The Stolen

Like every good crime novel, The Stolen is more than a story of misfortune and greed. In this novel, true-crime reporter, podcaster and author Vikki Petraitis examines the rise of the men’s rights movement here in Australia and the impact this has on how women are considered in the media and at home. A particular concern of the men’s rights movement of late has been the issue of fathers’ rights. This novel works hard to portray the true (and, at times, heartbreaking) ramifications for women of the incautious application of this sentiment.

Luckily for readers of this book, the narrator, Detective Antigone Pollard, is a feminist, and her pragmatic approach to detective work highlights the double standards of those on the men’s rights movement bandwagon. A baby has been taken by its father and is missing. The father then dies in a (tragic) car accident. The media goes wild for the story and the baby’s mother is blamed for the death. Yet the baby is still lost and the search for the baby and the kidnapper is uncovering more than Antigone bargained for. And, of course, she has her own family mystery to solve.

This easy read is thought-provoking and an evocative portrait of society. Set in Deception Bay, a seaside town filled with tourists and only one excellent café, the problems of misogyny and secrecy are apparent – both now and in the town’s past. I was particularly enamoured by the stories from talkback radio: distressing and yet quite funny. Readers of Jane Caro’s crime novels will be pleased here with the social commentary and the twisting plot. Those who have not previously encountered Vikki Petraitis’s fiction work will be delighted. This author is doing more than spinning a story – she is aiming to change opinions.