Panic
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
After posting a drunken rant that goes horrifically viral, Bronte needs a place to lie low. Jobless, friendless, broke, she volunteers as a carer on an isolated rural property. She won’t be paid for looking after dementia sufferer Nell, but at least she’ll have a place to stay. Bronte’s host is Nell’s daughter Veda, who runs spiritual rebirthing retreats. She also claims the rights of a sovereign citizen and rejects the authority of the state, refusing even to register her car. She has acquired a small but devoted following of the like-minded.
Are they harmless cranks, with their conspiracy theories and outrage at government overreach? Or dangerously paranoid domestic terrorists? And what is the dark secret that Nell, in her confused state, keeps harking back to? Bronte, increasingly uneasy, would be getting far away from the whole place—if she had anywhere else to go.
In Panic, master storyteller Catherine Jinks delivers a tense, claustrophobic thriller of isolation and fear that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Catherine Jinks’ books for adults, young adults and children have been published in a dozen countries and have won numerous awards, including a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the CBCA Book of the Year Award (four times). She lives in the Blue Mountains.
‘[Jinks] crafts a taut, tense thriller of a narrative, expertly cranking up the suspense notch by notch.’ Saturday Paper on Traced
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Catherine Jinks writes taut, lean thrillers that thrive in secluded settings, such as the vast Australian bush in Shelter and the cut-off island in The Attack. In Panic, the author splits the narrative between bustling Sydney and the distant countryside, where a woman named Bronte has fled after an ill-judged rant went viral. Having lost her job, she reluctantly volunteers to care for Nell, who lives with dementia. But Nell’s daughter runs with a group of rural outliers who consider themselves outside the jurisdiction of Australia. Adding to the intrigue is Nell’s own past, which comes up in fleeting bursts that make Bronte think there’s much more to uncover there. The book’s topical themes of online misinformation and conspiracy theories feel timely and urgent—they also heighten the stakes for Bronte, making her feel increasingly threatened and unmoored from her cosy former life.
