Tree Pose by Susan Rogers and John Roosen – Devils play in Van Diemen’s Land (Audio Book Review)

Tree Pose, or Vrikshasana brings balance to the body. It is an asana held by a practitioner searching for stability in their lives, in the hopes of finding balance from the ground up as they stand on a single leg.

Ric Peters is very obviously in love with Elena Williams. One doesn’t put themselves directly in the line of fire for just anybody. He wants to settle into a life with her. Their trip around Tasmania’s primordial landscape provides the perfect backdrop from which to frame the nature of their relationship. But this land haunted by the ghosts of its past resurrects conflicting feelings that Ric must confront, and reveal to Elaina if they are ever to have any chance of being together; she must learn the whole truth about what happened in Indonesia as stray embers of a jungle fire lit less than two years prior threatens to set their lives aflame, with the lives of innocents torched down alongside them.

Spoiler-Free Plot

Two men connected by their dealings on the frontline of corruption and exploitation have been pitted against each other. The puppet-master hides in the darkness, tugging at their strings, goading them both towards mutual destruction. Neither of them would emerge alive on the other side of his meddling; should he succeed. Tying off the two loose ends, namely Ric Peters and Flynn O’Neill, would leave the runway clear for their new schemes to take off. What really happened in Indonesia would die with them; the last two significant players were capable of piecing together the truth behind the events of that fateful day.

The pieces have been put into place, and the stage set for their imminent collision: Tasmania—once named Van Diemen’s Land for the governor general of the Dutch East Indies who facilitated Abel Tasman’s discovery of the island—has held a reputation of being a hellish realm at world’s end for several centuries. The former penal colony is tormented by the ghosts of rebellious criminals who have refused to pass gently into the afterlife. The sounds of their shrieking roused the cyclical rise of a new age of mischief and criminality. A foe whose influence roots deep into the tainted history of the territory, and their willing conspirators, have heeded the call.

Upon his official arrival, Ric is made aware that his presence is unwanted. A text message lets him know as much. He chooses to ignore the warning; the importance of this trip far outweighing the vague threat he had been issued. On an island as unassuming as Tazzy, he doubts the potential for an escalation to anything worse. In any case, he’d protect Elaina and his friends if it came to that. His skill set certainly trounced whatever, or whomever lay waiting. A holiday filled with yoga retreats, beautiful vistas and, hopefully, one-on-one time with the woman he holds deep feelings for awaited. He would not let a single text message get in the way of that. That mystery would unravel itself when he returned to work, to the mainland, and the troubles of daily life he had left behind. But for now, his focus lies solely on Elaina.

My Take on Tree Pose

I’ll begin by expanding on a couple of points of commentary made when reviewing a previous installment in the Yoga Mat Mysteries that have only become truer as the series goes on.

Maori culture is synonymous to New Zealand in a way that Aboriginal culture is not to Australia. There is a marriage of pre and post-colonial iconology that springs to the mind of foreigners’ at the mention of NZ. The reasons for the detachment between the Indigenous culture and Australia’s image could fill the turbulent waters of the Bass Strait, so I will not attempt to tackle them here for fear of oversimplifying a tragic history. I merely wish to remark on the contribution this book has made towards the efforts of attaining recognition for underrepresented Aboriginal Australian cultures. From the inclusion of native location names (Teralina, Nubeena, Relbia), to succinctly outlining the history and customs of a relatively isolated group of people, and so eloquently revealing their little slice of paradise to the world. Both authors have managed to acknowledge their love for Australia whilst simultaneously celebrating and uplifting the caretakers who came before them with the utmost respect. Their body of work acts as a resource, teasing a curiosity that will hopefully lead similarly conscientious readers down a path of discovery of other Indigenous artists. These books help to build a bridge of reconciliation from the past to the present. What Eat, Pray, Love is to Italy, India and Bali, Indonesia, the Yoga Mat Mysteries is to Oceania, and select parts of the Asian continent represented by its secondary characters. You can tell that Susan and John resolutely slipped beneath the polished, tourist veneer of their travel destinations, resulting in the authenticity we get the pleasure of reading.

To discuss more technical matters, the writing in this book is as faultless as it is effective. I have not cared about a host of characters as much as I do for the ones in this series in a long time. From the protagonists all the way down to the red merle Australian Shepherd, Charlie. Jameson was right—a three part miniseries could turn into an entire season. An apt nod, better labeled as an easter egg, towards the expansion of this book series. Fans, myself included, will not be satisfied by three releases, even with the two additional ones still in the works. I hope that Jack’s character elevation to his in Tree Pose leads to a potential spinoff series. The Fly Fishing Mysteries, perhaps? So we don’t have to part ways with the gang for a handful of years at the minimum. There is a pervasive passion in this story. The way difficult subject matters are handled with empathy, care, and attention to detail does justice to the real-life issues they are based on. The authors’ unique backgrounds make all of this possible. Their passion for storytelling is tangible. Our eyes lifted it off the pages of the book, or through Rupert’s steady voice, leaving its impression at the forefront of our memories for weeks after the turning of the last page, or the final words of the closing chapter.

Voice Artist Review

I never quite got swept away by the audiobook current; even during the pandemic, when their mark was firmly imprinted into the zeitgeist. To be completely candid, it is indeed a me problem. I struggle to remain present. I am more inclined to follow small distractions, for my mind to stray towards far off places with the absence of words on a page. I enjoy annotating each chapter as I read along, which is a difficult thing to do with audiobooks. There are only two extraneous circumstances in which I’m quick to wave away my dislike for the medium: Yoga Mat Mysteries or a Rupert Degas narration. The combination of both into one exponentially raises their appeal. Being the accomplished voice artist that he is, I thought he was brilliant in the first book of the series, and he has only gotten better since then. There are no wobbles whatsoever as he smoothly switches from one accent to the next. The tones of voice assigned to each character is unique and can be clearly recognised without any accompanying identifiers. Rupert’s delivery will have you chuckling, holding your breath in suspense, anxious, hopeless, shaking with rage alongside the characters in the story. You find yourself hanging onto every inflection, every whisper and every shout, your heartbeat matching the cadence of his delivery, and thus, the emotions of each person, the hours melting away and the end of the book arriving much too soon.

Age Rating

16 years and above

Content Warning

Alcoholism, Corruption, Death, Foul Language, Guns and Violence, Sexual Abuse and Trafficking,

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