix and you're on to a winner. The book doesn't shy away from the ugliness still prevalent in some parts of Australian life. And that is important and makes the book feel more real. Sometimes I did feel like it was pushing the envelope on the gritty elements and social problems more than it needed too, but this may be my own experience as a city kid instead of from out bush.
I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it for a read. Particularly if you like your crime/murder fiction, but want to read something not set in Sydney or Melbourne to get a better understanding of the more rural parts of Australia.
December 6, 2007
Ugh, this book was just plain bad...I had to stop. I tried, I really, really tried. The sentences were cut off half the time and I had a really hard time comprehending anything in it...I got about 100 pages in and the plot was moving along too slowly, so combined together, I gave up on the whole thing. I have NEVER, ever done that before.
But, really...do people really talk like that? A lot of what I read were just broken sentences, without proper grammar. I found it very distracting.
But, really...do people really talk like that? A lot of what I read were just broken sentences, without proper grammar. I found it very distracting.
September 20, 2010
Joe Cashin is a recovering former homicide detective now running a small country town cop shop. The death of a well respected local pulls him into a murder investigation.
This novel is a masterly demonstration of natural and nuanced dialogue, intriguing characters and a finely tuned plot that compels the reader forward in identification with the protagonist.
However this is more than just a crime novel, this is a little slice of rural Australian life, the politics of corruption and the everday experience of pain, whether physical or emotional. Superbly written.
This novel is a masterly demonstration of natural and nuanced dialogue, intriguing characters and a finely tuned plot that compels the reader forward in identification with the protagonist.
However this is more than just a crime novel, this is a little slice of rural Australian life, the politics of corruption and the everday experience of pain, whether physical or emotional. Superbly written.
January 28, 2014
I love a book with short chapters and lots of dialogue so Peter Temple has definitely done us both a favour with ‘The Broken Shore’. His protagonist Cashin, a Melbourne homicide detective, is living and working in a rural town that still holds firm to a racial divide and clings tightly to a ‘cops and robbers’ mentality. After the death of a long-standing social figure, the town is thrown into a chaotic and bloody aftermath with convalescing Cashin seemingly at the helm.
There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and like most crime dramas everyone seems suspect, if not just a little odd. Particularly intriguing are the parallels Temple draws between Cashin rebuilding his family property, the mending of his personal relationships, and his recovery from a work related motor accident. This is a man certainly trying to put together the pieces in more ways than one.
The first 100 or so pages, although well written, seem to just bumble along, but by halfway, pace escalates and the reader is exposed to some very shady dealings indeed. For one who hasn’t read a lot of crime fiction, ‘The Broken Shore’ was a great hook-in: easy style, good crafting and genuine unpredictability. An enjoyable read.
There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and like most crime dramas everyone seems suspect, if not just a little odd. Particularly intriguing are the parallels Temple draws between Cashin rebuilding his family property, the mending of his personal relationships, and his recovery from a work related motor accident. This is a man certainly trying to put together the pieces in more ways than one.
The first 100 or so pages, although well written, seem to just bumble along, but by halfway, pace escalates and the reader is exposed to some very shady dealings indeed. For one who hasn’t read a lot of crime fiction, ‘The Broken Shore’ was a great hook-in: easy style, good crafting and genuine unpredictability. An enjoyable read.
June 3, 2012
I don't know how I have been unaware of Peter Temple until now. This is one of the most engaging works of modern Australian fiction of any genre that I have read for a long time.
Basically, it is a detective story, where a homicide detective, Cashin, who is on sick leave in his home town, becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of a prominent local citizen. He has doubts about the guilt of the first "who dunnits" - three boys from the local Aboriginal community - and sets out to uncover the truth, despite the opposition of the local police. Sound familiar?
Wrong. There is absolutely nothing superficial about this novel in terms of themes, plot, characterisation or realisation. This book, a winner of the 2007 Duncan Lawrence Dagger Prize, and at least four others, has far more to it than a standard police procedural or crime thriller. For a start, its big themes of police corruption, child abuse, environmental destruction, complex Aboriginal issues, rural culture, social tensions and even personal and family relations are examined in an almost forensic way. It is no surprise that Temple was a journalist: he deals with these realities with as much authority and depth as any op.ed. writer would, but in a far more emotionally engaging manner.
