'Hidden in the outback, somewhere near Ecstasy Lake, is a massive gold deposit worth billions of dollars.
'Steve West, mining engineer and ex-AFL footballer, is the third person to know about it. The second is his good mate Tasso - loud, brilliant, filthy rich and just possibly mad. The first has just been brutally murdered.
'A goldmine like this is just the thing to turn a man's fortunes around. It might even change the fortunes of the state.
'All Steve and Tasso need do is play their cards right, which means keeping their discovery a secret, staying out of gang wars, and trying not to get killed.
'Easier said than done.' (Publication summary)
'Alastair Sarre weaves an eerie and enchanting tale of characters caught in a whirlwind of gang violence and bureaucratic jostling for the rights to mine a multibilliondollar gold seam. The apparent antagonist drug dealer Harlin believes in the sub rosa pervasiveness of violence; in his idealized world, a mother "shakes her baby that won't shut up, or she's hard up for a fix so she pimps her daughter to some sicko in the suburbs. Even later in the novel, when Melody falls into the trap of trying to fight depression with alcohol, Steve examines the bottle of vodka: "I looked at it for a while and thought of taking a couple of swigs, just to help me sleep.' (Publication abstract)
'Alastair Sarre weaves an eerie and enchanting tale of characters caught in a whirlwind of gang violence and bureaucratic jostling for the rights to mine a multibilliondollar gold seam. The apparent antagonist drug dealer Harlin believes in the sub rosa pervasiveness of violence; in his idealized world, a mother "shakes her baby that won't shut up, or she's hard up for a fix so she pimps her daughter to some sicko in the suburbs. Even later in the novel, when Melody falls into the trap of trying to fight depression with alcohol, Steve examines the bottle of vodka: "I looked at it for a while and thought of taking a couple of swigs, just to help me sleep.' (Publication abstract)
