Get Poor Slow

"My favourite Australian literary critic, David Free instantly becomes my favourite Australian author of psychological thrillers." Clive James

By forty you're meant to have the face you deserve. I got the face early. It took me a while to earn it. I believe I am finally there.

Ray Saint is in trouble. A young woman is dead and he was the last person to see her alive. No one is impressed by his excuses: Ray, you see, is the most hated book reviewer in Australia - a hatchet man with a belly full of bourbon and curdled dreams of literary greatness. Now he will need all of his acid-tongued wit and even some moments of lucidity if he is to discover who murdered the beautiful publishing assistant who got so far beneath his skin.

As a battered and bloodied Ray investigates more deeply, he is obliged to face the truth: he can't be entirely sure that he isn't the killer.