This is the third in the series of books about crime on the Gold Coast in 1980s, this time focusing on the opening of a casino (with the thinly veiled name, ‘The Saturn’). Crime queen Colleen Vinton owns the casino. The corruption of the police force remains unchecked: Inspector Ron Bingham is still in Vinton’s pocket. Lana Cohen continues to keep tabs on her bent colleagues, while being called in to investigate the grisly find of a severed hand on a beach. She’s reunited with fellow cleanskin, Bruno Karras, who seems distracted. But then, she’s also distracted by her new love interest, Charlie, who works as a croupier at the casino.
A private detective, Ewan Hayes, takes a Melbourne journalist’s daughter, Grace Holloway, to the Gold Coast to escape criminal elements. They stay at the Saturn and Ewan is also asked to find a missing man, Herb Fleming. Grace wants to help and reveals herself to be a very capable investigator. Also looking for Herb is a policeman from Internal Investigations, ‘Miami’ Vince Walters, who’s struggling with his various addictions. Unfortunately, Herb is found on the beach in the same place as the severed hand, where an explosive kills or injures several of the investigating team. Lana, Vince and Ewan form an unlikely team, trying to find the killer of Herb and the victims of the bomb.
None of the major characters survive unscathed. The denouement contains more than one unexpected twist. This is fast-paced, superbly plotted crime. Readers will eagerly await the next book.
Book review by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Iain Ryan grew up in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. He has published three previous crime novels, and his work has been previously published by Akashic Books Online, Crime Factory and Seizure. He has been shortlisted twice for a Ned Kelly Award for his novels Four Days and The Student. He lives in Melbourne.
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