tasmanian_bibliophile's review
3.0
‘The storm broke the night before the body of the second missing woman was found.’
The body of a female backpacker washes ashore in the Bay of Fires on the east coast of Tasmania, a year after a teenage girl went missing. This is an isolated holiday community: some families have holidayed there annually for years. Everyone knows everyone else, everyone has an opinion about who might be responsible, and a number of people have secrets they’d rather keep to themselves.
Sarah Avery’s parents have a shack at the Bay of Fires, and Sarah, her sister and parents have holidayed there for years. Sarah’s not having a great holiday: she’s left both her boyfriend and her job in Queensland and is finding both escape and misery in alcohol. When the bikini-clad body of Anja Traugott is found on the beach, journalist Hall Flynn is sent from Launceston to investigate.
‘It was the day after Boxing Day when the fisherman found the body.’
As an outsider, Hall has a different perspective of the community. As a journalist, he’s asking some tough questions. As a man, he’s attracted to Sarah Avery. Through his eyes, we see a different side to many of the community members, and find relationships that others appear not to be aware of. And, in the end, it’s Hall Flynn who finds out what has happened.
I picked up this book because of the setting. And while the missing girl (Chloe Crawford) and the death of Anja Traugott are the mystery in this novel, it is learning about the members of the community that becomes the central focus. For me, the most likeable character was Hall Flynn. I found Sarah Avery a prickly character who seems, for much of the novel, determined to make her existing problems worse. I enjoyed the way in which Ms Gee’s writing made the Bay of Fires come to life: as both a landscape and a community.
This is Ms Gee’s first novel, and some of its inspiration is drawn from real events during the early 1990s. Nancy Grunwaldt, a German back-packer, went missing along the Tasmanian east coast in 1993; and an Italian tourist, Victoria Cafasso, was murdered on the north-east coast of Tasmania in 1995. It’s not a perfect novel: some aspects of particular characters didn’t work well for me, but overall it held my interest and kept me turning the pages.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The body of a female backpacker washes ashore in the Bay of Fires on the east coast of Tasmania, a year after a teenage girl went missing. This is an isolated holiday community: some families have holidayed there annually for years. Everyone knows everyone else, everyone has an opinion about who might be responsible, and a number of people have secrets they’d rather keep to themselves.
Sarah Avery’s parents have a shack at the Bay of Fires, and Sarah, her sister and parents have holidayed there for years. Sarah’s not having a great holiday: she’s left both her boyfriend and her job in Queensland and is finding both escape and misery in alcohol. When the bikini-clad body of Anja Traugott is found on the beach, journalist Hall Flynn is sent from Launceston to investigate.
‘It was the day after Boxing Day when the fisherman found the body.’
As an outsider, Hall has a different perspective of the community. As a journalist, he’s asking some tough questions. As a man, he’s attracted to Sarah Avery. Through his eyes, we see a different side to many of the community members, and find relationships that others appear not to be aware of. And, in the end, it’s Hall Flynn who finds out what has happened.
I picked up this book because of the setting. And while the missing girl (Chloe Crawford) and the death of Anja Traugott are the mystery in this novel, it is learning about the members of the community that becomes the central focus. For me, the most likeable character was Hall Flynn. I found Sarah Avery a prickly character who seems, for much of the novel, determined to make her existing problems worse. I enjoyed the way in which Ms Gee’s writing made the Bay of Fires come to life: as both a landscape and a community.
This is Ms Gee’s first novel, and some of its inspiration is drawn from real events during the early 1990s. Nancy Grunwaldt, a German back-packer, went missing along the Tasmanian east coast in 1993; and an Italian tourist, Victoria Cafasso, was murdered on the north-east coast of Tasmania in 1995. It’s not a perfect novel: some aspects of particular characters didn’t work well for me, but overall it held my interest and kept me turning the pages.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
dreusmire's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
stelaloryn's review against another edition
3.0
I highly enjoyed this book! I can't wait to start my full review. I didn't fully love the character, but there was a real life aspect that kept you reading!
missantarctica's review against another edition
2.0
Here's the thing: I found this book to be extremely well written. It wasn't spellbindingly enthralling and I probably stopped and started reading it too many times but every time I would go back, I would think to myself how good it was. I thought there were too many characters (again, if I had stuck through like a normal person, I probably would have remembered them all) and I just didn't really care about the conclusion. I want to give Poppy Gee 5 stars for her writing and myself 0 stars for being disrespectful towards her talent. This is definitely a "go back and try this again" for me. I think I've been so spoiled by all the twisty psychological thrillers out there that unless someone has been held captive for 10 years or there's a secret sociopath in the mix, it's hard to not just move on to one of the hundred of books out there that have all of those kinds of kicks. Alicia fail.
lisa_setepenre's review against another edition
2.0
Reluctantly visiting her family for the summer holidays, Sarah finds herself stuck in a remote bay in Tasmania. But when a body washes up on a shore, belonging to a Swedish tourist Sarah spoke to the other day, her curiosity is roused and she seeks answers, aided by journalist Hall Flynn.
