Hot Rock Dreaming (A Johnny Ravine Mystery) Review
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Hot Rock Dreaming (A Johnny Ravine Mystery) Overview
"Hot Rock Dreaming" was one of seven finalists - and the only novel - for the 2011 Australian Christian Book of the Year award, chosen from sixty-seven entrants.
The judges wrote:
"Hired to investigate the death of an Aboriginal painter, private detective Johnny Ravine is drawn into a complex mystery as dangerous as it is intriguing. Environmental politics, land rights and Aboriginal spirituality are explored with subtlety. For the hero and reader alike there is a valuable lesson to be learned about the importance of discerning which voice is proclaiming life and love when all is not as it seems. A compelling novel."
A lengthy review came from the Aboriginal Art & Culture website.
An excerpt:
"There’s plenty of venality to be had and…Roth seems to have imbibed the seamier side of the Aboriginal art market both in Alice [Springs] and in the capital cities and brought it to bear on his plot and characters…The Aboriginal spirituality represented by Kurtal and the Dreaming power is complemented by Christian ethics in the form of Ravine’s Melbourne pastor, who arrives in Alice to help his struggling parishioner and to rescue him from dangerous mystical forces.
"Some of those forces are represented by a mysterious Korean pastor of the dragon-lady persuasion, who runs a church for the local Aboriginal people, and who seduces Ravine (spiritually, of course) with a combination of Buddhist meditation and shamanistic trance. On the secular side, there’s an investigative journalist, vaguely British in demeanor–or possibly just eccentric. Throw in a couple of Cockney thugs and you have the whole unholy missionary-madman-mercenary trinity of Territorian characters in the stew.
"Roth makes good use of the Outback locations, especially as the story races to its conclusion amidst a torrential rainstorm that washes out the roads and seems to be the vengeance of Kurtal for the despoiling of the Dreaming. As I said before, Roth has clearly been paying attention to the intrigues of desert art dealing and shows a surprisingly subtle understanding of the power plays that animate the hostilities and jealousies that in real life, luckily, produce only strife and not genuine homicide.
"We’ve been sweltering through Top End temperatures here lately in the northern summer, and the thunderstorms in the evenings this week have been severe enough to rattle the windows and quite literally shake the floors. Perfect weather for some Hot Rock Dreaming."
Further praise for “Hot Rock Dreaming”:
“Roth is a Christian author and, although spiritual warfare is crucial to the plot, this book is still a murder mystery…Thought-provoking and an enjoyable read.”
– On Fire
“Highly readable…You will be both entertained and educated.”
– Journey
About the Author:
Martin Roth is a veteran journalist and foreign correspondent whose reports from Asia have appeared in leading publications around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. He is the author of many books.
The first three mysteries in his Johnny Ravine private eye series are “Prophets and Loss,” “Hot Rock Dreaming” (Australian Christian Book of the Year finalist) and “Burning at the Boss.”
He is also the author of the Military Orders series of international thrillers, with “Brother Half Angel,” “The Maria Kannon,” “Military Orders” and "Festival at the Desert."
He lives in Australia with his Korean wife and three sons.
