'In 1961, at the age of 31, Kenneth Cook released his first novel, Wake in Fright, which remains his most renowned work. In the book, John Grant, a schoolteacher assigned to a tiny town in rural Australia, misses his flight home to Sydney and finds himself stranded in the fictive mining town of Bundanyabba (‘‘The Yabba’’).' (Introduction)
'Crime and mystery fans were impressed last year by The Ruin, the first novel by Irish-Australian lawyer Dervla McTiernan. Now we have a sequel, The Scholar, and it is just as engrossing.' (Introduction)