Frank Calder - ex-soldier and sacked police hostage negotiator - is just
eking out a living as a mediator when he's approached by Pat Carson,
patriarch of the dynastic Carson family. Pat wants him to deliver ransom
money to kidnappers who've abducted his great-granddaughter. Frank urges
Pat to call in the law, but he refuses, since police bungling nearly
cost the life of another Carson child kidnapped years before. So a
reluctant Frank begins to deal with the kidnappers, and quickly becomes
convinced both Carson kidnappings were motivated by something other than
money. Over several feverish days, Frank searches for suspects in the
web of Carson businesses, deals, marriages, indiscretions and rivalries.
And all the while he knows that if his instincts are wrong, the girl
will surely die ... With Shooting Star, Australia's premier
crime-thriller writer, Peter Temple, is launched into an even bigger
league.
