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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN num: 9781596921290
ISBN number: 1596921293
Label: MacAdam/Cage
Manufacturer: MacAdam/Cage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: October 26, 2005
Publishing house: MacAdam/Cage
Sale Popularity Level: 398628
Studio: MacAdam/Cage
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Rated by buyers -
I have just discovered this Australian author, whose early books are a bit hard to find in the U.S. I think he's outstanding and have been ordering them wherever I can find them. The two latest are at our library, but had to send to Australia to get earlier ones. They are definitely worth it - great mysteries, good, three dimensional characters and sound writing.
Rated by buyers 
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it's not that temple is a bad writer. it could be that i've read to many 'hard-boiled' mysteries over the years.
the plot is well handled, and it's the typical convoluted genre plot. i guessed most of the elements well ahead of the writing. the identity of the love interest was obvious, too. and inexplicable.
the jack irish character is also typical--the tragic occurance in his past (from which he should have recovered), the borderline job, the suggestion of possibly shady dealings. i don't know much about betting, so i couldn't tell if his involvement in the betting scheme was legal and ethical, legal and unethical, or just plain criminal. i didn't think him tough or mean, since most of his actions were reactions. i found him fairly interchangeable with other hard-boiled anti-heroes.
i wouldn't recommend this author, but i am in the minority.
Rated by buyers -
This guy is really talented. The book ebbs and flows---some parts better than others, some sub plots better than others. But if you take the kind of distance from the plot that one needs for a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett ---you'll find that you've found a true heir to the masters of the genre.
Am going to see what else this guy wrote. He's very good.
Rated by buyers 
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I'v read more thrillers and mysteries than I'd care to admit, and this is the best I've read in years. "Bad Debts" gives new meaning to that tired genre "thriller." People say, "I couldn't put it down." I had to put it down several times. It was too intense to read uninterruptedly. Apart from strong characterization -- characters with whom one could genuinely empathize, exceptional plotting and engaging settings, the language is fresh and startling, the tough-guy argot of Australia. Without giving away the plot, there's one moment in which a high official explains all of the events that have driven the action to that point so as to undermine the assumptions of the reader as well as the hero. It's a daring authorial moment that draws the reader to stronger identification with the hero's shifting perspectives. Buy this book. If you don't find it compelling, you should give up reading thrillers altogether.
Rated by buyers -
It was somewhat distressing to discover that Peter Temple has been active for years in Australia with nary a whisper in the United States. He has won three Ned Kelly awards for crime fiction, including one for BAD DEBTS as "Best First Novel." Indeed, with no slight to the other nominees that year, upon reading BAD DEBTS one can see why. It is a complex and richly told tale with a fascinating protagonist.
That protagonist is the wonderfully named Jack Irish, a rumpled knight with an enigmatic and fascinating backstory that undoubtedly will provide the impetus for many volumes in the years to come. Irish is what is known as a suburban solicitor, which means that he practices law in some way or another. He is not a shady character himself, though most of his friends and clients are, and the adage about lying down with dogs certainly holds true in Irish's case. His very first marriage ended in divorce, and his second wife was murdered by one of his clients.
This resulted in Irish going on a functioning bender of a number of years' duration during which time he came close to losing his license to practice. As part therapy and part recreation, he assists a cabinetmaker and is also a fan of the local football club. Occasionally he is involved in the business end of horseracing with a former jockey named Harry Strang and his assistant, Cam Delray, an extremely capable gentleman who quietly and unobtrusively steals every passage in which he appears.
The impetus behind the novel is a telephone call that Irish receives from Danny McKillop, who claims to be one of Irish's former clients. Irish has no memory of the man or his case; when McKillop turns up dead in an unfortunate police confrontation before Irish can talk to him, it arouses Irish's curiosity. He is crestfallen to discover that he represented the man in what appeared to be a straightforward vehicular homicide case, occasioned by McKillop's intoxication, that resulted in McKillop's incarceration, from which he was only recently released.
Wondering if he could have done a better job on his former client's behalf, Irish begins to do some digging into McKillop's case and circumstances both before and after his release from prison. It soon develops that McKillop might have been a pawn in a clever plot that reaches to the uppermost levels of government. As Irish continues his thoughtful digging, he finds there are those who want the past to lay undisturbed and the present to remain unimpeded --- and are willing to do whatever must be done to ensure that matters continue as they have been.
American readers who are not well-versed in Australian ways will not get the gist of everything in BAD DEBTS, and some of the slang terms can be deciphered only within a carefully nuanced context. Temple, however, is such a master of his narrative that I think one is better served by plowing through any colloquial custom or expression that isn't understandable after two or three run-throughs and proceeding apace. I should note that Temple is also very funny, interspersing his dark passages with dry humour that matches the cleverness of his plotting and his characters. This is a welcome debut that will leave readers demanding more.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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