This came up as a winner of the 2025 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, and since I’m always on the lookout for good Aussie crime thrillers, especially in remote places, I dove in.

What to Expect

A thriller set in a remote mountain town in Victoria. A young policewoman, newly appointed to the town, is facing the anniversary of an old murder of five hikers. It was an open-and-shut case, but something doesn’t sit right. As she tries to figure out what happened back then, both to answer allegations of police misconduct and out of personal curiosity, she is faced with resentment and opposition from those who don’t want the wounds reopened.

She’s trying to interview relatives of the victims, something neglected back then, to find other reasons for the murder, while the one survivor is organising a vigil on the mountain on the day of the murders, with those same people to represent the victims. It ends with the rather predictable confrontation at night, in the forest, far from civilisation.

What I liked

I liked the setting. There’s a good sense of place for the remote town, nestled in the shadow of the mountain, with its own set of odd characters, culture, and stream of transient hikers.

What to be aware of

I found the main character annoying. Maybe it’s a Gen-Z thing, but she felt like a bit of an airhead. In fact, most of the characters were flat and uninteresting. Motivations are shallow, including for the killer themselves. It all felt simplistic, detached.

There were also some annoying inconsistencies. Very minor, true, but when a character has a phone call they can’t possibly have, or jumping to conclusions with just a gloss of facts, or sub-plots that go nowhere, it adds up. The result feels unpolished.

Taken together, I found the book having unsympathetic characters and an unsatisfying plot. A potential unrealised, not on par with what I’d expect from the accolades.

Felix’s and Jack’s Reviews

Felix was unimpressed with the killer. Though he certainly met cruel people in his dealings with the criminal and political elements (the distinction often splitting hairs), he did say that people often have solid reasons for why and when they lash out, why they commit crimes and the way they carry them out. Or at least, the better fictional villains do. Senseless violence is just that – senseless.

Jack, though a police detective himself, wasn’t ruffled by all the police misconduct back in the 80s and 90s. He admits that’s unfortunately realistic, and even today the force is rife with biases. Where he got annoyed was at the bad policing in general. Police officers are human, yes, but c’mmon – these days they should be better trained and knowledgeable.

Summary

Meh. I don’t often leave reviews for books I find disappointing, but since I did finish it I felt the gulf between hype and reality worth addressing. (For comparison, I loved ‘All You Took From Me’, by Lisa Kenway, winner of the Best Debut Crime Ned Kelly award in the same year).

I hope my review helps you form your own opinions before reading, finding the kind of novels that work for your tastes; if you find you disagree with mine, you can reach out.

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Enjoying the reviews, but wondering who the heck are those Felix and Jack fellows? Glad you asked! Felix is the protagonist of the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series, an historical-fantasy blend of a paranormal detective on the background of ancient Rome, and Jack is the police detective running the Unusual Crimes Squad, dealing in occult crimes in modern-day Australia.

Come meet Felix and Jack on the free short stories and novels!