Acknowledgements

It has been a long, long road, but certainly not a lonely journey.

Thank you to the following:

Alex Adsett, my agent, for making sure Skin Deep wasn’t left to languish in a bottom drawer, like a corpse in a shallow grave.

Angela Meyer for taking a punt on a debut author. Susan Paterson for teaching me the difference between a reticule (handbag) and a reticle (what a sniper uses to line up a target). Sandy Cull and Shaun Jury for making the book look great. The rest of the Echo Publishing team, and proofreader Mel Campbell, for transforming my bunch of words into a real-life book.

Kate Eltham for teaching me how to write grant applications, and the Australia Council for giving me time to write.

Angela Slatter for the flensing and your belief in the book. The fact that the flensing wasn’t as severe as I feared it might be gave me hope that maybe I truly had something worth reading. Claudine Ryan, my ‘book counsellor’, for your help with the initial structural edit – you saw some true horrors. Critique partner Chris McMahon – I’m not sure how much work we got done during those Friday evening sessions at the Irish Club, but it sure was fun. And my beta readers – your thoughtful feedback improved the book no end.

Everyone who helped with my sometimes weird research questions, and everyone who cheered me on via social media during the first draft (you can follow me on Twitter: @garykemble). There’s nothing like a public shaming to get those fingers tap-tap-tapping. Thank you to Davin at Brunswick Ink Tattoo, and Matt Cunnington and the Westside Tattoo crew. (I thought about getting a tattoo, then chickened out.)

My dad for not encouraging me to be an accountant or engineer (both noble professions but I would have sucked at them and been miserable). Carolynne for those kitchen book chats. Mum for always believing in me and reading every short story I had published, even though you don’t like horror. I’m sorry you couldn’t be here to read the finished product, but I’m glad you got to read the first draft. (And fuck cancer.)

My wife, Amelia, for giving me time to write and for those times when I was with you but my mind was with Harry. My kids, Eamon and Aurora. You are everything to me.

If you want to read about some real-life action heroes, check out The Amazing SAS (Ian McPhedran) and SAS Sniper (Rob Maylor). If you want two very different perspectives on bikie culture, read Dead Man Running (Ross Coulthart and Duncan McNab) and The Brotherhoods (Arthur Veno).

The Paddington water tower was heritage listed in 2000. It is very well looked after and doesn’t wear a crown of mobile-phone towers.

The Border Protection Bill (2001) was never enacted. It passed the House of Representatives but was knocked back in the Senate. At time of writing, the current government’s Operation Sovereign Borders had resulted in 15 vessels being turned back from Australian waters.

There is no town of Menzies west of Brisbane. But Harry may be paying a visit there soon.