Call number
MYST TEM
Collection
Genres
Series
Publication
Text Publishing Company (1900)
Description
Mickey Franklin was funny and clever and dangerous. Not anymore, now that a mysterious and beautiful sculptor named Sarah Longmore is accused of shooting him five times. Jack Irish - gambler, cook and cabinet-maker, finder of people who don't want to be found - gets the job of hunting for clues that might save her. In a rainy autumn, with Jack's old flame Linda Hillier on a plane to London, the Saints about to front another season and legendary jockey Harry Strang in pursuit of a dark horse, it's a tricky task. By the time Jack pieces together the strange events that led to Mickey's death, he's in a world of shady deals and sexual secrets and untimely death.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member claraoscura
I didn't like this book at all. Without having read any other Jack Irish book before, I was totally lost among the characters that make up Jack Irish life (his friends, love of football, horses, etc.). Not only it was hard to understand who they where, what they were talking about but it just felt
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so besides the point in the book. As for the crime plot, it was quite predictable ... Show Less
LibraryThing member devilish2
I just love Peter Temple's writing - sparse, wry, dry wit and beautiful observation.
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
A woman is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend and Jack Irish is asked to help investigate the case and to try to exonerate her. This is the story in the heart of the fourth Irish novel. But just as with all the other novels in the series, it is just the bones of the story.
Outside of the story,
You can see the solution of the crime story from the middle of the book but as with all the other Temple books, it is not about who did it, it is really about how and why. He may not point a finger to the culprits until very late in the story but he does everything else to point it to us - even if Jack Irish does not see it.
It is not a good book to start with if you had never read the series - it relies on the back story and on the familiarity with the characters to build the story. Add the very distinctive style of Temple and the book takes a bit to get used to - it is so Australian, so Temple.
I will miss Jack Irish - this is the last in the series and even if Jack shows up in cameos in later books ("Truth" for example), I wish there were more books telling his story. On the other hand, I am not sure he can survive much more abuse.
Outside of the story,
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there is Melbourne and the circle of friends and acquaintances of Jack Irish. There is the Youth Club and the football, the horses and the cabinet-making, the irrational love interests and the deaths. And if you thought that Jack was in trouble in all the previous books, things go even worse here - he almost gets killed more than once, he loses another woman he loves (and it wakes memories of the wife he lost) and somewhere along the line, life continues. You can see the solution of the crime story from the middle of the book but as with all the other Temple books, it is not about who did it, it is really about how and why. He may not point a finger to the culprits until very late in the story but he does everything else to point it to us - even if Jack Irish does not see it.
It is not a good book to start with if you had never read the series - it relies on the back story and on the familiarity with the characters to build the story. Add the very distinctive style of Temple and the book takes a bit to get used to - it is so Australian, so Temple.
I will miss Jack Irish - this is the last in the series and even if Jack shows up in cameos in later books ("Truth" for example), I wish there were more books telling his story. On the other hand, I am not sure he can survive much more abuse.
Show Less
Awards
Ned Kelly Award (Winner — 2003)