Amnesty
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
"Danny - formerly Dhananjaya Rajaratnam - is an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia, denied refugee status after he fled from Sri Lanka. Working as a cleaner, living out of a grocery storeroom, for three years he's been trying to create a new identity for himself. And now, with his beloved vegan girlfriend, Sonja, with his hidden accent and highlights in his hair, he is as close as he has ever come to living a normal life. But then one morning, Danny learns a female client of his has been murdered. The deed was done with a knife, at a creek he'd been to with her before; and a jacket was left at the scene, which he believes belongs to another of his clients - a doctor with whom Danny knows the woman was having an affair. Suddenly Danny is confronted with a choice: Come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported? Or say nothing, and let justice go undone? Over the course of this day, evaluating the weight of his past, his dreams for the future, and the unpredictable, often absurd reality of living invisibly and undocumented, he must wrestle with his conscience and decide if a person without rights still has responsibilities."--Publisher description.
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Dhananjaya Rajarathnam was born in Batticaloa Sri Lanka. It's the jewel of the East known for its fire walkers, tongue-piercers and silver beaches where you can put a reed to your ear, lean down from your paddle boat, and hear the music of the fish.
But now Dhananjaya is just Danny, sitting on a Sydney train, a Turbo Model E Super Suction power vacuum strapped to his back on his way to his next cleaning gig.
For the last 4 years he's worked at becoming invisible. As an illegal in Australia he minds his posture, never spits in public and works to eliminate the tics of his mother tongue. But now, privy to key information that might solve a recent murder, Danny must wrestle between staying quiet and staying in Australia or going to the police with what he knows and face the threat of deportation.
Danny has spent his time in Australia paying keen attention and now, in the single day recounted here, the city is sending him signals. Street signs, store windows, radio snippets and even his own phone send cryptic messages, singing an urban key.
Meanwhile he has to contend with the killer himself, verbally sparring back and forth over the phone. He offers up an easy out, speaking up has never led to anything good for Danny, a cigarette burn on his forearm a testament to his past inability to pay attention to the rules around him. Danny is, and has always been, a faker - a fake citizen in Australia even a fake vegan to his girlfriend. Staying quiet means staying safe.
An examination of illegals making their way in the world, hidden in plain sight - wrapped up in a tight little crime thriller.
