BOOK REVIEW: Orange Town: FIFO 3-2-1 – by Paul Rhoden
★★★★★
In a message to the reader, author Paul Rhoden says, “Orange Town: FIFO 3-2-1 is a book I have always wanted to write.” Well, in a message to the author, this reviewer says this is a book I have always wanted to read!
From one Down Under bloke to another…It’s fair dinkum brilliant mate!
Firstly, the title intrigued me. Even though, in another time, I worked in the mining industry in Outback Australia, and mixed with many of the (types of) colourful characters who feature in this must-read novel, I wasn’t familiar with the term FIFO. Now I know: it’s the description given those hard-nosed, hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-living individuals who ‘Fly In Fly Out’ to earn a living in Aussie’s unforgiving earthmoving, construction and mining industries.
Rhoden focusses on hard case Brent Williams – better known as ‘Rooster’ – who morphs from a cattle ranch roustabout and bareknuckle fighter to a charismatic, smooth, lady’s man who scales the corporate ladder during Aussie’s mining boom of the early Nineties. In the process, he manages the biggest FIFO contract around.
Unfortunately for Rooster, he carries a dark secret around with him. Though this may be unfortunate for him, it’s very fortunate for the reader as it adds another beguiling dimension to this breathtaking novel.
Love the humour, too. It’s humour Colonials will relate to, but this is a novel deserving of a much wider audience.
Summary: This is one you have to read, mate! (The ladies will enjoy it, too). -Reviewer Lance Morcan
Paul Rhoden…author of Orange Town: FIFO 3-2-1.
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Morcan Books & Films 