''''John Tully's Dark Clouds on the Mountain is a finely written detective story that carries its reader along with an intriguing plot, a gallery of memorable characters, and strange presentiments of evil. Through this last quality, Tully reveals the old Hobart Town that still lies behind the modern Hobart. This gives the novel a dimension in time that does not detract from the immediacy of its portrayal of social, family and political disturbance in the contemporary world. Its fast - moving narrative takes us into the heart of a Tasmania as much embroiled in the contemporary globe as in its particular past.'''' John McLaren Crime fiction: Set in wintry Tasmania in the early 1990s, with flashbacks to post - war Hobart and Europe during World War II, this story deals with dark secrets, crime and Nazi plots, interwoven with familiar domestic tensions of family life and marriage. Tully creates a fictional world strongly embedded in authentic details of real locations and well - conceived characters.