Marianne's Reviews > Where the Truth Lies

Where The Truth Lies is the first novel by Australian journalist and author, Karina Kilmore. After a year at The Argus, journalist Chrissie O’Brian is still being relegated to minor stories and puff pieces by her resentful news director. But one such piece, interviewing a female dockworker, leads into a potentially explosive story.

Masina Weber, a veteran of some years’ experience with Grange Industries, falls to her death in her workplace mere hours after leaving Chrissie a concerning voicemail alleging that something was dangerously wrong at the wharf.

Chrissie is determined to find out just what Mas meant, and whether her death, unwitnessed and unrecorded on CCTV, was really accidental. But interviews with Grange, with the Maritime Union boss, and with the Transport Union rep result in conflicting allegations and information, and it’s soon clear that the opposing sides have agendas they aren’t revealing. Chrissie is left wondering if she can trust anything they say.

Before she can do the necessary research, however, she is taken off the news desk and sent to work for the op ed doing obits. Could the rumour about The Argus avoiding certain stories have some validity? And if the coming redundancies don’t threaten her job, could there be someone at The Argus leaking?

Another death, and then a grisly message delivered to her desk have Chrissie and her colleagues concerned for her safety. It also becomes clear that Chrissie's judgement and performance are affected by the high consumption of alcohol and pills to which she resorts to cope with the grief and guilt she carries from her recent traumatic events in New Zealand.

Kilmore’s secondary characters, if a little thin, are appealing, particularly Mike and Maria; Chrissie, as a main character, is well developed, but using the flawed protagonist device can be a fine line to tread: laying it on too thick risks losing the empathy of the reader, leading instead to frustration with the character's behaviour. The hint of romance is unnecessary and not entirely convincing.

Kilmore’s experience as a journalist is apparent on every page, and she manages to incorporate many topical issues into her plot: the automation of industry and the inherent safety concerns; the (perhaps unsafe) conditions under which non-union and foreign labour might agree to work; and the spread of information and “news” via social media, with its lack of fact checking. The plot has numerous twists, red herrings and sub-plots, making the resolution feel a little messy. Nonetheless, an impressive debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia.