Where the Truth Lies Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies

    • 3.7 • 12 Ratings
    • $12.99
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

She was slipping away. The further she fell, the closer the clouds seemed to come. Wispy transparent slipstreams of white. Cirrus. Pain smashed her head. Floating …

When investigative journalist Chrissie O’Brian lands a senior job at The Argus, she is desperate to escape the nightmares of her past. Her life has become a daily battle to numb the pain. But her job is something she can do better than anyone else – and the only thing that keeps the memories at bay.

A face-off on the waterfront between the unions and big business is just the kind of story to get her career back on track. But after a dockworker who confided in her turns up dead, Chrissie becomes obsessed with unravelling the truth. When a gruesome threat lands on her desk, it's clear someone is prepared to do anything to stop her. 
 
But who is more dangerous – a ruthless enemy or a woman pushed to the edge? Used to fighting her own demons, this is one battle Chrissie is determined not to lose.
 
Where the Truth Lies was a 2020 Ned Kelly Award finalist for best debut. It was shortlisted for the prestigious Unpublished Manuscript Award in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the same award Jane Harper won for The Dry. Shortlisted for the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Awards Best First Novel.

‘A complex and compelling debut that’s impossible to put down!’ CHRISTIAN WHITE, bestselling author of The Nowhere Child, The Wife and the Widow

'A clever, explosive thriller ... I love Kilmore’s flawed heroine’s feistiness and her determination to take on the old boys’ network. Truly impressive' PETRONELLA MCGOVERN, bestselling author of Six Minutes
 
‘Kilmore holds an unflinching mirror up to Melbourne’s darker side in this gritty tale full of twists, packed with compelling characters. An exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction’ JANE HARPER, bestselling author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man

‘A gripping and gritty novel introducing a heroine who’s just as layered and complex’ Who magazine

‘The breakout hit of the year’ Woman’s Day
 

‘Chrissie’s desperate race to uncover the truth will have you hooked’ Herald Sun
 
‘Excellent Aussie crime, with polished writing, great structure, compelling characters and a vivid Melbourne setting. There is a lot of buzz around this book and rightly so. It’s a fantastic read and definitely one you need to get your hands on immediately’ Better Reading

‘Journalist Karina Kilmore brings a wealth of insider knowledge to this explosive crime thriller.’ Australian Women’s Weekly
 
'It’s easy to see why everyone’s talking about this debut novel.’ Newtown Review of Books

‘Reading this reminded me of Sara Peretsky’s first books … there’s every chance we’re seeing the beginning of a substantial antipodean series that will inform and analyse while it entertains’ The Australian

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2020
1 March
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
352
Pages
PUBLISHER
Simon & Schuster Australia
SELLER
Simon and Schuster Australia Pty Ltd.
SIZE
4.9
MB

Customer Reviews

rhitc ,

Nothing new to see here

Author
NZ born and raised. Australian by marriage. Finance journalist (Karina Barrymore) with a self-declared passion for consumer rights and social justice. No surprises then that she lives in inner city Melbourne. Richmond to be precise. (C'mon the tiges). This is her first novel, but she's national convenor of 'Sisters in Crime Australia' (no comment).

In brief
Investigative journo Chrissie departed the Shaky Isles under a cloud, a dark one rather than a long white, following a tangle between her car and a big truck in which her hubby in the passenger seat got dead. Did I mention she was over the limit? She moves to inner city Melbourne (pre-lockdown) and gets a job at a fictional newspaper called The Argus. Any resemblance to The Argus that operated in Melbourne between 1846 and 1957 is, presumably, coincidental. Something shifty is going on down at the wharves. Whether it's because of the venal corporates, the militant union, or someone else entirely isn't clear, but peeps are getting injured or dying at alarming rate. The day after our gal interviews Mas, a Samoan chick who is Australia's only female operator of those big cranes that lift containers out of ships, for a profile piece, Mas falls to her death. This makes it personal for Chrissie, who is also battling alcohol abuse, post-traumatic whatever, and the progressive attrition of journalists in the internet age, rampant sexism, yada, yada, Chrissie attempts suicide at one stage, except she didn't really, it was just an accident. Stuff happens, red herrings are planted, twists inserted.

Narrative
Third person

Characters
Presumably, the newsroom characters come from Ms Kilmore's personal experience. Many bear a striking resemblance to reporters and editors I have read about in fiction or seen on screen, which means it must be true, right? Chrissie is your common or garden damaged protagonist, albeit at the top end of the Bell curve when it comes to personal baggage.

Prose
Good pace and plot development if somewhat cliched. A lot cliched if I'm honest. Plainly, Ms Kilmore has never met a detective story trope she didn't like or couldn't appropriate.

Bottom line
Competent enough debut, but nothing new to see here.

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