Book 5 – “The Build Up”

“The Build Up” by Phillip Gwynne (2008)

This is another book from the  borrowed pile. Linda picked it up in a book sale and she knows  how much of a Gwynne fan I am so she let me go first! I discovered Gwynne’s writing to begin with thanks to a uni lecturer setting his first YA novel, “Deadly Unna” (1998) as a reading task when I was at uni and then a couple of years later I read the sequel, “Nukkin Ya” (2000). In 2010, I read his new YA novel, Swerve (2010). Gwynne also wrote the screenplay for the film “Australian Rules” which combines both “Deadly Unna” and “Nukkin Ya” and this is a film I use every year in my teaching. Less often I use the novel, but I wish it was the other way around because, as is so often the case, the book is much better than the film. So, it is fair to say that I started reading this book with high hopes and high expectations. The good news is, it didn’t disappoint me.

“The Build Up” is Gwynne’s first adult fiction novel. It is set in Darwin and its protagonist is an experienced detective with the Northern Territory police. Her name is Dusty and she is tough, experienced, and ridiculously good-looking – just the way a protagonist needs to be! A dead body is discovered at the start of the novel and there are a range of quirky characters and twists in the plot to keep you happily reading along to the end.

I think it’s fair to say that this book offers every single element I like. It’s a modern Australian novel by a talented writer. It is character-driven and captures the Australian landscape and lifestyle in a way that is familiar and comfortable. The narrative rolls along nicely, with exactly the right amount of detail dished up, bit by bit, at the end of each chapter so that you don’t really ever want to put it down. There are good guys and bad guys but the lines are blurred and they are all appealing.

I can’t lend anyone this book because it’s not mine, but if you see it in a book sale, grab it, or go and borrow it from the library. This one I definitely recommend.