A Fatal Tide in Aussie Readers

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Aug 01, 2014 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, net-galley, 2014-release, mystery, thriller, arc, historical-fiction, own-read

Thomas Clare and his best mate Snow headed home after bagging a few rabbits in the nearby Queensland bush for their supper – Tom was a crack shot with a rifle and Snow wielded his spear in an expert manner; both taught by their fathers. Arriving at Tom’s place first, they saw that his filly, Rosie Girl had not been returned to her stall, so Tom put her away, concerned that his Dad must have had a few too many drinks once again. But what the two boys found that evening shocked and horrified them ...more

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Aug 04, 2014 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime, australian, arc, historical-fiction, kindle-version, netgalley, war, aussie-author-challenge

It doesn’t take long for Thomas Clare to regret going to war in order to find his father Jack’s killer. A teenager, Thomas and his good friend, Snow, an Indigenous boy found the decapitated body of Jack in what was assumed to be a suicide. However Snow’s father Tubbie, a gifted tracker, is quickly convinced that there’s no way this was a suicide, especially coupled with a secret document that Jack had hidden away that only Tubbie knew about. Evidence of other people at the scene is clear, althou It doesn’t take long for Thomas Clare to regret going to war in order to find his father Jack’s killer. A teenager, Thomas and his good friend, Snow, an Indigenous boy found the decapitated body of Jack in what was assumed to be a suicide. However Snow’s father Tubbie, a gifted tracker, is quickly convinced that there’s no way this was a suicide, especially coupled with a secret document that Jack had hidden away that only Tubbie knew about. Evidence of other people at the scene is clear, although no one in authority is willing to listen, determined to leave it as a suicide. Given the evidence points towards army boots, Thomas lies about his age and with a recommendation from a well known high ranking official, he joins the war for Britain and her Allies.

But they are sent to Gallipoli, fighting a seemingly never-ending advancement of Turks and it takes no time at all for Thomas to be picking up a rifle, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t question the validity of what they’re doing, or the hatred of the enemy simply for defending their own country. But why he’s there is always paramount in his mind – his love of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories has led him and Snow to fancy themselves as a Sherlock and Watson team and they have a murder to solve after all.

It’s actually kind of shameful, but I’ve never read anything centered around Gallipoli. I’ve read little in the way of books set around WWI and mostly what I have read deal with either fighting elsewhere, focused around Britain and France, or life in Australia while the war was going on. I’ve read much more on the intricacies WWII and in terms of my reading history, it seems that WWI is very much the forgotten war. So it’s only fitting that given it’s the 100th anniversary of the war beginning this year (now, actually!) that I should finally read something that addresses both Australians fighting overseas and in particular, Gallipoli.

The war scenes are quite brutal, in more ways than one. There’s a lot of descriptions of bombs being thrown into the trenches, and the Australian troops quickly pick them up and hurl them back, hopefully before they explode, but that isn’t always the case and limbs are being dispensed with right, left and center. There’s a sort of humanitarian cease-fire, that allows both sides to collect and bury their dead, some of which are in an advanced state of decomposition. But I think what is also just as disturbing, at the way there is enthusiasm for taking up the rifle and being one of the ones to be firing the kill shots. So much so, that there is arguing over who gets to do it. They’re young men, full of testosterone and a sort of patriotism too, although there are questions on the hatred for the other side when really, they’re just doing the same thing. I know it’s basically start killing your opposition or be killed, but there’s a sort of enthusiastic pack mentality in the beginning, like it’s a parlour game.

I studied Australian history in school, so the Boer War, WWI and WWII involvements… but that was twenty years ago and it was only for a semester so I was surprised just how much I had forgotten (basically everything before WWII). It made me realise that I really do need to read more books around this time, including a few non-fiction books to really reboot my knowledge. Of course everyone knows about Gallipoli, it’s something that has marked itself so deeply on our identity but when I took myself off to read up more on the background, I was a little embarrassed to realise just how much knowledge had fallen out of my head!

