Not to my taste.

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

This is a tough. gritty, down and dirty story. The plot is gripping from the start and never lets go. Its like watching a train, moving slowly at first, then picking up speed until it going full tilt, knowing that its going to come to that gorge where the bridge is out at the end.

The characters are very real, but at the same time they are sparse. Its like seeing a well done painting or photo. You can see the essence of the person just from that one image.

The writing is really good. It was a little choppy at times, cutting quickly from one situation to another. At times, that made it a bit difficult to follow events.

If you can handle the consistent despair and desperation that's all to common in the world, this is a terrific book. ( )

Four Days is a dark police detective story that has well developed writing with flawed characters. The short novel contains extreme violence, some sex, and much corruption. The plot does draw the reader in and keeps their attention providing for a very enjoyable quick read. Highly recommended read for adults who love a good police story. ( )

Short, sharp and to the point, FOUR DAYS delivers deepest and darkest noir in the unlikely setting of 1980’s Brisbane and Cairns. In the Sunshine State corruption is rife and nowhere more so than in the police force and the licensing department in particular.

Lone wolf Detective Jim Harris isn’t exactly lily-white himself, with a complicated backstory of illicit love affairs and drug use, to say nothing of family relationships that would challenge most genealogy software. He is, however, seemingly the only cop dedicated enough to pursue the truth behind the death of a prostitute and the disappearance of a young policeman.

All of which reads like the ideal recipe for a noir styled short novel, but FOUR DAYS is something more than just a formulaic run through of required elements. Written in a sparse, pointed, slightly ironic style it seamlessly folds a quintessentially Australian sensibility and location into a sub-genre that’s more synonymous with the mean streets of the US. Whilst setting and sense of place are marginally less important than character and motivation in this story, they provide a enough as commentary on sleepy, hot seaside paradises which are really rotten to the core. It is, however, the character studies that really stand out. The miniscule line between good and bad, the anti-hero, the dissolute, the lost with something left to prove.

As expected, the violence is extreme, and the drug-taking and sex scenes vivid and unflinching, avoiding voyeurism by sheer pace, never dwelling. FOUR DAYS isn’t supposed to be comfort reading, it may make readers squirm and it may even shock, but if that sort of approach is fine with them, it will definitely keep them reading.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-four-days-iain-ryan ( )

3.5 stars ( )