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jrmarr's review
4.0
A great holiday read. Good mystery. Nice writing. Melbourne noir story. A little far fetched at times, but a real page turner. I really like Lovitt’s writing. I hope he writes more.
kcfromaustcrime's review
When THE MIDNIGHT PROMISE won the Ned Kelly Award in 2013 it was impossible not to agree wholeheartedly with the judges' decision. That book telegraphed clearly here was an author to be followed closely. Three years on, BLACK TEETH is worth the wait. Unusual, dark, often funny, always disquieting, this is an intriguing novel.
In it, the lives of two loners, slightly lost men, collide as they search for the same man. One, Jason Ginaff is a technical wiz. He earns his living researching job candidates, finding out the things that people don't want discovered. Raised by a single mother who recently died, he's socially awkward, suffers from anxiety and is grieving the loss of his mum deeply.
Rudy Alamain is also grieving the loss of parents. His mother died years ago, his father much more recently. The difference here is that his father was serving time in prison for the murder of his mother - whose body Rudy discovered years ago.
When these two damaged and hurting men come across each other, Rudy is looking for life insurance before settling some scores with the cop he thinks framed his father. Jason, on the other hand, is searching for the same man - the father he's never met. As simple as that scenario sounds, nothing should be taken at face-value in BLACK TEETH.
In what seems like a brave move, Lovitt hasn't set out to create a cast of characters here that everyone is going to like, or connect with. As vulnerable, fragile and broken as everybody in this book is, they are also unlikeable, untrustworthy and in many ways complicit in their own destiny. Yet somehow readers will be drawn into a form of caring, almost barracking for somebody, anybody really, to rise above their circumstances and do something. Preferably the right thing, but more often it comes down to anything, to take charge, or make a difference.
It's also a book, that in the early part, is littered with hacker terminology that kind of works, if you don't look too closely. Convincing in a way, slightly questionable in others, there's enough truth in the methods and terms that Jason uses to let it go (although to be honest the confluence of doxing, brute force attacks and rainbow tables was a What The? moment).
What's more important is that the character of Jason as a hacker quietly working on google dorks in his lounge room, discovering people's hidden secrets, works. It also makes him the sort of person that would dig into the past and people's backgrounds to find the truth. It's still what he would do even after he discovers the truth can hurt. It also means that he has some choices in how he approaches a fragile and damaged person like Rudy. Whether or not he, or any of them for that matter, make the right choices is less predictable - you can't code a human emotion and expect somebody to run the script to completion after all.
The complex set of character interactions at play in BLACK TEETH are ably supported by an equally complex and well-executed plot that keeps everyone (including, it seems, the participants themselves) guessing until the end. Add to that some touches of excellent scene setting - from tired old blocks of brick flats in tired old suburbs, through to the mouldering and neglected house that Rudy lives in, surrounded by disconnected and disinterested affluence, and you've got all of the necessary elements of noir crime fiction with none of the predictability.
In fact predictability is the one thing you can forget about if you're about to read BLACK TEETH. There is so much in this novel that's unusual and unexpected but never once does it feel out of place or overly engineered. It's dark, it's classic noir, it's very Australian and it's about as pitch perfect as you can get.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-black-teeth-zane-lovitt-0
In it, the lives of two loners, slightly lost men, collide as they search for the same man. One, Jason Ginaff is a technical wiz. He earns his living researching job candidates, finding out the things that people don't want discovered. Raised by a single mother who recently died, he's socially awkward, suffers from anxiety and is grieving the loss of his mum deeply.
Rudy Alamain is also grieving the loss of parents. His mother died years ago, his father much more recently. The difference here is that his father was serving time in prison for the murder of his mother - whose body Rudy discovered years ago.
When these two damaged and hurting men come across each other, Rudy is looking for life insurance before settling some scores with the cop he thinks framed his father. Jason, on the other hand, is searching for the same man - the father he's never met. As simple as that scenario sounds, nothing should be taken at face-value in BLACK TEETH.
In what seems like a brave move, Lovitt hasn't set out to create a cast of characters here that everyone is going to like, or connect with. As vulnerable, fragile and broken as everybody in this book is, they are also unlikeable, untrustworthy and in many ways complicit in their own destiny. Yet somehow readers will be drawn into a form of caring, almost barracking for somebody, anybody really, to rise above their circumstances and do something. Preferably the right thing, but more often it comes down to anything, to take charge, or make a difference.
