- this edition from my local library
- published by Penguin Random House Australia 2023
- ISBN 978-1-76104-693-3
- 344 pages
- #2 in series featuring Gabe Ahern
Synopsis (publisher)
From the author of WILD DOGS comes an electrifying combination of outback action thriller and the classic locked room mystery.
‘Did you have to kill them all?’
It’s the question Gabe Ahern has been running from since he bust open a major criminal operation – and left a dozen men dead. He knows that one day the ‘bad guys’ will come for revenge.
A skilled dog-trapper, Gabe has one rule: leave no sign, leave no trace. And for the last year he’s been successfully hiding out on a friend’s remote cattle property in the Pilbara.
But when Goldmont Station opens its gates to a bunch of city folk eager for an authentic outback experience, Gabe can feel eyes on his back. Are all these visitors really tourists?
In the space of 24 hours, the station’s helicopter falls from the sky . . . the phones and internet go down . . . and one of the guests turns up dead . . .
With major flooding suddenly cutting off all exit roads, Gabe fears he’s as trapped as the dogs he hunts. And that his bloody past has finally caught up with him.
My Take
When we last saw Gabe Ahern in WILD DOGS we were not sure he was going to survive, but he obviously did. Quite a bit of time has passed and there has been a trial at which he was acquitted. But the Afghan whom Gabe rescued in that book and his family are now in immigrant detention, and Gabe has been threatened by the brother of one of the men he killed.
So Gabe is in hiding from the gang who were involved in the people smuggling, in the remotest part of Australia he could think of, working as a dogger and a general station hand, hoping he doesn't bring trouble to the family he is working for. He has been there for a year with no problems, but everything is about to change.
This story has a terrific atmosphere, great tension, as Gabe helps fight both Australian weather, and someone at the station who seems determined to wreak havoc.
A great read.
My rating: 4.6
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