Tipping Point by Dinuka McKenzie

Publisher's Synopsis

Weeks from Christmas in the sweltering heat of summer, Detective Kate Miles' estranged brother, Luke Grayling, returns home to Esserton to farewell a childhood friend - Ant Reed, dead by suicide. Within days of the funeral, another young man, Marcus Rowntree, is found shot dead in the back paddock of his property.

Almost twenty years ago, Luke, Ant and Marcus were best mates in high school and now two of the three friends are dead. A tragic coincidence? Or is there something more sinister connecting the three men?

When Luke is identified as a person of interest in Marcus's death, Kate once again finds herself in the middle of a media storm, sidelined from the case and battling accusations of conflict of interest. As press attention deepens, and uncomfortable truths about Luke's personal life and past events come to light, Kate is forced to contend between loyalty to the police force, and the bonds of friendship and blood.

My Review of Tipping Point by Dinuka McKenzie

The 3rd book in the DS Kate Miles series, Tipping Point once again conspires to ensure Kate’s working life is anything but straight forward. This is an Australian police procedural crime novel that blazes like the sun above its northern New South Wales setting and presents a terrible reckoning for three former school friends.

Kate’s brother Luke has returned home to attend the funeral of Ant, one of his childhood friends but he’s brought with him secrets and a bad attitude. Ant’s death is ruled a suicide and that’s certainly what it looks like, but his father doesn’t believe it and approaches Kate at the wake asking her to look into it for him. Not only is it not her case, it’s not even in her state and essentially demurs.

Then Marcus Rowntree is found dead, a gunshot wound that appears to have been accidental as he was attempting to climb over a fence. But was it an accident? The last person known to have seen Marcus was Luke. The problem is, Kate went and told Luke of his former best mate’s death the next morning, a clear breach of police protocol and a clear sign that she has a conflict of interest in the case.

Not for the first time she’s removed from an active case that she’s supposed to be leading and the media scrutiny she’s always been so wary of is bound to start up again. And to top things off, the replacement being brought in to take over the case is her recent nemesis, DS Josh Ellis.

There is a use of flashback chapters that are interspersed between the present day narrative and they recount earlier events in the lives of Ant, Marcus and Luke. They serve to set the groundwork for an explanation about what’s happening to them today and they prove quite effective at giving us a good idea about their true personalities, not to mention potential motives for why two of them are dead.

At its core, Tipping Point is a police procedural drama, but apart from Kate we get very little sense of the actual police work performed by her fellow officers apart from at a very superficial level. And, for the third book in a row, Kate has been hampered in some way, this time through police protocol which has seen her being stood down. It would be nice to see her in action, running an investigation with the full support of superiors and colleagues alike.

A couple of untimely deaths, her brother somehow mixed up in it, family tensions running rife and cast aside at work. Kate is compelled to find out more, even if it’s just to assure herself that Luke is all right. But he is keeping secrets, that’s for sure.

From a bustling start that built up the promise of a great deal of intrigue, there was a distinct loss of momentum at around the two-thirds mark. This was due to a series of side issues that tended to distract from the main story rather than enhance it. I even found myself losing interest at times and nearly missed the crucial piece of information that drew everything together.

I’m looking forward to seeing what lies in store for Kate Miles and her extended family. She appears to be a highly accomplished investigator, I hope she gets more of a chance to showcase her talents.