AustLit

'How much do you know about the people who keep you safe?

'Madeline Kyle is putting her life back together, throwing herself into a new library job after years of restrictive psychiatric care. Ready to put her past behind her and prove she can stand on her own, Madeline cleaves to personal rules and routines in order to hold back the paranoia and anorexia nervosa that first derailed her life.

'For the first time, Madeline feels safe and in control of her future, but an encounter with a library security guard threatens everything she works for. Madeline’s instincts scream that his furtive interest is a harbinger of danger, but her therapist suggest it’s all in her head and perhaps she’s not ready to move out on her own.

'As the growing threat of the guard eclipses her work, Madeline finds herself struggling to navigate daily interactions that grow murky as the depths of a river in flood. When she retreats into the tunnels below the library for safety, things accelerate towards a violent endgame where Madeline risks everything on a single choice around whose instincts are correct.

'Does she fight back and risk her liberty, or accept the reality others push upon her and risk her very life?'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Brain Jar ed.).

'Zilla Bannich is the junior security guard working the local shopping centre, a quiet misfit among the team of older, fatter men. Her boss is incompetent, her days predictable, and her home life a quiet struggle with her mother’s degenerative illness.

'Zilla’s learned to keep her head down and avoid undue attention, but when her discovery of a lost child leads to an abducted mother and signs of physical abuse, there’s no avoiding the prying eyes of the police and her colleagues. As inconsistencies and tainted evidence accumulate, and Zilla’s connection to the child’s family is revealed, she becomes embroiled in the investigation … and a prime suspect in the kidnapping of the child’s mother.

'As events rush towards their conclusion, Zilla must step up and immerse herself in the tangled threads of the investigation, working to ensure that child, mother, and Zilla herself are protected from the looming threat of angry men, corrupt systems, and the family secrets capable of ripping her sleepy suburban community apart.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A young girl trapped by generational trauma and an unexpected pregnancy struggles to realise her dreams in the final volume of Mag Vann’s InSecurity Triptych.

'In 1987, baby Marlene witnesses her father mutilated in a Port Moresby compound invasion, giving rise to a deep psychological scar and a powerful family secret.

'In 2012, Marlene finds her perfect match in awkward hacker Andy, an American running from his past and desperate for a visa. Their relationship survives on necessity and petty scams, but visa troubles and an unplanned pregnancy threaten their budding engagement.

'With Marlene’s family watching and struggling to support their daughter, Andy suggests a daring con that could set them up for life. Marlene will sell others out to achieve her dream, but she’s about to learn everyone has secrets and Andy’s are darker than most.

'Could achieving her dream life come with a price tag even Marlene is unwilling to pay?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.