The best books are true to their cultural and geographical setting. Here, South West Victoria is depicted so accurately with its freezing rain, remnant volcanic landforms and Antarctic winds. The culture is presented warts and all, with its underlying and even overt racism, self interest and parochialism. The characters, especially Cashin, are laconic, ironic and are more likely to express their feelings in action rather than words. Temple has taken some universal themes, mentioned in the previous paragraph, and centred them in a specific milieu.
There are very few false notes in this book. It may not be Book of the Year as far as the Australian Tourist Board is concerned, but its sparse, precise prose, well-paced plot and understanding of the realities of disturbing issues make it an outstanding example of good fiction - anywhere.
Basically, it is a detective story, where a homicide detective, Cashin, who is on sick leave in his home town, becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of a prominent local citizen. He has doubts about the guilt of the first "who dunnits" - three boys from the local Aboriginal community - and sets out to uncover the truth, despite the opposition of the local police. Sound familiar?
Wrong. There is absolutely nothing superficial about this novel in terms of themes, plot, characterisation or realisation. This book, a winner of the 2007 Duncan Lawrence Dagger Prize, and at least four others, has far more to it than a standard police procedural or crime thriller. For a start, its big themes of police corruption, child abuse, environmental destruction, complex Aboriginal issues, rural culture, social tensions and even personal and family relations are examined in an almost forensic way. It is no surprise that Temple was a journalist: he deals with these realities with as much authority and depth as any op.ed. writer would, but in a far more emotionally engaging manner.
The best books are true to their cultural and geographical setting. Here, South West Victoria is depicted so accurately with its freezing rain, remnant volcanic landforms and Antarctic winds. The culture is presented warts and all, with its underlying and even overt racism, self interest and parochialism. The characters, especially Cashin, are laconic, ironic and are more likely to express their feelings in action rather than words. Temple has taken some universal themes, mentioned in the previous paragraph, and centred them in a specific milieu.
There are very few false notes in this book. It may not be Book of the Year as far as the Australian Tourist Board is concerned, but its sparse, precise prose, well-paced plot and understanding of the realities of disturbing issues make it an outstanding example of good fiction - anywhere.
June 19, 2014
I am stymied about what I want to say about this book. I only gave it three stars, and maybe it should be four, but when I compare it to my other four star books, I can't make myself bump it up.
I liked the story a lot. I liked the characters, most of them, but some of them were just shells. Body but no substance. I can't tell if this is because there were/are going to be more books and I am going to get to know more about them later, or they were just there for the moment and I need to not let it bother me. I know there is another book, but it looks like it might be about what happened "before" the action in this book takes place. Good. I want to know about who this Rai guy is and what happened to Cashin.
The dialogue in this story is definately written in "Aussie lingo". The author gives a brief glossery of terms, which was helpful, but much of the language was very terse and I felt like I may have missed things in the translation. If you are Australian, I am sure it will be an easier read for you. If not, and you are going to continue reading Aussie books in this style - it is going to be a new language.
What I really apperciated about this book were the descriptions of the weather and landscape. The wind and rain are characters in this story as much as the people. I was cold the whole time! I don't think I could live on the coast, no matter what continent it is.
I liked the story a lot. I liked the characters, most of them, but some of them were just shells. Body but no substance. I can't tell if this is because there were/are going to be more books and I am going to get to know more about them later, or they were just there for the moment and I need to not let it bother me. I know there is another book, but it looks like it might be about what happened "before" the action in this book takes place. Good. I want to know about who this Rai guy is and what happened to Cashin.
The dialogue in this story is definately written in "Aussie lingo". The author gives a brief glossery of terms, which was helpful, but much of the language was very terse and I felt like I may have missed things in the translation. If you are Australian, I am sure it will be an easier read for you. If not, and you are going to continue reading Aussie books in this style - it is going to be a new language.
What I really apperciated about this book were the descriptions of the weather and landscape. The wind and rain are characters in this story as much as the people. I was cold the whole time! I don't think I could live on the coast, no matter what continent it is.
August 21, 2012
Peter Temple is South African born but Australian claimed, and for good reason. His crime fiction is gritty and real. His treatment of crime, policing and socio / racial issues in the Victorian coastal countryside rang so true I decided then and there Temple must be the best author ever. Add in his writing style and I am enamoured.
