Book Review: After the Flood by Dave Warner

After the Flood

by

Dave Warner 

 

Publisher: Fremantle Press

 

Publication date: 2nd August 2022

 

Series: Dan Clement #3

Genre: Crime Fiction

 

Pages: 264 

 

RRP: $32.99AUD

 

Format read: Paperback 

 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

My review of After the Flood

 

In After the Flood Dave Warner explores the concept of past trauma shaping a person's outlook which could lead to psychopathic thoughts and deadly actions.

After the Flood delves into the urge for vengeance or revenge and the misguided belief that someone must pay for the losses suffered.

 

DI Dan Clement, troubled by his own past mistakes, is after a juicy case to get his mind off his ex-wife. The protesters at the abattoirs and the Health Clinic break-in by an anti-vaxxer aren't keeping him that busy but these cases are put on the backburner when a seemingly ritualistic murder is discovered on a remote cattle station. Is this a drug deal gone wrong or is a psychopath on the loose?

 

I really enjoyed this intriguing police procedural set in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The writing is laid back, a superb example of Aussie noir.

It was fascinating to read along as Clement and his team piece together what seem like inconsequential pieces of information to solve the puzzle and how one piece of information connects with another as the team kept digging away with the little clues that they had.

 

The story starts at a steady pace as information is gathered and the case seem to be going nowhere. Then the pace accelerates as we are taken on an adrenaline fuelled ride to the end.

 

After the Flood is superbly plotted crime fiction with an authentic Aussie flavour. It reads well as a stand alone.

 

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

 

About the author

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Dave Warner is an author, musician and screenwriter. After the Flood is his eleventh novel, with previous novels winning the Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Fiction, and the Ned Kelly Award for best Australian crime fiction. After the Flood is the third in the Dan Clement series set in Broome in Australia's North-West. Dave first came to national prominence in 1978 with his gold album Mug's Game and his band Dave Warner's from the Suburbs. In 2017 he released his tenth album, When. He has been named a Western Australian State Living Treasure and has been inducted into the WAMi Rock'n'Roll of Renown.