title: Shooting Star (Temple novel)
text: # Shooting Star (Temple novel)
  
  Shooting Star (1999) is a Ned Kelly Award-winning novel by Australian author Peter Temple.
  
  ## Dedication
  
  "For Nicholas - with thanks for all the joy."
  
  ## Plot
  
  Frank Calder, an ex-soldier whose post-military career as a police hostage negotiator ended after he got into a physical altercation with a sadistic fellow officer, now works as a private mediator. Outwardly a hardened loner, on the inside, he nurtures demons from his military days and is plagued by constant self-doubt. When the novel opens, Frank has just taken a job with the very rich Carson family—they need Frank to negotiate with the kidnappers who abducted 15-year-old Anne Carson on her way home from school.
  
  ## Awards
  
  * Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Novel, 2000: winner
  