I am not a fan of literary prose – any style of writing that gets in the way of following the story doesn’t rock my boat. Temple’s prose is so in tune with the main character, I read in awe. If I was writing novels, I could only dream of emulating Temple.
After all that gush, what is the story about. Doesn’t matter. Try any one of his books. This was my first, and I have followed that up with The Jack Irish Quinella – Bad Debts + Black Tide, then Truth which includes some of the characters from The Broken Shore, and is based in Sydney.
For those who need to know – from the back cover
A wounded cop recovering from life-threatening injuries in the Victorian coastal countryside gets drawn in to the investigation of a murder …
‘The writing is tight, the plot gallops along, the atmosphere is intermittently spooky with truly chilling moments, the characterisation is masterful.’ Kerryn Goldsworthy Australian ‘Books of the Year’
Winner of the Crime Writers’ association Duncan Lawrie Dagger - World’s most prestigious crime writing prize.
I am not a fan of literary prose – any style of writing that gets in the way of following the story doesn’t rock my boat. Temple’s prose is so in tune with the main character, I read in awe. If I was writing novels, I could only dream of emulating Temple.
After all that gush, what is the story about. Doesn’t matter. Try any one of his books. This was my first, and I have followed that up with The Jack Irish Quinella – Bad Debts + Black Tide, then Truth which includes some of the characters from The Broken Shore, and is based in Sydney.
For those who need to know – from the back cover
A wounded cop recovering from life-threatening injuries in the Victorian coastal countryside gets drawn in to the investigation of a murder …
‘The writing is tight, the plot gallops along, the atmosphere is intermittently spooky with truly chilling moments, the characterisation is masterful.’ Kerryn Goldsworthy Australian ‘Books of the Year’
Winner of the Crime Writers’ association Duncan Lawrie Dagger - World’s most prestigious crime writing prize.
September 2, 2018
The Broken Shore was an immersive and often brutal book to read. It is a mystery in the hard-boiled tradition which takes place in Australia. Our detective is Joe Cashin, who used to work homicide in Melbourne but for reasons which come out later in the story has been re-assigned to a post in a small coastal town.
When a rich local is found near death after an attack in his country home, Joe is first on the scene. Eventually, the case is given over to the slightly larger police force of another precinct, but Joe keeps being drawn back to the case both officially and unofficially. What eventually unspools is a complicated web of deceit, complicity and depravity. Peter Temple provides a glimpse into modern Australia with class and racial divides that are deep and violent which may be all too familiar for many American readers, albeit couched in a slightly different accent.
I know that there is a second book focusing on a side character from The Broken Shore but I don’t think this book is really part of a series, though it easily could be. I really had the sense of being dropped into an ongoing story and had to immediately start swimming for orientation. I imagine that might be frustrating for some, but I liked this aspect of the book.
When a rich local is found near death after an attack in his country home, Joe is first on the scene. Eventually, the case is given over to the slightly larger police force of another precinct, but Joe keeps being drawn back to the case both officially and unofficially. What eventually unspools is a complicated web of deceit, complicity and depravity. Peter Temple provides a glimpse into modern Australia with class and racial divides that are deep and violent which may be all too familiar for many American readers, albeit couched in a slightly different accent.
I know that there is a second book focusing on a side character from The Broken Shore but I don’t think this book is really part of a series, though it easily could be. I really had the sense of being dropped into an ongoing story and had to immediately start swimming for orientation. I imagine that might be frustrating for some, but I liked this aspect of the book.
July 23, 2009
This book was recommended to me by one of my GR friends (thanks Cam) and it was well worth it. It is the story of an Australian police man who has been re-assigned to what is supposed to be a sleepy backwater where he grew up so that he can recuperate from injuries. Instead, he becomes involved in a murder in the area. The novel has what all good cop mysteries have, interesting characters, plot twists, a little romance, political undertones, and a great story line. AND if you are like me (not Australian) you get to learn a new vocabulary. The American version of the book that I checked out from the library had a glossary of Australian terms in the back, thank goodness, which was very helpful. I really enjoyed the story and the characters were interesting. I am currently looking forward to reading more from this author.
