Minotaur

No bull, but plenty of AI

3.5 stars

Author
Adelaide GP and author, who has won major literary awards for his poetry, short stories, novels, as well as opera and theatre. To my knowledge, this is his first venture into the crime/mystery genre.

Premise
In Greek legend, The Minotaur is part-man, part bull and so dangerous that King Minos of Crete had it incarcerated in a maze, where Theseus, also trapped in the maze, eventually kills it and escapes through the love of a woman. (The King’s daughter Ariadne if you don’t remember).

Plot
Detective Sergeant Rick Zadow, blinded by a gunshot from a criminal he was trying to apprehend, is trapped by his blindness and an overwhelming need for vengeance, while he awaits the outcome of a court case about compensation held up by the differing opinions of opposing psychiatrists about the impact of his injury. Meanwhile, the gang member who injured him has escaped from jail and wants to finish the job. Stuff happens. Resolution is achieved.

Prose
Well-written as expected from Mr G. I’m not sure The Minotaur analogy works.

Characters
The protagonist’s fragile, and changeable, mental state is well evoked. This is the first novel I’ve read where Siri, the chick you ask to help you out on and Apple device, is a major character. Rick has a collar microphone he uses to ask Siri where the hell he is and where he’s going—geographically rather than philosophically although she has a stab at that too. Along a similar vein is his estranged wife Willow, whom he calls Willowpedia because she’s a know-it-all.

Bottom line
Not Mr Goldsworthy’s best work, which still makes it better than average. The character development is the best part.