The Dead I Know

Scot Gardner (author)

Allen & Unwin, Australia: May 2011; 208pp

ISBN: 9781742373843 

Genres: crime, drama, realistic fiction

Issues: crime, death, identity, mental health

Aaron Rowe walks in his sleep, sometimes as far as 5km. He is beset by the same nightmare, over and over again. He lives in a caravan park with Mam Rowe and he's just begun his training as a funeral director. Aaron is not your average school leaver.

An enigmatic character, Aaron's confused sense of identity and his desperate need to find his place in the world drive this unusual narrative. His new job seems to be an expression of the silent, watchful face he presents to the world, a place where he can hide from the human emotions that confuse him so much. 'Robot', his boss' young daughter calls him, for his apparent lack of expression when speaking. Yet he talks more to her than he has to almost anybody else his entire life. How can he explain to others what he doesn't understand himself? How can he articulate his sense of dread and panic when he doesn't know the source? He can cope with the dead and their secrets in ways that he cannot handle the living. Will he ever find peace?

A dark, powerful, disturbing yet ultimately uplifting novel, The Dead I Know is a haunting examination of the fallout from trauma, the nature of dying and the confusing journey to self-knowledge that many people never actually travel. Gardener's prose is totally absorbing, reaching out and enfolding the reader in Aaron's experiences, drawing them closer to the centre of his darkness. Descriptive passages – whether of context, characters or emotions – have the economy of poetry; dialogue flows so realistically, so easily from the tongue that Aaron's clipped, terse sentences are all the more obvious.

Totally unforgettable, The Dead I Know is a novel for those who enjoy character-driven narrative and stories that demand reader involvement. Only by paying attention will readers see the importance of each small revelation, each tiny crack that allows Aaron's true nature to shine through – for good or ill. This is one that you'll want your friends to read so that you can have someone with whom to share it.

Warning: graphic descriptions of dead bodies, including a very messy motorbike accident, a dead child, a suicide and various older folk. The descriptions are very realistic but also respectful; they are likely to disturb those who have limited experience of death and what happens to a body between dying and the funeral.