Reviewed by Rod McLary
The starting point of Dirt Trap is the series of what was variously called the gay hate murders or the gay gang murders which largely occurred [but not exclusively] between 1989 and 1990. Shockingly, many of these murders were allegedly perpetrated by gangs of young people aged between 12 and 18 and up to 88 gay men were killed by being ‘thrown off or herded off’ the cliffs in Marks Park Sydney. It was also alleged that these murders largely went un-investigated for many years.
In Dirt Trap, James Brandt – an investigative journalist – who now lives in the small country town of Kippen where he had previously exposed homophobic attacks on local gays and the brutal death of his cousin twenty years before. James is now married to Dylan, principal of the local high school, and together they live within an uneasy truce between them and the remainder of James’ family in the township. The state begins an historical gay-hate crime inquiry and James is diligently – and almost obsessively – following the inquiry live streams and expecting the inquiry any day now to examine the death of his cousin Tony. But when it does, the person who James believes killed Tony returns to the town with his family. James’ conclusion from this can only be that he [the killer] believes he is ‘off the hook’. Bobby Jones [the alleged killer] with his wife Kylie and their teenage children Andrew and Neil have returned to Kippen; but in an ironic twist, Andrew is transitioning and now prefers to be called Andi.
The animosity between James and Bobby has not dissipated and James is determined to prove that Bobby killed Tony. But then there is another death at the same location where Tony was killed all those years before. The police sergeant sent in to investigate – Therese Lin – is under resourced and under pressure.
With James being certain the police won’t – or can’t – properly investigate the crimes and intent on pursuing his own investigations, the presence of a well-resourced podcaster interviewing everyone she can, challenging family dynamics, and the rather toxic men in the Jones family [Bobby and his father], there is much going on in this rural noir crime story. And then there is a second death equally as suspicious as the first; and all underpinned by the gay hate crimes in Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s. It is sometimes a little overwhelming and the reader may need a moment to pause and work out exactly what is happening.
However, the author captures well the claustrophobic nature of small country towns and the complex dynamics within extended families and between families whose properties adjoin each other.
While there is no expectation that a protagonist needs to be likeable – and some aren’t – when the primary narrative involves the murder of the protagonist’s beloved cousin, it would be helpful if James was just a little more engaging. There are moments when it is quite easy for the reader to dislike him. But for all that, Dirt Trap does have a compelling plot and there are moments of high tension especially near the conclusion of the novel and some sense of justice is served.
The author Michael Burge has previously written Tank Water which together with Dirt Trap are a storytelling cycle about homophobia and justice in the bush. He is a board member of the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival and a member of the Australian Crime Writers Association.
Dirt Trap
[2025]
by Michael Burge
MidnightSun Publishing
ISBN: 978 192285 868 9
$34.99; 318pp