The Broken Shore - Tapa dura

'The Broken Shore is a great discovery; a gripping tale from a writer who assuredly takes the reader to places never been before' Michael Connelly. (Michael Connelly)

'The Broken Shore is the best debut novel I've read this year' Harlan Coben. (Harlan Coben)

'It's hard to know where to start praising this book. Plot, style, setting and characters are all startlingly good' Sydney Morning Herald. (Sydney Morning Herald)

'Temple's work is spare, deeply ironic; his wit, like the local beer, as cold as a dental anaesthetic' Australian. (Australian)

Broken by his last case, homicide detective Joe Cashin has fled the city and returned to his hometown to run its one-man police station while his wounds heal and the nightmares fade. He lives a quiet life with his two dogs in the tumbledown wreck his family home has become. It's a peaceful existence - ideal for the rehabilitating man. But his recovery is rudely interrupted by a brutal attack on Charles Bourgoyne, a prominent member of the local community. Suspicion falls on three young men from the local Aboriginal community. But Cashin's not so sure and as the case unfolds amid simmering corruption and prejudice, he finds himself holding on to something that it might be better to let go. The relentless story of a town with a hidden past versus a man who is trying to forget his, "The Broken Shore" delivers powerful, lean writing, pumping more muscle and feeling into one paragraph than other writers can muster in a page. A masterpiece of insight and passion, Peter Temple's UK debut announces the arrival of a talent to rival Michael Connelly and Ian Rankin.