Frame 37

In Shakespeare’s shrewd fourth thriller featuring former British journalist John Dyer (after The Sandpit), the death of Dyer’s old friend has international implications. At the outset, Dyer is in Tasmania hoping to finish a manuscript. His dreams of tranquility are dashed when photographer Miguel Girondo de Belew, a friend from grad school, approaches him with bad news: their mutual acquaintance, Lia Bignardi, has been killed in a hit-and-run that her sister, Nova, thinks was intentional. Though Dyer hasn’t been in touch with Lia for decades (“He felt only a collection of overlapping memories, he could not assemble her face”), he’s moved to look into Nova’s suspicions. What he finds makes him suspect that Lia’s death is connected to a crime he witnessed decades earlier, committed by a man who has since gained powerful political allies across the world. By investigating, Dyer knows he is putting a target on his own back. Shakespeare doles out backstory gradually, but the slow burn pays off in the end, and vibrant prose (“The wind gnawing the clouds, the pulse beating in his head, the shivery coincidence”) is a plus. This is a winner. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (May)