What do you think?
Rate this book
Atomic City
Jade, on the run from her past, arrives on the Gold Coast to forge a new identity and make her fortune. She recruits 'The Dealer', a croupier with a shady past, to be her grifting partner and they embark on a series of scams targeting fellow swindlers — Anthony, a self-important businessman, and PJ, an international conman.
Jade creates new selves and lodges herself deeper and deeper into the underbelly of Surfers Paradise. The Dealer soon realises he has more than met his match and wonders what exactly this mysterious, all-consuming femme fatale's motivations are.
Set in the dark shadows of the Gold Coast's glittering high-rise strip, ATOMIC CITY is a wild rollercoaster ride of a story - a neo-noir tale of identity theft, subterfuge and new beginnings.
Jade creates new selves and lodges herself deeper and deeper into the underbelly of Surfers Paradise. The Dealer soon realises he has more than met his match and wonders what exactly this mysterious, all-consuming femme fatale's motivations are.
Set in the dark shadows of the Gold Coast's glittering high-rise strip, ATOMIC CITY is a wild rollercoaster ride of a story - a neo-noir tale of identity theft, subterfuge and new beginnings.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 25, 2014
I wasn't sure whether to give 3 or 4 stars but decided on 4 as it was a very different style of writing than most of the boks I read. A fast, graphic, edgy novel set on The Gold Coast comprising gambling, drugs, sex, fraud and elaborate scams. Particularly enjoyed descriptions of the light, the ocean and the buildings in this part of the world which I visited for the first time last year. It adds another dimension when you can picture where a story is set. The book contrasts the city as a tourist might see with the underworld of drugs and gambling that we see in the plot.
May 22, 2014
It took me a few chapters to get into this book, I think because it is written in a very choppy style. It grew on me, and then I raced to the end. Was a great idea to do this kind of hardboiled story based in Surfers Paradise (a touristy place that I can never think of except in a transitory way). Jade is a modern-day femme fatale, but then we get a look deeper into why she is so obsessed with deception and danger (which I thought was a really wonderful twist on an old character-type).
The chapters alternated mostly between the Dealer and a narrator who described everybody's actions in a clinical, detached way - like a game master in fact, which was cool once I got used to it. I could imagine this as a Tarantino film.
The chapters alternated mostly between the Dealer and a narrator who described everybody's actions in a clinical, detached way - like a game master in fact, which was cool once I got used to it. I could imagine this as a Tarantino film.
September 8, 2013
As your average 'Mexican' – southern visitor to the Gold Coast – for me Surfers Paradise and surrounds are redolent of bright sunshine, grey-cloud free skies, azure sea and endless golden beaches. It streets and strands feature and endless array of humanity shedding outer layers. After years of teaching in a smallish community, it is where I went to to feel free. These days, for the hipster, it is the ultimate tourist cliché, but I adore the hedonistic strip. Once upon I time I would have said I preferred the hippier Sunshine Coast, but, as 'The Dealer' says, 'Of course people do the same shit in Noosa as they do on the Gold Coast; it's just that Noosa makes people think they're doing it better.' Then there is, or was, the ultra-hip Byron – but these days even there has lost some of its sheen. Nowadays my personal focus is more beachside than beaches, being in my dotage. Flying into Coolangatta, though, is still the bees' knees. I've been up to Mangoland umpteen times, although I have never attained my once longed for aim – the goal that Graeme Connors turned in a minor anthem for me (any many others I may suggest) – that of 'Going a little further north each year.' I don't care now. I like to go where I feel comfortable and it's now a place I know reasonably well. I am off up there in a few days, and another Gold Coast holiday will have been completed by the time this is blogged – and hopefully there will be tales to tell!!!
The Gold Coast caters for all age groups of 'Mexicans'. In our younger, single years we stayed in the bustle of Surfers itself, although 'Schoolies' wasn't heard of way back when. Once the sprouts arrived various 'Worlds' were the major attractions. These days we tend to base ourselves further south, in the more sedate surrounds of Burleigh Heads, Currumbin or around the Tweed – exactly where we'll be this time around.
