Gravity Let Me Go, Trent Dalton, Australia, 2025

In keeping with other books by Dalton, Gravity Let Me Go is not restricted by any kind of novel-writing template. Whether the novel belongs specifically to the crime genre (straddling problems with social cohesion, both psychological and personal), or whether it can be interpreted as one man’s inner journey and awakening is of little importance. The book is captivating, entertaining and even, in parts, thought-provoking. Dalton uses both first and third person but also a type of ‘aside’ from inside Noah’s head, which gives another perspective to everything and everyone. The writing is concise, immediate, alive and delightfully descriptive. After the neighbour’s dog Hercules shits on Noah’s nature strip, Noah runs towards him, thinking to do I know not what. The large and imperious man-dog snarls and lifts the right side of his mouth to show three canine teeth the shape of Sydney Opera House. He’s a beast so at ease I almost expect the smug reprobate to pull out a New Yorker and settle in for a third turd emancipation…

Noah Cork is a journalist who writes a crime column for one of the Brisbane newspapers. He lives in the lucky Brisbane suburb of Jubilee where everything is picture-perfect. He has a wife, Rita, and two teenage daughters. He rents their three-bedroom, one bathroom cottage from his parents-in-law, and life is generally fairly hand-to-mouth. Then he is literally given a once-in-a-lifetime scoop when a murderer contacts him anonymously and gives him clues that eventually lead to the victim, Tamsin Fellows. Noah’s book becomes an overnight success, but not everyone is happy: Tamsin’s family dislike the way Noah described the deceased; the local detective (the owner of Hercules) is fuming that Noah should have written his book while the investigation into the killer is still ongoing; and Rita stops speaking (which seems a little weird but, then again, ‘weird’ is probably fairly normal for the situations surrounding Noah Cork.

The book though is a success – perhaps that extra bathroom might be a reality after all. Then, apart from the fact that he sees Tamsin’s skeleton everywhere, Noah has a gnawing feeling that things are about to fall apart. There is the book, his neighbours, his parents, his family, his ambition, his guilt, the anonymous murderer… In the lead-up to a once-in-a-century storm, things actually do fall apart, leaving Noah fighting for his own life and the lives of everyone in his family.

Dalton’s book is filled with unique characters and a series of ordinary events that somehow become extraordinary. The pace is often breathless but with pauses where the inner Noah Cork, with his doubts and insecurities, moves reluctantly into the limelight. In many ways this is a book about ordinary humanity.

It is definitely a book that can be / should be read twice: caught up in Noah’s stress, it is possible to miss all the small clues and observations. Finally, it is important to realise that the title will subtly change meaning, depending on where the emphasis is placed on the individual words, but there is only one meaning that fits perfectly with Dalton’s book.