West's first novel published under his own name I believe - apparently written in six days or something. Well the prose is very assured - he was clearly doing some prose writing. This shows Wests's background in radio work - the plotting is tight, but there's a lot of dialogue.
Its also over reliant on tropes from movies - the widower hero, the villainous gangster who wants the treasure "just 'cause", the sexy white girl on the island who hooks up, not one but two loyal non Anglo friends including one who gives up his life for the group.
There is some interesting research on how to look for treasure in 1950s Queensland and decent descriptions of diving but the story wasn't that great. I think the girl should have been more involved other than as "the girl" and there needed to be another villain, like someone the main baddy hired.
Still I did enjoy reading it.
No comments:
Post a Comment