'The precis of Sam Carmody’s debut novel, The Windy Season, reads like a congeries of Australian Gothic tropes: we have a small town where not everything is as it seems, a missing brother whose disappearance brings to light long-hidden family secrets, and a toxic stew of masculinity, booze and drugs. But while taking equal measures of inspiration from the gritty realism of Christos Tsiolkas and the building menace of Wake in Fright, The Windy Season’s ambition is betrayed by its uneven execution. ...'