The Tilt by Chris Hammer review - A pacy mystery spread across a century's span

The three interwoven narratives of Chris Hammer's new novel, The Tilt, span almost a century. In the present, homicide detective Nell Buchanan is sent to her home town on the Murray to investigate a decades-old murder. In the '70s, fifteen-year old Tessa is falling for the ambitious stud Tycho, a fledgling journalist intent on getting his big break. And ninety-something Jimmy Waters tells his story of growing up minding cattle in the bush, when his dad was sent to New Guinea in the Second World War.

The Tilt is a standalone story, but the first few scenes reference Nell's outings in Hammer's earlier novels. Her partner is still Ivan Lucic, although this time he is mostly on the sidelines of the action.

Other characters familiar to Hammer's readers include journalist Martin Scarsden and ASIO agent Jack Goffing. Scarsden's appearance is limited to a brief cameo, but Goffing's got real work to do in rural NSW: in addition to the deaths Nell is investigating, there are subplots involving Neo-Nazis, (eco)terrorists, and a patchwork of people on the fringes.

My favourite thread in this tangled tapestry was Tessa's. Her blossoming romance with Tycho was awash in the grainy golden light of '70s nostalgia, with specific cars playing specific music on the tape player during long hot days spent waiting for life to start.

When Tycho goes missing, Tessa's young life takes a turn for the worse. I felt for her, and so I was disappointed that the next 20 years of her life - between the '70s and '90s - were summarised in seven and a half cursory pages.

During this time Tessa also develops a vague anxiety disorder that seemed to me both psychologically underdeveloped and unnecessary to the plot.

The slightly shallow feel of some elements of the novel isn't isolated to Tessa's narrative. The Tilt isn't short, but its pages are easily filled by the complex requirements of such a multi-layered plot and by paragraphs of (rich but rambly) exposition.

As a result, I didn't get a deep sense of most characters' motivations. For example, I remain puzzled about why two of the side-characters needed to be undercover, and whether one of the (many) crimes Nell solves was anything other than a lucky guess.

But maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention - instead burrowing through this pacy mystery too fast, because I was too intrigued to know how all the threads would connect.

Because they do all connect, of course - through family and fate and the occasional convenient coincidence. And if it all seems a bit confusing at times, don't worry: there's a family tree to refer to on the last page.

Just don't look at it first, it'll spoil the fun.

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