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  • Published: 23 April 2014
  • ISBN: 9781742538341
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Through the Cracks




A leafy street. A quiet neighbour. The darkest of crimes. Four-year-old Nathan Fisher disappears from the bank of a rocky creek. Did he drown or was he taken? The search for the missing boy grips the nation.

A leafy street. A quiet neighbour. The darkest of crimes.
Adam Vander has grown tall enough and strong enough to escape his abusive and controlling father. Emerging from behind the locked door of their rambling suburban home, Adam steps into a world he's been kept isolated from. 
In the days that follow, with the charismatic and streetwise Billy as his guide, Adam begins to experience all that he's missed out on. As the bond between the boys grows, questions begin to surface.  Who is Adam really? Why did his father keep him so hidden? Was it just luck that Billy found him, or an unsettling kind of fate?  And how dangerous is revealing the shocking truth of Adam's identity?
It's a treacherous climb from the darkness. For one boy to make it, the other might have to fall through the cracks.  
'A force to be reckoned with.' Sydney Morning Herald
'Brown keeps the pages turning and the pulse racing.' Weekend West Australian
'A clever and inventive storyteller.' The Australian
'Honey Brown's latest book is a slow-burning drama about child abduction. With strong characterisation and a plot that drip-feeds its secrets, it's a winning formula.' The Sunday Age
'Dealing with some heavy-duty exploitation issues, Brown has again come up with the goods in an emotionally confronting novel.' Qantas: The Australian Way
'After the first chapter or two I was . . . unwilling if not unable . . . to put it down . . . [a] compelling, confronting and worryingly credible story. Without dwelling on sensationalist details the book conveys some of the myriad ways in which abuse and neglect can manifest themselves and depicts the surprising array of responses human beings can have to such circumstances . . . the ending is as satisfying as they come.' Fair Dinkum Crime
'Bravo Honey Brown for being brave enough to tackle such a disquieting subject and presenting it such an engaging way that it will get the attention it deserves. This novel is a well-crafted, complex and powerful snap shot of the ugly side of modern society.' Reading, Writing and Riesling
'For every scintilla of discomfort that a reader may feel, there is some explanation, understanding and an unexpected sense of hope and kindness. For all the darkness, and the sheer difficulty of reading this book . . . . there is something that compels us to return to it. The pace of the storytelling in this book is pitch perfect. Through the Cracks is a tough, tearing, bruising experience, but it fulfils all the requirements of excellent psychological thrillers . . . ­ it explores, it explains and it casts some light on some very dark corners of humanity, without ever having to resort to voyeurism or exploitation itself.' Newtown Review of Books
'An exceptional psychological thriller.' Manly Daily
'Australia's answer to Jodi Picoult . . . [a] grim fable for the modern age.' Weekend Australian
'Powerful storytelling skills are at work here. The author's real gift lies in the way she engages the reader with her superbly developed characters while at the same time placing them in situations that are disturbingly similar to real and recent events.' Good Reading

  • Published: 23 April 2014
  • ISBN: 9781742538341
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

About the author

Honey Brown

Honey Brown lives in country Victoria with her husband and two children. She is the author of four books: Red Queen, The Good Daughter, After the Darkness and Dark Horse. Red Queen was published to critical acclaim in 2009 and won an Aurealis Award, and The Good Daughter was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award in 2011. After the Darkness was selected for the Women's Weekly Great Read and for Get Reading 2012's 50 Books You Can't Put Down campaign. Her fifth novel, Through the Cracks, will be published in 2014.

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