As we’re welcoming Danny to brekkie it got me feeling little nostalgic about Book Clubs involvement with the Breakfast Show. It’s a history that extends back about six years Way back when Nic Healey was hosting he brought me along from our regular weekend book chats and Tuesday book club was born. Now like some sort of community radio time lord we’ve had multiple regenerations from Tess, to Alex and Willy bringing us to Danny.So in honour of my nostalgia I’m going to look back in order to look forward.One of my favourite Australian authors, Sulari Gentill has a new book out. Sulari is well known and loved for her Rowland Sinclair mysteries, set in 1930’s Australia. Her new novel however is a stand alone. It’s called The Woman in the Library and promises to be a real page turning whodunnit.I have read it though… SorryBut a few years back Sulari released another stand alone page turner that absolutely knocked me out with its clever ideas and mind bending twists. And so, until I can get you the latest Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library, I’m going to offer up my thoughts on her 2017 novel Crossing the Lines.Madeleine D’Leon is a crime novelist searching for her next big mystery to write. Ned McGinnity is a literary enfant terrible waiting for his muse to strike.Madeleine is intrigued by the voice in her head, could it be her next Detective? He’s a novelist, arrogant, the type who would only write so-called serious literature. Only he’s got himself embroiled in a murder, the sort he would never deem to write but one that he must solve in order to save his friend. Ned doesn’t do genre, wouldn’t stoop to conquer until he stumbles on the almost too delicious temptation of writing a protagonist crime author becoming embroiled in a mystery. Crossing the Lines unravels through entwined chapters of Madeleine and Ned writing each other’s stories and slowly sinking deeper into the pull of the mystery. Ned is beset by danger from every quarter as he races to solve the mystery of the editor and critic, a man who destroyed his first novel. Madeleine is vexed by the possibility that she may be losing her mind.In Crossing the Lines, Sulari Gentill asks and tantalizingly hints at many a reader’s questions about the writer’s creative process. Madeleine and Ned are the voices in each others heads and both need each other to finish the story. They must give themselves over to the story and only through visiting this other life can they get their words onto the page. Often when I speak to authors they tell of characters that occupy their own space in the world. Crossing the Lines challenges the reader with the horrifying possibility that this voice may take on a life of its own.It’s a special thing to be able to delve into the writing process and I can only imagine what it must be to find yourself in the middle of it; becoming a vessel for the action to be transferred to the page. The reader may well find themselves asking is Sulari fully in control of her creation?!Between Madeleine, Sulari and Ned we see not only a crossing of lines but a blurring as reality infuses itself with the narrative and the mystery becomes more intense for being written as we read it.Crossing the lines is a smart, edgy psychological thriller. It’s also a literary romp perfect for people who love their reading a little bit meta. Today’s book club was an encore jazzed up with some tidier writing and a bit more audio skill. And isn’t that the beauty of books; they invite, nay welcome revisiting, always offering something new…Once again welcome Danny.If you want to revisit more books clubs they are available on the Final Draft podcast
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