Truth by Peter Temple
Inspector Stephen Villani, head of homicide in Melbourne, Australia, has a full schedule: a woman found dead in a luxury apartment; three men were brutally slain; a drug dealer with tattoos corrupting his disobedient kid; and a marriage in trouble. Villani discovers himself enmeshed in an unknown world of political controversy and ethical uncertainty as these seemingly unrelated occurrences start to take place. He must manoeuvre the inefficient bureaucracy that is the police department while putting on a brave front and attempting to prevent the media, his family, and his own past from entirely breaking him. Villani is made to doubt his ability to trust people with each turn and twist of this riveting crime story.
Truth by Peter Temple
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The inquiry into the death in the flat swiftly runs into affluent property owners who are unwilling to cooperate and politicians who are anxious to keep a valued urban redevelopment project clean. Villani finds himself negotiating foreign territory in the halls of power as he is courted by the prospective election winners for a new leadership role. The shed deaths appear to be drug-related, but a pair of ex-special forces soldiers also appear to be connected.
Temple is a skilled author with a unique flair. He disassembles the story’s plot, characters, and motivations before reassembling it later on. Reconstruction requires the reader to take on the role of a detective. Temple is aware of the constraints and temptations that police personnel must deal with. He has a profound understanding of men, particularly those who, on the inside, are still scared, incomplete children living forever in the shadow of their past experiences and their parents. He is aware of the inherent criminality of the corrupt profession of politics. He may be less skilled with women, but he is aware of the different roles that women play in men’s lives, including mother, wife, lover, daughter, whore, and damsel in distress.
