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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Belief, 19 July 2005
This review is from: Deep Beyond the Reef: A True Story of Madness and Murder in the South Pacific (Paperback)
Owen Scott's first book, Deep Beyond the Reef is hard to put down. Scott gives a fascinating viewpoint of Fiji's colonial history through the candid tale of one family and an often heart-breaking glimpse into the impact of murder on the loved ones that are left behind. In reading this book I took a journey through a family pulled apart by ambition, deceit, alcohol, manipulation and then tragically, murder. This sounds like a lot to stomach but Scott's writing style creates the double whammy of page-turning ease with coolly scripted, but devastating, detail. This book manages to be unsentimental, but at the same time deeply moving. This is a story of a brother's desire to find out the truth and see justice done. It is the story of an uncle caring deeply for his young and incredibly brave nephew in the aftermath of tragedy. It is a tale of the injustice of uninformed media and an under resourced legal system. I agree with the other person who said there is a film in this. Until that comes out, read the book.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Disturbing Tale from the South Pacific, 18 July 2005
This review is from: Deep Beyond the Reef: A True Story of Madness and Murder in the South Pacific (Paperback)
In 2001 the author's brother,John Scott, and his partner Greg Scrivener, were savagely murdered in their home in Fiji.This was a high profile matter because John Scott had been deeply involved in negotiations regarding the 2000 coup involving George Speight, and he was openly homosexual. This book chronicles the author dealing with the aftermath of the murders in a country where a lot of things work in a way that are unclear to someone from a so-called "first- world" country such as the U.K. where the author has lived for many years...except that he is Fijian born and bred. However this book is more than one story in that it also describes the author's, and his brother's, childhood in Fiji and their relationship with their very difficult father.It also gives a fascinating insight into British colonial life in the South Pacific. It also gives one a very good flavour of how Fijian society operates. There are also many passages where the author makes observations about life with the perceptiveness and clarity that one would normally only associate with the likes of Ian McEwan. This is an engrossing book and written with a decent dose of humour given what the author is writing about. This is a very frank and human work.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Madness and mayhem in the South Pacific, 17 July 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Deep Beyond the Reef: A True Story of Madness and Murder in the South Pacific (Paperback)
This fascinating story covers three generations of Scotts in Fiji and finishes with the murder of John Scott and his partner Greg Scrivener in 2001... It is a superbly written book that travels along nicely with accounts of the characters of the three generations chronicled. Owen Scott, the author and younger brother of the murdered Scott tells the history of this family as it is...dysfunctional, alcoholic, highly sexed, ambitious and good looking...all the elements are there for a darn good read... It should be made into a film...it is an example of truth being stranger than fiction... Well recommended
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