After the Smoke Clears by Kylie Kaden

Publisher's Synopsis

Her family offered her a neat life of privilege and power, until Lotti turned away from her father’s plans – and toward what she really wanted. Now happy as a primary school teacher, Lotti may even have found the right man, a single dad, not the kind of guy who will fit in with her family, but who nonetheless feels like home.

But Lotti isn’t the only one running from her past. August’s strong silent demeanour may be part of his attraction, but as they get closer, his inability to talk about his past begins to interfere with their future.

When August receives a cryptic text message that prompts an immediate departure, Lotti and Augie’s six-year-old son Otto follow him to his small hometown where decades of lies begin to unravel. When details of a shocking crime emerge, Lotti will have to decide if she trusts the man August has become more than she fears the man he once was.

My Review of After the Smoke Clears by Kylie Kaden

After the Smoke Clears is a domestic drama complicated by historical mysteries and long held closely guarded secrets. It’s a story that slowly unwinds in such a way that we’re constantly fed small snippets of information, continually whetting the appetite and creating a need to find out more.

School teacher Lotti has turned her back on her wealthy family and has decided to make a life for herself in a small town in central Queensland. She has met and fallen for August Silverfell, single father of young Otto, an energetic and loveable 6 year old who also happens to be deaf. Just an aside, Otto is an absolute shining light in the story, a presence who warms every appearance he makes from one scene to the next.

Out of the blue, Augie gets a text from an old mate telling him he’s in some trouble and needs help straight away. Although their relationship is still in its infancy Augie asks Lotti to take care of Otto while he’s away, assuring her it would only be for a few days. But still, mysteriously leaving for an unspecified period of time and putting the responsibility of caring for a child was not something she was prepared for.

When she hears nothing from Augie after a few days she becomes concerned and decides to follow him in case something has happened to him.

Using the few details she knows about him she eventually picks up his trail, leading her to his old home town. It’s here that a few momentous things happen. First, she learns he’s been arrested and is locked up in the local gaol. Second, she finds out he’s known in this town as August North. The more she learns about Augie, the greater her anxiety as she realises she knows far less about him than she thought she did.

The main difficulty, she learns from some of the locals, is the fact that she’s brought Otto with her, back to the town where there are clearly a lot of secrets that are in danger of being revealed just by his mere presence. There’s clearly a lot to unpack here.

The story switches between the present day of 2009, through the first person perspectives of both Lotti and Augie, and 1989 where Augie narrates his experiences that sets up the primary mystery of the book.

Augie’s past was not an easy one, particularly the years he spent at the Brightside boarding school. It’s the traumatic experiences through his teenage years that helped to build the gruff, uncommunicative exterior with which he faces the world. There are events that took place in 1989 that shape the events of the present and they shine a spotlight on the ever-present and always disturbing institutional abuse of minors.

It would be easy to view Augie’s gruff exterior and uncommunicative nature and make assumptions about his personality, but as the story unfolds it’s clear there is way much more to him than initially meets the eye. After all, Lotti’s no dope and clearly wouldn’t be putting herself through so much angst if he weren’t worth the trouble.

After the Smoke Clears is a thoughtful mystery that deals with its fair share of social issues, deep-rooted hatred and psychological damage that continues to hang over some of the characters today. It’s a thought provoking story that many people should be able to relate to and a tale that tends to pull at the heartstrings a little too.