Author: Fleur Ferris
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Fleur Ferris fans will love this book because it has all of Ferris’ signature elements – tense, exciting, thrilling.
It is difficult to combine an action-packed book and to develop characters, but Ferris has done an admirable job of both, Yes, there is more action and drama than character development, but you still care for the main character Beth and her family & friends.
The story follows seventeen-year-old Beth, whose most significant problem is telling her parents she has been seeing local boy, Jonah, for the past few weeks. Beth’s parents are strict and her parents have a stringent set of rules in place that she must follow. Before Beth gets a chance to tell her parents about Jonah something happens which turns her world upside down and throws her life into confusion. Beth has lived an idyllic life with her parents and suddenly she learns that her parents have been keeping secrets from her and it those secrets that have Beth and her parents fighting for their lives.
Beth is a strong character – she’s smart, tough, funny and athletic. She goes through a gamut of emotions in this book. Beth’s roller-coaster of emotions is authentic and that’s what makes Beth feel so real. Her emotions are raw and it is hard not to feel for her when she is wrestling with these feelings.
Beth’s parents are great characters and Ferris does a great job of warming you to these two characters early in the novel. Not once did my support for her mum and dad waver.
I loved Beth’s dad, affectionately known as Bear. He’s a six-foot-four muscled shaved-head giant. Bear runs the local karate school and gun clubs. He often takes the local kids out bush for survival skills camps and all the young guys in town want to be him and are terrified of him.
The supporting characters add to the book and they also give that sense of community to the book. A small town that looks out for each other. If you could bottle that community spirit and protectiveness you’d be a millionaire and Ferris makes you as a reader understand this sense of community through her book.
Yes, the book is an action-packed thriller but it also has moments of great humour – mainly through Jonah and Beth’s interaction with the supporting characters. It is also a book about the richness of small town living and it is this that makes the book unique and not just another action-packed thriller.
Worthy Thoughts 