**Note, I ended up listening to this on audio instead of reading it**

I started listening to this over breakfast on Sunday morning, with the intention of just getting it started and having it as my audio book for the daily commute to and from work, but I ended up finishing it by the end of the day. Narrated by Bryan Brown himself, I found it impossible to step away from. He knows not only how to write a good story, but how to narrate one too. His distinctive Australian voice, so familiar to us all from his extensive acting, brought the story to life, so much so, I could see it all playing out in my imagination.

There’s quite a lot going on in this story and quite a lot of different characters. It also moves back and forth often as well as giving us the backstories on pretty much everyone – major and minor players. I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed reading it as much as I did listening to it. Bryan’s narration is quite captivating, and his delivery of all aspects of the story engaging. There was the potential for the narrative to get bogged down with so many characters and the storyline jumping around as it did, but surprisingly, I didn’t find myself losing track at all, and I put that down to the narration.

It’s crime stories like this that make you fear for young women travelling. A backpacker going missing, how long until someone even notices? And when their family does, what can they even do from another country? While the plot was not especially unique or unheard of, it was still gripping, realistic, and made for compulsive reading/listening. I’ll definitely be listening to Bryan Brown’s other novel, Sweet Jimmy, along with any future ones he releases as well.

Brown made a promising start as a crime writer with his gritty collection of short stories, Sweet Jimmy, in 2021. He has now followed it up with the even better The Drowning, which displays the same stripped down, unadorned writing style and a good cast of down-to-earth characters.

The story is set in a small coastal town on the northern coast of New South Wales, and opens with the discovery of the body of a local Indigenous teenager on the beach. The assumption is that the boy went swimming at night and got into trouble. The local police sergeant, Tommy Gallagher, is not so sure, but he has other problems on his mind, including the disappearance of a young European backpacker and the movement of drugs through the town. Meanwhile ex-cop Adrian is helping the local café owner out with a lucrative sideline, but what is his real aim? And in the backblocks outside of town, a bikie gang is gearing up for a large consignment from South America.

Brown smoothly brings these various elements together in an always interesting story that builds to a tense and exciting climax in the local bushland. The inhabitants of the town, and those passing through, are marvellously crafted and very credible, and eschew the usual cliches to be found in crime fiction. The depiction of the rhythm of the local town is also very well done and will be recognisable to anyone familiar with the beaches along the NSW coast.

The story is moderately paced, but always interesting, and Brown keeps the reader engaged until the end. An enjoyable read and one of the most authentically Australian crime novels I have read for some time.

4.5 out of 5, rounded up.

The second novel penned by Aussie author Bryan Brown, The Drowning is a standalone crime mystery set in a small coastal seaside town. Two disappearances within weeks of each other, don’t initially raise any suspicions. Leila, a Scandinavian backpacker has seemingly moved on from her café job to continue her travels. Then Benny a teenager is found on the beach and is classified as a misadventure drowning, despite his family’s objections. The lives of the seaside town locals unfold, unaware of the town’s hidden dark crimes occurring. With Brown’s typical laconic storytelling style and a range of interesting and well sketched characters make for a beguiling murder mystery. A classic crime mystery with a must read five stars rating tale, particularly if you want an insight into real Aussie characters. With thanks to Allen & Unwin and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

David snuck into a place that he shouldn’t have gone. He slipped under a barbed-wire fence to get there and was able to peep through a crack in the wall to see what he really shouldn’t have seen. He tried to be careful, he thought he’d hidden in the long grass so he couldn’t be seen by the big man who was leading the girl by the rope tied around her neck. He thought he’d gotten away with it right up until the bag was placed over his head and he was pushed into the dam and drowned.

<i>“Moira looked out at the crowd. About two hundred people. Surprised her. Didn’t realise her little David had touched so many lives. Lot of whiteys too.”</i>

The tragedy of the drowned aboriginal boy is merely the kicking off point to this small town mystery and intrigue that covers a wide range of criminal activities. From low-level drug dealing to the more serious human slavery, the coastal town to the north of Newcastle in New South Wales is a hotbed of secret illegal activities.

To fill in the various backstories of some of the characters we’re taken on a roving adventure to a variety of cities and towns within Australia and overseas. Benny has a Lebanese background and is keeping his homosexuality a closely guarded secret. Leila is a Danish backpacker living out her Australian dream holiday. Brian and Wanda are engaging in a secret affair, just trying to get on. Adrian picks up odd jobs around town and helps with Benny’s occasional shipments of illegal substances. Sheila cleans Adrian’s house once a week, but is keen to offer more. It’s just a normal small town of minor intrigues, some of which hide a more substantive secret.

One of the notable features of Brown’s book of short stories was the tight, clipped delivery which seems to capture the Australian speech patterns perfectly and this is evident once again in the narration of The Drowning. One of the benefits of the cut-off sentences is a crispness to the sense of urgency that’s created and this translates into a fast paced story.

The opening milieu neatly sets the sentiment that we, the readers, have stumbled into something halfway through and we now need to catch up. The woman with the rope around her neck, the man who feels he has to commit murder to protect his secret. Both backstories are laid out for us in and, in so doing, the town and the inhabitants’ lives (and secrets) are relentlessly unearthed.

An interesting aspect about The Drowning is that, although crimes take place and investigations are held, there is no real single hero to the story. This is very much an ensemble effort and, in this case, the group consists of members of the town. None are more prominent than the rest and we are provided with a limited backstory for each. The result is that we get just enough to give each character substance without getting overly bogged down.

The Drowning turns out to be a tense and, at times, dark and gritty crime story with serious crimes committed in and around a small community. The tight-knit community, however unremarkable in appearance, displays the type of resilience you’d expect from your typical Australian small town.

My thanks to publishers Allen and Unwin via NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC to read and enjoy.

I have never read a book by the talented man. This is quite a short book so I didn't have any problem reading it. When a local teenager is found dead on a beach in NSW is this a crime or and accident. This is the start of a thrilling Aussie thriller a and one that had me sitting on the edge of my seat.

There is so much in this book, crime, drugs, missing people, secrets. It is interesting, intriguing and so very Australian right down to the way we Aussies speak. There are stories going on in amongst the main story but I didn't get lost as it was easy to follow and the writing did tell a story that brought all the others together.

A great book by a great story-teller. I look forward to reading more books by this talented author and actor.

Thank you NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.