Head Shot by Jarad Henry

My Review 

In a crackerjack debut novel, Jarad Henry has taken us deep into the seamy Melbourne underworld with Head Shot. If you thought it was dangerous to sit in the Collingwood Social Club at the MCG wearing a Carlton footy jumper questioning the parentage of Nathan Buckley, then take a good look at this book, because Jarad Henry has redefined dangerous and it lurks on the brooding Melbourne streets full of gangsters, drug dealers and alley crawlers. It's no place for the innocent 'cause they'll just get stepped on.

Rubens McCauley is a detective with the St Kilda Criminal Investigation Unit (CIU) and is still trying to sleep off a big night when he gets a call from Senior Sergeant Gus Bannister. Bannister has had word of a shooting in St Kilda and has called McCauley to suggest that he should attend the scene too. Although he's only had 3 hours of sleep, he drags himself out to what looks like a gangland hit. The victim is still sitting in his car with bullet holes in his body and head. Fair enough, but nobody's told Ruby why it was so important that he attend the scene, after all, he's not supposed to be on duty for hours.

It turns out the dead guy is Louie Varilla, a gangster connected to the powerful Vikings bikie gang. He's a significant guy as far as Rubens is concerned because Varilla sued McCauley after a shooting incident and the case was about to go to court. Only the night before McCauley was heard loudly promising all kinds of payback for Varilla while drinking with his buddies. To make matters infinitely worse, witnesses saw a car speeding away from the murder scene and had taken down the license plate. The plates belonged to Rubens McCauley.

Now McCauley is facing the prospect of a murder charge. His past isn't exactly squeaky clean, having been under investigation by the force's Ethical Standards Department (ESD) on more than one occasion. One ESD officer in particular would like nothing better than to see the back of him. One thing he won't do though is take things lying down. Even though he's warned to stay out of the case and let Homicide do their job, he plunges ahead to clear his name.

Also having a bit of a run in with ESD is Constable Cassie Withers who has been put on suspension after a complaint was filed against her for an improper search of a car. The suspension turns out to be a front by the ESD as a way of offering her an ultimatum, either work for them to gather information against McCauley or her career in the force is over. She has no real choice but to accept.

Once the predicament of McCauley is established and the scheme to introduce Cassie Withers is set up, we are acquainted with Jimmy Favian, the leader of the Vikings. Working with Jimmy is a man known only as the Cleaner and it's from this man that the real menace emanates. True, Favian is an obviously dangerous man, but it's the cold calculation and ruthless efficiency of the Cleaner that marks him as the real threat in this story.

Plunging deeply into the criminal underworld of Melbourne, the tone of the novel begins with dramatic intensity and then the screws are tightened relentlessly. Driven by a desire to clear his name, McCauley faces down the dealers, ex-cons and murderers.

Right from the outset you can virtually feel the disbelief and frustration emanating from McCauley as he weighs up his predicament. This converts to an explosion of activity as he begins his secret investigation, all the while he faces the danger of being discovered by both sides of the law. The pace never really slackens as he uncovers the possibility of a huge drug play that is about to inundate the city of Melbourne.

The complexity of Cassie Withers' role in the story was a difficult one to get a handle on, mainly because it was difficult to work out exactly whose side she was on. An integral part of McCauley's investigation thanks to some vital information she was able to give him, her belief that he was a dirty cop gives her a loose cannon role with the possibility that she would sell him out ever present.

Jarad Henry writes with flair putting together an absorbing storyline with dialogue that snaps brutally off the page. While the prose is not exactly spare, the scenes are definitely not overplayed, preferring to lay down the action in a straightforward manner to heighten the hitting power. What we are left with is a police procedural that is particularly heavy on the more hardboiled, dangerous elements. Very reminiscent to the early work of Simon Kernick, another crime author whose policemen protagonists find themselves in all sorts of trouble dealing with the low elements of the underworld.

One slice of cliche makes an appearance in the form of McCauley's marriage which is in the final stages of failing. Although it serves to make McCauley a more sympathetic character, the scenes involving him and his wife really only interrupted the more engrossing storyline. I would have appreciated a more abbreviated treatment of this side of his life.

Head Shot is an outstanding debut that was an intensely satisfying story from start to finish. The wheels within wheels aspect gives the storyline tremendous complexity and the pressures from within the department obviously come from a certain level of inside knowledge from Henry who has worked in the criminal justice system for almost 10 years. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves hardboiled fiction of the highest quality.