Black Tide

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 336 pages
• Published by: Quercus Publishing Plc October 31, 2007
• ISBN 10 Number: 1847241654
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1847241658

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Black Tide (Paperback) "Black Tide" is the second Jack Irish novel I have read, and although it is somewhat slower than the first, it still makes for a good read. Irish is a former criminal lawyer from Melbourne who turned into a noirish Aussie man-of-many-trades after a serious bout with self destruction left him down and out. Des Conners, an old friend of Jack's father's, pays our man a visit and it seems he has some serious problems. His son Gary disappeared after borrowing $60,000 from him. Gary, a shrewd and shady character at best, also has the deed to the old man's house, which has been put up for sale. Without the house, Des is on the street. Thus, one of many reasons to find the elusive Gary Conners is to make sure Des, a senior citizen without much capital, continues to dwell in the modest home where he thought to remain for the rest of his life. Irish, of course, offers to help Des, but is soon given cause to question the wisdom of his volunteer efforts. "It crossed my mind, not for the first time, that the pursuit of Gary Connors was getting completely out of hand." This becomes an increasingly familiar refrain as the investigation progresses and becomes more complicated. Jack justifies continuing the search for the missing son by telling himself that his father would have wanted him to help his buddy. When what at first seemed like a cut and dry missing person case turns into something infinitely more sinister, Jack no longer needs the motivation of helping a family friend to stay focused. With his life at stake now, he has no recourse but to go forward. As the narrative develops and the plot gets more complex, many characters are introduced. Parallel to the primary story are various subplots which involve people, places and events that are permanent fixtures in the life of Jack Irish. Unfortunately, there really reaches a point in "Black Tide" when the mystery/suspense aspect of the novel suffers as a consequence of too much going on at once. Many scenarios are extraneous, not action oriented and definitely not crucial to the narrative. Meanwhile the main storyline becomes so intricate that it requires maximum attention to stay with events. This is supposed to be entertainment. I wouldn't want Mr. Temple to "dumb down" his prose for lazy readers, but I was hard pressed to continue at times. I would have given "Black Tide" 3 Stars except that towards the conclusion the author redeems himself with lots of action and salvages what could have been a mediocre book. I like Jack Irish. I like him a lot. Fortunately for me MacAdam/Cage now publishes author Peter Temple's novels in the US. By the way, Irish is not Irish at all, but the great-grandson of I. Reich, a German Jewish immigrant to Australia. In a market chock-full of detective type anti-heroes, Jack stands above the pack as the only Renaissance sleuth. He also gives great Aussie slang! Professionally his moniker reads "licensed criminal attorney," but, as mentioned, he has branched-out into debt collecting and is not above doing his own investigative work either. A horse-racing man and habitual gambler, barfly, apprentice cabinetmaker and Australian Rules Football fanatic, Irish went downhill fast when his wife was murdered by a disgruntled former client. Jack stopped drinking recently and is only now beginning to cope with the rage and guilt while sober. Although plot driven, I am extremely drawn to the protagonist and his supporting cast. These characters, and Irish's interaction with them, give wonderful depth to the book - but they need to remain in the background and remain secondary. If everyone is given his/her fifteen minutes of fame, there is danger that the fun vignettes will take over the thrills and chills - which are, after all, the main attraction. Peter Temple has won four Ned Kelly Awards, (the Australian equivalent of the Edgars), for Crime Fiction, including one for Best First Novel with "Bad Debts." Known in Australia primarily for his Jack Irish novels, Temple has a following which could very well expand to include a US audience now that "Black Tide" (book two) has also been released. Looks like a winning series to me. I would recommend reading the well written, thoroughly enjoyable debut novel "Bad Debts" before this one. Both are highly recommended. JANA Comment | | (Report this)