The Night Whistler

 by Greg Woodland

Buy Link - Amazon

What an incredible story, very visual and so Aussie. Haven't heard some of that slang since the world became pc. Slow start but it set up the scenery, the towns and the characters well. I could see and smell it all in my mind. Hal was a curious young boy, determined to grow up fast and solve the mystery. Mick the cop was an out of towner and determined to shake things up. More people will die, will it be those two? I had no idea who the killer was or why. Money, corruption and small town cops all stood in the way of solving a serious crime. Great story, especially the last 100 pages that suddenly took off.

The summer of 1966–7. Hal and his little brother have just come to live in Moorabool. They’re exploring the creek near their new home when they find the body of a dog.

Not just dead, but killed.

Not just killed, but horribly maimed.

Constable Mick Goodenough, recently demoted from his big-city job as a detective, is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing. Like other pets around the town.

He knows what it means when someone tortures animals to death. They’re practising. So when Hal’s mother starts getting late-night phone calls—a man whistling, then hanging up—Goodenough, alone among the Moorabool cops, takes her seriously. But will that be enough to keep her and her young sons safe?

Nostalgic yet clear-eyed, simmering with small-town menace, Greg Woodland’s wildly impressive debut populates the rural Australia of the 1960s with memorable characters and almost unbearable tension.

Greg Woodland is an author, screenwriter and director. Since 2000 he’s worked as a freelance script editor and consultant for film funding bodies and the Australian Writers' Guild. The Night Whistler is his first novel.