Back to the book – I really enjoyed both the characters and the story right from the beginning. I was really enamoured with the friendship between Thomas and Snow. In 1915, such a friendship between a white boy and an Indigenous boy would’ve probably been highly unusual, as was Jack, Tom’s father’s friendship with Snow’s father. There was a great mateship between Thomas and Snow and they adapt others into that in the trenches, finding humour where they can. I really liked the way that the story tied back in to the Boer War and people such as Breaker Morant and Lord Kitchener and what had happened to Thomas’s parents in their attempts to keep something a secret. I admired Thomas – he was so young and he was faced with so many terrible things that he has to grow up way too fast. He lost his mother, he lost his father, he went to war, he faced betrayal by someone he trusted, he watched his comrades die. He used his love of the Sherlock Holmes stories to help him survive and get out of difficult situations, so he was clever and resourceful. He also had to make important decisions regarding what had led to the deaths of people he cares about.

A Fatal Tide is a great read, both informative and entertaining and it definitely helps paint a very realistic picture of war and all of the ugliness that goes with it – the conditions, the death, the struggle against becoming a mindless drone, killing people that happen to have the misfortune to be from a country allied with the enemy. If you have an interest in history, in particular the ANZACS or WWI, then this is definitely a book to check out. It’s clever, well written and very descriptive and has me adding yet more books to my reading pile so that I can refamiliarise myself with history! ...more

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Jun 01, 2014 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-author, provided-by-publisher, arc-are

An intriguing mystery set amongst the trenches of Gallipoli, A Fatal Tide is an impressive novel from debut author, Steve Sailah.

Thomas Clare is just sixteen when he discovers his father's decapitated body under a tree in the paddock behind their home. The investigating Sergeant insists Constable First Class Jack Clare, a Boer war veteran, committed suicide, miscalculating the length of rope needed to hang himself, but it is obvious to Tubbie Terrier, an aboriginal tracker and family friend, tha
An intriguing mystery set amongst the trenches of Gallipoli, A Fatal Tide is an impressive novel from debut author, Steve Sailah.

Thomas Clare is just sixteen when he discovers his father's decapitated body under a tree in the paddock behind their home. The investigating Sergeant insists Constable First Class Jack Clare, a Boer war veteran, committed suicide, miscalculating the length of rope needed to hang himself, but it is obvious to Tubbie Terrier, an aboriginal tracker and family friend, that Jack was not alone when he died. A soldier's boot print on his father's face, and a hidden wartime document with a handwritten notation, are the only clues Thomas has to identify his father's killer and so with the idealism and optimism of youth, Thomas and his best friend Snow, enlist in the raging first World War to find Jack's murderer.

" Oh, what an adventure it would be."

A Fatal Tide tales place in perhaps one of the most unusual settings I have encountered in a mystery novel. Though it begins in the Queensland bush, the majority of the story is set in the trenches of Gallipoli barely a month after the historic ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Corps) landing in 1915.

Sailah vividly illustrates what Thomas experiences after his arrival in Gallipoli. Like many of the men, and boys, who enlisted, Thomas and Snow had no real understanding of the horror of war, expecting adventure and easy victories, only to find themselves ankle deep in mud, corpses and gore, eating flyblown food, battling dysentery and under near constant enemy fire.

It is only then that Thomas appreciates his naivete in going to war to search for the men who murdered his father, not that he is deterred, especially when it becomes obvious that the enemy lies not only across the wasteland of 'no man's land' but also somewhere amongst the trenches forged to protect him. Someone is desperate to recover the document in Thomas's possession which reveals the shocking truth about the events that led to the execution of 'Breaker' Morant thirteen years earlier in Africa.

Despite the grim realities of circumstance, Sailah lightens the tone of the novel with a focus on the bonds formed between the men who fight side by side with Thomas and Snow, and the eccentricities of their characters - Teach, who spouts philosophy, and quick witted and loud mouth, Kingy. Humour also comes from Thomas and Snow's adulation of Sherlock Holmes and his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whom Sailah references often during the novel.

Exploring the themes of duty, honour, mateship and humanity, Sailah weaves together a compelling story of war, friendship and murder in A Fatal Tide. It offers both an interesting mystery, and fascinating insight into the experiences of our Australian diggers in Gallipoli's trenches.

...more

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