Book review: Left Behind by Martine Kropkowski

I was particularly keen to read Left Behind by Martine Kropkowski as it’s set on my doorstep… on K’gari (prev. Fraser Island)*. I’ve only visited the resort on the eastern side of the island in recent years but my step-grandmother owned a couple of huts at a place called Yidney Rocks on the western side of the island. We went over often when I was young, visiting the island’s many landmarks… now instagrammers’ fodder. So there was much I enjoyed about this, wondering about missing tourists and trying to guess at the source of underlying tensions.

Two couples – Annabelle and Luke, Des and Julianni – embark on a camping trip to K’gari, a picturesque island off Queensland’s coast. Things have been tough lately, but this holiday is just what they need – white sands, clear waters, a chance to decompress and reconnect.

But there is an unnerving electricity in the air and Annabelle starts noticing strange occurrences. First, the man digging off a dark beach track in the middle of the night. The moaning in the amenities block: a couple getting their kicks or something more sinister? Then two campers mysteriously disappear, their belongings found abandoned near the beach.

When an old friend of Luke’s arrives, Annabelle’s suspicions reach fever pitch. And with a deadly storm approaching, danger lurks at every turn.

There’s a prologue in the start of the book—an island ranger finding the belongings of a couple of campers who have disappeared. Given their phones and wallets are there, it seems unlikely they purposely took off.

We then meet our main narrator Annabelle who’s heading to K’gari with her husband Luke, his fried Des and Des’s still-quite-new girlfriend Julianni for a week to go camping. We learn Annabelle and Luke had a fight the night before they left and the drive from the city to the barge departure point has been strained. Kropkowski then dangles that tension over the trip, not sharing the reason for the fight for some time. I liked being inside Annabelle’s head as she mulls over their relationship and how she and Luke have translated the issue [inspiring the argument], which I think is one of the strengths of this novel, later becoming a revelation for Annabelle.

There’s a lot going on here. Initially I though the prologue was going to be ‘what comes later’ and is about the disappearance of one of the couples, but it simmers away in the background for much of the novel. (Frustratingly – for me at least – with no resolution… unless I missed something!) The arrival of another friend of Luke’s (Matt) unsettles Annabelle and she becomes increasingly suspicious of his behaviour. In some ways Kropkowski leaves it up to readers to decide if she has cause to be suspicious or being paranoid given the other pressure she’s under following the fight with Luke.

Kropkowski’s writing is lovely and she offers up a real sense of place… from the blue skies and endless beaches to the dark rainforest covering much of the island. I think it’s part of that juxtaposition that makes K’gari appealing to so many and Kropkowski’s prose are evocative, making the setting an integral part of the novel.

I was slightly thrown early in the book as it felt we did a lot of head-hopping. Annabelle was our host or narrator, but then we’d know what Luke, Des or Julianni was thinking. I also expected a mystery to solve, which didn’t really come. Kropkowski certainly creates the tension and suspense as a cyclone looms off the island’s coast and everyone’s told to evacuate the island but I confess I found myself confused as to what happened and the fate that befell several of our characters. Things became a little fantastical for me… hence my confusion I suspect, and lack of closure.

At the same time though I could picture Kingfisher Bay resort (where I’ve stayed on recent visits) devastated by cyclonic winds, and boats and barges upturned. Kropkowski knows the island well and has certainly done her research. Others familiar with K’gari, its landmarks and its serenity will certainly enjoy being taken back there through this book.

Left Behind by Martine Kropkowski will be published in Australia by Ultimo Press.

*Fun fact – I have (in fact) been to Central Station a couple of years ago for work, when the state government was officially returning the name K’gari (which means paradise in Butchulla language) to the island which is tens of thousands of years old.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.