Still in Aussie Readers

May 17, 2021 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: aussie-authors, 2021-release, 5000-2021, mystery, read-on-kindle, net-galley, crime, own-read, arc

The heat and humidity of Darwin’s summer in 1963 was filled with men with a great thirst, corruption and murder. Senior Constable Ned Potter, his wife Bonnie and as yet unnamed baby daughter lived a quiet life until Ned found the first body. The beating the body had taken before death was obvious, but with Ned’s boss not letting him investigate, and declaring it to be a possible suicide frustrated Ned. When Ned discovered two more badly beaten bodies, he knew deep down the deaths were connected. ...more

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May 18, 2021 Helen rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-copy-from-publisher

This is a compelling and evocative read one that had me turning the pages, set in Darwin in The Northern Territory in 1963 the weather is hot, humid and still, there are corrupt police and a lot more going on, men who drink very heavily and police officer Senor Constable Ned Potter discovers a body in the swamp and starts searching for answers that are not going to be easy to find.

Ned knows that this death was not a good one but he is thwarted at every turn by his boss to do any investigating, t ...more

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Jun 02, 2021 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: aussie-author, netgalley-reviews, arc-are

‘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 ‘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. ...more

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May 25, 2021 Nell rated it it was amazing

This was a great book. I loved how the author gave great descriptions and backgrounds to the characters. This book could nearly be a true crime novel, so believable was the content. I loved how it all wrapped up. I wished there was a little more to Charlotte's ending. A story of Corruption, Racism, Perseverance, Bravery and Survival. A must read. ...more

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Nov 11, 2022 Kathy rated it really liked it

4.5 stars.

This Australian police procedural is set in Darwin during 1963. The lead character, Senior Constable Ned Potter, has a lot at stake during a murder investigation. He is an honorable man who is not at all pleased with his superior's orders and he grapples with trying to do the right thing. Ned is also fond of drinking and he is often caught in a downward spiral that leaves him in a moral quandary.

Still is a bit of a slow burn mystery with a setting that is so well-written readers will ...more

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Nov 02, 2023 Karen rated it really liked it

The descriptions in this book are so evocative of the tropical climate of Darwin you feel like you are there feeling the heat, the humidity and you can smell the rain. Matt Nable has created a flawed but likable character in Senior Constable Ned Potter. Ned is the first cop at the scene of a body found in the marshland, and it was a bad death, but he was discouraged from investigating it. Then he comes across two more bodies and again he is told not to investigate and two men are put forward as ...more

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