Book review: Red River Road by Anna Downes

Red River Road by Anna Downes is the first book I’ve read by the English-born Aussie writer. I’d heard of her of course but obviously missed out on review copies of her earlier books. I did however hear her speak at BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival about this book late last year and vowed to get a copy which I finally did. And – OMFG – what a ride this is!!! I loved it. I didn’t see any of it coming. Downes lulls readers into this false sense of (ummm….) assumption (I guess), only to completely twist everything on its head near the very end.

Katy Sweeney is determined to find her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, free-spirited Phoebe vanished without a trace on Western Australia’s remote and achingly beautiful Coral Coast. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up.

Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy starts to retrace her steps, searching for the clues that the police have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and what danger did they pose? Was she as happy as her sun-bleached, lens-flared photos seem to suggest?

Then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, a young woman on the run from her own dark past—and very recent present. And as Katy realizes that Beth might be her best and only chance of finding the truth, the two women form an uneasy alliance to venture forth into increasingly wild territory to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this breathtaking but maybe deadly place, and how her fate connects them all.

Downes gives us several interesting narrators including Katy and Beth (here initially calling herself Lily). The book opens quite abruptly introducing us to Katy, who bursts into life and we’re given a sense of who she is as it’s day two on the road and she partied hard the night before so remembers little of day one. Beth literally stows-away in Katy’s van and the pair develop a slightly reluctant partnership.

And then there’s Phoebe who we learn has grown apart from sister Katy and who we track through her social media account, getting a glimpse of a woman who harks on A LOT about safety for someone who broadcasts her movements to followers. It’s interesting that there’s a real Pollyanna-ness about Phoebe, in awe at the world she’s discovering. Though of course that’s ONLY the Phoebe we see on her social media account, and Downes makes the point that real life is often far from that portrayed online.

We also meet Wyatt, a teenage boy who lives with his father and older brother though the latter is away when this opens. Their relationship is a complex one and I struggled to pin down my own feelings towards the three male leads. Of course it’s not long before we realise that Wyatt’s older brother Lucas is the same Lucas with whom Beth has been travelling and she who she finally leaves given the unpredictability of his behaviour.

The notion of family and the legacies we inherit is an obvious theme here as well as how we perceive our loved ones. Katy views Phoebe as everything she isn’t – vivacious, beautiful and confident. And Wyatt’s views of Lucas are certainly very different from Beth’s, not to mention the thief and scam artist we meet through Beth’s memories.

Downes is somehow able to unfurl this abruptly and slowly at the same time creating a sense of menace but not fear. We’re unsure how this will end or even IF it will end tragically, so remain quiet and hidden on the sidelines as it plays out. Something Downes does cleverly, throwing in some massive twists.

The other thing I enjoyed about this – though it might NOT be the best tourist advertisement for the west of our nation – is its strong sense of place. The session I attended at BAD Sydney was actually one about West Australia and featured West Australian writers, but Downes was on the panel given this book is quintessentially West Australian – giving very specific details of the road trip Phoebe travelled and now Katy and Beth are taking in her wake.

This is a great ‘mess-with-your-head’ read which I obviously enjoyed so am glad I finally got my fat little fingers on it.