Wild Place in Aussie Readers

Jan 23, 2022 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aa, australian-author, fiction, mystery-crime-thriller, arc-netgalley-done

5鈽�
鈥淭here it was again: a soft metallic click, a long, slow creak. A window in one of the other rooms was being slid open from the outside.鈥�

Okay 鈥� that put me on the edge of my seat! There鈥檚 nothing like being home alone and hearing stairs or doors or windows creak. Another terrifying sound is that of a gun being cocked at night in a warehouse where the main character is hunting for someone (or vice-versa). Mostly, though, this isn鈥檛 that kind of story. Hair-raising for those involved, but not fo ...more

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Oct 20, 2021 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, thriller, own-read, crime, 2021-release, aussie-authors, net-galley, 5000-2021, read-on-kindle

Tracie Reed had finally finished school and had everything ahead of her. It was December 1989 in the small suburb of Camp Hill in Victoria, and when Tracie went missing late one night, after having had a fight with her best friend Cassie, then arriving home to her mother Nancy, distraught and shaken 鈥� but when Nancy woke the next morning, Tracie was gone. The police said she was a runaway and wouldn鈥檛 listen to Tracie鈥檚 mother who obviously knew her daughter best. The local neighbourhood watch g ...more

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Apr 01, 2022 Helen rated it really liked it

This was my first Christian White book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it takes in the neighbourhood around bushland called wild place which is in the suburb of Camp Hill in Australia, we get to know quite a few of the residents as the author digs deep into their lives when a young seventeen year old girl Tracie Reed goes missing in December 1989, one resident Tom Whitter is sure he knows something about what happened to her, but does he know the full story?

Nancy Reed and her husband Owen are getti ...more

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Oct 27, 2021 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-are, aussie-author, provided-by-publisher

I鈥檝e been eager for the chance to read Christian White, whose debut novel, The Nowhere Child, and his sophomore offering, The Wife and the Widow, hit the bestsellers lists.

Wild Place is set in the heart of Australian suburbia during the summer of 1989. When seventeen year old Tracie Reed is reported missing, the police dismiss her as a runaway, despite her mother鈥檚 insistent denials. The teen鈥檚 disappearance bothers Tom Witter, Tracie鈥檚 high school English teacher and a neighbour of a sorts. Wor I鈥檝e been eager for the chance to read Christian White, whose debut novel, The Nowhere Child, and his sophomore offering, The Wife and the Widow, hit the bestsellers lists.

Wild Place is set in the heart of Australian suburbia during the summer of 1989. When seventeen year old Tracie Reed is reported missing, the police dismiss her as a runaway, despite her mother鈥檚 insistent denials. The teen鈥檚 disappearance bothers Tom Witter, Tracie鈥檚 high school English teacher and a neighbour of a sorts. Worried about the vulnerability of his own two boys, he involves himself in a search for the missing girl, and finds a suspect in the teenage son of a neighbour, Sean Fryman, whose sullen manner, black clothing, and love of heavy metal music marks him as a possible threat.

The titular wild place is a strip of dense bushland that is commonly found in the midst of Australian suburbs. Generally considered innocuous, hosting children鈥檚 homemade forts and games of pretend adventure, perhaps the odd amorous couple or rebellious group of teens, these areas provide a token connection to nature, and respite from suburban crowding. To the residents of Camp Hill in the wake of Tracie鈥檚 disappearance however the bush becomes sinister, a wild place that may hide strangers intent on doing harm.

The danger doesn鈥檛 lurk in the woods at all of course. White slowly strips away the veneer of suburban respectability as he exposes that the threats who stalk the community openly walk its streets. Secrets, lies and deceptions unravel to reveal unexpected events and hidden connections in surprising ways. While Sean is the obvious target of suspicion for those convinced Tracie has fallen victim to a predator, White continually nudges the frame, raising alternative possibilities. Skilful plotting with clever misdirects ensures it鈥檚 difficult to guess at the denouement, but it was the epilogue that left me gasping.

Firmly grounded in period and setting, Wild Place evokes some nostalgia for my suburban childhood. Coincidently, this is the second newly published book I鈥檝e read in as many weeks that draws on the 鈥楽atanic Panic鈥� of the Eighties and early Nineties as an element of the crime.

With its intriguing characters and brilliant plot, Wild Place is suspenseful and gripping crime fiction, destined to be another bestseller. ...more

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Oct 17, 2021 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-version, arc, mystery, crime, netgalley, family

Christian White鈥檚 third novel is again, another brilliant and compelling suspense set in a small country town near Frankston in Victoria but one that could be recognisable to anyone who grew up in the late 80s in Australia in any number of small towns. School teacher Tom Witter grew up in Camp Hill and always thought he鈥檇 escape after a somewhat unpleasant high school experience. Decades later and he鈥檚 back there, married with two sons and living in a good street where all the properties back on Christian White鈥檚 third novel is again, another brilliant and compelling suspense set in a small country town near Frankston in Victoria but one that could be recognisable to anyone who grew up in the late 80s in Australia in any number of small towns. School teacher Tom Witter grew up in Camp Hill and always thought he鈥檇 escape after a somewhat unpleasant high school experience. Decades later and he鈥檚 back there, married with two sons and living in a good street where all the properties back on to a stretch of bush the locals call 鈥榯he wild place鈥�. It鈥檚 the end of the 1989 school year and although Tom鈥檚 wife has a list of jobs for him, a summer of holidays stretches before him. The idyllic atmosphere is disturbed though, when at the local neighbourhood watch meeting, the fact that young teenager Tracie Reed has gone missing is a topic of conversation.