It's also a book, that in the early part, is littered with hacker terminology that kind of works, if you don't look too closely. Convincing in a way, slightly questionable in others, there's enough truth in the methods and terms that Jason uses to let it go (although to be honest the confluence of doxing, brute force attacks and rainbow tables was a What The? moment).
What's more important is that the character of Jason as a hacker quietly working on google dorks in his lounge room, discovering people's hidden secrets, works. It also makes him the sort of person that would dig into the past and people's backgrounds to find the truth. It's still what he would do even after he discovers the truth can hurt. It also means that he has some choices in how he approaches a fragile and damaged person like Rudy. Whether or not he, or any of them for that matter, make the right choices is less predictable - you can't code a human emotion and expect somebody to run the script to completion after all.
The complex set of character interactions at play in BLACK TEETH are ably supported by an equally complex and well-executed plot that keeps everyone (including, it seems, the participants themselves) guessing until the end. Add to that some touches of excellent scene setting - from tired old blocks of brick flats in tired old suburbs, through to the mouldering and neglected house that Rudy lives in, surrounded by disconnected and disinterested affluence, and you've got all of the necessary elements of noir crime fiction with none of the predictability.
In fact predictability is the one thing you can forget about if you're about to read BLACK TEETH. There is so much in this novel that's unusual and unexpected but never once does it feel out of place or overly engineered. It's dark, it's classic noir, it's very Australian and it's about as pitch perfect as you can get.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-black-teeth-zane-lovitt-0
pilebythebed's review
5.0
In 2010, Zane Lovitt won the Sandra Harvey Award for Crime Fiction Short Story at the Ned Kelly Awards. That story went on to form part of a connected short-story anthology, The Midnight Promise, which won the Ned Kelly for best debut crime novel in 2013. With Black Teeth, a highly original, dark Australian crime novel, Lovitt is once again looking to be a strong contender for the Neds.
Black Teeth has an intriguing cold open. Rudy Alamein is trying to purchase life insurance. He is intending to kill someone and does not expect to survive the experience. When he dies he wants the insurance money to go to his only friend. The insurance agent takes this all in and promises to help as he knew Rudy’s father in prison. Only nothing about this conversation is quite what it seems.
Cut to narrator Jason Ginaff, a loner who spends his life online and is hired by big firms to do checks on the social media history of potential employees. Jason has anxiety issues and a range of aliases to protect himself from perceived threats. He is also trying to track down his biological father, a retired policeman who was involved in the case that put Alamein’s father in jail. Once involved he unwillingly sets out to learn the truth about the death of Rudy’s mother.
In the great tradition of noir crime, every character in Black Teeth is out for themselves but all have a vulnerable spot. They are all unlikeable but in a fascinating way that is hard to turn away from. Jason, as narrator for the most part is the best drawn. Still affected by the death of his mother, socially awkward, dealing with anxiety issues and paranoia, searching for acceptance. But the others, particularly the damaged Rudy Alamein who for all his faults is the most impacted by events over which he had and still has no control.
In Black Teeth, Lovitt has taken the conventions of noir fiction and made them his own. He takes readers into the unsexy underbelly of Melbourne with passages like this one describing a prison hospital:
“My mother died in a place like this… The same stench of sweat, bleach and microwaved soup as I walk the long corridor. No posters about the strength to be found in hope or the miracle of each day; the echoey beige walls are nothing more than functional and the beige lino is somehow less colourful for the coloured lines that lead you where you want to go, chipped and faded and entirely worn away in parts.”
But there is also a dark humour lurking in many of the descriptions and the dialogue.
The cold open pays off as does the twisted ending, which practically forces a reread of key scenes even if you were paying close attention and defies the usual conventions of the murder mystery genre. There is a murder mystery at the heart of Black Teeth but there are no drawing room confessions in Lovitt’s world, just a bunch of grifters and their marks all trying to manipulate each other for their own self-justified ends. With Black Teeth, Zane Lovitt has delivered a classic, dark Australian crime thriller.
More reviews on the Pile - http://www.pilebythebed.com
Black Teeth has an intriguing cold open. Rudy Alamein is trying to purchase life insurance. He is intending to kill someone and does not expect to survive the experience. When he dies he wants the insurance money to go to his only friend. The insurance agent takes this all in and promises to help as he knew Rudy’s father in prison. Only nothing about this conversation is quite what it seems.
Cut to narrator Jason Ginaff, a loner who spends his life online and is hired by big firms to do checks on the social media history of potential employees. Jason has anxiety issues and a range of aliases to protect himself from perceived threats. He is also trying to track down his biological father, a retired policeman who was involved in the case that put Alamein’s father in jail. Once involved he unwillingly sets out to learn the truth about the death of Rudy’s mother.
