Prize Catch by Alan Carter

Publisher's Synopsis

When Roz Chen’s wife, Niamh, is killed in a hit-and-run on a lonely Tasmanian road, the grieving widow begins to wonder if Niamh’s death was an accident after all. Meanwhile, SAS veteran Sam Willard is hoping for a fresh start with a job at a salmon farm. But as allegations of old war crimes surface and Sam is ‘promoted’ as a special operative against anti-salmon farm activists, he and Roz form an unlikely alliance.

Forced to retreat into the unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness, Roz and Sam find themselves scrambling for the truth with murderous thugs on their trail.

My Review of Prize Catch by Alan Carter

Prize Catch could be seen as a cautionary tale about what could potentially happen when corporate greed tangles with committed environmental activists. It’s a spiralling cause and effect thriller wrapped into an against the odds battle.

The story opens with the death of Niamh Cassidy while she’s out on a morning bike ride, hit by a car on a perilous mountain climb. It’s suggested that this was no accident. Her wife, Roz Chen, is devastated by the loss and descends into a deep melancholy. It only lasts as long as it takes to survive her own brush with a violent end, something that sparks her resolve to avenge her loss.

Sam Willard is a former SAS veteran who’s still trying to forget the events of Afghanistan. He’s just landed a promising job at the mega salmon fishery, D’Entrecasteaux Salmon and he’s hopeful he can make it stick for his and his family’s sake. But almost immediately he’s recruited from within to perform some “special duties” making use of the skills he picked up in the military.

Detective Senior Constable Jill Wilkie is reaching the point of retiring from the police force, but she continues to prove that she’s one of the more capable detectives on the force. She’s also at the point where she’s prepared to risk everything if she believes her superiors aren’t up to the job. This is a trait that will prove very important in the course of her investigation into Niamh’s death, not to mention a few crimes that have cropped up that could very well point to that huge nearby salmon fisheries company. Her immediate superior is definitely not helping in any of the leads she’s following in the investigation.

Environmental activism, rich businessmen with dodgy pasts, a security firm headed by ex-military personnel, a scapegoat set up for murder and a few small-fry civilians standing in the way ensures that the scene is set for an epic battle.

Sam is a fascinating study. He’s the quintessential anti-hero, a decent guy, a family man and war hero who’s been roped into doing a shady job for the money. It’s when it’s too late that he realises he’s being run by people who are far more dangerous than he ever imagined and it’s at this point that the drama really takes off.

Set in Tasmania, a state renowned for its staunch eco-warriors, Prize Catch is a solid thriller that quickly unfolds to reveal an intricate multi-layered plot. Corruption rears its ugly head on a couple of fronts while closely guarded secrets from the past provide motivation for a deadly showdown.

My only disappointment was with the ending which seemed to slowly grind to a stop with barely a flicker of excitement. After being drawn in by a cast of very well-drawn characters, I was invested in each of them, the good, the bad and the truly evil. But I was disappointed with most aspects of the way it concluded, providing little in the way of a satisfactory outcome and answering very few of the questions that cropped up in the lead up to the finale. In real life, that’s to be expected, in a work of fiction, not so much.

That being said, there are a couple of characters introduced here whose further exploits I’d be more than happy to follow.