Douglas Kennedy – The Dead Heart - Review

 

If you plan to come to Australia, please do not use this excellent novel as a “Tourist Guide” because although Kennedy has done his research…vernacular, attitude, the vast “deadness” of the Northern and Western Australian dessert, the “bush,” Eastern Australia, that is to say, our major cities are as diverse, socially, artistically, politically as New York, L.A or Detroit, of course, though, with a twist.

Having read and reviewed most of Mr. Kennedy’s novels, this early work, more so, a novella escaped my grasp for many years. 

This short piece has everything any reader could reasonably expect from a well-written story: surprise, descriptions, and characters to the point without overwriting. This tale moves, no break for the reader, ending in a way that the reader might see but will never foresee.

Nick, a man of forty, a hack journalist only working for “Local Newspapers” has never had the drive of ambition, seeking true love, only wanting the mundane, because life without drama, without complexity, is a better life. He decides to throw in his new “hack.” job in Boston and, after discovering an old map of Australia, decides to “toss the dice” pull all his savings together, to the land, Darwin in all places.

Wrong.

Similar to all countries, each state, county, suburb, or village has its own specific culture. Nick landed in what American’s call “hic.” land. Separated from the rest of the country, they have established their own society, rules, and speech.

For those older readers, “The Dead Heart” is like the film “Deliverance” with that dry and sometimes cruel Aussie humor, though behind this seemingly innocuous banter is a disaster, actions you’d never see coming.

Kennedy’s body of work, for this reader, is inspiring…” The Dead Heart” is no different, but somehow, better.