[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]

ANGEL ROCK by Darren Williams Knopf, June 2002 288 pages $23.00 ISBN: 0375414517

The time is December 1969, midsummer in Australia, and astronauts are still landing on the moon. In the small country town of Angel Rock, in the mountains north of Sydney, two small boys are lost in the dense bush. Only one of the boys is found, and shortly afterwards a teenage girl takes her own life in Sydney. From these events Williams builds an intense story that is part mystery novel, part suspense, part coming of age, and part searching for truth.

The first part of Angel Rock sets the scene, the town and characters come alive, and Williams builds superb atmosphere and tension as the two boys wander into the bush and are lost. I found this section the most satisfying as I was an Australian schoolboy in the late sixties, and for the most part Williams recreation of the era felt spot on. Williams sketches his characters in the way that a master painter will sketch a line drawing, the simple lines somehow reveal far more about a character than a detailed portrait ever could. From the schoolchildren and their parents, the shopkeeper and policeman, the farmers and loggers, through to the local eccentrics, the impression is of a complete community.

Part two introduces Gibson, the Sydney detective who attends the suicide scene. He becomes obsessed by the nature of the girl's death, and the parallels with his own past, and travels to Angel Rock in an attempt to find the truth behind her actions, but also to unlock some truths of his own. Part two is by far the longest section of Angel Rock and at times Williams seems to meander away from the main plot as he explores various themes such as parenthood and sexuality. Some of the themes are barely touched on, glossed over when it seems that a deeper treatment is called for, but they always made me think, and perhaps that's the objective.

Part three then returns to a build up of tension as the plot moves to a climax and a resolution of the various threads. The suspense of the finale is excellent with several surprise revelations, and one final twist, but I felt that the author didn't entirely play fair with the reader. Nevertheless I found the resolution satisfying in the way that it tied up the major threads.

Angel Rock is Williams second novel, his first won a literary award, and it shows in the structure which, while it follows some aspects of the mystery genre, also allows him to move outside of genre expectations. I found myself questioning some assumptions and the occasional character action seemed out of place, but most were believable, and the novel is very atmospheric. The pacing was excellent in the first and third parts but seemed to drag occasionally in the middle. Angel Rock is neither a fast paced nor light read, but it is rewarding with many memorable scenes. At it's best the writing is extremely powerful and involving, capable of arousing a wide range of emotions, and generating some almost unbearable suspense.

Angel Rock is a very good book and, unlike other mainstream novelists who accidentally fall into the genre, Darren Williams deliberately set out to write a mystery novel, and studied the structure beforehand. It's not a traditional mystery, but I would recommend it if you're prepared to experiment a little in your mystery reading. Angel Rock may not be the best novel that I'll read this year, but I'm sure that I'll be remembering it for a long time, and I hope that Darren Williams stays with the mystery format for his next book.

Note : This review is based on the Australian edition. It is also available in the USA and the UK.

Reviewed by Paul Richmond, July 2002

[ Top ]

QUICK SEARCH:

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)

[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]