Without a Doubt
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 4, 2019
Author Fleur McDonald
Distributor: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781760633158
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Release Date: April 2019
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
Dave Burrows takes a retrospective look back to Barrabine and his time spent there as a young Detective working his way to up to a coveted position in the Stock Squad, in one of the most suspenseful stories crafted by Fleur McDonald, Without a Doubt.
Dave is struggling to cope with his wife Melinda who is getting more and more depressed by the day and a workload that never seems to decrease; his eighteen-month-old daughter Bec, the love of his life, seems to be the only stable thing in his home life.
Things come to a head when Melinda’s parents decide to come to Barrabine for a visit and things go terribly wrong, as Mark continues to bait Dave, as he has never ever accepted that Dave was good enough for his only daughter. Melinda decides to return to Perth to be with her parents and Dave is offered an opportunity to go undercover on what could very easily be the most dangerous case of this life.
He accepts, because what else is there to do to get motivated once again, but knows all too well that if things do go wrong, and they very easily could, it will be the absolute end of his very tenuous marriage and family life.
Dave discovers in the lead up he is not a fit as he thought he was and his persona as a hard bitten, down on his luck, angry, aggressive stock handler needs to be fool proof, so sets about cutting back the beer, running and trying to cope with the changes in his life.
All too soon he finds himself in Nundrew, as far from his old life as possible and out to stir up as much trouble as he can in his new persona, which he finds surprisingly easy to do. Bulldust, the owner of a mustering squad with a tough reputation, decides to hire Dave as he is one man short for the coming muster, which is exactly where Dave needs to be.
When the action begins, fast and furious, Dave begins to really understand his life could well and truly be on the line if things do go wrong and his cover is blown.
Without A Doubt was written in five days, an abrupt about face ten days out from deadline. The decision to put Dave Burrows undercover was a one that created a riveting, tightly knit, engrossing storyline from Fleur McDonald, as all-time favourite Dave Burrows challenges the very real world of stock rustling, murder and betrayal.