Detective Ramesh Ryan’s career with Sydney’s prestigious Organized Crime Unit is on the up, until he loses a court case against the city’s most powerful drug dealer. In disgrace, the detective is relocated to the tiny Australian beach town of Barton.

It is off-season in Barton-when its few criminals usually take a well-earned rest. But not this year! With the detective’s arrival, the town suddenly becomes murder central. Two bodies are discovered in the space of days, both victims of drug overdoses. Then a mysterious foot is found washed up on the beach, and memories are awoken of an unsolved cold case of the teenager who disappeared fifteen years ago. Add to this a blossoming romance, along with a contract taken out on Ryan’s life, and it’s clear that the detective has jumped out of the Sydney frying pan into the Barton fire.

What follows is an action-packed adventure, thrilling at every turn-where truth and lies are almost impossible to separate, and unexpected twists are the order of the day.

‘Off Season’ is the latest offering from the pen of award-winning novelist, Clive Fleury. The book cover is reminiscent of spy novels set in the sixties but this is in fact a contemporary story. It is written in the third person and the past tense.

The opening chapter provides a sufficient historical hook to pique the reader’s interest. We then jump forward in time to meet Detective Ramesh Ryan, an Australian police officer of Indian heritage who spent some of his childhood in England. After losing what was believed to be a water-tight case against notorious drugs baron, Oscar Bruno, Ryan is dispatched from Sydney to the sleepy backwater beach town of Barton in its off season; hence the title. The small police department is run by a seasoned sergeant who likes a quiet life and a younger officer who is ambitious to move her career forward.

In addition, we have a parallel thread and spend time with two of Oscar’s sadistic enforcers who find the tables turned as they become targets of their ruthless employer. They are clearly hate figures at first but some readers may find they develop a small amount of sympathy for them as they struggle with their plight.

Hot on the heels of Ryan’s arrival in town, Barton is rocked by two deaths and a body part being washed up on the shore. He must make the connection between them by peeling back the layers of lies and misdirection to arrive at the truth, with his own safety being compromised in the process. Along the way, he finds himself drawn into a fledgling relationship which provides some contrasting light to the shade of the murky waters of his investigation.

The author’s scene-setting helps to build the backdrop for his characters to act out their parts. He also provides comprehensive physical and contextual descriptions of each of his large cast of players. If I’m being ultra-picky, I might suggest that some of the villains are rather stereotypical and I had to concentrate to make sure I remembered how everyone fitted into the plot. The highly intelligent but socially-isolated detective is also a tried and trusted angle, so readers will need to decide if Ryan is solid enough for the task the author has set him.

Overall, this is a fast-moving and lively tale which will satisfy readers who enjoy a thriller. Maybe it didn’t quite live up to the hopes I had for it after the intriguing opening but it is still worthy of a strong four stars.

Clive Fleury is an award-winning writer of novels and screenplays, including the murder mystery novel “Off Season”, and “Kill Code: A Dystopian Science Fiction Novel.” He is also a TV/Film writer, director, and producer who has worked for major broadcasters and studios all over the world, on a wide variety of successful drama and documentary projects.

He has written and directed four feature films, one of which, “Big City Blues,” starred Giancarlo Esposito, the late Burt Reynolds, and Balthazar Getty. His most recent film, “Sons of Summer,” is a surfing movie set on the Gold Coast of Australia and stars Temuera Morrison and Isabel Lucas. Clive currently spends his time between Florida and Sydney, Australia.