In the great tradition of noir crime, every character in Black Teeth is out for themselves but all have a vulnerable spot. They are all unlikeable but in a fascinating way that is hard to turn away from. Jason, as narrator for the most part is the best drawn. Still affected by the death of his mother, socially awkward, dealing with anxiety issues and paranoia, searching for acceptance. But the others, particularly the damaged Rudy Alamein who for all his faults is the most impacted by events over which he had and still has no control.
In Black Teeth, Lovitt has taken the conventions of noir fiction and made them his own. He takes readers into the unsexy underbelly of Melbourne with passages like this one describing a prison hospital:
“My mother died in a place like this… The same stench of sweat, bleach and microwaved soup as I walk the long corridor. No posters about the strength to be found in hope or the miracle of each day; the echoey beige walls are nothing more than functional and the beige lino is somehow less colourful for the coloured lines that lead you where you want to go, chipped and faded and entirely worn away in parts.”
But there is also a dark humour lurking in many of the descriptions and the dialogue.
The cold open pays off as does the twisted ending, which practically forces a reread of key scenes even if you were paying close attention and defies the usual conventions of the murder mystery genre. There is a murder mystery at the heart of Black Teeth but there are no drawing room confessions in Lovitt’s world, just a bunch of grifters and their marks all trying to manipulate each other for their own self-justified ends. With Black Teeth, Zane Lovitt has delivered a classic, dark Australian crime thriller.
More reviews on the Pile - http://www.pilebythebed.com
textpublishing's review
5.0
‘[Lovitt has] an attentive ear for language and a nuanced understanding of how quite ordinary extraordinary people may find themselves up to their necks in trouble. This is original Australian crime fiction of the first order.’
Age
‘Clever and original…A sharp, darkly funny novel that will have readers seeking out more from this talented author.’
BookMooch
‘Incredible. Lovitt takes a wicked sense of humour and clever plotting to once again brilliantly subvert the crime genre…Move over Peter Temple, your heir apparent has arrived and is breaking all the rules of crime fiction with a talent and skill that is unique, daring and quite simply a pleasure to behold on the page.’
Jon Page, A Couple of Pages
‘What really sets Lovitt’s novels apart from the crowd is his writing style. In Black Teeth his use of plain and urban language is fresh and engaging and his snappy character dialogue a pleasure to read. If you find unassuming intelligence and a dark and dry sense of humour as appealing as I do, then Lovitt’s narrative voice will have you enthralled.’
Booklover Book Reviews
‘Lovitt respects and craftily manipulates conventions of crime fiction, but brings to them idiosyncratic and observant eyes and ears. Black Teeth confirms his status in a high quality local literary field.’
Australian
‘In Black Teeth, Lovitt has taken the conventions of noir fiction and made them his own…A classic, dark Australian crime thriller.’
PS News
‘Zane Lovitt is one to watch out for…Black Teeth is a clever and addictive page-turner.’
Canberra Weekly
‘An exuberant book, written with panache… Zane Lovitt has clearly begun what will become a firm crime-writing career. In Black Teeth… the characters beguile, the plot thickens as a crime plot shot, the atmosphere of Melbourne in winter surrounds the events, and one romps through to the end.’
Stuff NZ
‘Black Teeth [has] got all of the necessary elements of noir fiction with none of the predictability… There is so much in this novel that’s unusual and unexpected but never once does it feel out of place or overly engineered. It’s dark, it’s classic noir, it’s very Australian and it’s about as pitch perfect as you can get.’
Aust Crime Fiction
‘The rich vein of dark humour is entertaining and the subtly telegraphed twists keep the book moving at a good pace. And as with all compelling noir, there is both deception and counter-deception… Lovitt’s character Jason Ginaff is needy and sometimes even creepy – but he has an endearlingly smart-arsed turn of phrase, and tucked in somewhere beneath his fallible, self-obsessed personality is a twitchy moral compass. He is well worth another book.’
Newtown Review of Books
‘[Black Teeth] has many of the hallmarks of a Raymond Chandler noir; as soon as the reader thinks she is beginning to get a handle on what is going on, another red herring gets lobbed into the plot… Lovitt has confirmed his great promise here. A writer definitely worth following.’
