The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis

Publisher's Synopsis

'So you believed the alleged rapists over the alleged victim?' Jane's voice took on an indignant pitch. 'Girls lie sometimes.' I nodded. 'And rapists lie all the time.'

When Senior Detective Antigone Pollard moves to the coastal town of Deception Bay, she is still in shock and grief. Back in Melbourne, one of her cases had gone catastrophically wrong, and to escape the guilt and the haunting memories, she'd requested a transfer to the quiet town she'd grown up in.

But there are some things you can't run from. A month into her new life, she is targeted by a would-be rapist at the pub, and realises why there have been no convictions following a spate of similar sexual attacks in the surrounding district. The male witnesses in the pub back her attacker and even her boss doesn't believe her.

Hers is the first reported case in Deception Bay, but soon there are more. As Antigone searches for answers, she encounters a wall of silence in the town built of secrets and denial and fear. The women of Deception Bay are scared and the law is not on their side. The nightmare has followed her home.

My Review of The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis

Although this is Vikki Petraitis’ debut novel she is well versed in presenting powerful stories through a long and successful career as a true crime author. Wading through some of the worst crimes in Australian history has proven to be a solid basis for The Unbelieved and it is every bit as powerful as those true crimes, hitting on important themes of misogyny, sexual abuse and victim blaming that plagues the modern landscape today.

Senior Detective Antigone Pollard has returned home to the small coastal town of Deception Bay after a case she was involved in went terribly wrong in Melbourne. The emotional toll the case took on her has prompted a need to reset and starting over in a small-town environment appears to be the restart she’s looking for.

But Deception Bay isn’t without its problems and Antigone soon discovers that there are indications of systematic sexual abuse taking place in the town. But it also appears these incidents are being covered up and the cover up appears to be reaching into the upper echelons of the town’s powerbrokers.

It’s only after Antigone has taken matters into her own hands after narrowly avoiding being drugged and attacked in the carpark of the local pub that she finds out what she’s up against. She arrests the man after performing a few effective judo moves on him and takes him in to be charged. What she gets is a chewing out from her immediate superior for using excessive force on the man, all but blaming her for being attacked.

She finds that this type of thing has been going on within Deception Bay for quite some time now. She hears of more and more instances of women waking up having been abused after a night out in the pub. In each case the women involved are too afraid to report the attack knowing the ramifications that may follow.

There are a great many important themes in this book, particularly with regard to the injustice of the legal system and its treatment of women who are victims of violent crimes at the hands of men. It invites you to be outraged by the way men are routinely  allowed to get away with terrible crimes such as rape, domestic violence abuses and mental cruelty. Sadly, it strikes all too closely to many of the real-life stories that are told today.

I found myself deeply immersed in the story being played out in Deception Bay and, yes, completely outraged by what was being played out. All huge ticks to the superior story-telling talents of Vikki Petraitis.

Things move by at a rapid rate, kicked along by the fire burning within Antigone and her determination to stand up for the women in her community despite the roadblocks placed before her. There’s great attention to detail in fleshing out the main characters in the story with each becoming fully developed and lifelike.

From the first page to the last, this is a finely crafted police procedural dealing thoughtfully with a difficult subject and culminating in a cracking ending. I enjoyed it immensely.

Winner of the inaugural Allen & Unwin Crime Fiction Prize