Synopsis

On a working holiday in Australia’s cosmopolitan Outback town of Broome in 1986, Jodie, a young book designer and artist, is open to romance and adventure.

At the holiday village where she is staying, she meets Joe, a young man who works there. Despite the strong attraction between them, the many unknowns about his earlier life keep them apart. To try to uncover his mysterious past, they travel to Perth and back to Broome and are drawn into not only bizarre but also dangerous situations.

Is Joe the person she thinks he is, or is he some alter ego? Can Jodie and Joe stop their relationship from developing until they have answers and know if he is free to love her?

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Review

This book fluctuated between romance and suspense, so I imagine most would call it a romantic suspense. However, I felt that the romance angle was larger than the suspense. However, it was the mystery/suspense angle that grabbed my attention.

Primarily set in the seaside town of Broome, we meet Joe and Jodie. There is also Jodie’s sister Tiffany, her love interest Ryan, and a few others, although the bulk of the story focuses on Joe/March and Jodie. Joe comes off a little sketchy, but that is because he has amnesia, but we don’t learn this until later. He is hesitant to trust anyone, and for good reason, as you will learn a little later in the book.

I appreciated the time period of the book. In 1986, there are no cell phones, email, and other pieces of technology that we have come to rely on today. There are times when Joe/Marc uses a payphone to call back home.

The novel has some action when they end up back in Broome for Jodie’s job. There are a few tense moments when we don’t know how certain criminals will act or react to various situations. I was also unsure what side of the law a few characters fell on.

I have to admit that I did not like Jodie. Furthermore, I felt she was shallow and insecure in her relationship with Joe/Marc. You will discover many of her thoughts throughout the book. You will know this because the words are italicized. I felt that there was too much inner dialogue, and that probably contributed to my dislike of Jodie. I also didn’t feel like we really got to know the characters, and that the information was more surface than depth.

Overall, we give this book 3 1/2 paws up.

About the Author

Meryl Brown Tobin is an Australian writer who has published 22 books, including a novel, travel book, educational puzzle books and poetry books, and hundreds of poems, puzzles, short stories, articles, cartoons, and comic strips. A guest on Ch7’s children’s TV program The Book Place, she and a presenter read her children’s picture storybook LEFTY.

Apart from family and home, her interests include travel, bushwalking, conservation, current affairs, and social justice issues. The Tasmanian Tiger fascinates her, and she’d love to prove it is not extinct.

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