Author: Fleur McDonald
ISBN: 978-1-76063-315-8
RRP: $29.99
Publication Date: April 2019
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Without A Doubt is another novel that takes us back in time to the early career of Dave Burrows, another story to help us get to know his backstory and understand his character a little better.
My reading life has been hampered of late, A LOT, and it is taking me WEEKS to finish a book; even when I love it. Without a Doubt was devoured quicker than my Easter chocolate in a short matter of days. I should attribute at least a little of the credit to school holidays, long weekends and a family outing where I wasn’t the driver but a lot of the credit goes to the fact that I could not put it down.
Detective Dave Burrows has settled well into the small WA town of Barrabine. It isn’t what he wants long term but it is a step towards his long term goals. He is enjoying the small community policing and has built a strong relationship with his partner but he’s still worried that his wife isn’t happy. She struggled to settle in when they first moved to town but things got better and she made a good go of it. Now that Melinda is home with Bec she seems to be struggling again, she is missing the family she had to leave behind in the city and resenting the amount of time Dave spends at work.
Things come to a head when Dave finally lets the situation with his father-in-law get him to the point of no return and everything changes.
Without A Doubt is engaging and well paced, a read that kept some interesting little twists nice and quiet until the very end but I feel like it wrapped up a little too quickly. I’m left with some questions that I just don’t know if I will ever have answers to.
Fleur McDonald has a wealth of farming experience in rural Australia and she employs that knowledge to pen a tale of small communities, mustering and stock losses.
This is a tale that travels far and wide, with storylines encompassing both ends of our wide brown land. Dave Burrows is stationed in the West Australian town of Barrabine and the story takes us from there to Nundrew, a very similar town in Queensland. The link begins quite tenuous and circumstantial but the deeper we delve, and the more danger Dave finds himself in, the stronger the links.
McDonald explores undercover policing and cattle theft with insight and intrigue. Her writing is plausible and the undercover policing aspect was quite obviously well researched.
The toll of police work on families is explored with the dangers of everyday policing, before going further into the stress and fear that goes along with undercover work. The complete disconnect with everything about your life to take on a role that is destined to be life changing, every single time.
Once again McDonald explores the effects that a major move has on Melinda. She learned to live with the small town, the distance from her family and the commitment of Dave to his work when it was just the two of them but things have changed now that there’s three of them. Part of Melinda’s settling in was finding a job that she loved, now that she’s home with Bec that outlet is not there for her.
Raising a baby, any child actually, is hard work and you need support. It is certainly a time that you feel the distance from your family and it doesn’t help when that family is forever rubbing that distance in, making sure you know that it could be easier if you were closer. That disconnect from family, from the community you live in with the break from work and the rigorous demands of a young child can definitely impact your happiness and it takes work to overcome that. I think McDonald has explored this aspect relatively well though we read from Dave’s perspective so never quite make it all the way into Melinda’s head.
Without a Doubt is another fantastic read, another trip back in time to learn more about a young Detective Dave Burrows. This is a Detective Dave Burrows story so it is linked to other novels but I’m not sure it’s really a linear type series that you have to read in order. The previous release is Where The River Runs which we featured as a book club read but I haven’t quite got to yet, much to my dismay, and that features Det. Burrows but I’m not sure of it’s time setting. Fool’s Gold is the earlier release which is set in 1997 when the Burrows couple first arrive in Barrabine so if there is any book to read before this one, that’s probably it. Having said that, I think Without A Doubt works beautifully as a stand alone.
Another engaging read that shines a light on rural Australia and captivated me start to finish. Thank you for another brilliant book Fleur McDonald.
Fleur McDonald loves to hear from her readers and you can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Without A Doubt is published by Allen & Unwin and is available now from Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin 30 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are currently reading Without A Doubt and you can read their thoughts on the book in the comments below, please be aware there may be spoilers.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Fluer McDonald is one of my favorite authors and her book Without a Doubt was a fantastic captivating read. Its focus on Dave Burrows as a young detective as he goes undercover is a book thats hard to put down. Even though I have read McDonald’s other books where Dave is an older character it was easy enough to imagine his life when he was younger.
Thank you to Allen & Unwin and Beauty & Lace for the opportunity to read and review Without a Doubt, by Fleur McDonald.
When I began reading Without a Doubt, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as the book opens with a cattle-mustering scene and my knowledge in this area is extremely limited. It soon became clear, however, that not only is cattle-mustering central to the plot of the book but it is also an interesting and heart-stopping basis for a crime novel.
In order to progress his career and deal with the turmoil of his personal life, Detective Dave Burrows accepts a high-stakes undercover role within the world of cattle mustering. He has everything to lose, including his family and his own life. Fleur McDonald delivers a well-paced book that builds the tension throughout. I could picture events vividly and it became difficult to put the book down, as the danger within Burrows’ situation heightened. There was one minor point that left me wishing for more information at the end, but this did not detract from the story.
Without a Doubt was my first encounter with the character of Dave Burrows, but I now plan to track down the other books that feature him. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have met this character.
Fleur McDonald’s latest novel, Without a Doubt. Well without a doubt this is a great read. A main storyline with a few sideline stories to flesh out the story. A well written story with a focus on Dave Burrows and his wife Melinda. Their story is like all young families, with one partner working long hours the other keeping the house and kids, trouble at home is brewing with meddling in-laws adding fuel to the fire.
A small time cop who has a mystery of a missing person to investigate and his mate has a unidentified body on his hands and into the fold are stories of illegal cattle duffing. The story does give the background into illegal cattle duffing so the reader is not without the background to what they are doing. The story is well fleshed out detailing how the group is infiltrated and how Dave eventually gets the evidence he needs… but not without some stressful if not dangerous situations arising.
A good story well worth the read. Thank you Beauty and Lace and Alan & Unwin for the opportunity to read this great novel.
I love a rural suspense novel and I love Dave Burrows as a character. In this book he is involved in investigating rural crime in a country town, He is dedicated to his job but in this novel we delve into how this takes its toll on his family and personal life. It was a well written, suspenful and entertaining read. This can be read as a standalone but after reading it I think you would want to read this authors other novels!
A big fan of Fleur McDonald,
It was good to come across Dave & Melinda again in a country set crime novel, set in his earlier days as a detective.
The suspense made it hard to put this book down, and reading about situations which we wouldn’t normally think about but they do affect our country families/
A great read, looking forward to reading more from this author.
thank you
Thank you to Allen and Unwin and the Beauty and Lace Bookclub for the opportunity to read ‘Without a Doubt’. I’ve read a few of Fleur’s other books and this one didn’t disappoint. I didn’t realise there were other books with the same main character so I’m going to seek these out to read. The book works well as a stand alone book and I enjoyed the characters. I was left wanting more at the end and felt like there were loose ends, but maybe there will be another instalment. Great read and highly recommended to those who enjoy a rural novel with a little bit of crime thrown in.