I love reading about places I know or have been. Give me a good crime story (even better if it’s true), or a story based in the Australian landscape, and I’m in. This book was both.
It was the front cover of Outback by Patricia Wolf that first got me interested, and after reading the blurb on the back, I immediately thought: This book is coming home with me!
Based in the small fictitious town of Caloodie in outback Queensland, the storyline revolves around the search for a couple of missing German backpackers, led by an Australian Federal Police agent who is on leave visiting his sick grandmother. The plot takes many twists and turns, and the book was anything but predictable. Although I thought I had identified the kidnapper on several occasions, I had not.
Wolf’s powerful descriptions are amazing, and she has a way of making you feel you are right there – I felt every bump in the road; I felt the searing temperatures of the scorching summer sun; I heard the sounds of the outback; and smelt the smells. The dramatic conclusion almost finalises things nicely, but leaves just enough questions to make you think there might possibly be a sequel … I am currently reading Paticia Wolf’s second novel, Paradise.
-Tracey, Temora Library
