Radio New Zealand review of Peter Temple's TRUTH

This morning, as part of its daily book review slot on the Nine to Noon programme, Radio New Zealand addressed award-winning Australian crime writer Peter Temple's latest novel TRUTH.

As I said yesterday, one of the great things about the Nine to Noon show, hosted by Kathryn Ryan is that they do semi-regularly cover some crime and thriller titles, both with reviews and author interviews (see sidebar to the right). Today the reviewer was local journalist, historian and author Paul Diamond.

Diamond notes how Temple moved from apartheid South Africa to Germany in the 1970s, and then to Australia (Ballarat in rural Victoria), and how he 'broke through' as a 'name' crime writer by winning the CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2005 for THE BROKEN SHORE. "That is an absolutely amazing book," says Diamond.

TRUTH is a "companion book" to THE BROKEN SHORE (Temple also writes a series featuring struck off lawyer Jack Irish, who works as a Melbourne private investigator).

The publisher's blurb about TRUTH says:
"At the close of a long day, Inspector Stephen Villani stands in the bathroom of a luxury apartment high above the city. In the glass bath, a young woman lies dead, a panic button within reach... Villani's life is his work. It is his identity, his calling, his touchstone. But now, over a few sweltering summer days, as fires burn across the state and his superiors and colleagues scheme and jostle, he finds all the certainties of his life are crumbling. TRUTH is a novel about a man, a family, a city. It is about violence, murder, love, corruption, honour and deceit."

Diamond notes the book "is really about the connections between police, politics, the media and crime", before adding that "the danger with this book is you will neglect your chores, you will neglect your family, you will neglect to eat, because you get sucked in".

You can listen to Diamond's full review of TRUTH at the audio file HERE

Have any of you read TRUTH? What do you think? Have you read any other Peter Temple novels? Thoughts and comments welcome.