The Book: Carralon Ridge, a village in New South Wales, was once a great place to set down roots and raise a family. But then ten years ago a big mining operation moved in down the road and began buying up properties. Now Carralon Ridge, covered in mine dust and with the constant drumming of the mine in the air, is little more than a ghost town with only a few residents hanging on. Ro has returned to the town to be with her ex-husband and daughter for the five year anniversary of the disappearance of her son Sam. Sam disappeared without a trace on his 21st birthday, while on a break from college, leaving only a rental car on the side of a road leading to some abandoned houses. After his disappearance his family fell apart. His father was committed to staying in Carralon Ridge, where he grew up, but his mother, Ro, moved away to Sydney. Now on the five year anniversary of Sam's disappearance, Ro wonders if they will ever learn what happened to Sam. She has gone over and over all the "evidence" from his case for the past 5 years, convinced that they are missing something. But what?
The Author: Jane Harper
Genre: Mystery
Length: 583 pp (ipad mini e-reader)
One good thing: While Harper writes a good mystery, the joy of this novel is in her character development and representation of grief. There is the grief over missing Sam. There is grief over a failed marriage. Most of all there is the grief of the remaining villagers who have lost the community they once cherished.
One not-so-great thing: Once the mystery comes to a climax, Harper goes back in time to show the reader what happened. This is one of my least favorite ways to end a mystery, I don't need a picture I just need someone to solve it. Other people may not find this a problem.
Four Doorways*: Story; Characters; Setting; Language
This novel has a propulsive plot that kept me turning the page to find out what happened to Sam but it also is very much a character driven novel. Harper develops not only the main characters (Ro, her ex-husband and daughter) but many of the remaining characters in the village. I think that lovers of mysteries and lovers of character driven novels would enjoy this.
While the village is very much a character in this novel I don't see the setting in Australia as particularly important. I kept forgetting it was Australia because it could just as easily have been a town in the American west.
Harper is a very good writer. While there is nothing in the particular language or structure of this novel that is unique, Harper keeps the story flowing and her descriptions are vivid.
"It seems to me that all works of fiction and narrative nonfiction are broadly made up of four experiential elements: story, character, setting, and language. I call these “doorways,” because when we open a book, read the first few pages, and choose to go on, we enter the world of that book. And I’ve come to believe we can help readers better choose their next book by looking at the proportion of these four elements." Nancy Pearl on the Four Doorways.
