Head of Victorian Homicide, Inspector Stephen Villani, is confronted with the highly sensitive murder of a young woman in the new state-of-the-art Prosilio apartment building. So new, few residents have moved in to the exclusive block.
Pressure is immediately placed on Villani to keep the death quiet – the conglomerate of owners has direct access to the very top of state politics. Embarrassment must be avoided at all cost, especially in the election year.
But Villani is not simply a yes man. Whilst he can initially prevent the media from talking ‘murder’, he has no intention of lying low simply because a promotion carrot has been dangled – or the inverse threat to his position should he ignore the ‘friendly advice’.
As the state burns, taking place as it does during the sweltering heat and 2009 bushfires of Black Saturday, Villani is determined to discover the truth and discover the connection (if any) with the gruesome deaths of the violent Ribaric brothers.
Truth is no simple crime novel with a linear narrative along with black and white characters. Multi-layered, it is as much the story of Villani attempting to understand his failure as a husband, father and family man. His relationship with his wife is virtually non-existent; his youngest daughter is a drug addict. But juxtaposed with the present is Villani’s own family history – a missing mother and a constantly absent father, resulting in Stephen as the eldest raising his two brothers.
Now, on isolated farmland in regional Victoria, his father Bob Villani must face the oncoming fires alone.
Politics, political machinations and political manoeuvrings
But Truth is also about political games as colleagues both above and below jostle and manoeuvre as election day looms.
It’s fast-paced as Villani pushes his team to discover the truth. Mistakes are made, lucky breaks few and far between but grabbed with both hands when they present themselves. But it’s never too long before the inspector is summoned by someone further up the food chain.
Truth is not always an easy read. It’s a cracking story with sparkling, gritty dialogue. But, with the plethora of present and former colleagues, superiors, politicians and journalists, it can become increasingly confusing as to just who is who.
It is, however, Stephen Villani who is most memorable. The inspector is an everyman, not infallible but certainly fair, a dedication and love for justice and his job that has cost him (like most of his colleagues) his family.
Peter Temple
South African-born, Victoria-based, former journalist Peter Temple was presented with the 2010 Miles Franklin Award for Truth. More recently, the novel collected the 2012 International German Crime Prize.
Temple is no stranger to prizes, having collected five Ned Kelly awards since his first novel, Bad Debts, was published in 1997 alongside the world's most prestigious crimewriting prize, the Duncan Lowrie Dagger, and Colin Roderick Award for The Broken Shore (Text Publishing, 2006), his last book.
Source
- Truth by Peter Temple (Text Publishing, 2010)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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