The Betrayal (Y A Erskine, Bantam)

The Betrayal—Y A Erskine’s second crime novel following The Brotherband—will reel you in and deliver a series of shocks you never saw coming. Like its predecessor, it bravely ventures into the corridors of power, but unlike its predecessor it records what happens when an offence is committed by one of the force’s own boys in blue. The Betrayal follows a series of date rapes, allegedly committed with the assistance of a prohibited substance. Through the course of the book the long-reaching implications of these assaults are explored, alongside the devious attempts to cover up evidence by those involved. Although the events of this novel are entirely fictional, the authentic Hobart settings and the author’s previous experience in the Tasmanian police force lend this novel a discomforting sense of the familiar. Consequently as a tissue of lies is constructed by the scarily believable characters, local readers may feel a sense of unease. While plot-driven and unashamedly accessible, this novel captures perfectly the brittle tensions at work within an institution. The author is also to be commended on the way in which she builds the book to an explosive climax.

Anna Forward is a teacher and freelance reviewer based in Hobart

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Category: Reviews