AustLit

'In this novel, an Australian woman confronts family traumas and long-buried secrets when she returns to her childhood home. As a teen in Pine Creek, Australia, Sara Hamilton faces a difficult home life on her family's cattle and sheep farm. Her father, Len, regularly berates 15-year-old Sara; her older siblings, Anne and Robbie; and their mother, Elena. The Hamilton teens try different methods of escape: Anne dreams of attending a university; Robbie starts using drugs and skipping school; and Sara develops a crush on Ryan Finch, a 17-year-old boy who works on Len's farm. In June 1989, Sara's 14-year-old neighbor Alec Stynes disappears from his home. Sara had wanted to befriend Alec, but her classmates said he was gay and she knew her father was homophobic. The next morning, Alec's body is discovered in a channel near the highway. The authorities believe he was hit by a car, but the only clues are a missing shoe and a colorful coat he always wore. Ten years later, Sara's mother asks her to return home after Len suffers a stroke. The protagonist's homecoming coincides with the news that an ABC reporter is investigating Alec's unsolved death ("They want to feature his death on a cold case program"). As Sara revisits her past and the circumstances surrounding the teen's death, suspicions about the people closest to her surface. She discovers that someone may be willing to kill to keep the truth about the tragedy a secret. Roach offers a well-paced mystery that deftly moves between past and present as its protagonist navigates a traumatic childhood and the lingering effects of her neighbor's death. The first part traces the weeks before Alec's death, with occasional digressions about Sara's early childhood. These sections deliver insight into Len's volatile behavior around his wife and children and the effects of homophobia on Alec. The second half of the gripping novel is set in 1999 as Sara returns home and revisits the case. The timeline shift is abrupt but effective ...' (Publication summary)