The Pool (Hannah Tunnicliffe, Ultimo)

In Hannah Tunnicliffe’s latest novel, The Pool, a motley group of southside Melburnians meets for a summer party. The young families are connected through work and children, but they’re not really friends. They’re keeping up appearances, doing business, showing off and gossiping. When something truly awful happens that day, it splits their lives into ‘before’ and ‘after’. Ten years later, they’re still dealing with the aftermath, except that now, Baz King—an obnoxious and persistent presence in everyone’s lives—has gone missing, and they’re all pulled back together to face ghosts old and new. The Pool is Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap with an added whodunnit layer. Each chapter is told from the point-of-view of a different character; I found this helpful in terms of piecing together information, but it could be confusing for some readers, as it makes it difficult to keep track of all the characters and relationships. Through the complex relationships, Tunnicliffe (A French Wedding) explores grief, guilt, betrayal, family dynamics, and how one moment can change your life forever. Tunnicliffe’s writing achieves a distinctly Australian feel by weaving in well-known establishments and making a point of grounding readers with real suburbs and street names. The Pool has ABC mini-series vibes and is for fans of Garry Disher and Robert Gott—and anyone who loves a classic Australian mystery.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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