The Devil's Grip

Wake in Fright meets Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this darkly compelling and provocative Australian true crime story Seven shots ring out in the silence of Victoria’s rolling Barrabool Hills. As the final recoil echoes through the paddocks, a revered sheep-breeding dynasty comes to a bloody and inglorious end. No one could have anticipated the orgy of violence that wiped out three generations of the Wettenhall family, much less the lurid scandals about Darcy Wettenhall, the man behind the world famous Stanbury sheep stud, that would emerge from the aftermath. Almost three decades later, the web of secrets and lies that led to this bizarre and seemingly motiveless murder spree are unravelled with the help of Bob Perry, Darcy Wettenhall’s secret lover for a decade prior to his murder. From the bucolic majesty, privilege and snobbery of the Western District’s prized pastoral lands and dynasties to the bleak, loveless underworld of orphanages, rodeo stables and homeless shelters, The Devil’s Grip is a courageous and thought-provoking meditation on the fragility of reputation, the folly of deception and the power of shame. About the Author Neal Drinnan was born in Melbourne, Australia, sometime in the 1960s. At seventeen he abandoned caution and family life for the lure of life's more ephemeral things. He has worked in publishing and journalism for many years. He is the author of four novels, Glove Puppet, Pussy's Bow, Quill and the LAMDA award winning Izzy & Eve, as well as The Rough Guide to Gay and Lesbian Australia.