A first read by author Matt Noble. Not what this reader was expecting. Three stars.
Review copy received from Hachette Via Netgalley

REVIEW; ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Still - Matt Nable
🍁☀️🐟🐗🍺🥃🏈🥊🎲⛺️

1960s Darwin sets a perfect scene for this who did it; why did it triple murder mystery. It’s hot. It’s racist. It’s corrupt. No one is who they seem to be. Everyone has a secret. & then that twist you absolutely do not see coming. 😱

The story builds slowly - the scene setting is phenomenal. As the story builds, I found myself almost tearing at the pages trying to get the end faster. I wanted it over so I my mind could slow, but I also never wanted it to end.

Still is Nable‘s fourth book, his first published with @hachetteaus & also his first (but not last) that I have read.
To put it simply, this is an Aussie masterpiece, & I can’t wait to read more.

Thankyou @tandem & @hachette for sending me a free gifted copy to read with a great groups of other bookstagrammers.

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Book 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.

My thoughts…

I did love The Dry and Scrublands. And I did enjoy Still. There are many characters in this story, and I felt real emotion for them and their situations. I sure I hoped the bad guys would get what they deserved. I admit being surprised by some characters and their methods for getting eve.

Ned played a great role and the author loaded him with conflict. (I am glad he found his way out of the pub. The characters in this story can sure drink! But that’s Darwin!

As for the setting…. I loved the setting. I was there in the mid 80s and the author’s depiction of the landscape and the storms took me back.

Still by Australian author Matt Nable is a disturbing crime novel that leaves you feeling uneasy. Set in Darwin, during the 1960 this story portrays a time of racism and violence. I really enjoyed this novel despite the difficult topic. Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

Still is a crime/mystery set in Darwin in 1963 and the main characters are policeman Ned Potter, and Charlotte Clark, a young woman in an unhappy marriage. Ned is the good cop in the story, and he wants to find the answers after he discovers a dead body but he is told it’s a suicide and to forget about it. The story gets more involved as more dead bodies are found and Ned is forced to wrap up the case by charging two men he knows are innocent. I found this an intriguing read. The atmosphere, particularly the heat and humidity of the Top End comes through in the writing. There are many issues presented here from violence and alcoholism, racism, police and political corruption and (view spoiler) and they are all handled well. The story takes a little while to get going, it’s certainly much faster paced in the latter part of the novel. The ending is satisfying without being too neat.

Still by Australian author Matt Nable is set in Darwin during Summer 1963. As Senior Constable Ned Potter watches the body of a man being dragged out of the shallow marshland, he can easily see the man had suffered and died from a severe beating. But what Ned didn’t know was this would not be the only body and finding out what happened and why was going to be more of a challenge than he first thought.

This book touched on many issues such as domestic violence, child abuse and racism just to name a few all of which were woven into a compelling read with detailed descriptions throughout the story. A well written novel and one in which I highly recommend.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my digital copy to read and review.

Brilliant crime novel set in outback Australia. Gritty, dark, tense and a multi-layered story kept me engaged the whole way through, but it felt like the ending rushed up to meet me too quickly.

This book read like i was watching a movie. It is very atmospheric.

The thing i loved about this book was how real the story felt. The hero of the story is not all that heroic. The bad people don’t necessarily ‘get theirs’. Innocent people are hurt. The story doesn’t just end with all the good people who deserve better coming out on top.

Matt Nable really has written a brilliant crime novel.

A harsh climate and oppressive heat and humidity make for hard living conditions and hard people living in the conditions of Darwin. The 60s were a slightly wilder time.....but much of the troppo wildness remains in Darwin today. Certainly a different breed of people embrace the damp and sticky lifestyle.

"Still" covers a diverse range of people living in this northern territory city in the late 60s.....police officers, the mayor, a catholic priest, ex rodeo rider, pub folk, loners looking for a new start, long suffering wives and aboriginal men living as second class citizens.