December 9, 2021
From the outset, I have to say that my reading enjoyment of the book was tempered by the terribly slow pace I had to read it at. My wife was in the hospital, and then a rehab hospital for 17 days, and I was spending a lot of time with her. Instead of my usual 3-4 hours of reading a day, I was lucky to get in 45 minutes in the evening.
Peter Temple is Australian, and the story takes place in coastal Australia - I believe the setting is 1996. Joe Cashin is a detective who gets assigned to a nasty murder case. A wealthy retired man is bludgeoned to death in his house. At the outset it looks like an open-and-shut case of a robbery-homicide. His expensive watch is missing, and one like it is reported pawned by someone resembling one of the young suspects.
Temple weaves a number of themes into The Broken Shore. Cashin is dealing with chronic regret. His mind is haunted by his personal and professional mistakes. His marriage ended and he doesn't have a relationship with his son. His adult brother needs some TLC, and Joe fails him. In an attempt to reconnect with his broken past, Joe digs out an old floor plan for the ancestral family home, and has the wacky idea to rebuild it on site. He employs a migrant worker that he just rousted as a vagrant, and he wonders if he might be on the road to something significant in his life for a change. Is an old colleague who is defending the suspects coming on to him? But all of these positives are threatened when some very unsavory facts about the deceased's past life come to light and throw his investigation down an entirely new and dangerous path.
Temple is clearly a very accomplished writer. One of his trademarks seems to be the way some of his characters utilize sarcasm. I love sarcasm, and many of my favorite writers, including Richard Russo, John Updike and Larry McMurtry use it well. But in my opinion Temple went overboard with it in The Broken Shore. If as many people were nasty to someone as Temple has them attack Joe Cashin, it would be farcical.
Peter Temple is Australian, and the story takes place in coastal Australia - I believe the setting is 1996. Joe Cashin is a detective who gets assigned to a nasty murder case. A wealthy retired man is bludgeoned to death in his house. At the outset it looks like an open-and-shut case of a robbery-homicide. His expensive watch is missing, and one like it is reported pawned by someone resembling one of the young suspects.
Temple weaves a number of themes into The Broken Shore. Cashin is dealing with chronic regret. His mind is haunted by his personal and professional mistakes. His marriage ended and he doesn't have a relationship with his son. His adult brother needs some TLC, and Joe fails him. In an attempt to reconnect with his broken past, Joe digs out an old floor plan for the ancestral family home, and has the wacky idea to rebuild it on site. He employs a migrant worker that he just rousted as a vagrant, and he wonders if he might be on the road to something significant in his life for a change. Is an old colleague who is defending the suspects coming on to him? But all of these positives are threatened when some very unsavory facts about the deceased's past life come to light and throw his investigation down an entirely new and dangerous path.
Temple is clearly a very accomplished writer. One of his trademarks seems to be the way some of his characters utilize sarcasm. I love sarcasm, and many of my favorite writers, including Richard Russo, John Updike and Larry McMurtry use it well. But in my opinion Temple went overboard with it in The Broken Shore. If as many people were nasty to someone as Temple has them attack Joe Cashin, it would be farcical.
January 22, 2018
Setting: Victoria, Australia; present day. This is the first in a crime series featuring jaded police detective Joe Cashin. Cashin is based in a small coastal town, a bit of a backwater and with not much going on, although he seems to be resigned to his lot and trying to come to terms with what he sees as his culpability in a colleague's death and a serious injury to himself at the hands of a criminal - more is revealed on this as the book proceeds. I loved the descriptions of this seedy side of Australia (everywhere has its Port Munros!) and the constant conflict between the local 'rednecks' and the Aborigines (although the latter were usually referred to in far more derogatory terms!). So when a local businessman and philanthropist is found with serious head injuries, apparently the victim of a robbery, suspicion immediately falls on the local indigenous community. When the police, including Cashin, attempt to arrest three youths from the community in connection with the investigation, things don't go well. But all is not as it seems and Cashin continues to investigate the victim's background, against his superiors' wishes, with surprising consequences.
This was a bit slow to get going but I was soon drawn to the setting and the characters so am looking forward to reading more of this series, in particular to see if Cashin ever gets to finish building his house! - 9/10.
This was a bit slow to get going but I was soon drawn to the setting and the characters so am looking forward to reading more of this series, in particular to see if Cashin ever gets to finish building his house! - 9/10.
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