If you're the type of reader who doesn't care for short, sharp sentences, or ones that look a lot like lists, Truth may not be for you.

Main character Stephen Villani has a tendency to wander back and forth between the present and various chapters in his past. If you're the type of reader who prefers a linear plot that moves straight and true from Point A to Point B, Truth may not be for you. There's not one single person I cared for in this book. If you're the type of reader who prefers to have at least one likable character in the fiction you read, Truth may not be for you. Tense and unrelenting, this unforgettable novel confronts the complexity of human relationships and the difficulty of escaping the past. While The Broken Shore captured the harshness and beauty of regional Australia, Truth captures the grim reality of the city and the people who struggle to hold on to any certainty that they can find. With each twist and every turn of this taut crime novel, Villani is forced to question whom he can trust. He must navigate the inept bureaucracy that is the police department, all the while maintaining a solid front and trying to keep the press, his family, and his own past from breaking him completely.

As these seemingly unrelated events begin to unfold, Villani finds himself immersed in an unfamiliar world of political scandal and ethical ambiguity. Inspector Stephen Villani, head of homicide in Melbourne, Australia, has a full agenda: a murdered woman in a penthouse apartment, three men butchered in a sadistic rampage, a tattoofaced drug dealer corrupting his rebellious daughter, a crumbling marriage.

Truth by Peter Temple