Shooting Star
P
RAISE FOR
P
ETER
T
EMPLE
S
HOOTING
S
TAR
(N
ED
K
ELLY
A
WARD FOR BEST
A
USTRALIAN CRIME NOVEL
2000)
‘A tough, contemporary crime novel that takes the reader down some very mean Australian streets…A terrific read by one of Australia’s best crime novelists.’
Canberra Times
‘No summary or catalogue of details will do it justice. Read it for the writing and for where it says this sort of novel is today.’
Age
T
HE
B
ROKEN
S
HORE
Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2006
Australian General Fiction Book of the Year 2006 (Australian Book Industry Awards)
Ned Kelly Award for best Australian crime novel 2006
Colin Roderick Prize for Australian writing 2006
‘A towering achievement…Indispensable.’
Guardian
‘A stone classic…Read page one and I challenge you not to finish it.’
Independent
(UK)
‘Peter Temple is Australia’s leading crimewriter, and
The Broken Shore
makes it clear why. The writing is lean and muscular, but like the best mystery fiction is not afraid to tackle important issues… One of the world’s finest crimewriters.’ Mark Billingham,
The Times
‘A very fine book. Characterisation, dialogue and the quality of the prose are all top-class.’
Telegraph
(UK)
‘Every word in
The Broken Shore
contains meaning. It’s all killer, no filler.’
Courier-Mail
‘Might well be the best crime novel published in this country.’
Australian
‘If you only read one crime novel this year, read
The Broken Shore
. It’s not just a good yarn—there are plenty of those—what Peter Temple achieves here is much, much more…
The Broken Shore
might just be a great Australian novel, irrespective of genre.’ Sue Turnbull,
Age
‘Great use of language and characters.’
Herald Sun
‘It’s hard to know where to start praising this book. Plot, style, setting and characters are all startlingly good…One of those watershed books that makes you rethink your ideas about reading.’ Kerryn Goldsworthy,
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Keeps the tension taut and the reader on edge…Highly recommended.’
Canberra Times
‘One of our best novelists full stop…Great plot, believable, fallible characters and some terrific dialogue.’
Sun-Herald
‘Temple has to be writing the best Australian crime fiction right now…Powerfully economical writing, an ear for dialogue, eye for observation, and a chilling sense of the way things are.’
Bulletin with Newsweek
B
AD
D
EBTS
(N
ED
K
ELLY
A
WARD FOR BEST FIRST CRIME NOVEL
1996)
‘Readers will take to this series like a thirsty man to strong drink and bang the bar for another round.’
Publishers Weekly
(US)
‘Just read him. You’ll be hooked.’
Limelight
‘Frequently has the reader holding his sides with laughter even while immersed in some particularly unpleasant scenario… A world-class novel.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘The genuine article and an absolute pearler of a read.’
Australian Book Review
‘Temple writes with the urgency of someone who wants to disrupt an official investigation, and his story is kept up like taut wire.’ Graeme Blundell,
Australian
‘WOW!’
Age
‘The prose is tight, the pace breathless, the dialogue inspired.’
Sun-Herald
‘Arguably Australia’s best modern crime drama…the story literally explodes off the pages.’
Geelong Advertiser
B
LACK
T
IDE
‘An excellent introduction to Temple’s clever, irresistibly entertaining thrillers.’
Time Out New York
‘Peter Temple wields his words like a blunt instrument, sometimes belting you with a short, hard, arse-kick of a sentence, then relaxing enough to work up a longer, more contemplative swing at the subject…The story is gutsy, pacey and multi-stranded.’
Australian’s Review of Books
‘Rips, snorts and crackles with a delicious pace.’
Age
‘Temple writes with sophistication and wit.’
Washington Post
‘Confirms Temple’s rep as the top hard-boiled crime writer on the local scene.’
Courier-Mail
‘A highly complex and magnificently crafted thriller…Temple is the business.’
Australian Book Review
‘Puts Temple at the forefront of contemporary Australian crime fiction.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Fast, funny, fabulous…a stunning and welcome return.’
Adelaide Advertiser
D
EAD
P
OINT
(N
ED
K
ELLY
A
WARD FOR BEST AUSTRALIAN CRIME NOVEL
2001)
‘Temple is as dark and mean, as cool and as mesmerising, as any James Ellroy or Elmore Leonard with whom you might kill the small or sad hours.’ Peter Craven,
Age
‘Another world-class crime novel from Peter Temple.’
Canberra Times
‘The only thing better than a Temple novel is a Carlton win.’
Australian
W
HITE
D
OG
(N
ED
K
ELLY
A
WARD FOR BEST
A
USTRALIAN
CRIME NOVEL
2003)
‘A brilliant novel.’
Australian
‘Have I raved enough about
White Dog
? I judge it to be the best Jack Irish yet…Go for Peter Temple. His hero will stick and stick and stick.’
Crime Factory
‘There’s not much left that counts for a hill of beans in this crazy world, but one safe bet is a new book by Peter Temple.’
Age
‘A cracker of a yarn…sharp, witty and wise.’
Australian Bookseller & Publisher
‘Peter Temple is the man—the lay-down misère best crime writer in the country…Lively, cracking prose, spiky wit and crisp, action-packed stories which dazzle and grip…A joy-ride of a book.’
Adelaide Advertiser
Other novels by Peter Temple
An Iron Rose
In the Evil Day
The Broken Shore
T
HE
J
ACK
I
RISH NOVELS
Bad Debts
Black Tide
Dead Point
White Dog
PETER
TEMPLE
SHOOTING
STAR
TEXT PUBLISHING
Melbourne Australia
The Text Publishing Company
Swann House
22 William Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Australia
Copyright © Peter Temple 1999
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
First published in Australia by Bantam 1999
This edition published by the Text Publishing Company 2007
Design by Chong Weng-ho
Typeset in 12/15 Baskerville MT by J&M Typesetting
Printed and bound by Griffin Press
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Temple, Peter, 1946- .
Shooting star.
ISBN 978-1-921145-83-4.
1. Kidnapping - Fiction. I. Title.
A823.3
For Nicholas—with thanks for all the joy
THE HOUSE was in a street running off Ballarat Road. Doomed weatherboard dwellings with rusting roofs and mangy little patches of lawn faced each other across a pocked tarmac strip. At the end of the street, by the feeble light of a streetlamp, two boys were kicking a football to each other, uttering feral cries as they lost sight of it against the almost-dark sky.
Outside number twelve stood an old Ford Fairlane. I went up a concrete path and onto a springy verandah. The front door was open and, at the end of a passage, I could see a glow and hear the television, a game show, shrieks and shouts.
I looked for a bell, found a scar where one had been, knocked.
A figure appeared at the end of the passage, then a dim light came on. It was a big man, spilling out of a singlet, fat face, long straight hair falling over his eyes, wearing a plastic neck-brace. He didn’t move, said nothing, just looked down the corridor at me.
‘Mr Joseph Reagan?’ The trick was to sound like someone from Tattslotto with good news.
He wiped a finger under his nose. Even in the gloom, I could see that he didn’t have a ticket in the lottery.