One of my recent audio book listens, THE CONSEQUENCE by Gabriel Bergmoser features hardman, rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin who's the sort of bloke that finds running thugs out of town, and handing over all of the money he stole to a struggling kid de rigueur. The drug cartel, whose money it was, isn't quite so laid back about the whole thing, and their idea of revenge is swift and deadly.

Leaving Carlin with a couple of big problems - a guilty conscience and a desire for some revenge of his own. Hence the title of this hard-boiled, hard-nosed, gritty outing available from Audible.

It's a fast paced novella (just shy of 4 hours listening time), full of morally ambiguous goings on, gritty and pointed, dotted with some non-too-deep introspection, bucket loads of violence and mayhem, and a mandatory fraught family backstory to give Carlin a bit more depth than you'd originally think was going to show up.

The hassle with all audio books of course, is the voice of the narrator, and this one comes with an Australian accent so broad I was tempted to look under the couch for the ghost of Chips Rafferty. It might be that this alone makes for a bit of a challenge for younger readers / listeners used to a more urban version of the local lingo. But press on if you can, the story is worth it, and it really feels like a movie script in the making.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/consequence-gabriel-bergmoser… (more)

Flagged

austcrimefiction | Nov 9, 2022 |

The hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser

The Hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser was not what I was expecting. Less a thriller than horror novel in my opinion, I’m a little lost for words.

After a blood-soaked young woman stumbles from a car into a remote, outback roadhouse, owner Frank, his teenage granddaughter, Allie, and a handful of unlucky customers are caught up in a horrifying night of violence not all of them will survive.

Unfolding from several perspectives over two timelines that eventually meet, The Hunted is fast paced, action packed and suspenseful. My first instinct is to describe it as a cross between the films Wolf Creek (2005) and Deliverance (1972), and I think this would do well if adapted to the screen.

But had I been aware of the explicit incidences of torture and violence that occur in this novel, I wouldn’t have chosen to read it. At least twice I was uncomfortable enough to consider not finishing it, but to be fair to Bergmoser I was equally uncomfortable not doing so... I needed to know how it would end for the characters, particularly Frank, Allie and the story’s anti-hero, Maggie.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say I liked The Hunted, but that’s a matter of genre rather than any particular flaws with the book. If horror is your thing, I think you’ll love it.… (more)