Australian Book Review
‘A fast-paced, elaborate tale centred on misplaced ethics, wrongful convictions and multigenerational trauma…Superb characterisation and meticulously curated exchanges heighten the tension throughout, while recognisable Melbourne landmarks and Australian colloquialisms imbue the narrative with an unsettling familiarity—culminating in a surprising ending that will turn every expectation on its head.’
Big Issue
‘It’s Aussie noir, but much funnier than your standard noir, and Lovitt is a wonderfully inventive writer.’
New Zealand Listener
‘An unhinged, darkly comic thriller.’
Readings, Best Crime Books of 2016
‘[A] quirky, contemporary thriller.’
Best Books of 2016, New Zealand Listener
‘A quintessential Melbourne novel. The language is modern and raw. The juggling of the events and episodes is engrossing. Lovitt weaves the reality of modern life into the story.’
Law Institute Journal
‘This exhilaratingly twisted, Chandler-influenced Aussie noir has Jason—a socially anxious Melbourne tech nerd with a vivid and occasionally pungent turn of phrase—caught up in two men’s desire for vengeance, with a bracingly downbeat femme fatale complicating the action. Read to the end of chapter one and you’ll be hooked.’
Sunday Times Crime Club
‘Of all the novels I’ve read that could be called neo-noir, Black Teeth is the one that most succeeds in combining the new with the noir.’
Crime Fiction Lover
‘It takes a lot to surprise me but Black Teeth did exactly that…a sharp, darkly funny novel…cleverly written.’
Shots Magazine
Age
‘Clever and original…A sharp, darkly funny novel that will have readers seeking out more from this talented author.’
BookMooch
‘Incredible. Lovitt takes a wicked sense of humour and clever plotting to once again brilliantly subvert the crime genre…Move over Peter Temple, your heir apparent has arrived and is breaking all the rules of crime fiction with a talent and skill that is unique, daring and quite simply a pleasure to behold on the page.’
Jon Page, A Couple of Pages
‘What really sets Lovitt’s novels apart from the crowd is his writing style. In Black Teeth his use of plain and urban language is fresh and engaging and his snappy character dialogue a pleasure to read. If you find unassuming intelligence and a dark and dry sense of humour as appealing as I do, then Lovitt’s narrative voice will have you enthralled.’
Booklover Book Reviews
‘Lovitt respects and craftily manipulates conventions of crime fiction, but brings to them idiosyncratic and observant eyes and ears. Black Teeth confirms his status in a high quality local literary field.’
Australian
‘In Black Teeth, Lovitt has taken the conventions of noir fiction and made them his own…A classic, dark Australian crime thriller.’
PS News
‘Zane Lovitt is one to watch out for…Black Teeth is a clever and addictive page-turner.’
Canberra Weekly
‘An exuberant book, written with panache… Zane Lovitt has clearly begun what will become a firm crime-writing career. In Black Teeth… the characters beguile, the plot thickens as a crime plot shot, the atmosphere of Melbourne in winter surrounds the events, and one romps through to the end.’
Stuff NZ
‘Black Teeth [has] got all of the necessary elements of noir fiction with none of the predictability… There is so much in this novel that’s unusual and unexpected but never once does it feel out of place or overly engineered. It’s dark, it’s classic noir, it’s very Australian and it’s about as pitch perfect as you can get.’
Aust Crime Fiction
‘The rich vein of dark humour is entertaining and the subtly telegraphed twists keep the book moving at a good pace. And as with all compelling noir, there is both deception and counter-deception… Lovitt’s character Jason Ginaff is needy and sometimes even creepy – but he has an endearlingly smart-arsed turn of phrase, and tucked in somewhere beneath his fallible, self-obsessed personality is a twitchy moral compass. He is well worth another book.’
Newtown Review of Books
‘[Black Teeth] has many of the hallmarks of a Raymond Chandler noir; as soon as the reader thinks she is beginning to get a handle on what is going on, another red herring gets lobbed into the plot… Lovitt has confirmed his great promise here. A writer definitely worth following.’
Australian Book Review
‘A fast-paced, elaborate tale centred on misplaced ethics, wrongful convictions and multigenerational trauma…Superb characterisation and meticulously curated exchanges heighten the tension throughout, while recognisable Melbourne landmarks and Australian colloquialisms imbue the narrative with an unsettling familiarity—culminating in a surprising ending that will turn every expectation on its head.’
Big Issue
‘It’s Aussie noir, but much funnier than your standard noir, and Lovitt is a wonderfully inventive writer.’
New Zealand Listener
‘An unhinged, darkly comic thriller.’
Readings, Best Crime Books of 2016
‘[A] quirky, contemporary thriller.’