Tracie had just finished school and was going to be studying journalism. However her parents were getting a divorce and that coupled with a few things missing from her room leads the police to dismiss her mother鈥檚 claims that she鈥檚 been taken and assume that like many other teens, Tracie is a runaway. Presumably looking for a more exciting life than one would find in Camp Hill 鈥� Sydney, Byron Bay, the Gold Coast maybe? It鈥檚 been three weeks though and Tracie鈥檚 small amount of cash wouldn鈥檛 have stretched that far. Tom puts up some posters around town of the missing teen and when his 13 year old son confesses something to him, he also decides to look for clues that might shed some light on her disappearance.

A lot of the inspiration for this book appears to have been taken from the 鈥淪atanic Panic鈥� of the 80s, mostly in the United States but White takes that and reframes it in a small town in Australia. Tom Wittner鈥檚 neighbour Sean is a 鈥渒id gone goth鈥� 鈥� hair dyed black, pentagrams, metal music and he makes the perfect scapegoat in the disappearance of Tracie, because he looks different to all the other kids. He draws attention and not the positive kind and the problem with amateur sleuths is, they see things and put them together and think they have the right answer. But is Sean really guilty? Is his introversion and interest in things deemed to be 鈥渨eird鈥� a sign of more troubling behaviour? Or is he just a kid who likes black hair and loud music?

Like a lot of small towns, the further you get into this book, the more you realise so many of the characters have secrets and that not a lot is what it seems on the surface. The nice homes, the manicured lawns, the neighbourhood watch meetings provide a nice facade but some of these residents have definitely got things that they鈥檇 like to hide. I have to admit, I spent a huge part of the novel having no idea what had happened to Tracie and every time I thought I鈥檇 figured it out, something else would happen that would make me realise my guess was way off. I really appreciate a novel that presents so many potential outcomes for the reader to ponder over and there鈥檚 some honestly, quite shocking twists here towards the end of the book when things are slowly starting to fall into place and make sense.

Not only does Christian White write compelling stories, he also excels at creating characters that are so incredibly ordinary 鈥� and I mean that as a compliment, in that they all feel so real like they are the people you live next door to, go to school/work with, see at the supermarket but who are deeply layered and far more complex than they appear at first read. This was so reminiscent of an Australian summer of my childhood, with kids playing in the street, exploring the bush (even when they鈥檝e been told not to) and having New Year鈥檚 parties with the whole street invited. Everyone knowing what everyone else was up to as they hose their lawns, wash their cars, get the mail, etc. The whole neighbourhood watch thing, which you couldn鈥檛 walk down a street without seeing half a dozen of those stickers in windows in the 80s.

This is clever, well constructed page turner with plenty of shocks and an ending that I think will provide a lot for discussion and thought among its readers. Very enjoyable and would probably make an excellent mini-series.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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Nov 02, 2021 Jenny (Bookbookowl) rated it it was amazing

Thank you to Affirm Press, for providing me with a copy of this book, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review!

When Tracey goes missing in a small town, everyone but her parents are sure she has run away. But a boy who listens to heavy metal and dresses in black, plus a neighborhood watch meeting, change all that.

An ex teacher of Tracey鈥檚 is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, even if it means researching satanism and cults in the local library. Policewoman Sharon is a local a ...more

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Feb 02, 2022 Kim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, act-library, borrowbox-act-library, australian-fiction, fiction, crime-fiction, libby

About the standard that I'm used to now after reading three of Christian White's crime fiction.
It might have been quicker to read it from the page but the narration was quite good.
As with any crime fiction it's important to me not to pick the culprit and the motivation and this one did have me guessing. It's also set in the period between Christmas and New Years 1990, so there's an element of nostalgia. ...more

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Nov 12, 2021 Rina rated it really liked it

3.5 stars.

This book wasn鈥檛 what I鈥檇 expected at all. It started with a mystery of a missing girl, told a story about coming-of-age process, and ended up with a wild place (yes I think the book was appropriately titled).

I really liked Tom鈥檚 character design. He was far from perfect; scrawny and awkward, and frequently bullied during his childhood. He tried 鈥榚scaping鈥� his hometown, only to end up being a teacher at his old school that he tried to escape from. It reminded me that most grown-ups st ...more

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Jul 06, 2022 Nicola Marsh rated it it was amazing

I devoured this in a day.
I always pick the twist but not in this one!
A real page turner.

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Jan 24, 2022 Jen rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller, australian, borrowed, read-in-2022

Oooh, that took a dark turn.

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Jun 15, 2023 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It is the summer of 1989 and a teenage girl, Tracie Reed goes missing from the idyllic Australian suburb of Camp Hill. Her parents are separated, about to be divorced, and she is unhappy so people just think she has run away. Local school teacher Tom Witter feels he should do something to try and find Tracie so joins forces with her father and the local neighbourhood watch group. The bush land behind the neighbourhood is referred to as Wild Place, rumours of satanic rituals, dark secrets are rev ...more

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