The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Publisher's Synopsis

Joe Cashin was different once. He moved easily then; was surer and less thoughtful. But there are consequences when you've come so close to dying. For Cashin, they included a posting away from the world of Homicide to the quiet place on the coast where he grew up. Now all he has to do is play the country cop and walk the dogs. And sometimes think about how he was before.

Then prominent local Charles Bourgoyne is bashed and left for dead. Everything seems to point to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community; everyone seems to want it to. But Cashin is unconvinced. And as tragedy unfolds relentlessly into tragedy, he finds himself holding onto something that might be better let go.

Peter Temple's gift for compelling plots and evocative, compassionately drawn characters has earnt him a reputation as the grand master of Australian crime writing. The Broken Shore is Temple's finest book yet; a novel about a place, about family, about politics and power, and the need to live decently in a world where so much is rotten. It is a work as moving as it is gripping, and one that defies the boundaries of genre.

My Review 

Detective Senior Sergeant Joe Cashin has returned home to the tiny seaside town of Port Munro where he has taken up the role of a virtual one man police station. He is a former Melbourne homicide detective recovering from injuries he received while working a case, an incident that still causes him constant pain and frequent nightmares.

He now lives a peaceful life with his two poodles on his windswept property entertaining thoughts of rebuilding the tumbledown wreck that his house has become. It's a quiet existence with only minor crimes to investigate - ideal for the rehabilitating man.

But his peaceful life is rudely disturbed by the brutal bashing of Charles Bourgoyne, a prominent member of the local community. Detective Hopgood from the nearby town of Cromarty immediately places his suspicion on some of the young men from the local Aboriginal community. But Cashin's not so sure.

The Cromarty police have a poor record when it comes to dealing with Aborigines, hosting a number of highly suspicious deaths in custody and as it turns out their record doesn't improve during the handling of this case either. When the hostile dust settles, Cashin finds himself on his own to investigate the Bourgoyne case.

The pressure is always present though, thanks to constant contact from the Melbourne cops and a growing media interest. The Bourgoyne case is gathering interest among the federal politicians, too, with the hot topic of racial prejudice stirring the pot.

While largely propelled by a violent crime, The Broken Shore is more than simply a tense mystery over a death in a small town. It's about the small town itself, the corruption and racial prejudice simmering within the idyllic setting, and the dark and mostly forgotten history lying hidden nearby. It's about Joe Cashin's attempts as a weary man, to try to escape the haunting memories of an ill-fated police operation that still hampers his movements.

Although the setting is fictional, Temple's description of the landscape is achingly familiar, the rugged coastline, the wind-ravaged paddocks and the fallen-down barbed wire fences struck a resonant note within me. The frequent walks Cashin takes with his dogs and their futile pursuits of resident hares and rabbits provide a much needed respite from the more intense demands of the investigation.

He has then dotted the story with rogues, laid-back knockabouts and forthright lawyers, all of whom enrich Cashin's quiet life significantly, provide the odd amusing moment and even hint at a possible romance. The most notable of these characters is Rebb, a softly spoken swaggie who is initially moved on by Cashin for trespassing in a landowner's outbuilding before Cashin offers him a job and place to stay on his property.

The dialogue is clipped, spoken in short staccato bursts, particularly between Cashin and Rebb, men of few words who seem able to communicate almost non-verbally coming to mutual agreements between themselves.

It's a powerful story, typically Australian, evidenced by the dialogue, the attitude towards the natives and the political influences that seep inevitably in. The big issues are subtly woven into the story as are the friendships and conflicts. The investigation gradually builds in intensity as seemingly unconnected incidents and clues are pieced together before a tense showdown takes place. You can see the pieces falling logically into place but it's not until right at the end that you get an idea of what the outcome might be.

The Broken Shore begins with a desirable landscape, painted in tranquil hues, and then places within it a man who appears content with his lot in life. It's only when we move in for a closer look that we find that there are demons lurking just below the surface. And so it goes with many of the characters who enter the story, a bit of digging revealing a certain level of rottenness in each.