Best Books of 2016, New Zealand Listener
‘A quintessential Melbourne novel. The language is modern and raw. The juggling of the events and episodes is engrossing. Lovitt weaves the reality of modern life into the story.’
Law Institute Journal
‘This exhilaratingly twisted, Chandler-influenced Aussie noir has Jason—a socially anxious Melbourne tech nerd with a vivid and occasionally pungent turn of phrase—caught up in two men’s desire for vengeance, with a bracingly downbeat femme fatale complicating the action. Read to the end of chapter one and you’ll be hooked.’
Sunday Times Crime Club
‘Of all the novels I’ve read that could be called neo-noir, Black Teeth is the one that most succeeds in combining the new with the noir.’
Crime Fiction Lover
‘It takes a lot to surprise me but Black Teeth did exactly that…a sharp, darkly funny novel…cleverly written.’
Shots Magazine
steph1rothwell's review
4.0
Black Teeth is a dark humorous novel set in Melbourne. Jason is a hacker who probes the depths of the internet looking for ‘dirt’ on prospective job candidates. He also uses it for his own needs, looking at friends and also for tracking down the father he never knew after the death of his mother. This places him in danger, when his father, an ex police officer talks him into meeting Rudy to ‘sell’ life insurance. Rudy is the son of a man who was convicted of murder, and he believes that Jason’s father tricked him into a confession. Rudy wants Beth, a friend, to benefit from the life insurance that Jason is ‘selling’.
All of these characters are a little odd. Beth isn’t as squeaky clean as Rudy thinks she is, she is very manipulative. Jason’s father was a bitter drunk who left his job as a police officer under a cloud. He knows that Rudy plans to kill him and seems eager about it, even though he has set booby traps in his home. Rudy is a loner, he lives in squalor and it is easy to believe that he is capable of violence. Whilst he believes that Beth is his friend, it is Jason who is there for him more, despite his actions at the beginning. Jason is the most likeable of the characters. His job isn’t a pleasant one and he gets carried away at times but he does have a conscience and regrets some of the things he has done. He is loyal, even to those who don’t deserve it. There aren’t that many characters and they all felt substantial. Many people are probably unlucky enough to know somebody like the ones in this novel.
There is some violence but its comical. Most of it backfires and doesn’t go the way it should do. Some of it I had to reread to get the most out of it ( some of the Australian slang I didn’t understand but I could get the general idea). The description of Rudy’s home and its squalid conditions were convincing, at times I wanted to dive in the shower, thinking I could smell it.
It’s very entertaining, not a hysterically funny book but one that had me smiling wryly. I recognised some of the areas in Melbourne, including the area Rudy lived in which was great but you could still enjoy the book if you didn’t know it.
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
All of these characters are a little odd. Beth isn’t as squeaky clean as Rudy thinks she is, she is very manipulative. Jason’s father was a bitter drunk who left his job as a police officer under a cloud. He knows that Rudy plans to kill him and seems eager about it, even though he has set booby traps in his home. Rudy is a loner, he lives in squalor and it is easy to believe that he is capable of violence. Whilst he believes that Beth is his friend, it is Jason who is there for him more, despite his actions at the beginning. Jason is the most likeable of the characters. His job isn’t a pleasant one and he gets carried away at times but he does have a conscience and regrets some of the things he has done. He is loyal, even to those who don’t deserve it. There aren’t that many characters and they all felt substantial. Many people are probably unlucky enough to know somebody like the ones in this novel.
There is some violence but its comical. Most of it backfires and doesn’t go the way it should do. Some of it I had to reread to get the most out of it ( some of the Australian slang I didn’t understand but I could get the general idea). The description of Rudy’s home and its squalid conditions were convincing, at times I wanted to dive in the shower, thinking I could smell it.
It’s very entertaining, not a hysterically funny book but one that had me smiling wryly. I recognised some of the areas in Melbourne, including the area Rudy lived in which was great but you could still enjoy the book if you didn’t know it.
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
undertowsoul's review
3.0
This book was actually pretty good until the last 15% or so when it feels like the author just slapped an ending onto the book. There were a lot of twists and turns throughout the book. The only real complaint with the main body of the book was that I found the main character slightly annoying but even that wasn't bad. I felt the plot was solid and you could tell that it was leading up to something big. Sadly, the ending didn't keep its end of the bargain. It felt like the author had taken months on the novel and then had to finish it in only one day. It lacked the depth that it had been built up for. For me, this ended up ruining the otherwise delightful experience.
I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
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