Lives are cheap and dispensable. Policeman Ned Potter has this unquenchable thirst for cold beer and to see justice done. Something is crooked with the town hierarchy, and Ned is on a mission to find it out....putting those he loves in harms way. Ned has seen what happens to people who get on the wrong side of the mayor.

At first I was a little confused with the introduction of so many characters. Some are "short lived" and the main characters became more orderable in my mind as we learnt more about their way of life.

Matt Nable paints a picture of the oppressive heat, draining the townsfolk of ambition, work ethic (they spend a lot of time at the pub !!). You can almost feel the smothering humidity. The smells of rain coming and the wild storms blowing through as quickly as they came. Everything seems pretty damp and slightly rancid.....a bit like the crime's being hidden.

Such a rewarding read to see the unravelling; the pillars of society falling like a house of cards and truth being revealed. 

And then the book was over.....leaving me sitting still, wanting more.

Thanks to NetGalley, Hachette Australia and Matt Nable for this copy to read.

The heat and stillness are characters in this twisted and soul-shoveling thriller set in Northern Territory, Australia.

The heat plays mirage games with minds, souls and characters of people who live in Perth, be it now or back in the 1960s. Being remote means anything can be hidden. Being hot means anything can be blamed on conditions. Being small means everybody knows your business...

Still is the story of breaking the stillness, of muddying the waters, of uncovering hidden and opening wounds. Matt Nable needs to be congratulated on creating a place and a space and populating it with characters that match.

I found Still something of a train wreck where you can't help but keep watching it unfold. Its characters, from Charlotte and Ned to Bobby Clark and Father McKay get wrapped into such a tight package that you can't help but feel helpless.

Themes of alcoholism, racism, domestic violence, police and government corruption, pedophilia and major cover ups for political and financial gains interweave with the themes of post-war Australian life from family roasts to rodeo, hand fishing to crocodile watching.

The language as deep, slow, immersing as NT swamps swallows you whole and you swim to the end trying to make sense of what is going on, trying to find the best in the worst situations, images, people... Still is definitely 'unputdownable' book, because if you put it down once, it will take all your strength and will power to take it on again. Not because it is bad, but because it is so good, so good at bad happenings, horrible situations, horrific crimes and hopeless roads that it is definitely not your light read or show-like thriller.

Still swallows you whole. Still lets you in and tells you to look away. Still is the story of cover ups and uncoverings. And it is, surprisingly, a story of strength, determination, belief and hope.... I can't say my usual 'enjoy'. I can only say, why don't you dare...

I was really looking forward to reading this book but it fell a bit short of the mark for me. The story of good cop, bad cop, racism, alcohol and life in the Northern Territory was told from the view point of mainly Ned (good cop with problems).

For me this was a story full of hate, a lot of unpleasantness and over-the-top detail and description of the weather, the smells, the heat and not enough about solving the crimes that were happening in Darwin. It was long-winded, slow and to a point got a bit boring. I got confused with who was who and how they fit in to the overall picture.

And then the crime was solved, the bag guys dealt with but what happened to those that were left. I was left hanging and disappointed by this sudden ending that really had no closure.

Professional rugby league player, actor, scriptwriter, director, and the man who gets me excited about boxing bouts: Is there anything Matt Nable can’t do? I wondered when I learnt he’s also managed to get four books published. Still, his latest, is also proving to be his most popular and I snatched up a copy via NetGalley, eager to find out how his writing compares to his other career achievements.

It’s 1963 and Ned Potter is a senior constable in the local police force of Darwin. One day Ned stumbles across a body in a swamp and soon he’s embroiled in a mystery which threatens not only his job but his and his family’s lives.

If I had to describe Still, I’d call it atmospheric. Nable’s writing does not rely on a fast paced plot but, instead, his prose drags the reader into far north Australia which exudes a sense of a humid and remote society where laws are bent to their limit.

Nable also manages to create quite a lot of tension. The fate of the characters simmered like a summer storm at sea and I knew when the metaphorical heavens opened up, it was all going to turn ugly.

The book is not for the faint hearted. It’s graphic and violent. There’s many themes covered including racism, domestic violence, child abuse and alcoholism. Unfortunately many of the issues Nable brings up are just as relevant today as they were in 1963.

