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'A high-paced, hardboiled regional noir: fresh, gritty, unnerving, with a stark and lonely beauty.
'Do bad people look like good people, like friends and brothers and boyfriends and students, until they have their hands around your throat? All of these men standing around me, drinks in hand, backs to this screen… smiling, laughing, flirting, and they look harmless. But any one of them could be something else now: rapist, murdered, spree shooter, torturer, paedophile. I try to picture them sprayed with blood and gore and it’s easy. I can do it, mentally. All of these guys could be him because all of these guys were just like him, right up until he…
'Gatton, Queensland. 1994. Nate is a student, dealing weed on the side. A girl called Maya Kibby is dead. No one knows who killed her. Nate needs to refresh his supply, but Jesse, his friend and dealer, is missing. Nate is high. He is alone. Being hunted for the suitcase he’s found and haunted by its contents. And as things turn from bad to worse, Nate uncovers far more than he bargained for.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Hot on the Trail of Dirty Deeds
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 December 2017; (p. 16)
— Review of Wimmera 2017 single work novel ; Fatal Mistake 2017 single work novel ; The Student 2017 single work novel ; And Fire Came Down 2017 single work novel'For Emma Viskic, the challenge of her second novel, And Fire Came Down, is to build on the success of her prize-winning 2015 debut, Resurrection Bay. Appearing again is one of the most intriguing recent protagonists of Australian crime fiction: the deaf private investigator Caleb Zelic, a man self-destructively redoubtable and the cause — as he fears — of harm all around him.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The Student
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , November 2017;
— Review of The Student 2017 single work novel'The Student is set around a university campus in Gatton, Queensland, in 1994. Nat is a student dealing weed supplied by Jesse, another student and friend. Between them they have a very good business going – to the detriment of their studies, which have become incidental to both of them.' (Introduction)
-
Iain Ryan : The Student
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 29 July - 4 August 2017;'It’s 1994 and Nate Byrne is a business student in the small university town of Gatton, Queensland. He sells weed on the side, but his friend/dealer Jesse has disappeared, precipitating a drug-drought. When a couple of violent bikies turn up looking for Jesse and a considerable sum of money, Nate’s tasked to find him, and fast. He stumbles upon a homemade porn ring, a missing fortune in pills and cash, the seedy underbelly of a rural community. A girl from the neighbourhood turns up dead. Nate’s too high to handle any of it. Traumas from his past are catching up to him. The plot comes heavy and fast. The sentences are short and sharp. Gritty. Noir. Laconic.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The Student
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , November 2017;
— Review of The Student 2017 single work novel'The Student is set around a university campus in Gatton, Queensland, in 1994. Nat is a student dealing weed supplied by Jesse, another student and friend. Between them they have a very good business going – to the detriment of their studies, which have become incidental to both of them.' (Introduction)
-
Hot on the Trail of Dirty Deeds
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 30 December 2017; (p. 16)
— Review of Wimmera 2017 single work novel ; Fatal Mistake 2017 single work novel ; The Student 2017 single work novel ; And Fire Came Down 2017 single work novel'For Emma Viskic, the challenge of her second novel, And Fire Came Down, is to build on the success of her prize-winning 2015 debut, Resurrection Bay. Appearing again is one of the most intriguing recent protagonists of Australian crime fiction: the deaf private investigator Caleb Zelic, a man self-destructively redoubtable and the cause — as he fears — of harm all around him.' (Introduction)
-
Iain Ryan : The Student
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 29 July - 4 August 2017;'It’s 1994 and Nate Byrne is a business student in the small university town of Gatton, Queensland. He sells weed on the side, but his friend/dealer Jesse has disappeared, precipitating a drug-drought. When a couple of violent bikies turn up looking for Jesse and a considerable sum of money, Nate’s tasked to find him, and fast. He stumbles upon a homemade porn ring, a missing fortune in pills and cash, the seedy underbelly of a rural community. A girl from the neighbourhood turns up dead. Nate’s too high to handle any of it. Traumas from his past are catching up to him. The plot comes heavy and fast. The sentences are short and sharp. Gritty. Noir. Laconic.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2018 shortlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing — Best Novel
- 2018 shortlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Commercial Fiction Cover
- Gatton, Gatton area, Rosewood - Laidley - Gatton area, South East Queensland, Queensland,
- 1994
