Daughters of Eve is the first novel by Australian author, Nina D. Campbell. After she has been dropped from a potentially career-making case, the public shooting of a notorious defence barrister, DS Emilia Hart is sent to deal with a floater. Her intention is to return to the cold cases she can’t dismiss, once she has sorted this one, but there is a surprise link to the barrister’s murder. Her floater may have been a poor, hoarding pensioner but he, too, was shot by a skilled marksman.

It doesn’t end there: more shootings, with the same MO, one in Melbourne. Emilia travels down to liaise with a Victoria Police Homicide detective she met on a conference, to check if this is their sniper. DS Matt Hayes may be distracting, but not so much that Emilia doesn’t note a subtle sign about the victim’s widow.

By the time there have been four shootings in Sydney and two in Melbourne, with no apparent connection between the victims, Emilia’s experience with domestic violence cases suggests a tenuous link. While Emilia and her partner, Robbo investigate the seventh murder, an alleged domestic abuser, CCTV indicates the sniper could be a woman.

It’s then that the Daughters of Eve launch their campaign against “abusers, oppressors, killers and child rapists”. The list on their website seems to claim responsibility for eight executions, and offers an app with which victims can name abusers. A manifesto from a vigilante group that stimulates a massive response, both positive and negative: around the country, more men die, protest rallies devolve into riots, and the army is called in.

Once Emilia connects the victims through their past (and so far, unpunished) misdeeds, the puzzle is to work out how the shooter discovers this: could there be a connection via police, or social workers, or church-run support groups? The shocking answer, it turns out, is much closer to home…

Campbell takes a topic that is very much in the media and adds an easily believable twist. Her protagonist is smart and resourceful, but carries damage from her own childhood trauma, something that can help or hinder her work performance and her personal life.

Campbell surrounds her protagonist with characters that are easy to love or despise, as required, and gives them a wealth of wise words and insightful observations. Emilia remarks on the disproportionate response to the killings: “Fourteen men die and it’s terrorism. More than fifty women and children die every year and what to we call that? Domestic violence, that’s what we call it. And we’re not mobilising the army to stop it!”

Very little suspension of disbelief is required for any aspect of this novel, including the characters and their behaviour, the plot and the setting. Topical, relevant and thought-provoking, this fast-paced thriller is a powerful debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen & Unwin.