Bright Air

Two twenty-something friends, Josh and Anna, meet up in Sydney four years after they spent their university days together. Anna was recently at the hospital bedside of another of their friends who, just before he died, made a startling confession about the earlier death from a supposed rock-climbing accident of Josh’s ex-girlfriend Luce. When Anna tells Josh of the confession the two begin to question the stories they’ve heard about Luce’s last days and her accident and determine to learn whether or not their friends were lying all along.

This is an engaging, page-turner of a story. There’s no trail of murdered people (one possible murder hardly constitutes a trail) or continuous revealing of forensic details yet it was totally show more compelling reading. Mostly through Josh’s memories of his first meeting Luce and becoming her rock climber partner we get to know Luce alive. Then, as he and Anna talk to the people who were present during the rock climbing expedition that claimed Luce’s life, we find out about her death. Although there’s an inevitability about some parts of the resolution it’s in no way clichéd or predictable.

I’m still not sure if I like any of the characters particularly well but they are terrifically created and very credible. Luce’s connection to nature, Josh’s guilt over the way he left her and the possibility he might have been responsible for her death and Anna’s insecurities and doggedness are all very realistic. I developed very clear pictures of them all in my head as I read which, for me, is a sure sign of a well written book.

As is the way I was quickly engrossed by subjects I know, and care, little about such as rock-climbing. It’s not an easy feat to engage readers with esoteric subjects and Maitland’s ability to do so here reminded me of Dick Francis, who I’ve always considered a master at that particular art.

Overall this is a surprisingly gripping yarn in the tradition of the great story-tellers and, even better, is a standalone novel which is wonderful for readers like me who are suffering a little from series-fatigue. show less

Josh Ambler was working in London four years ago when his ex-lover Lucy Corcoran went missing on Lord Howe Island during a climbing accident. During his university days he had joined a climbing group that Luce was part of, along with Anna, Damien, Curtis and Owen. The glue that held the group together was biologist and lecturer Dr. Marcus Fenn, once a climber himself but injured in a particularly severe fall. Marcus had mentored the group in climbing, particularly on difficult and hazardous expeditions related to endangered flora and birds.

Just recently Curtis and Owen have died after a fall on Mt. Cook in the Southern Alps in New Zealand. Curtis died at the scene but Anna had been able to fly to New Zealand in time to be at Owen's show more death bed before he died. In his final words to Anna, Owen appeared to be confessing that he and Owen had killed Luce.

His lack of closure leads Josh, with Anna, to investigate the circumstances around Luce's disappearance and apparent death, flying to Lord Howe Island where local residents appear to be going out of their way to make them welcome.

BRIGHT AIR is Barry Maitland's first stand alone novel. Readers may be aware of his Brock and Kolla series in which he has published 9 titles between 1994 and 2007. If BRIGHT AIR is an indication of what we can expect in stand alones, then I hope we see many more. Not only was I really impressed with the depth of Maitland's knowledge about climbing and climbing techniques, I thought the characterisation was excellent. I'm not sure that I was totally convinced of the plausibility of the final resolution, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the plot. show less

The latest offering from the great Barry Maitland is a standalone novel that leads you gently along while keeping a firm hand on your shoulders compelling you to stay seated and keep on reading.

Josh returns to Sydney from London with a background hint of something unsavoury having occurred at the Merchant bank where he worked. An old university friend, Anna, comes to visit him and tells him that she believes the death of his ex-girlfriend Lucy was not an accident – but possibly murder. While Josh was in London he had heard that Lucy died in a climbing accident on Lord Howe Island during a field study for her university degree. She was not alone when she died; other members of the climbing group were on the island: Owen, Curtis, Damien show more and Marcus. The official report found that her death was an accident, but her body was never recovered.

Anna believes it was not an accident or suicide because two more members of the party, Owen and Curtis, have recently died as a result of a climbing accident in New Zealand. Just before he died Owen said to Anna “We killed her.” From there the story is told alternatively between the present and a succession of flashbacks. Here the reader learns that Josh got into rock climbing just so he could meet Lucy, and that the other members of the group only tolerated him because of Lucy. The mentor of the group was a university professor, Marcus.

To start with, the reader is not quite sure that a crime has been committed, and if it had, then why? Following the investigations of Josh and Anna, the pace gradually builds as the story moves from Sydney to Lord Howe Island; and the personalities and hidden tensions between the characters are slowly revealed. There is a marked growth in the characters of Josh and Anna, it is amazing to see Maitland do this, he gets right into the heads of his characters and brings the reader into intimately respond to them. This is a sign of a very switched-on and intuitive writer.

BRIGHT AIR is Barry Maitland’s first stand alone crime novel, and the first he has set in Australia, I hope it is not going to be the last. show less

Not a Brock & Kolla book but almost as good as one.

A stand alone story, and quite good. I certainly did not see the end coming, as there were a few twists and turned towards the end.

For those who have read the book, they will understand my question as to how the story must have come about in the author's mind....it must have come from the research...quite fascinating.

Big Ship
22 March 2014

This is the first novel by Maitand to be set in Australia. Josh is an investment banker who is visited by a friend from his past university days. They belonged to a group of rock climbing friends and when several are involved in a tragic accident there are indications that there may have been foul play.

Josh and Anna decide to investigate and travel to Lord Howe Island to the scene of the events where they suspect a conspiracy to hide the truth.

The cover blurb suggests that Maitland is 'one of the top five crime writers in the world'. If this is true I am not sure about the qualitly of crime writing at the moment but for an escapist read this delivers.

This is a standalone novel about two amateur sleuths and set in Australia.