Paradise is a gripping intrigue-thriller with a quintessentially Australian setting, a worthy follow-up to Patricia Wolf's breakout thriller Outback (Embla, 2022).

On light duties following the injuries he sustained three months previously Australian Federal Police Detective Sergeant Lucas Walker has temporarily relocated to the beachside city of Surfer's Paradise, on Queensland's Gold Coast. He’s acting as a guest lecturer for a drugs and serious crime training program for Queensland police officers, but before long, he's deputised to investigate the gangland-style murder of drug dealer Matt Monroe. It transpires that D.S. Walker's nemesis, organised crime kingpin Stefan Markovich, has re-established his network on the Gold Coast and retains lingering resentment against Walker for destroying his western Queensland drug manufacturing enterprise.

Meanwhile, Walker is also drawn into a major local investigation into a devastating home invasion-murder, in the high-spec enclave of Macintosh Island. Wife and mother Siobhan Owen has been brutally killed and her eight-year-old daughter Gabby seriously injured. Walker finds he has an indirect personal link to the investigation, as Siobhan's surviving husband, David Owen, is a member of the social circle of Walker's main Gold Coast contact, well-heeled gym owner Craig Ford.

Paradise is a great read, with engaging intertwined storylines, well-developed and multifaceted characters and a thrilling conclusion. D.S. Lucas Walker is a complex and relatable hero, daringly impetuous at times but displaying great emotional intelligence. He's fighting to retain his police career after the events in Outback, but it strikes the reader that he's exactly the sort of person who we need more of in law enforcement - intuitive, decisive and resolutely incorruptible.

I'd highly recommend Paradise and its predecessor Outback to any reader who enjoys high quality Australian crime fiction (author Patricia Wolf is based in Europe, but spent her childhood in outback Queensland), well executed multi-strand plots, fascinating characters and evocative settings.

My thanks to the author, Patricia Wolf, publisher Embla Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this great new title prior to publication on 17 May 2023.

4.5★s
Paradise is the second book in the DS Walker Thriller series by Australian journalist and author, Patricia Wolf. Still recovering from gunshot wounds sustained in the search for a pair of missing backpackers, and grieving his recently departed, beloved grandmother, AFP DS Lucas Walker is sent to Surfers Paradise as guest lecturer in a training program on drug and serious crime for Queensland Police.

He’s lucked upon a very fancy beachside apartment owned by Craig Ford, a friend of his late father’s, who also makes sure his rehab is looked after at one of his chain of gymnasiums. His benefactor does ask a favour in return: a close friend’s wife, Siobhan Owen has just been murdered in a brutal home invasion, the friend tortured during the robbery, and his daughter in critical condition in hospital. Will Lucas let Craig know of progress in the case?

As the training program draws to a close, his boss, DCI Dan Rutherford sends him north to Brisbane to assist in the investigation of execution-style murder of an associate of the Vandals motorcycle gang, Matt Monroe. Lucas had met the aspirant Vandal back in Caloodie months earlier, so his input might be helpful.

His spare time is spent swimming, working on his rehab and also, somewhat reluctantly, entertaining a friend of his sister’s, a very attractive champion kite-surfer. Lucas also volunteers himself on the roster of police keeping guard on eight-year-old Gabby Owen in the ICU. He makes occasional calls to German police detective Barbara Guerra, with whom he sought a kidnapper/murderer some months earlier. All while he awaits the results of the board reviewing his actions in Caloodie some months earlier, deciding if he still has a job.

At first assuming Matt Monroe has fallen foul of a different bikie gang, when he follows up leads Lucas realises that the hit may have been ordered by Vandal boss, Stefan Markovich. Queensland Police DI Cummings is very pleased with the arrest made, even if Lucas isn’t entirely confident they have the right man.

Lucas has kept abreast of developments in the Owen case and, at Cummings’s request, reviews all the information they have so far. He realises that there are some things about the case that niggle, things about the victim that just don’t sit right. But QP are convinced certain islanders with a grudge are the perpetrators, and are dismissive of the concerns that Lucas raises.

Lucas is also unaware that his presence in Surfers Paradise has been noted, and a bounty exists for his elimination, something that leads to a poor judgement call and quite a lot of pain later on.

Wolf gives the reader another fast-paced Aussie crime thriller: a wholly credible tale with that requires virtually no suspension of disbelief, and builds up to a nail-biting climax. The dialogue is convincing, with a generous helping of the Australian vernacular, and her depiction of coastal Queensland feels truly authentic.

It’s clear that the story with motorcycle gangs and dirty coppers isn’t yet complete, and the final chapter hints at the possible reappearance of Lucas’s favourite German detective. This sequel to Outback is excellent Aussie noir.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Embla Books.