THE TESLA LEGACY by Robert G. Barrett
Original release date: October 1st, 2007
The Tesla Legacy
Robert G. Barrett
HarperCollins
420 pages
A non-Les Norton novel from prolific Aussie crime novelist Bob Barrett, The Tesla Legacy reads like a print version of a Hollywood action blockbuster, but with the lead roles taken over by a knockabout blue-singlet type (laconic Newcastle electrician Mick Vincent) and his you-beaut sheila, bookstore owner Jesse Osbourne.
While looking for a part for his restored 1936 Buick, Mick finds a diary belonging to real-life inventive genius Nikola Tesla that suggests Tesla built a hidden doomsday device during a secret expedition to Australia in the 1920s, and he and Jesse set out to find it. While they unravel clues that lead them into regional New South Wales, they are unaware that the Pentagon has caught wind of their investigation and will go to any lengths to ensure that the Tesla Legacy remains undiscovered.
Written in a distinctively ocker voice (which unfortunately sometimes carries over to the American characters) and spiced up with occasional extreme violence, this armchair thriller is a page-turner, even if the ending is a bit of a cop-out.
Owen Heitmann
