Kill the Possum, James Moloney

Kirsty sinks into the sofa again. Her eyes take in Dylan. His hands are slotted loosely in his pockets, as though he hasn't just murdered Ian Cartwright, too. The silence stretches for five seconds, then ten until she begins to laugh. Tim does the same and joins her on the cushions.

Dylan Kane has never met his father. But he has met Kirsty Beal’s step-father. And Kirsty’s step-father is a brute of a man: a bully, a living-room thug and maybe much  worse. So how far will someone go to put a stop to the violence and intimidation? Would they stop at murder?
Kill the Possum might be the most intense book you will read all year. The characters are real, they could be your neighbours. And when Dylan and Kirsty’s brother Tim are put under extreme pressure, they will do just about anything to bring calm back into their lives. The problem is that to be secure Dylan and Tim must take frighteningly dangerous risks. And when does one evil cancel out another? What is a lesser evil?

Kill the Possum is longlisted for the Golden Inky.