The Kelly family has always been trouble. When a fire in a remote caravan community kills nine people, including 17-year-old Sabine Kelly’s mother and sister, Sabine confesses to the murders. Shortly after, she escapes custody and disappears. Recently made redundant from marriage, motherhood and her career, journalist Rachel Weidermann has long suspected Sabine made her way back to the river—now, twelve years after the ‘Caravan Murders’, she has the time and the tenacity to corner a fugitive and land the story of the year.
Rachel’s ambition lights the fuse leading to a brutal chain of events, and the web Sabine weaves will force Rachel to question everything she believes. Vikki Wakefield’s compelling psychological thriller is about class, corruption, love, loyalty, and the vindication of truth and justice. And a brave dog called Blue.
andTo the River
‘Vikki Wakefield’s To the River gets under your skin. Two very different women are brought together in the search for the truth and something like justice. Covered in dog hair and splattered with river mud, this taut, muscular thriller absolutely delivers.’
‘A completely gripping story, with two brave, tough and damaged women at its heart. Vikki Wakefield is a brilliant writer.’
‘An atmospheric mystery with layer upon layer of secrets. Two flawed women discover how much they are willing to risk when justice is not equal and the system is not there to protect them.’
‘Gripping, propulsive, and unbearably tense – the best psychological thriller I’ve read in years.’
‘A dark and twisting novel of psychological suspense that will have you turning pages and checking your locks.’
‘Beautifully written and superbly unnerving, After You Were Gone is the very best kind of thriller: tender and wise as well as pulse-poundingly tense, with characters so real you want to linger with them even as you race through the pages, desperate to find out what happens. Absolutely wonderful, I could not have loved or admired it more.’
‘An original thriller full of empathy. Flawed and vulnerable, Abbie is so real. I was with her all the way.’
‘This is how to write a psychological thriller; stylish prose in a warts-and-all tale…Wakefield makes a seamless transition into the adult genre.’
‘After You Were Gone cleaves open ideas of friendship and family, revealing the complex inner workings of our closest relationships. In doing so, Wakefield achieves what all good crime writers aspire to do: she forces the reader to stress-test their own sense of morality. She looks you in the eye and asks what would you do if the unthinkable happened? What would you sacrifice? How far would you go? At once tense and atmospheric, After You Were Gone is also brilliantly plotted and populated with complex characters. An exciting new voice in Australian crime.’
‘You’ll be questioning every character, their motives and [their] memories…[A] great thriller.’
‘A riveting read…Breathtaking.’
‘Heartrending and heart pounding. At times beautiful and graceful, at times propulsive and frantic—just like a river.’
