Dead Cotton review: Peter Cotton's breakneck speed thriller

Dead Heat

Peter Cotton

Scribe, $32.99

Peter Cotton has been a senior reporter and a foreign correspondent for the ABC, as well as media adviser to federal cabinet ministers. So he is well-placed to come up with this multi-faceted and fast-paced plot involving outlaw bikies, extremist Aboriginal activists, secret tunnels, nuclear reactors, and the might and secrecy of the Australian Defence Force. Detective Darren Glass is brought in at the beginning of what quickly expands into the complex case that these plot elements might suggest. As well, there is his fearless journalist girlfriend missing in Indonesia and the several masterfully written scenes including a spectacular desert battle on motorbikes and a protracted shark attack. Even if thrillers are not to your taste, the engaging characters and breakneck pace might still appeal.