If you needed to find somewhere safe to hide from pursuers, Skarnsey, a small (fictional) island in the Outer Hebrides off Scotland’s west coast would appear to be perfect … and Niko, a survivor of the war in the Balkans, needs to hide. This is a thriller written from experience: Kemish worked in diplomatic circles, including time in the Balkans after the fracture and dissolution of Yugoslavia.

In the late ’90s, Niko is to give evidence against a person implicated in the massacre of his townsfolk. Anita Costello is the Australian investigator working for The Hague who is handling Niko’s case, but she’s had to return home as her father is gravely ill. Niko is relocated to London but learns that his location has been compromised. In Anita’s absence, Niko flees to Skarnsey, telling no-one of his destination. The island community – represented by an ensemble group of characters – is tightknit but still welcoming, having already embraced (at a distance) the reclusive Fergus. (The one outlier is the wealthy newcomer, who despises Fergus.)

Fergus, Niko and another islander, Ronnie, live silently with PTSD. ‘You were expected to tuck it all away – like laundry, folded and stored out of sight.’ Anita returns and follows Niko’s trail just as the two men who are chasing Niko arrive on the island. That community rallies to Niko’s aid, but it can’t be all happy endings.

The book begins slowly, and the early exposition is clumsy, but once the book hits its stride, it becomes the page-turner it’s anticipated to be. Kemish’s experiences add small but important details of the Balkans into the text, giving an extra layer of verisimilitude.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ian Kemish AM is a former Australian diplomat who served as ambassador to Germany, high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, international adviser to the Prime Minister, and head of the consular and crisis management service. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his leadership of the emergency response to the 2002 Bali bombings. An adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, he continues to work as a strategic advisor and as a volunteer director in the homelessness and international humanitarian sectors. Ian’s first book, The Consul (UQP, 2022), offered a personal perspective on Australia’s foreign affairs challenges over two decades − spanning hostage diplomacy, natural disasters and evacuations from war zones. Two Islands is his first work of fiction, drawing on both his diplomatic work in the Balkans in the mid-1990s and his strong family links with the western isles of Scotland.

Read more about Ian Kemish’s work here.