Stay Buried, Jane R. Miles

Compelling, gripping, claustrophobic, and creepy as hell, STAY BURIED was a roller coaster of emotion from start to finish. 

On Christmas Eve in 1974 Cyclone Tracy tore through Darwin, creating havoc. Thinking back to that time now, it's frightening how little we knew about it in either the lead up to or the immediate aftermath - communications have changed a lot. But in this story, it's important to remember that nobody knew for sure whether Tracy would hit Darwin, and the size that it would be when it arrived. Hence four young girls, teenagers and younger, went camping on Christmas Eve, in the bush on their own and post the cyclone - they had vanished. No tracks to be found, no bodies, nothing. The families took to referring to them as "The Angels".

There was also a known killer in the area - the bodies of two women had been found, and a third teen mother, Sally, had disappeared around the same time as well.

In the current timeline, Sally's daughter Von is now a young woman, desperate to remind everyone that her mother could also be an "Angel". Slightly different in age from the other four, and definitely different in lifestyle, Sally had been a bit of a wild child, a single mother, prone to working away from Darwin, and somebody that nobody seemed all that interested in searching for - except her daughter Von, who purposely inserts herself into every discussion about the Angels, every update from the police, and every media chance she can get, just to ensure that nobody forgets her missing mother.

Until the day that a woman is found, on the side of the road, near to where the bodies of the two women were dumped years before, naked, and barely recognisable. Is she the missing Sally, and can she cast any light on the fate of the Angels for their grieving (and complicated) families and loved ones?

This is one of those books that readers will find incredibly compelling, as well as decidedly discomforting. Especially if, like this reader, you're very claustrophobic. In that case, some of the earlier timeline might mean you're never going to turn the lights off again - it's very well written, very descriptive and realistic, without being exploitative. Suffice to say, what the four young girls go through is the stuff of nightmares. Balanced against that is the determination that all the women in this story exhibit. In the current timeline Von is as determined, and yet somehow incredibly vulnerable and engaging. 

A debut novel, the writing in this is very assured, the dual timelines handled deftly and the inspiration, as explained in the author's notes, very sobering. There's a strong sense of Darwin, the people that live there, the weather that's part of their everyday lives, and the differences in social groupings and standings. There are also very timely reminders of the amount of restoration and recovery that was required post Cyclone Tracy.

It's very sobering to think that the basic premise of STAY BURIED was inspired by true events. Whilst it's mostly about the secrets that won't lay low and the legends or stories that refuse to go away, it's the sheer gritty determination of loved ones like Von, and her small group of collaborators and supporters, that will stay with me. The things that push people like them to work so hard to find an explanation, understand the past that has affected their lives so much, and find their own future.