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Overview
"It was just a harmless lie - to say he was driving Danny Grogan's car when it was caught speeding down the Sydney streets on New Year's Eve - and Danny's father, a billionaire real-estate tycoon, had promised to make it worth his while. But when former reporter Nick Carmody stands up in court, it becomes clear he doesn't know what he's admitting to - until it's too late." Nick's "good deed" hurls him into a world of secrets, drugs, corruption - and murder. To save his life, he has no choice but to disappear and become someone else. But what Nick doesn't realize is that a new identity can be even more dangerous than the one left behind.Synopsis
From Tom Gilling—The New York Times Notable author of The Adventures of Miles and Isabel—comes a skillful, compulsively readable modern thriller about re-inventing one’s identity.
It was just a harmless lie—to say he was driving Danny Grogan’s car when it was caught speeding down the Sydney streets on New Year’s Eve—and Danny’s father, a billionaire real estate tycoon, has promised to make it worth his while. But when former reporter Nick Carmody stands up in court to profess his guilt, it suddenly becomes clear that he doesn’t understand what he’s admitting to—until it’s too late.
Nick’s “good deed” hurls him into a world of secrets, drugs, corruption, and murder. To save his life, he has no choice but to disappear and become someone else. What he doesn’t realize is that a new identity can be even more dangerous than the one left behind. As his new life in Melbourne veers out of control, Nick has to question whether chance alone is responsible, or whether more sinister forces are at work.
A darkly comic page-turner, Seven Mile Beach is a haunting modern fable from a seductive novelist who never fails to thrill and surprise.
The New York Times - Josh Bazell
…unusual, fast, light, short, suspenseful, meaningful and filled with an immigrant's pointed observations about identity and the possibility of changing it. It's also often funny, as when Nick convinces himself he's finally become someone else entirely, then falls in love with an icy harridan just like the one who dumped him. And it has an appealing stench of paranoia that comes partly, one suspects, from the author's demanding more of his main character than any satanic real estate developer ever would.
Editorials
Josh Bazell
…unusual, fast, light, short, suspenseful, meaningful and filled with an immigrant's pointed observations about identity and the possibility of changing it. It's also often funny, as when Nick convinces himself he's finally become someone else entirely, then falls in love with an icy harridan just like the one who dumped him. And it has an appealing stench of paranoia that comes partly, one suspects, from the author's demanding more of his main character than any satanic real estate developer ever would.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Australian author Gilling (The Adventures of Miles and Isabel) explores the perils of remaking oneself in this beguiling, darkly humorous tale. Nick Carmody's status as a scholarship student and Danny Grogan's wealthy background bonded them as "an alliance of outsiders" at boarding school. Nick's now a journalist on a Sydney tabloid; Danny's a drug-addicted nightclub owner. When Danny wrecks his sports car, Nick accepts a hefty sum from Danny's father to claim he was the driver. But this was no ordinary accident-a man who may have been Danny's drug dealer was killed. Rather than face jail, Nick flees, assuming the identity of a stranger. His new life has a good start, complete with a dog and a girlfriend, until he learns that other men who share his new name are ending up dead. Coincidence? Or is Nick being hunted by the drug dealer's pals or Danny's father? Gilling delivers a taut, suspenseful reflection on identity that never pauses for a breath. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
The latest work from Australian author Gilling (The Sooterkin) is a deftly constructed psychological thriller that succeeds both as literature and as entertaining escapist reading. From the moment tabloid reporter Nick Carmody stands up in court and tells a seemingly trivial lie to protect a friend, his life spins out of control. Realizing that he can no longer trust his friend's father, who bribed him into testifying, Nick adopts a new identity at an opportune moment and flees Sydney. Although he slips easily into another man's life, Nick faces difficult questions as he confronts the fluid nature of identity and trust, particularly in a new relationship with lover Alison. In his unassuming style, Gilling creates a pitch-perfect slice of urban Australian life and compelling, multifaceted characters whose experiences raise as many questions as they answer. An interesting choice for book clubs, this novel will appeal to readers of both popular and literary fiction.
—Kelsy Peterson