This review of “The Pit” was originally published on the Novel Deelights blog on 24 November 2023.
About the book
With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.
Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there’s a condition. Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer.
They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident called Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow begins to suspect that Bob’s desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?
My thoughts
If you’re expecting a hard-hitting murder investigation, this isn’t it. Sure, there’s a body in a pit somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But ‘The Pit‘ is much more of a character-driven road trip. After all, the whodunnit is revealed from the beginning, as Bob confesses to this thirty year old murder right off the bat. But why is it so important for him to go back to the mining region where it all happened? And why does he insist on taking Luke and Sparrow with him?
‘The Pit‘ is the third instalment in the DS George Manolis series but fear not. It reads perfectly well as a stand-alone and I was delighted to see Sparrow get a turn to shine while Manolis is still on an extended break in Greece. Although, to be fair, this is mostly Bob’s story. Anyway! Sparrow’s first introduction to the big crime league didn’t go so well and he is determined to restore his reputation and make a name for himself. Being handed a murder on a platter like this will surely make him rise up the ranks?
Luke has no clue what’s going on or where this road trip is supposed to lead them. Just like him, I couldn’t at all figure out why he was invited on the trip. He’s not a very likeable person. He’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and downright massively unpleasant company, in my opinion. Bob must have a reason to want him there, though. As the journey continues, you start to wonder if Luke is being held against his will, and will he actually live to see their destination. What is set to happen when they arrive there?
I always come away from Peter Papathanasiou’s books feeling like I’ve learnt something and things are no different this time around. Bob’s background story plays out in the Australian mining industry, the pits. The men working there are mostly desperate, but the people they’re working for are rolling in money. Bob had no intention of ending up there, but he found himself cast out by his family and vowed to run as far away from them as he could. The circumstances in which these miners live are brutal, and the harsh conditions aren’t for anyone.
So many themes run through ‘The Pit‘, and as always there is an incredible depth to the characters Papathanasiou creates. This is a story about finding yourself, about acceptance, about love and grief, and about survival. A slow-burning, atmospheric tale filled with fantastic characters from an author who seems to enjoy writing crime fiction with a difference.
From the Plastic Pen 