Seven Mile Beach - Softcover

Gilling, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802170595 ISBN 13: 9780802170590

Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat, 2009

Synopsis

From Tom Gilling—The New York Times Notable author of The Adventures of Miles and Isabel—comes a skillful, compulsively readable modern thriller about re-inventing one’s identity.
It was just a harmless lie—to say he was driving Danny Grogan’s car when it was caught speeding down the Sydney streets on New Year’s Eve—and Danny’s father, a billionaire real estate tycoon, has promised to make it worth his while. But when former reporter Nick Carmody stands up in court to profess his guilt, it suddenly becomes clear that he doesn’t understand what he’s admitting to—until it’s too late.
Nick’s good deed” hurls him into a world of secrets, drugs, corruption, and murder. To save his life, he has no choice but to disappear and become someone else. What he doesn’t realize is that a new identity can be even more dangerous than the one left behind. As his new life in Melbourne veers out of control, Nick has to question whether chance alone is responsible, or whether more sinister forces are at work.
A darkly comic page-turner, Seven Mile Beach is a haunting modern fable from a seductive novelist who never fails to thrill and surprise.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Australian author Gilling (The Adventures of Miles and Isabel) explores the perils of remaking oneself in this beguiling, darkly humorous tale. Nick Carmody's status as a scholarship student and Danny Grogan's wealthy background bonded them as œan alliance of outsiders at boarding school. Nick's now a journalist on a Sydney tabloid; Danny's a drug-addicted nightclub owner. When Danny wrecks his sports car, Nick accepts a hefty sum from Danny's father to claim he was the driver. But this was no ordinary accident—a man who may have been Danny's drug dealer was killed. Rather than face jail, Nick flees, assuming the identity of a stranger. His new life has a good start, complete with a dog and a girlfriend, until he learns that other men who share his new name are ending up dead. Coincidence? Or is Nick being hunted by the drug dealer's pals or Danny's father? Gilling delivers a taut, suspenseful reflection on identity that never pauses for a breath. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Highly suspenseful, with several intriguing twists, Seven Mile Beach is an excellent Australian thriller, one that will leave readers wondering right to the end.” Jessica Moyer, Booklist

Gilling delivers a taut, suspenseful reflection on identity that never pauses for a breath.” Publishers Weekly

Fresh and urgent to the last page.” Kirkus Reviews

A deftly constructed psychological thriller . . . Gilling creates a pitch-perfect slice of urban Australian life and compelling, multifaceted characters whose experiences raise as many questions as they answer.” Library Journal

Gilling’s touch in Seven Mile Beach is light as a feather, deft as a pick¬pocket’s. . . . Sure-footed moral entertainment.” The Age

A crime thriller, a road story, a meditation on identity, this taut, suspenseful novel is imbued with contemporary concerns and anxieties. . . . Gilling’s prose is as vivid and precise as ever.” Australian Literary Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0802170595
• ISBN 13: 9780802170590
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 207