Set in Melbourne, Truth follows Inspector Stephen Villani, first introduced in Temple’s earlier novel, Broken. Villani’s marriage is ending, his relationship with his two daughters is extremely strained and his elderly father’s bush property is under threat of the bushfires that are raging out of control. On top of this, he is investigating several homicides including the death of a woman in a new, exclusive apartment building and the torture and murder of two men in a garage in the suburbs.
There’s no doubt Truth is a crime novel, but it’s far from a genre piece. Temple writes in depth about the emotions and inner workings of the characters so we see his strengths and weaknesses, his doubts, his anger and his regrets. It is a very powerful book that shows one side of Melbourne life at a specific point in time, and it is no wonder that Truth won the Miles Franklin award in 2010.
ireckonthat 