Ned is a character with a lot of flaws. He's pretty much an alcoholic, for starters. However, I still really liked him and, although Still is totally standalone, I would not be averse to the idea of Nable turning this into a series. Other standout characters included Ned's brother, his father-in-law, and the local barmaid, and I can easily imagine further stories featuring them.

As I read, I couldn’t help but picture Still playing out like a movie and I would not be surprised if one of Nable’s mates decided to adapt the book for the big screen. (Funny, given that Nable was one of the stars of The Dry which was adapted from Jane Harper’s novel which Still will be compared to a lot, I’m sure.) I even cast Nable as Ned’s brother, LOL.

If I had a complaint, it would be the ending. The book is fairly long and after such a slow build up, the resolution felt rushed.

I’ll definitely be checking out Nable’s other titles and I highly recommend Still. 4 ½ out of 5

PS I just noticed the audio version is not narrated by Nable himself. Such a waste…

Ned and Charlotte both live in the Northern Territory and don’t have a lot in common. Until the bodies of several men are found by Ned and they all have a link back to Charlotte’s philandering husband. For me, this got off to a slow start but the latter half was great once all the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together and the pace really picked up. Great descriptive writing that meant I could visualise exactly the scenes and atmosphere Nable described.

Loved this book and read it in one sitting. Well written and flowed easily. Perfect for those who loved The Dry and the TV series Mystery Road. A great insight into live in Darwin in the 60s

I received Still by Matt Nable from Hachette Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had just recently seen The Dry starring Eric Bana in cinemas when I saw Still and it’s disclaimer that ‘if you love The Dry, you will love Still’. Which I did and I did!

Still is an intricate mystery set in 1960s Darwin, a place known for being rough as guts even by modern standards. Add in the catalysts of racism, corruption and murders, and you have a story that is chilling and thought provoking.

Matt Nable has managed to pen a story so well written that, despite having never been to Darwin, I could feel the heavy humidity and smell the dusty red earth.

If you’re interested in authentic feeling mysteries with a distinctly Australian feel, then Still is well worth checking out.

The blurb of this book gave me the vibes of The Dry and The Lost Man ... books that I really enjoyed in the past and the good thing is that I was not disappointed. I love the setting in Darwin.... and all the atmospheric descriptions of this "remote" city back in the 60s.

I recommend this book to all Jane Harper's fans.

Still is the fourth novel by Australian actor, screenwriter and author, Matt Nable. When the body of half-caste Aboriginal man, Ernie Clay is found at the edge of a swamp, as first policeman on the scene, Senior Constable Ned Potter is eager to start an investigation. His Senior Sergeant, though, assures Ned that he will handle it.

When Ned speaks to the widow, she mutters that Ernie was killed for what he saw, but refuses to elaborate. And then, despite coroner’s findings to the contrary, Senior Sergeant Riley tells Ned it will probably be ruled a suicide: welcome to Darwin in 1963.

Soon after this, following a close encounter between his vehicle and a feral pig, Ned stumbles on two more bodies in shallow graves. One, he recognises immediately, and this time, the national press flock to Darwin, making it more difficult for his superiors to sweep under the carpet.

The ultimatum that Ned is issued makes him very uncomfortable: one of his guiding principles is to follow through. He learns, from what he believes to be subtle investigation, that things said or overheard marked them as victims. Subsequently, overt threats to his wife and child are meant to stop his covert inquiries: will he comply?

Charlotte Clark finds herself in a loveless (on her part) marriage, but her options for a fulfilled life in Cairns are limited. Leaving Bobby Clark would not be a simple matter. Perhaps it’s a distraction from her plight that leads her to help, and hide, a badly beaten fugitive, although aiding Michael Roberts immediately strikes her as the right thing to do.

