Dead Point

These books get better as Temple matures into his voice, something I'd call dark noir dripping in witty cynicism. It's hard to suspend images of Guy Pearce and Aaron Peterson as Jack and Cam in the film versions, but the casting in those was dead on for the characters so the reading doesn't suffer from the films. And the film writers were smart enough to pluck whole plots and stretches of Temple's dialog and layer them into the films. Temple's gift for dialog is on the high end of the spectrum by leagues. The best thing about the books, and this third entry shines with it, is Temple's focus on Jack Irish as a person, not a plot mechanism. His life, warts and all, are what the story is about, not the mystery. Though the mystery here, a show more search for a missing man, is a metaphor for Jack's endless search for his own identity. show less

Dead Point earned Peter Temple his third Ned Kelly Award for best Australian Crime Novel for 2001.

This is Temple’s third predominately character-driven story revolving around Jack Irish and his Fitzroy cronies. All of the people we meet in this foray into the working-class suburbs of Melbourne that he knows so well are wonderfully portrayed.

The death of Irish’s wife some years back caused him to fall off the treadmill of a very successful legal career and he descended into a haze of alcoholism and unreliability. The earlier books in this series have shown us that Jack is on the way back now and has now settled into a comfortable routine. He now runs an unorthodox suburban legal practice in between the thrill of dodgy big betting show more plunges with Harry Strang, and undertaking an irregular cabinet-making apprenticeship under the master craftsman, sardonic old Charlie Taub. He and his mates from the pub are also dealing with the fact that their beloved footy team, the Fitzroy Lions, has been taken over by Brisbane – and we all know how seriously Victorians take their tribal footy team loyalties.

In this adventure, there’s a chilling air of change in the wind and it could blow ill for everyone. All of Jack’s settled emotional outlets seem to be in danger of coming to an end. Harry Strang is talking of retirement; Charlie Taub is off to Western Australia to attend a wedding and Irish is petrified that Charlie may decide he likes the west enough to want to stay; there is heated debate in the pub about the heresy of supporting the new footy team; and, to top things off, Meaker’s Coffee Shop, his reliable source of top quality coffee, has changed owners and the coffee is now undrinkable.

Change has hit Irish’s fragile routines and he’s afraid to think what else could be coming just around the corner.

Dead Point unfolds at an unhurried pace. As always, there are two storylines running in parallel throughout the course of the book. Irish has been hired to investigate the death of a missing barman named Robbie Colburne and this leads him into a world of judicial corruption and personal danger. At the same time, he is up to his ears in a more personal investigation into who has been bashing and robbing the people carrying his betting team’s winnings.

Peter Temple is a relatively new find for me - but he has rapidly leapt to the top of my all time favourite author list. I can't wait for Irish's next outing. show less

The third novel in the Jack Irish series. Jack's friend Harry Strang, a big time bettor on the horses, has a big loss on the races and one of his team has been beaten badly by thieves. Then someone ODs in a garage and the police are all over it, but Jack is not sure it is an OD. Jack is engaged by a judge with an interest in the case. The story has a lot of twists, some of which are a little hard to follow. In my opinion, this is typical Temple - he adds humour to what otherwise would be typical noir. The tele-movie based on this book has some major departures from the book’s plot. But I enjoyed both the book and the film.

Australian setting - rural and in Melbourne - good picture of Melbourne. Likeable main character in Jack Irish. Once begun you can't stop and the gradual revealing of detail about Robbie is just scary enough and horrifyingly fascinating.

As usual, well-written. Another Jack Irish thriller, set in Victoria, Australia. Good feel for place, somewhat dramatic finale, but what else can one expect with detection fiction.

See my comments on Bad Debts. Temple is well worth a read.