Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Heat, a novella by Australian author Sean O'Leary. My thanks to Emma Welton at damppebbles.com for the invitation and to the author and publisher for my review copy.
The Blurb:
Jake is a loner who works nights in a Darwin motel and lives at the YMCA. He’s in love with Angel, a Thai prostitute who works out of the low-rent Shark Motel.
A vicious murder turns Jake’s life into a nightmare. He must fight for his life on the heat-soaked streets of Darwin and Bangkok in the wet season to get revenge, and to get his life back
The Heat was published by Busybird Publishing in paperback and digital formats on 15th August 2019
Purchase Links:
Australian Bookseller
Amazon AU
Amazon UK
Amazon US
My Review:
The Heat is certainly hot. The weather plays a huge part in this story - you can feel the heat and damp oozing through the pages. It's a short, relatively quick and easy read. But there is a lot going on in these pages.
It was a surprise to find the book is written in the present tense and in the first person, narrated by our protagonist Jake. Jake's a complicated young guy. Now living in Darwin after troubles in his previous home of Alice Springs he works as a night porter in a motel. He's on medication for schizophrenia but also self medicates with dope and booze. And he gambles too much. His relationship with prostitute Angel is hard to categorise - more than a punter, but not quite a boyfriend. But he is in love with her and says 'my life is stagnant when Angel isn't in it' and she clearly has feelings for him. When she is brutally murdered his world is turned upside down and he decides to head to Bangkok to find Angel's family and to seek out the man he believes murdered her.
I couldn't decide whether I liked Jake or not. He certainly frustrated me wasting his days smoking pot and wasting his money on bad bets. But he's a reader, so he has that going for him. And he reads our very own Ian Rankin, no less. O'Leary says, via Jake 'Great books, great films and all kinds of art, they can make the troubles of the world seem less harsh, sometimes they disappear altogether.' Couldn't agree more. Whilst Angel's death devastates Jake, his search for revenge begins a journey of growth for him. A turning point.
This is a character driven story, and whilst Jake is the main player there are plenty of colourful supporting characters, and the police don't come out very favourably. Cooper is particularly vile. It's not a pretty read - O'Leary doesn't waste words and we see Jake's despair, fear and anger. And his sweat There's plenty of violence and bad language. It's raw. But I enjoyed his journey. Because, for me, The Heat, as well as being a crime thriller, is also a story of a young man finding himself. A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.
The Author:
He has worked in a variety of jobs including motel receptionist, rubbish removalist/tree lopper, farm hand, short-order cook and night manager in various hotels in Sydney’s notorious, Kings Cross. He has lived in: Melbourne; Naracoorte; Sydney; Adelaide; Perth; Fremantle; Norseman; Geraldton; Carnarvon; Broome; Yulara; Alice Springs; Kakadu; Darwin and on Elcho Island-Galiwinku. He now lives in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, thinks that test cricket is the greatest game of all and supports Melbourne Football Club (a life sentence). He writes every day, likes travelling and tries to walk everywhere.
Author Social Media Links:
Website
Thanks for being a part of the blog tour, Suze xx
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. xx
Delete