Blackwater Moon

TWO BOYS, BATTERED BY DRUNK FATHERS – ONE BECOMES A SERIAL KILLER, THE OTHER HIS PREY … AND HIS NEMESIS

A STORY OF SECRETS AND THE QUEST FOR REDEMPTION

"... it has suspense in spades, but what most comes through is physicality, and place."
- The Sydney Morning Herald

“Blackwater Moon is all the more horrific as much because of its familiarity as because of the malevolence of its story. This is a terrifying novel which also succeeds because of how beautifully evocative it is … The monsters are on our doorsteps or hiding in plain view… [A]n original and authentic Australian novel. Disturbingly dark, with brilliantly-created characters, it builds with great tension to a gripping climax. A wonderfully intelligent storyline, the tension is both palpable and profound.”
- Rob Minshull, ABC

"Radburn excites the unique Australian sense of wistfulness in this story. His beautiful and cleverly crafted words, although pre-empting something darker and more threatening, illuminate the sights and sounds of a safer and much less sophisticated Australia in a gripping crime thriller…”
- Ted Bassingthwaite, Police News NSW

BLACKWATER MOON by B. Michael Radburn

“Redemption is born of guilt, and weighs heavy on even the strongest man.”– Stephen King

Set in the small, isolated community of Blackwater… Blackwater Moon is a story of secrets and the quest for redemption. Spanning the lives of two people, the victim and the perpetrator… Blackwater Moon explores the consequences of living with a past shaped by life’s tragedies and how a single shared incident shapes their lives forever.

Andy Walker, son, lover, and an ex-soldier, knows tragedy is only ever a heartbeat away.

When an inmate escapes from the prison farm upriver and abducts Nathan, a child Andy has vowed to protect after losing his own son years before, Walker draws on his inner soldier to deliver Nathan from harm, discovering that the escapee is a dark figure from his past, the devil who changed his life, the man who introduced him as a child to ‘The Game’.

The story ends as it began, with the same two people on the banks of Blackwater’s river – only this time Walker has a gun and a choice to make. And so in the end, Blackwater may keep just one more secret…

AN EVOCATIVE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE OF FATHER-SON POST-WAR TRAUMA AMID A TRAGIC TRINITY OF DEPRESSION, ALCOHOL ABUSE AND VIOLENCE


Radburns skill lies in capturing the nuances and knife-edge tension of his characters’ lives, particularly in the father-son relationships. He explores human behaviour in situations where the characters are wrestling with their fears in a pressure-cooker plot.

Blackwater Moon is a crime story with a difference. Set over several decades, reaching beyond crime, pursuit and prison to explore the lifelong impact a single event has on both its victim and its perpetrator, until their paths cross in a gripping climax. A story about those who covet redemption, and the price they pay for it.

Do you love moody suspense thrillers? To be chilled to the bone? Why not check out the rest of B. Michael Radburn’s books!

The excellent, suspenseful work of B. Michael Radburn:

The Crossing
Blackwater Moon
The Falls (coming soon!)