The Guilt of Past Days is set in Australia—a country I know relatively little about, which made me curious to explore this novel and its landscape.

About the Story

By Peter Temple

Late one night, Mac Faraday receives an urgent call that pulls him from sleep. Lew, the teenage grandson of Mac's closest friend Ned, has discovered his grandfather hanging in their barn. While the authorities suggest suicide, Mac has his doubts and decides to take young Lew under his wing. But he can't let the questions rest—he begins digging into what really happened to Ned.

Among Ned's belongings, Mac finds newspaper clippings about a girl's body discovered in an abandoned mine shaft. Ned's work journal reveals that he abruptly stopped a renovation job at Kinross Hall, a home for troubled girls. Mac's curiosity intensifies, leading him to take a position as a temporary groundskeeper at the facility to investigate further.

My Thoughts

When I arrived in Melbourne at my father's house on the crossroads, while my old life still weighed heavily with fear and vigilance, I had sat in every room in darkness with closed eyes, listening, cataloging the sounds. —The Guilt of Past Days, p. 25

Getting Started Was Tough

Right from the beginning, I struggled to connect with The Guilt of Past Days. The remote Australian countryside where Mac Faraday works as a blacksmith feels as harsh and unpolished as the dialogue itself. While I can usually adapt to rougher prose when the story compensates elsewhere, this time I found myself hesitant.

Information Came Sparingly

What also bothered me was how little we learn about Mac and the people around him. Background details trickle in so slowly that I only pieced together much later that Mac used to be a federal police investigator. Given his interrogation tactics, though, I can understand why that career might be behind him.

The Pacing Dragged

Some descriptions did bring a smile—like one character's clothing described as something that "could have served as a strategic oil reserve." That kind of dry wit I appreciated. But the extensive passages about gardening work? I could have done without them, even though by the end there's a reason for their inclusion.

Too Little, Too Late

If you make it to the final chapters, you'll discover that the overall plot is actually quite cleverly constructed. The story picks up momentum toward the conclusion—but for me, it was too late. I never connected with any of the characters, whether major or minor, and by that point, I found myself indifferent to how everything resolved.

Final Verdict

The Guilt of Past Days is unconventional, different, and ultimately a challenging read for me. When I picked up a book labeled as a "thriller," I expected something with more drive and urgency than what this delivered.