She instinctively keeps her regular attendance to offer him food and medical care from Bobby, aware he wouldn’t approve, and feeling a little guilty about her attraction to Michael, when Bobby has never really given her any reason to complain. But perhaps that is just the side of him that he shows her…

Nable gives the reader a convincing tale with plenty of intrigue, quite a bit of violence and a generous serve of expletives. And it wouldn’t be the Territory in 1963 without some blatant racism and sexism, corrupt police and politicians, a good deal of fishing, a big old croc (named Marilyn, in this case), and lots of beer drinking.

His male lead is flawed: naïve, a bit arrogant and, initially, rather too fond of drinking beer to escape his worries. The other males are perhaps a tiny bit stereotypical Territory, but still authentic enough to accept. His portrayal of the 1960’s wife, expected to fulfil a role with few rights and without any ambition of her own, is credible.

Nable easily evokes the era although there are a few anachronisms that will stand out to readers of a certain vintage. His rendition of the setting is perfect: the hear and humidity are palpable. An impressive read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hachette Australia.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Ned is a copper in early 1960's Darwin...a Darwin full of cowboys, crooked police and racism. Ned stumbles across a body and his investigation gets shut down and he has to find out why!!

This book is a slow burn...beautifully written!! I found myself cheering Ned on, even when he made huge mistakes! The landscape is as much a character in this book as the Darwin townspeople and is lovingly described throughout the book.

Definitely recommend for fans of Australian crime drama and will be looking out for further stories by this author.

‘They killed him because he saw.’

Still is an atmospheric noir crime fiction novel from Australian Matt Nable, a former professional rugby league footballer turned film and television broadcaster/actor, and novelist.

Set in Darwin in 1963, Nable exposes a barely civilised, nascent city plagued by racism, violence and corruption. It’s mid summer, the tropical weather alternates between searing and brooding, as oppressive and threatening as the work it takes to survive in the Territory.

When Senior Constable Ned Potter finds the body of a man beaten and shot twice in the marshland of Darwin’s outskirts, he resents being told to stand down by his venal boss, Senior Sergeant Riley, who promptly declares the the death a suicide. Ned is quietly furious but resigned to doing nothing until he stumbles upon the bodies of another two men buried in a shallow grave. They too have been beaten and shot, and yet again Riley, this time backed by the Mayor, presents Ned with a fair accompli. But this time Ned can’t let it go.

Ned is a well-realised, complex character. Nable portrays a man wrestling with conscience, caught between what he knows is right and the risk of consequences, not only to his career, which he expects, but to his wife and newborn daughter. Burning silently at the injustice, he punishes himself for his perceived lack of control and courage, drinks excessively, not sure whether he is trying to forget his principles, or his fear.

Meanwhile, on her way home from visiting her father in his nursing home, Charlotte Clark finds a bleeding, broken man who begs her to hide him. Charlotte sets him up at her father’s empty property, instinctively concealing the man from her firefighter husband, who shares a cosy relationship with Senior Sergeant Riley.

For Charlotte, caring for Michael is not only the right thing to do, despite society’s prevailing derogatory view, supported by her husband, of Australian aboriginals, but also provides her with a sense of control in a life where effectively she has none. Charlotte is a women representative of the era, a restless housewife with no practical means of escape from an unhappy marriage. The consequences of being discovered are dire not only for her, given the propensity for violence of her husband, but also for Michael, whose life is at risk.

The stakes are high for just about every character in Still, and with lives, and livelihoods, under threat the tension rarely wavers. While I do think the pacing was perhaps a little slow, my only real complaint with the novel relates to the timeline. There is a lack of immediacy in the resolution, which was necessary for one specific element of the plot, but I feel it didn’t work particularly well overall, and resulted in the conclusion losing some of its impact.

Nevertheless, Still has a lot to recommend it. I found it to be a compelling novel - superbly atmospheric, with nuanced characters and a strong mystery.

I will admit that this book was slow to start for me and I almost did stop reading BUT I’m so glad I kept going as this ended up being a great crime read with some well written characters! The book covers a range of topics including racism and domestic violence and I think Matt did an excellent job of portraying 1960s rural top-end Australia in this book - you definitely feel like you are right there in the small town! Another great Aussie author for your TBR list !