The Life, written by esteemed Australian author and journalist, Malcolm Knox is a work of fiction inspired by the real life story of Michael Peterson. In an interview with Nick Carroll, which appeared on Real Surf, Knox readily admits that he hadn’t known about Michael Peterson until he’d read former Tracks editor Sean Doherty’s biography on MP. Certainly Knox’s creatively licensed, interpretation of the MP story draws heavily on the factual research conducted by Doherty in his acclaimed biography.

In The Life Knox swaps MP for the character DK – Dennis Keith – who like Peterson was once a champion surfer with an omnipotent presence. The book makes chronological leaps between the invincible Dennis Keith in his Coolangatta prime and the ageing, obese DK, who has to take his red, blue and white pills to keep the demons of his mind at bay.

Unlike Doherty’s biography, where the compelling details of the MP story are the focus, Knox is more interested in trying to capture the internal dialogue of a surfer who has spent much of his brilliant life, skittering on the precipice of insanity. Indeed, much of the book is written as if Knox attempted to jump inside MP’s head and see what the world looked like from in there. It’s like hearing MP narrate his own history to himself.

“Bells was easier than your home waves, fatter on the take-off, big fat long rollers, offshore spitting spray in your face. You cut them to pieces. You smashed them. You killed them. You come out of the water Octopus blue… You hadn’t clocked any of the others in the heat but you knew like you’d always know deep down when you was the best out there…”

At times this internal narrative style proves quite riveting, you feel you are riding the wave, facing the demons and throwing curve balls at the challengers right there with DK. However, in certain sections, the verbal meanderings of a neurotic figure can prove tiresome and you find yourself begging the author to get on with the story, which most of us know is a very intriguing one.

Having said that, once things do get rolling the novel does traverse a lot of ground, evocatively capturing the zeitgeist of a 70s Coolangatta scene that was equal parts ultra-competitive surf scene and drug riddled den of iniquity.

Knox’s one major failing however, in my opinion, is to take his embellishment a stride too far. This is perhaps always the danger of the writer who takes inspiration from real events but fears they won’t be interesting enough without inventing some major twist in the plot. In the novel DK’s girlfriend is killed by his brother, Rod. In the same way DK is inspired by Michael Peterson, Rod is unquestionably based upon Michael’s real life brother, Tommy Peterson. Tommy’s story is as captivating as his brother’s and certainly the character of Rod in the novel, makes for compelling reading. The problem is that Tommy has never been accused of killing anyone. If the characters were more heavily fictionalized throughout the novel then this wouldn’t be a problem as a conclusion. Instead what you have is a fictional account that reads fairly close to the truth, until it makes this dramatic leap into heavily fictionalized territory. Knox explains all this in the author’s final note but frankly not everyone reads them. Those in surfing circles are aware that Tommy Peterson never had anything to do with any kind of murder but it’s not too far a stretch to assume the book could create a little confusion. Picture the conversation at the high literature event. “ Oh, I’ve just read Malcolm Knox’s new book about that surfer. It’s brilliant. Tell me, is it true that his brother really killed that girl?” Perhaps, I’m guiltier of misappropriating fiction here than Malcolm but no doubt it would have left a bad taste in Tommy’s mouth. Annoyingly, Knox had a good novel without the murderous twist and in the end didn’t need to go so far. [Sorry for spoiling it but this is something of a talking point]

In the end “The Life” is brave in its attempt to capture the internal workings of an unsettled mind. One definitely can’t question Knox’s literary discipline and commitment to his narrative approach. Plus, it’s always interesting to see how a gifted writer, who does not have surfing as his first language, approaches the pursuit we all feel we know very well. Well worth the read but remember – the fiction doesn’t always need to be that much stranger than the truth.