I read this novel as part of the #aww2014 challenge to read at least 10 books by Australian women writers this year. The following is the review I put up on Goodreads with a rating of 2/5 stars (It was ok).
This is a solid police procedural but lacks the grit of an Ian Rankin, P M Newton, or Patricia Cornwell. While it pries open the lid of police and political corruption it fails to provide a likeable character and gives the sense that this story is part of a larger whole - a much larger whole. In itself it seems somewhat incomplete.
The Betrayal is the second novel by Y. A. Erskine, following on from The Brotherhood - which I have not read. The sheer naivete of the main character seems somewhat implausible given her chosen career. The sexual deprivations of most of the characters also seems a little over the top. The arrogance and chauvinism and heightened levels of anger expressed by one character is excessive, yet oddly plausible.
The feelings and thoughts expressed by the spouse of a police office with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are spot on and for me provide the only sense of resonance with this novel.
Y. A. Erskine is a talented writer whose skill continues to develop with her characters. While this genre is not one I read often, I would certainly read her work again.
I didn't really take to this book and the more I thought about it the more I realised it was mostly due to the overall feeling that the story was incomplete. The Betrayal unfolds around the crime of date-rape but features so many other characters and events/crimes that the starting point gets a little lost. Rather than tying pieces together it opens up more and more story lines until the reader (ie, me) is left feeling that the date-rape crime is being swept aside for the larger story. The ending is unsatisfactory.
All that aside, there's some definite talent here and I would like to see how Erskine pulls these characters together to solve the larger issues/crimes.
