Crime Scene: PM NEWTON Beams Falling. Reviewed by Lou Murphy
The second book in the Nhu ‘Ned’ Kelly series, Beams Falling is an exciting crime thriller that works on many levels.
Although a complete read on its own, Beams Falling benefits from the background of the first book in this series, The Old School, in which the central character of Detective Nhu ‘Ned’ Kelly is introduced.
A reluctant hero, glorified in the media but treated with suspicion by her new colleagues, Nhu/Ned is in recovery from a botched attempt on her life. Of Vietnamese heritage, she is assigned to desk duties as part of Task Force Acorn, the Cabramatta–based Asian crime unit:
Cabramatta police station stood a couple of streets and a wide flat park away from the main drag. Less than a decade old but in a constant state of expansion, the police station had recently been wrapped in a thin blue line of tiles by an architect with a sense of humour.
The lightness of Newton’s language belies the dangerous reality of the streets, governed by gangs and triads:
‘Ra choi, it’s what they call it when the kids leave home, go out and live on the streets, get into business, start dealing, thieving. Means “go out to play”… end up in gangs, you name it.’
... the triad terms were deceptively beautiful: instead of CEOs and sergeants at arms, there were mountain masters and incense masters. But it was a business like all the rest ...
Such genuine insider observations – PM Newton is an ex-police detective – make for an intense reading experience.
The first encounter with violence, when it comes, is unexpectedly swift, and a chillingly natural part of the story‘s flow. Task Force Acorn has been investigating the shooting murder of a young Cabramatta boy, Minh Trung. Nhu is paired with Joe Ng, a Hong Kong detective experienced in the Cabra beat. Together they search the streets for Bich Lam, ‘the Bitch‘, in the hope that she can provide them with clues to the murder. Nhu finds her in a pool–hall toilet, overdosed on drugs. She drags her to another room, only to find herself in the line of fire:
Ned’s hand locked around The Bitch’s elbow, hanging on as the pool hall blew away in a wash of blood and sparkling glass. Before the second shot caught up with the echo of the first, The Bitch flung herself beneath the closest pool table, Ned hauled along with her … It wasn’t until she’d been dragged out from underneath the table, pulled upright and back into the toilet that Ned realised she’d wet herself.
Incidents like this give insight into the kind of circumstances that caused Nhu’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while highlighting how ill-equipped she is to deal with these situations now.
As part of her recovery program, Nhu is required to attend compulsory counselling sessions with Cynthia, a compassionate psychiatrist who gently guides her healing. Nhu’s PTSD is embedded in the story, adding to the quandary of who she can trust. The symptoms of her condition distort reality, heighten the sense of danger and cause gaps in her memory, resulting in a compelling internal battle against her instincts. All of this is compounded by the violence of the beat.
Everyone in the colourful cast of nuanced and engaging characters that fill her world, it seems, has something to hide. Her new partner, Virgo, behaves in an unusual and erratic fashion. Her old partner, Murphy, appears at the periphery of the storyline just often enough to suggest the old chemistry between him and Nhu still exists – though Nhu hasn’t forgotten his past betrayal. Meanwhile, she discovers a new love interest, Ari, while swimming rehabilitating laps at the North Sydney pool. Their encounters, too, are laced with ambiguity as he grapples with his own battle wounds.
Throughout, Old Man Liu features in the background as the object of Nhu’s unhealthy obsession and personal vendetta. She is determined to avenge the death of her parents at his hands and carries out private surveillance on him and his son, Sunny. Ultimately this is what has driven her to be a cop: the need to right the wrongs of the past.
Her sister, Linh, seeks redemption through spiritual means, embracing Buddhism as a path to inner peace. Karma becomes a recurring theme, Newton playfully embracing the contrast of Nhu’s desire for revenge with Linh’s belief in karma as two sides of the same coin.
Beams Falling is much more than an exciting crime thriller: it works on many levels. The personal story is about coping with trauma, about the questions Nhu needs to ask herself in order to function again. The process of repair is dealt with poignantly as she attempts to heal her physical and psychological wounds:
Cynthia reckons there’s fours stages to this … thing … The call, the initiation, the journey, which is where we are now. We need to understand it, explore it, draw strength from it, then leave it behind, in the past. And that’s the last part of the journey. It’s the return.
Just as regular swimming is part of Nhu’s physical rehabilitation, so does the rhythmic lapping of the pool punctuate the novel, adding a hypnotic quality to the mounting climactic energy. Beams Falling has a well–paced, intricate plot that continuously builds momentum until reaching its clever and satisfying resolution.
PM Newton Beams Falling Viking 2014 PB 328pp $29.99
Lou Murphy is the author of the crime novel, Squealer, and has worked a mix of jobs including on the Sydney dockyards, in crime reporting and in hospitality: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LouMurphy
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This book also makes quite a comment on war and how wars do not stop at the cessation of open violence between two sides. Those involved continue to live out wars and various ways throughout their lives.
I enjoy Newton’s writing and the fact that Newton does not sugar coat crime and her books have depth. In this book she has explored post-traumatic stress disorder, war and social dysfunction but always maintains the narrative drive.