Detective Sergeant Harry Belltree of the NSW police force is transferred from Sydney to Newcastle in this second book of the ‘Belltree’ trilogy. The car crash that killed Harry’s parents and blinded his wife happened not far from this regional town. Justice Daniel Belltree was the first Aboriginal judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court. Accompanied by his wife and daughter-in-law, he was driving to preside over a hearing in Armidale. On a winding section of the highway, the car left the road and rolled down a steep incline. The coroner found the cause of the crash was driver error.

Harry knows it was no accident and is determined to find out why his parents
were murdered.

This private investigation has to be put on hold as, within days of the detective sergeant’s arrival, a body is found just offshore on Ash Island in the Hunter River estuary near Hexham.

Kelly Pool, investigative journalist and a friend of Harry Belltree, is recovering after being savagely attacked in Sydney. One of the gang, Donna Fenning, has not been caught. Kelly is following up a lead indicating that Donna’s husband could be working at a hospital in Newcastle.  The detective and journalist have worked together in the past; they do so again here. People go missing, more bodies are sucked from the Ash Island marshlands and Harry, his wife and Kelly are threatened.

Ash Island is a tense, plot-driven and absorbing novel that features a strong main character. It’s a skilful police procedural in which alarming risks are taken and thrilling developments will unnerve readers.

Reviewed by Clive Hodges