After opening his authorial account in his homeland with an historical coming-of-age story set against the harsh realities of a whaling station in To Become a Whale, Australian novelist Ben Hobson takes a darker turn with his sophomore effort, and first book to be published in the United States. Snake Island is a superb literary thriller that explores father-son relationships, family loyalties, violence, and retribution.

In one senseless act, Caleb Moore shattered his family. Now in prison for attacking his wife, Caleb has lost everything, including his parents, Vernon and Penelope, who have cut him off. But when retired teacher Vernon learns Caleb has been getting regularly visited and badly beaten by local thug Brendan Cahill while the authorities look the other way, he decides he must step in.

Vernon’s solution? Try to broker peace with Brendan’s own father. The catch? Ernie Cahill is head of a local family that switched from sheep farming to drug cultivation, and thanks to male pride and unforeseen events, rather than helping, Vernon escalates matters into a dangerous feud with the region’s crime kingpin.

Hobson intercuts chapters from different perspectives as other characters get involved, including a stained local cop and Brendan’s brother, whose priorities don’t match his criminal family’s.

Snake Island is a rich, powerful tale in a stark rural setting, threaded with issues of domestic violence, vengeance, masculinity, and frontier justice. It’s modern noir with Western sensibilities, from a masterful writer.

Fans of the great “grit lit” tales set in the American South and Southwest, or Shakespearean tragedy, will find plenty to love in this novel as it builds from high simmer to blood-soaked finale.