But obviously the view the ordinary punter receives, no matter where he/she is on the strip, is just the glitzy outer skin. Listen to 'The Dealer'. For him we see '...a city of surfaces, an ocean of seamless blue framed by frivolous edges and as for what's underneath?' - well we don't see 'All that endless covert possibility.'
In a recent episode of 'Media Watch' our host reported on a shyster who had 'stung' innocent investors of squillions in a dodgy real estate scam, his victims cajoled into it by 'trustworthy' celebrities such as Jamie Drury and Eva Milic, a former Miss Australia and now television newsreader on the Coast. He reported how 'Four Corners' had tracked down the perpetrator now living in a Mermaid beach McMansion. He was all sunny smiles and bling until the reporting narrowed in on his business dealings, upon which he disappeared behind locked doors. In my mind he could easiy have been the prototype for PJ or Harvey, the callous wheeler-dealers of Sally Breen's fine sophomore offering, 'Atomic City', set on this, Queensland's sun-drenched far southern coast.
One doesn't need a novel to alert to alert us to the fact that there is a darker, seamier side under the epidermis of Surfers and its surrounds. Newspaper headlines have been telling us for decades. Breen, though, ably takes us into this world – to the place she describes as a 'mini-California. Perhaps Miami would have been a more apt analogy, but even so the world inhabited by the aforementioned 'The Dealer', PJ and Harvey, along with their calculating 'honeypot', Jade, is stunningly bought to life. Breen aims, successfully, at a hard-boiled style – film noir on a page.
Jade is the fulcrum of all the activity – a chameleon masterminding scams to rip off the ripper-offerers – and does so, for a while, with great aplomb. Aided by her sidekick, 'The Dealer', who quickly becomes enamoured of this loose young – perhaps too young in terms of age to be so manipulative (but what would this Mexican know?) – operator. The Dealer is well aware of the danger of being so in her thrall, for it all must come tumbling down at some stage, mustn't it? He wants to be well out of range when it does. Jade is a more youthful, and blonde, version of the 'Hustle's' Stacie Monroe, and it was Jaime Murray's face (and body) I had in mind as I read 'Atomic City'. Jade was more prepared to use her bits to effect far more than Stacie ever did, but you get the picture! And use them she did – indiscriminately and to lethal effect.
Sally's first novel 'The Casuals' received rave recommendations from notables such as Frank Moorehouse and Matt Condon, and she lives – you guessed it – on the Gold Coast – Mermaid Beach to be precise. On the basis of this novel she is a writer to keep an eye on. Hopefully, unlike her character, she will not sparkle brightly for a couple of literary forays and then fade, as Jade did with her shifty operations!
The Gold Coast caters for all age groups of 'Mexicans'. In our younger, single years we stayed in the bustle of Surfers itself, although 'Schoolies' wasn't heard of way back when. Once the sprouts arrived various 'Worlds' were the major attractions. These days we tend to base ourselves further south, in the more sedate surrounds of Burleigh Heads, Currumbin or around the Tweed – exactly where we'll be this time around.
But obviously the view the ordinary punter receives, no matter where he/she is on the strip, is just the glitzy outer skin. Listen to 'The Dealer'. For him we see '...a city of surfaces, an ocean of seamless blue framed by frivolous edges and as for what's underneath?' - well we don't see 'All that endless covert possibility.'
In a recent episode of 'Media Watch' our host reported on a shyster who had 'stung' innocent investors of squillions in a dodgy real estate scam, his victims cajoled into it by 'trustworthy' celebrities such as Jamie Drury and Eva Milic, a former Miss Australia and now television newsreader on the Coast. He reported how 'Four Corners' had tracked down the perpetrator now living in a Mermaid beach McMansion. He was all sunny smiles and bling until the reporting narrowed in on his business dealings, upon which he disappeared behind locked doors. In my mind he could easiy have been the prototype for PJ or Harvey, the callous wheeler-dealers of Sally Breen's fine sophomore offering, 'Atomic City', set on this, Queensland's sun-drenched far southern coast.
