The Long Shadow …”once again Buist’s extensive background in psychiatry shines through…has mixed village mystery, the fish-out-of-water novel and psychological thriller and placed them in the outback. It all combines to give an insight into motherhood in all its rich variety and complication”. Barry Reynolds, Herald Sun p59 April 25th 2020
“Suspenseful Aussie noir at its best” New Idea 28th April
”absolutely compelling” Virginia Trioli 9.5.20 abc radio
”sense of place ominous…the denouement thrilling and worth the wait” Sue Turnbull, The Age 13.6.20
Old Sins Cast Long Shadows…sometimes you have to deal with the past before you can face the future
Issy Harris has never heard of Riley, a town on the edge of the outback, much less want to end up there. But her husband Dean is the Red Adair of hospital stuff ups, and Riley is where they and their two year old son need to go. A psychologist, at least she gets a job running the mother-baby postnatal group to keep her occupied.
From the first group, Issy knows something is wrong. Badly wrong. Pulled into the politics of a company town where a culture of corruption is putting the viability of the hospital at risk, Issy is forced to make sense of a threats made against her and her son if she is to protect him. Nursing her own secret and struggling to keep her marriage together, Issy is pitted against the local union boss, the politician patriarch and his family as she tries to work out how they are tied into a twenty five year old tragedy – the kidnapping and murder of the older brother of one of the women in her group. A desperate race against time and the unpredictable elements of nature results in a breathtaking climax where Issy is forced to choose what it is that she really values.
A story about mothers., attachment and the things that get in the way of being the parent you want to be.
Released April 28th 2020 with Text Publishing.
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