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A review by aplace_inthesun
Wild Place by Christian White
5.0
Suburbia.
Family.
Safety.
Community.
When 17 year old Tracie Reed vanishes just after Christmas in 1989, it’s assumed she’s run away. Met a young man, or taken some time out to deal with her parents impending divorce. But local English Teacher Tom Witter can’t get Tracie Reed and her disappearance out of his head.
Wild Place describes an area behind suburban houses which really resonated with me. There was a huge paddock in the middle of the block where I grew up. From the street you couldn’t see it, but it backed onto houses around the whole block. As children we would play there for hours in amongst the trees. As kids it was a secret world. We thought it was adventurous and dangerous. We thought people couldn’t see us or find us.
WILD PLACE relies on this premise. Some of the neighbours devil worship and satanism might be at play, lurking within the shadows, and the strongest suspect is one of Tracie’s 18 year old neighbours. WILD PLACE considers the age-old assumption that only bad people do bad things as it digs beneath the community’s lies and deceptions. It’s a multi-POV story that’s gripping, intense, and dark. Particularly in its acknowledgement of the reality that sometimes the most dangerous places are the ones we know best, inhabited by the people we think we can trust.
WILD PLACE is the third book by Australian author Christian White. His previous books THE NOWHERE CHILD and THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW are books I recommend frequently. I’ll continue the trend with WILD PLACE because I think this is his best.
Family.
Safety.
Community.
When 17 year old Tracie Reed vanishes just after Christmas in 1989, it’s assumed she’s run away. Met a young man, or taken some time out to deal with her parents impending divorce. But local English Teacher Tom Witter can’t get Tracie Reed and her disappearance out of his head.
Wild Place describes an area behind suburban houses which really resonated with me. There was a huge paddock in the middle of the block where I grew up. From the street you couldn’t see it, but it backed onto houses around the whole block. As children we would play there for hours in amongst the trees. As kids it was a secret world. We thought it was adventurous and dangerous. We thought people couldn’t see us or find us.
WILD PLACE relies on this premise. Some of the neighbours devil worship and satanism might be at play, lurking within the shadows, and the strongest suspect is one of Tracie’s 18 year old neighbours. WILD PLACE considers the age-old assumption that only bad people do bad things as it digs beneath the community’s lies and deceptions. It’s a multi-POV story that’s gripping, intense, and dark. Particularly in its acknowledgement of the reality that sometimes the most dangerous places are the ones we know best, inhabited by the people we think we can trust.
WILD PLACE is the third book by Australian author Christian White. His previous books THE NOWHERE CHILD and THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW are books I recommend frequently. I’ll continue the trend with WILD PLACE because I think this is his best.