Karen
The second psychological thriller from Lyn Yeowart, THE HOLLOW GIRL, is set in the West of Victoria around Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham, employing the dual timelines of the 1960's when a home for 'girls in crisis' near Horsham known as Harrowford Hall, takes in young, unmarried, pregnant girls, and the 1970's when Ballarat based newly qualified (and controversially as far as her awful boss is concerned) female DS Eleanor Smith is assigned to investigate the murder of a nurse at the now closing Hall.
Starting in the 1970's, Eleanor Smith is a wonderful character, brought to life by a unique voice, determination, and grit in the face of the childish and frankly pathetic behaviour of her boss - who is one of those quintessential 1970s piggish men who should have been obliterated from the face of the earth, and even more pathetically seem to linger on. She's palmed off on this low-profile murder case (the victim is female after all), and assigned a "helper" of a very new constable who is part of a fast-track programme getting newly graduated cops to shadow detectives - so less help / more work experience student, although he does turn out to be handy at taking notes, and tracking down the local fish and chip shops and Chinese takeaways.
Full Review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
The second psychological thriller from Lyn Yeowart, THE HOLLOW GIRL, is set in the West of Victoria around Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham, employing the dual timelines of the 1960's when a home for 'girls in crisis' near Horsham known as Harrowford Hall, takes in young, unmarried, pregnant girls, and the 1970's when Ballarat based newly qualified (and controversially as far as her awful boss is concerned) female DS Eleanor Smith is assigned to investigate the murder of a nurse at the now closing Hall.
Starting in the 1970's, Eleanor Smith is a wonderful character, brought to life by a unique voice, determination, and grit in the face of the childish and frankly pathetic behaviour of her boss - who is one of those quintessential 1970s piggish men who should have been obliterated from the face of the earth, and even more pathetically seem to linger on. She's palmed off on this low-profile murder case (the victim is female after all), and assigned a "helper" of a very new constable who is part of a fast-track programme getting newly graduated cops to shadow detectives - so less help / more work experience student, although he does turn out to be handy at taking notes, and tracking down the local fish and chip shops and Chinese takeaways.
Full Review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.