- This new novel from Iain Ryan, the second in his promised four part series on Gold Coast corruption in the 1980's, is, unfortunately, a total disaster - unlike the first in the series, The Strip, which was brilliant in every way.
- It's full of very unlikable characters, known at the time as the 'white shoe brigade'. They were ugly abusive thugs and criminals who dominated business development and the underworld. The police higher-ups were also involved. The Minister overseeing every aspect of it was Russ Hinze, a mover and shaker in the Bjelke-Petersen government.
- In Ryan's novel they are financing and constructing Fantasyland, a huge theme park (presumably Dreamworld). There is cocaine, weed, and speed everywhere. And porn, whores and constant drinking.
- Ryan immerses us in this ugliness. The story slowly gets richer and richer but there are so many characters who constantly pop up that you can't help but lose the thread. (A 'Cast of Characters' would have helped). As Bruno, the detective constable investigating the case reflects at one point: ‘Too many grim details circle this case. There’s a lot of blood and bad energy. The chain of events are fucking disastrous: a dead family, dead bank tellers, dirty cops, illicit porn, a motel room beheading. What is this?’.
- The storyline is way too complex. Baddies in every nook and cranny, all linked in mysterious ways. Some are gay, but homosexuality was a crime in the eighties. A few old men have authority over it all but they're obnoxious in the extreme.
- I was hoping for a resolution that was emotionally satisfying, but it didn't emerge. It just got sillier. Dead bodies everywhere.
- At least Ryan has documented how vulgar and corrupt the Gold Coast entrepreneurs, the police and the Queensland government were at the time.
