The Drowning ... Just Keep Swimming?🏊🦈

I've just finished reading Bryan Brown's first full length novel 'The Drowning' and I have to say that I'm surprised to say it is a good read.

I'm not a reader who is (or was rather) into reading crime fiction novels, so I didn't think I was going to enjoy reading this book of Bryan's.

Plus, I thought this was just going to be good actor playing at trying to be a good author by writing a story, but it turns out he is a good writer who can tell a good story and probably has a few good stories left to write yet.

I wrote about why I bought the book in this recent post -

Australia (2008)

Faraway Downs/Australia?🌏🐮🤠

Bryan Brown (right) from my POV

And to tell the truth, if my son wasn't in line to read my copy I would probably have left the book in my "to read" pile until sometime next year.

I found it amusing that in the novel Bryan writes Australians love to shorten names, and when he asked me what name I wanted the greeting in the book to be made out to and told him Daz, he asked me what Daz was short for, and I told him Darren.

He asked me how I got the name Daz and I almost said to him "where have you been living for the last 50 years?"

It's almost a rite of passage in Australia that anyone born with the name Darren or Darryl is going to be called Daz, just like anyone born with the name Barry, Sharon, Gary, Karen, Harry or Kevin is going to be called Baz, Shaz, Gaz, Kaz, Haz or Kev by their mates at some point in their lives, if not all the time.

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett

Bryan even gives a shout out in the acknowledgements section of the book to Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett for helping him with questions regarding police matters and procedures for the some of his novel's characters, so I wondered if he ever said to Bryan, "just call me Daz"?

Suddenly Senior Podcast

Bryan's a guy with a great sense of humour and would easily be fun to have a chat with over a drink at a backyard BBQ or in a pub, I feel.
I've been listening to Bryan on a few podcasts he has been on recently flogging his book and that gives you a sense of the type of humour he has about life in general, which is pretty much the way most Aussies are about life, I think, including me.

The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show

I was telling my son how I was in Target the other day and saw Bryan's and Trent's books for sale at half the price I paid for them at Avid Reader ... Doh!

Oh well, I like to help out starving artists just getting started in the publishing industry;-) 

Lola in the Mirror in the Year of the Rabbit?🐰👀

I saw in the paper that Michael Caine has retired from acting at the age of 90, so I hope Bryan keeps acting and writing well past that age.

'1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'

Sherlock Holmes & Drug Abuse?💊

Without a Clue (1988)

Blame it on Rio ... and Perry Blake

And being a Cronulla Sutherland Sharks member myself I was surprised to hear on one of those recent podcasts that Bryan is a St. George Illawarra Dragons supporter.

You think it would be their year next season, but then again look what happened to the Rabbitohs this season:-)

And his club were formed on my birthday in 1998 I see -

My Happiest Birthday Ever

Dragons linked to giant deal with
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest

And turning 60 next year does technically make me a dragon ... not to mention "Suddenly Senior", but I'll always feel like a teenager next to Bryan:-)
The 60 Year Cycle and the Yellow Path?🌀📅

UPDATE: December 2nd, 2023

Swimmers warned to ‘keep their distance’
following pilot whales’ mystery death

I saw this mysterious news story today about bodies being washed up on an Australian beach -
"Environmental officials are investigating after more than 30 pilot whales were discovered dead on a remote Tasmanian beach.
On Tuesday, 34 whale carcasses were found on Bryans Beach, near the southern end of Tassie’s Freycinet Peninsula.
Marine Conservation Program (MCP) researchers were on site on Wednesday collecting samples and measurements to try to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
So far, it remains a mystery."