A Common Loss: Book review

By tvnz.co.nz's Steph Zajkowski

Published: 9:42AM Friday January 27, 2012

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From the critically acclaimed author of The Legacy comes an intriguing new novel about a group of five close friends, bonded in college, still coming together for their annual trip to Las Vegas.

Over the years they've grown apart, but the trip is a ritual they can't forgo. However this year, everything is different. Five have become four. After one of them dies, tensions and rivalries are suddenly exposed against a backdrop of blackmail and intrigue.

Elliot. Brian. Tallis. Cameron. And at the centre of it all, Dylan - charismatic Dylan - the mediator, the leader, the man each one turned to in a time of crisis.

Now four friends share a common loss: Dylan's tragic death. A common loss that, upon their arrival in Vegas, will bring with it a common threat: one that will make them question who their departed friend really was, and whether he is even worthy of their grief.

A Common Loss delivers an intriguing and interesting read; at times Tranter takes the reader on an uncomfortable journey, exploring and digging past the superficial to expose the naked underbelly of friendship and what it really means. 

The (mostly) night-time Vegas setting adds to the moody, secretive tone as issues of friendship, love, blackmail, deception, loyalty and consequences are explored.

Phew - it's quite a heady list of themes to encompass in one novel, but Tranter skilfully delivers a neatly layered story around the complexities of friendship.

A Common Loss by Kirsten Tranter
RRP: $39.99
Available: Now
Publisher: Harper Collins NZ

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