One doesn't need a novel to alert to alert us to the fact that there is a darker, seamier side under the epidermis of Surfers and its surrounds. Newspaper headlines have been telling us for decades. Breen, though, ably takes us into this world – to the place she describes as a 'mini-California. Perhaps Miami would have been a more apt analogy, but even so the world inhabited by the aforementioned 'The Dealer', PJ and Harvey, along with their calculating 'honeypot', Jade, is stunningly bought to life. Breen aims, successfully, at a hard-boiled style – film noir on a page.
Jade is the fulcrum of all the activity – a chameleon masterminding scams to rip off the ripper-offerers – and does so, for a while, with great aplomb. Aided by her sidekick, 'The Dealer', who quickly becomes enamoured of this loose young – perhaps too young in terms of age to be so manipulative (but what would this Mexican know?) – operator. The Dealer is well aware of the danger of being so in her thrall, for it all must come tumbling down at some stage, mustn't it? He wants to be well out of range when it does. Jade is a more youthful, and blonde, version of the 'Hustle's' Stacie Monroe, and it was Jaime Murray's face (and body) I had in mind as I read 'Atomic City'. Jade was more prepared to use her bits to effect far more than Stacie ever did, but you get the picture! And use them she did – indiscriminately and to lethal effect.
Sally's first novel 'The Casuals' received rave recommendations from notables such as Frank Moorehouse and Matt Condon, and she lives – you guessed it – on the Gold Coast – Mermaid Beach to be precise. On the basis of this novel she is a writer to keep an eye on. Hopefully, unlike her character, she will not sparkle brightly for a couple of literary forays and then fade, as Jade did with her shifty operations!
April 6, 2014
This is an interesting book on so many levels. Despite enjoying it there was something that felt a little off. Set on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia it was nice to see an Aussie author tackle noir and do it well. I thought the writing was at times poetic and vivid, with the seedy depiction of the sunshine state a real highlight.
One thing that bugged was that the characters just didn’t feel real, more a cardboard cut-out than three dimensional. That said the author did go to some length to make Jade, one half of the books’ focus, a tormented and deeply scarred individual with a penchant for the grifters game, same with the titular male lead ‘The Dealer’ – the foundation for a decent character yet something was just a little off centre.
The plot revolves around Jade and her attempts at luring members of the opposite sex into her world of scams and cons. For the most part she’s successful but quickly shows her devil may care attitude when switching sides to hook up with a prominent underworld figure, leaving The Dealer alone with his thoughts of past capers and romanticisms.
From that point forward, the reader learns not to trust her narrative nor The Dealers as jealously boils over and versions of the truth become skewed.
I give this 4 stars on Goodreads but not with confidence. The premise and poetry enough to satisfy me despite the lack of character depth.
One thing that bugged was that the characters just didn’t feel real, more a cardboard cut-out than three dimensional. That said the author did go to some length to make Jade, one half of the books’ focus, a tormented and deeply scarred individual with a penchant for the grifters game, same with the titular male lead ‘The Dealer’ – the foundation for a decent character yet something was just a little off centre.
The plot revolves around Jade and her attempts at luring members of the opposite sex into her world of scams and cons. For the most part she’s successful but quickly shows her devil may care attitude when switching sides to hook up with a prominent underworld figure, leaving The Dealer alone with his thoughts of past capers and romanticisms.
From that point forward, the reader learns not to trust her narrative nor The Dealers as jealously boils over and versions of the truth become skewed.
I give this 4 stars on Goodreads but not with confidence. The premise and poetry enough to satisfy me despite the lack of character depth.
November 10, 2025
Atomic City is a gritty, fast paced dive into the dark side of the Gold Coast. From the moment Jade shows up, running from her past and reinventing herself, you know you’re in for a wild ride. The mix of cons, lies, and shifting identities keeps the story unpredictable, and the tension between Jade and the Dealer gives it real edge.
What I loved most is how the book captures that uneasy mix of glamour and danger the bright lights hiding something rotten underneath. It’s sharp, stylish, and a little unsettling, just like its main character. A slick, noir inspired story about how far someone will go to start over.
