‘Black Tide’ by Peter Temple

My Review (4 stars out of 5)

Having lent his son a ton of money, Des Connors is troubled when his offspring, Gary, goes missing. Asked to investigate, Jack Irish wonders if Gary has deliberately absented himself, and if so, might the reasons be the result of mixing with the wrong sort of people? The trail soon points to trouble for Jack as he uncovers a complex web of intrigue that leads to threats to Jack’s own life.

This is the second book in the Jack Irish series. While I really enjoyed the first one (Bad Debts), this one didn’t grab me quite so much. The author’s use of language is still spot on and there are some nice developments in Jack’s personal life, but the whole horse racing thing is just plain boring and didn’t seem to bear any relation to the plot. Also, the story itself is overly complicated and I occasionally struggled to understand all the intricacies of the Black Tide business. The final section, however, is good fun and makes the read worthwhile.

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