It's Christmas morning on the edge of the rugged Mortimer Ranges. Sarah Barnard saddles Tansy, her black mare. She is heading for the bush, escaping the reality of her broken marriage and her bankrupted trail-riding business.
Sarah seeks solace in the ranges. When a flash flood traps her on Devil Mountain, she heads to higher ground, taking shelter in Hangman's Hut.
She settles in to wait out Christmas.
A man, a lone bushwalker, arrives. Heath is charming, capable, handsome. But his story doesn't ring true. Why is he deep in the wilderness without any gear? Where is his vehicle? What's driving his resistance towards rescue? The closer they become the more her suspicions grow.
But to get off Devil Mountain alive, Sarah must engage in this secretive stranger's dangerous game of intimacy.
'Brown is the best writer of psychological suspense in Australia. Nothing is quite what the reader expects as Brown deftly steers her narrative to conclusion. One of those books that has to be read again to see how she does it.' Lucy Sussex, Sunday Age
'A ripper. Brown keeps the pages turning and the pulse racing with a masterful, sexy and chilling plot.' Weekend West Australian
'Honey Brown does an excellent job of this taut and atmospheric thriller, successfully adding a darkly sexy tone. The characters are well drawn and charismatic, and the twists are great.'Bookseller+Publisher
'The pace is compelling, the tension superb and the plot veers into a breathtaking twist. A finely crafted, stunning psychological thriller that I can't recommend strongly enough.' Book'd Out
'A story that takes an unrelenting hold and doesn't let go. ... a gripping, suspenseful, rollercoaster of a read.' Great Aussie Reads
'A taut suspenseful psychological drama of the best kind.' The Hoopla
Praise for Honey Brown's novels
'There's a sense of foreboding craftily interwoven with the darkness of sexual desire running from the first to the last sentence in this achingly powerful suspense thriller.' Australian Women's Weekly
'Insightful and moving.' Adelaide Advertiser
'A taut psychological thriller . . . the most filmic of stories.' The Sun-Herald
'Engaging as hell.' Australian Book Review