What I loved most is how the book captures that uneasy mix of glamour and danger the bright lights hiding something rotten underneath. It’s sharp, stylish, and a little unsettling, just like its main character. A slick, noir inspired story about how far someone will go to start over.
July 2, 2022
This book has been on my to be read for quite a while. I'd read some of Sally Breen's short stories in other publications/formats and I was keen to read more. I liked the way she used words and spaces between those words sparingly to convey a sense of time and place.
The book doesn't rush, the story unfolds, it adds to the tension. The narrative is told largely in two voices - the voice of 'The Dealer' - never named, and the voice of a narrator who pauses the story line to fill in the reader to update on the "State of Play".
It was an interesting book to read.
The book doesn't rush, the story unfolds, it adds to the tension. The narrative is told largely in two voices - the voice of 'The Dealer' - never named, and the voice of a narrator who pauses the story line to fill in the reader to update on the "State of Play".
It was an interesting book to read.
July 26, 2014
Jade, who has had a dreadful small-town past, is seeking an exciting future in a big city. And the fragility of her present, the avarice that is driving her, is the addiction for the Dealer, who has been a well-grounded croupier until then, but, at the moment, is free-falling in a bottomless pit. They are a team, ruthless yet gentle in a naïve way, strangely at ease in Gold Coast, where light and water conjure mind-blowing reflections and humans prey one another for money.
Sally’s narrative has this ability to keep certain emotions that she erects in her settings, a shade out of reach and a wee bit flawed, for want of a crisp reason, making, in the process, the readers imagination run amok, discovering fantasies never before realized, the lack of directness corrupting the innermost thoughts like a catalyst.
It’s neo-noir, and grows deceptively as one digs deeper. The first few pages, until you get the hang of it, can be slightly out of reach though. Be prepared for a heady trip, one you will remember for a long time.
Sally’s narrative has this ability to keep certain emotions that she erects in her settings, a shade out of reach and a wee bit flawed, for want of a crisp reason, making, in the process, the readers imagination run amok, discovering fantasies never before realized, the lack of directness corrupting the innermost thoughts like a catalyst.
It’s neo-noir, and grows deceptively as one digs deeper. The first few pages, until you get the hang of it, can be slightly out of reach though. Be prepared for a heady trip, one you will remember for a long time.
August 2, 2016
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book. I think I thought it might be like an episode of the UK TV show called ‘Hustle’, but it was way more serious than that!
While it was easy to read, I couldn’t connect or really relate to any of the characters. Despite that, I did like the way that the author presented chapters from each major characters perspective. This definitely added to my interest in the story.
Being set in the Gold Coast, it was good being able to try and put myself in some of the familiar places that were visited in the book, and having a general map in my head of where the events were taking place. Being familiar with the Gold Coast gave this story an aspect that resulted in me enjoying it more than I probably would have. It definitely kept me reading and wondering where the next event would occur.
Overall, I think this novel is worth 3 solid stars.
While it was easy to read, I couldn’t connect or really relate to any of the characters. Despite that, I did like the way that the author presented chapters from each major characters perspective. This definitely added to my interest in the story.
Being set in the Gold Coast, it was good being able to try and put myself in some of the familiar places that were visited in the book, and having a general map in my head of where the events were taking place. Being familiar with the Gold Coast gave this story an aspect that resulted in me enjoying it more than I probably would have. It definitely kept me reading and wondering where the next event would occur.
Overall, I think this novel is worth 3 solid stars.
February 9, 2020
A stylised contemporary story set on the glittering Gold Coast, Queensland. Chameleon Jade gets a new identity and with her grifting partner she dares to swindle the Casino swindlers. I identified with the location more from a tourist POV than a gambler but the steamy, seamy side is certainly revealed and doesn't surprise me. Worth the visit although rather quirky with narrative ups and downs.
March 22, 2014
Not bad. Cool ideas. Very easy read.
unread-but-acquired
January 15, 2014"Gold Coast Neo-Noir"? Colour me intrigued..
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews