A disappointing Aussie thriller that wastes a gold mine of ideas in the premise and exotic setting.
The most striking feature of Phillip Gwynne’s new YA fiction novel is that it’s set in Bali, focusing on a collective of ex-pat Australians living in Indonesia. Gwynne has taken great care to explore and engage with the cultures and languages of our neighbour and, to a lesser extent, that of Timor-Leste.
Sadly, he’s taken less care in exploring the interesting details of his action adventure, skipping over important plot twists to focus on his man-on-the-run narrative and several bland subplots, of which there are too many.
The story centres around Taj, a teenage surfer who helps his father escape from Kerobokan Prison after his dad is scheduled to be executed for drug smuggling. The premise and exotic setting are all a gold mine for storytelling, but several times throughout the book, Gwynne completely avoids the tension of anticipation. The build-up to, and actual scenes of major developments, are skipped, not least being the prison escape itself. Taj decides to help his father escape, then suddenly it’s already done and they’re on the run. No planning, no witnessing the escape, and barely any mention of how it was achieved. Later in the book, one of the characters is hospitalised and again, the action leaps forward for us to discover that while in hospital the central characters were caught and Taj is back home again. The twist of fate has no lead-up, no moments of cat-and-mouse in the hospital, and barely any details are provided.
The multiple subplots slow the pace immensely and when they finally interconnect, they feel contrived. Even in these subplots, there is another example of missing the point. The blossoming romantic interest between Taj and his close friend Kartika reaches its long-awaited moment with just three words at the end of the novel: “Until they kissed.” And there goes that subplot. For such a quietly brewing subplot from the beginning of the book, the big moment is made into a non-event that doesn’t even create a hint of change to their relationship in the final short chapter.
Gwynne’s style of writing is pleasant enough and he has the knack of describing scenes and situations succinctly. But we leave his characters with the feeling that they’ve not grown or evolved, despite the harrowing misadventures they’ve survived. Not even an attempted kidnapping or witnessing violent deaths seem to scar them.
The Break sounds like a good idea, but that’s where the reader’s thrill ends.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not necessarily of Glam Adelaide.
Distributed by: Penguin Books Australia
Released: September 2021
RRP: $19.99
More News
