The Back of Beyond

The oral tradition of Australian aboriginal culture, replete with myths, curses and prehistoric animals, dominates Fox's ( Black Fire ) second Doyle Mulligan action-packed thriller. The incendiary Sydney opening of a photographic exhibit of sacred Ularu cave paintings propels investigative reporter Mulligan across the continent to Adelaide, Alice Springs, the Ularu Occupied Lands and finally into the forbidden--particularly to whites--Ularu caves. Wealthy land developer Rush Killian's purchase of Ularu lands from the government has been challenged; after the courts rule in Killian's favor, a race war seems imminent. Mulligan wonders why Killian wants what appears to be just millions of acres of desert. In the careening, first-person narrative, the reporter is chased by competing journalists and hunted through the outback by a legendary eight-foot-tall, six-legged creature with a taste for human flesh. The only person he can trust is Jim Jim, an Ularu who coaches him in the customs of the tribe. Killian's scheme is revealed--and neatly thwarted--in a grimly horrific resolution that Mulligan's editor aptly brands a ``bloody magnificent yarn.'' (May)