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I Am Watching You

24/11/2017

 
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Teresa Driscoll: Thomas & Mercer £4.99
 
ON PUBLIC transport, it’s generally expected that passengers will keep to themselves: that they will behave discreetly, mind their own business and not interfere in the conversations of those around them.
Sometimes, however, the worst thing a fellow traveller can do is to do nothing at all.
When florist Ella Longfield encounters an unexpected and decidedly discomforting situation on an inter-regional train bound for London, her first instinct is to intervene. Sitting nearby, Ella overhears an approach being made to Cornish schoolgirls Anna and Sarah by two young men, Antony and Karl, who soon reveal that they have just been released from prison and are determined to make the most of their first night of freedom.
As the mother of a teenager of her own, Ella is immediately alarmed. Should she speak directly to the girls, she wonders, or instead bide her time until the train reaches its destination, then try to telephone one of the families back home in Cornwall? Surely these friends from far southwestern Britain cannot be allowed to head off into the city alone with these men?
Having observed them further, however, Ella eventually thinks better of interfering and decides to keep her concerns to herself, simply heading directly to her hotel after the long trip and quickly falling asleep.
When she wakes the following day she is sickened to hear that Anna, the more attractive, seemingly more reserved of the pair, has disappeared.
Is Ella somehow responsible for this? Did her inactivity allow two men with criminal records free reign to prey on these unsuspecting country girls?
Teresa Driscoll’s chilling tale of regret, consequence and deception is told through the eyes of four people with direct involvement in the case: the witness, the missing girl’s father, a private investigator and the remaining friend.

Sanctuary

17/11/2017

 
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Judy Nunn: William Heinemann Australia  $32.99
 
GEVAAR Island, 40 kilometres due west of tiny Shoalhaven on the West Australian coast, is an isolated, largely inhospitable place at the best of times. In the off season, when the fishermen whose huts are the only sign of civilisation among the rocks rarely leave port on the mainland, it’s entirely deserted.
Suddenly, the unplanned arrival of an Indonesian dinghy bearing nine battered, malnourished and dehydrated passengers breathes life into Gevaar’s cluster of colourful timber shacks with their neglected kitchen gardens and sparsely stocked cupboards.
The group comprises three couples, two single travellers and an energetic and resilient three-year-old boy for whom scrambling ashore on this remote outpost is the start of an exciting adventure.
One woman looks and sounds British; to those who aren’t familiar with the region, the rest could be from anywhere in the Middle East. In fact, they are citizens of five separate countries – Egypt, Iran, Syria, Kurdish Iraq and Afghanistan – with three religions and communicate in a mix of local languages linked together loosely by a blend of classical Arabic and somewhat rusty English.
All eight adults are hiding something: the triggers that prompted them to flee their homelands, their fears, their ambitions, their true identities.
At first glance the island is a haven for the bedraggled survivors, yet even as they settle into their makeshift community they begin to question what Australia’s reaction will be once their presence is discovered. Will this reportedly open and laid-back nation half a world away from their points of origin really welcome their impromptu appearance, as they’ve been assured it will, or will their uninvited occupation of Gevaar draw the ire of yet another set of hostile government officials?
Sanctuary’s author, actor-turned-bestselling-writer Judy Nunn, will be in Victoria to deliver a series of readings from her new novel in Gippsland next week.

Just Another Week in Suburbia

10/11/2017

 
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Les Zig: Pantera Press $29.99
 
ONE week. Seven days. Surely change can’t happen so quickly as to completely overturn someone’s sedate, settled life in such a short time span – or can it?
High school English teacher Casper Gray enjoys the type of steady contentment his still-single childhood mate Luke covets. Blissfully ensconced in the suburbs, Casper is about to celebrate his seventh wedding anniversary with Jane, who works in IT.
Both have steady jobs, close friends and supportive colleagues.
Their tenacious little terrier, Wallace, seems equally satisfied with his routine of digging up the backyard by day and snuggling on the sofa with his master and mistress after dark.
To date the only significant challenge faced by the couple is their struggle to have a baby, and even this will be overcome, they’re certain, once they have managed to save for a course of IVF treatment.
Admittedly, their neighbours can be odd at times: boorish Vic, with his thug-like demeanour, and exquisite Chloe, who on occasion just might be a little friendlier than is necessary towards the married man next door.
The vice-principal of Casper’s school, Stuart, is also a disagreeable character, with his exacting expectations and officious, condescending attitude.
In general, however, the Grays are as happy together as Casper imagines it’s possible for any pair of people to be.
Then it happens: an accidental stumble in the middle of the night results in the contents of Jane’s handbag being scattered across the floor. Along with the usual makeup, keys and purse, something entirely unexpected is revealed.
Is Casper right to suspect his wife of harbouring a gigantic secret, or is paranoia leading him down a dangerous path from which there may be no return?
Melbourne author Les Zig chronicles the ensuing week’s events at a compelling pace complemented by dark humour and a touch of cheekiness.

Force of Nature

3/11/2017

 
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Jane Harper: Macmillan Australia $32.99
 
CORPORATE retreat. It’s a term almost guaranteed to set off a shiver of fear in all but the most upwardly mobile, single-mindedly ambitious go-getting employee.
For accounting clerk Beth McKenzie few things could be less inviting than the prospect of spending four days ‘team building’ in the remote upper reaches of Gippsland with colleagues from BaileyTennants – among them, her twin sister Bree.
Also taking part in the five-woman, five-man orienteering survival exercise is one of Beth’s least favourite managers, Alice Russell, who at the age of 45 rules through intimidation.
Despite her apparently unwavering commitment to the firm, Alice has no desire to be there, either; her attention is several hundred kilometres away, split between a domestic crisis in the suburbs and an ultimatum delivered by the Australian Federal Police.
With tensions already simmering, the two groups set off in mid-winter into the Giralang Ranges, three hours’ drive east of Melbourne – but when the women emerge four days later, cold, hungry, wet and limping, Alice is no longer with them.
Hasn’t she made her own way back to the agreed pickup point, her fellow walkers ask the men. She’s not actually lost or, worse, injured, alone in the bush with dusk descending, is she? Unpopular though Alice is, nobody at BaileyTennants really wishes her ill – surely not.
As Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives on the scene he’s barely recovered from a life-threatening event of his own on the opposite side of the state. Accompanied by investigative partner Carmen Cooper, Falk is as desperate as anyone to find the missing accountant – but his motivation is not purely concern for her personal safety.
This second instalment in Melbourne journalist-author Jane Harper’s ‘Aaron Falk’ series is a fitting sequel to her debut novel, The Dry, adroitly juggling two parallel timelines as the disappearance and its aftermath unfold side by side.

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