AustLit

'Transfusion is a taut, muscular thriller starring Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Ryan Logan, a former Special Forces operative, who is battling to cope with life after the loss of his wife and is thrust into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Darwin, Summer, 1963.

'The humidity sat heavy and thick over the town as Senior Constable Ned Potter looked down at a body that had been dragged from the shallow marshland. He didn't need a coroner to tell him this was a bad death. He didn't know then that this was only the first. Or that he was about to risk everything looking for answers.

'Late one night, Charlotte Clark drove the long way home, thinking about how stuck she felt, a 23-year-old housewife, married to a cowboy who wasn't who she thought he was. The days ahead felt suffocating, living in a town where she was supposed to keep herself nice and wait for her husband to get home from the pub. Charlotte stopped the car, stepped out to breathe in the night air and looked out over the water to the tangled mangroves. She never heard a sound before the hand was around her mouth.

'Both Charlotte and Ned are about to learn that the world they live in is full of secrets and that it takes courage to fight for what is right. But there are people who will do anything to protect themselves and sometimes courage is not enough to keep you safe.

'STILL is an evocative, page-turning thriller from a brilliant Australian writer. If you loved THE DRY and SCRUBLANDS, you will love STILL.' (Publication summary)

'While Knuck (screenwriter Nable, known in North America for his role on the series Arrow) has been in prison, his surrogate son, Mark, nicknamed "Paddo" (the charismatic Ryan Corr, Hacksaw Ridge) has minded the store. Paddo has modernized the activities of the club, expanded their enterprise, and brought in new members — all endeavours that threaten Knuck's position on his return. Both men are supported and influenced by their equally strong wives, each woman as rabidly ambitious for her husband as for herself. Tensions mount when Paddo's younger brother, Skink (Josh McConville), creates a problem for the club, and Paddo must choose between familial devotion or loyalty to Knuck and the club he heads.'

Source: Toronto International Film Festival (http://www.tiff.net/tiff/1/). (Sighted: 13/09/2017)

'Guilt starts off with a group of friends getting ready for an eighteenth birthday party. Life is exciting and the world is at their feet.

'Jump forward twenty years and they are all struggling with where they are at. Tommy has just got out of prison. Lani, the girl he loved at school, is unhappily married to a cheating husband. Another friend Julia has only just moved out of home to live with her fiancé. And Paul – the high school hero of whom everyone expected great things – is living a totally ordinary life of marriage, mortgage, kids. Where did it all go wrong?

'Something happened at that party that changed their lives forever. This agonising novel examines the layers of loyalty and jealousy, the headiness of youth and the inescapable taste of guilt. ' (Publication summary)

'I used to think I didn't fit in, but now I realise I do.

When awkward teenager Charlie Hudson is beaten up during a family holiday at the beach, beautiful Tess Bailey rescues him - and sets the unusual course for his life. In this startling debut novel, Natt Nable follows the fortunes of Charlie, Tess, and their families and neighbours. Their lives intertwine, unravel, straighten, and become tangled again. A father tries to relive his football career through his son; a mother deserts her children in an attempt to find herself; a daughter purges to take control of her life. This is a portrait of plans gone wrong, a lament for what could have been, a salute to the power of redemptive love, and a brave examination of contemporary society. (Publisher's blurb)

'As the winds of change sweep across the rugby league landscape, Grub Henderson (Matt Nable) defiantly stands among all others as the embodiment of those before him. Foreign codes of business are tearing at the fabric of loyalty that exists between Grub's club and family. He collides head-on with an administration eager to bury him, and battles against his brother and coach's betrayal.

'At home his wife is troubled by the transformation of the man she married, and his children are left wanting for their father. In a bid to cling to his self-worth, Grub bitterly swallows his pride and bargains for his future. As the game that provides him an identity crumbles, he finds acceptance in the man he could be.'

Source: www.thefinalwinter.com
Sighted: 03/09/2007