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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great read from Christian White. This one centres around a girl murdered from a small suburban neighbourhood, with the obvious suspect a fellow student who keeps to himself and favours satanic rituals, black clothing & heavy metal music. The main character is one of the suburban residents-also a teacher of said victim-and his personal objective to find the murderer.
Entertaining and easy to read. Even though I know Christian loves to make the villain the most unlikely character, I still didn’t pick it until a few pages before it was revealed in the book. Even better!
Entertaining and easy to read. Even though I know Christian loves to make the villain the most unlikely character, I still didn’t pick it until a few pages before it was revealed in the book. Even better!
Immersive and thrilling, I could not put this one down! It's the end of 1989, and the idyllic suburb of Camp Hill is sleepily rolling through another hot summer. Lawns are mowed, dogs are walked, Neighbourhood Watch meetings are in full swing. The mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl shakes things up, but for many residents, it's simply another topic for whispered gossip. Life continues on, but local teacher Tom Witter can't sit back and do nothing. What he uncovers is a shocking, twisting story that reveals just how far people will go to protect what they have built. Slightly cliched? Yes, but the late 80's suburban Australia setting feels fresh and vivid, with a large cast of believable characters ranging from the ridiculous to the sympathetic. That lethargic, midsummer feeling in the unknowable time between Christmas and New Year is the perfect background for a piercing investigation into both the mystery of the missing girl, and the lives of the residents of Camp Hill. It's a story of growing up, and of growing into middle age; of confronting the past as well as the future. A brilliant read, any fans of thriller/mysteries will love this one!
Once again, Christian White has crafted a cracking story that kept me guessing until the end!
Set at the end of 1989, White has captured an era where the influence of American culture was really being felt in suburban Australia. The so-called 'threat' of heavy metal music, the US sitcoms, Jane Fonda video workouts and the endless Christmas school holidays.
Using a cast of well-characterised suburbanites who I could picture with ease, this story will draw you in and make you think about how good people, when desperate, can do bad things.
Set at the end of 1989, White has captured an era where the influence of American culture was really being felt in suburban Australia. The so-called 'threat' of heavy metal music, the US sitcoms, Jane Fonda video workouts and the endless Christmas school holidays.
Using a cast of well-characterised suburbanites who I could picture with ease, this story will draw you in and make you think about how good people, when desperate, can do bad things.
When I heard of Wild Place’s existence I was so excited I braved covid to go and find it at my local shops. Unfortunately for me, this book did not live up to Christian White’s previous novels. Wild Place has a set up which is an absolute classic, a quiet neighbourhood where “nothing ever bad happens here” until a teenager goes missing. Camp Hill is an idyllic community but everyone has a skeleton in their closet. This setting wasn’t a negative for me, I feel like suburban paranoia and missing children are imbedded into the Australia psyche and often it is executed well. Although this book is a page turner it is bogged down in character stereotypes which aren’t filled out with any kind of development or substance. I think one of the main issues is that this story is told through Tom’s eyes. Tom, the local high school English teacher, sets out to investigate Tracie’s disappearance backed by the local neighbourhood watch group. Everything about this situation was unbelievable and I failed to engage with him particularly as the novel progressed. As typical with Christian White’s work this book does have twists and turns but ultimately fell flat for me, I particularly found the ending unsatisfying. This was such a shame because The Nowhere Child is one of my favourite books to recommend to people but this book was a lacklustre domestic thriller and not what I expect from Christian White. 2.5 stars
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Drug use
Wild Place by Christian White is certainly a deceptively wild ride.
Set on the Morning Peninsula in Victoria, Australia in the summer of 1989, this gripping mystery is set in an idyllic suburban neighbourhood where children are free to roam the small patch of nature called the Wild Place.
Local high school English teacher Tom Witter is mourning his eldest son moving out of home and avoiding making his way though the list of jobs his wife has made for him to do on his summer holidays.
When his ex-student Tracie goes missing, and the police are convinced she has runaway, he begins to investigate her disappearance.
Suspicion falls on the son of Tom's next-door neighbour, Sean. With his goth looks and reclusive ways, Sean stands out in this white bread neighbourhood, and Tom is convinced Sean knows more about Tracie than he is admitting.
But everyone is lying., everyone is hiding secrets and this page turning, slow-burn thriller builds up to a climax that I definitely did not see coming.
Highly recommended for lovers of crime and mystery stories.
Thanks to NetGalley and Affirm Press for the advance reader's copy of this book.
Set on the Morning Peninsula in Victoria, Australia in the summer of 1989, this gripping mystery is set in an idyllic suburban neighbourhood where children are free to roam the small patch of nature called the Wild Place.
Local high school English teacher Tom Witter is mourning his eldest son moving out of home and avoiding making his way though the list of jobs his wife has made for him to do on his summer holidays.
When his ex-student Tracie goes missing, and the police are convinced she has runaway, he begins to investigate her disappearance.
Suspicion falls on the son of Tom's next-door neighbour, Sean. With his goth looks and reclusive ways, Sean stands out in this white bread neighbourhood, and Tom is convinced Sean knows more about Tracie than he is admitting.
But everyone is lying., everyone is hiding secrets and this page turning, slow-burn thriller builds up to a climax that I definitely did not see coming.
Highly recommended for lovers of crime and mystery stories.
Thanks to NetGalley and Affirm Press for the advance reader's copy of this book.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced