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Posted by on 26 Oct, 2020 in Australian Crime Fiction, Canberra Weekly, Crime, Forecast Friday, Looking Forward Friday, Spy Fiction, Thriller | 1 comment

FORECAST FRIDAY: DEAD LETTERS by Michael Brissenden (Hachette, 27 January 2021)

FORECAST FRIDAY: DEAD LETTERS by Michael Brissenden (Hachette, 27 January 2021)

Dead Letters by Michael Brissenden (Hachette, January 2021)

One of the thrillers I am most keenly looking forward to in early 2021 is Dead Letters by Michael Brissenden.

Brissenden, a well known Australian political journalist, made an impressive entry into the murky realm of thriller writing in 2018 with his first book, The List.

The List opened in Afghanistan before confidently moving to the multi-cultural streets of western Sydney and the halls of power in Canberra, as it followed a pair of Australian Federal Police agents chasing a mysterious figure who is killing suspected Muslim terrorists on the ASIO watchlist.

It moved along at a brisk pace and mixed thrills and sharp social observations in equal measure.  Brissenden proved to be very adept at capturing a scene or a location in a couple of telling sentences and the characters had a nice sense of credibility about them.  Most importantly, it kept the reader interested and the book delivered some good action scenes. It was one of my favourite thrillers of 2018.

Dead Letters once more features counter terrorist expert and AFP agent Sid Allen, who is assigned to the shooting murder of a politician in Sydney.

According to the publicity material:

“Politician Dan LeRoi, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, has been shot. Four bullets to the head. The crime scene is chaotic. Homicide. Counter Terrorism. Media. And for Sid, hunting the killer is going to get complicated.

Journalist Zephyr Wilde is complicated. She’s tenacious and she’s got Sid’s number. Sid knows the gossip: how Zephyr’s mother was murdered when Zephyr was a kid. He doesn’t know that Zephyr is still getting letters from her long-dead mother. But when he learns that Dan LeRoi was helping Zephyr look into her mother’s death, he realises that lines are going to be crossed. A cop should not be talking to a journalist.

As they both ask too many questions, Sid and Zephyr stir up a hornet’s nest of corruption. Knowing who to trust is going to mean the difference between solving a crime and being a victim. The question is, which side will they end up on.”

It sounds very interesting, and I have to confess that I have read the first couple of chapters and it certainly grabs your attention! Put this one down on your list for an early 2021 read!

Dead Letters will be released in Australia on 27 January 2021 and I intend on reviewing it around then.

Thanks to Hachette and The Canberra Weekly for an advanced copy of the book.

1 Comment

  1. Thank you, Jeff. Another book to look forward to.

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