I was looking forward to reading this. This was fourth book in a row I read that was set in Tasmania. The first three novels – Danielle Woods' [b:The Alphabet of Light and Dark|1123635|The Alphabet of Light and Dark|Danielle Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328850539s/1123635.jpg|1110729], Favel Parrett's [b:Past the Shallows|10762662|Past the Shallows|Favel Parrett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1299760715s/10762662.jpg|15674030] and Robyn Mundy's [b:Wildlight|27993790|Wildlight|Robyn Mundy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454620881s/27993790.jpg|47995975] – were stunning, beautiful novels and I fully expected Poppy Gees's Bay of Fires to be just the same. Sure, the plot promised a good mystery (which is a genre I love anyway), but judging from reviews, I expected more of a literary fiction style focus than straight forward mystery. Which was fine – I read a book along the same lines a few years ago and had loved it and the idea behind it.
But Poppy Gees' Bay of Fires was a more straightforward mystery, with a decent dollop of character development for the leads. Although it was a (relatively) quick and engrossing read, with a mystery that gripped me and complex characters, I still found myself a little disappointed that this was the book that finished my little Tasmanian-set reading spree.
It's not just that it wasn't what I expected.
Parts of it felt tedious. I did read it quickly, but I found it very difficult to keep track of the masses of characters, their relationships and personalities. There are just so many minor characters with little quirks and mysteries entwined into the narrative that it felt impossible to keep them all straight or understood how they were all connected to each other. I got the feeling that Gees wanted to create a small town populated with eccentrics that all could be suspects, but the result overwhelmed me.
It helped that the story really worked when it focused on Sarah and Hall and that one or two of the secondary characters really did come alive, but I found myself thinking, "if X-detail about Y-character is important, it'll be mentioned again so it doesn't matter if I remember this." It's not a good thing in a book, really.
So, all up, Bay of Fires was an engrossing read that I enjoyed well enough once I put aside my disappointment that it wasn't going to be another gloriously beautiful book set in Tasmania. It does suffer from a glut of characters that make it a bit monotonous to get through, but it does have its positive sides. 2.5 stars.
I was looking forward to reading this. This was fourth book in a row I read that was set in Tasmania. The first three novels – Danielle Woods' [b:The Alphabet of Light and Dark|1123635|The Alphabet of Light and Dark|Danielle Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328850539s/1123635.jpg|1110729], Favel Parrett's [b:Past the Shallows|10762662|Past the Shallows|Favel Parrett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1299760715s/10762662.jpg|15674030] and Robyn Mundy's [b:Wildlight|27993790|Wildlight|Robyn Mundy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454620881s/27993790.jpg|47995975] – were stunning, beautiful novels and I fully expected Poppy Gees's Bay of Fires to be just the same. Sure, the plot promised a good mystery (which is a genre I love anyway), but judging from reviews, I expected more of a literary fiction style focus than straight forward mystery. Which was fine – I read a book along the same lines a few years ago and had loved it and the idea behind it.
But Poppy Gees' Bay of Fires was a more straightforward mystery, with a decent dollop of character development for the leads. Although it was a (relatively) quick and engrossing read, with a mystery that gripped me and complex characters, I still found myself a little disappointed that this was the book that finished my little Tasmanian-set reading spree.
It's not just that it wasn't what I expected.
Parts of it felt tedious. I did read it quickly, but I found it very difficult to keep track of the masses of characters, their relationships and personalities. There are just so many minor characters with little quirks and mysteries entwined into the narrative that it felt impossible to keep them all straight or understood how they were all connected to each other. I got the feeling that Gees wanted to create a small town populated with eccentrics that all could be suspects, but the result overwhelmed me.
It helped that the story really worked when it focused on Sarah and Hall and that one or two of the secondary characters really did come alive, but I found myself thinking, "if X-detail about Y-character is important, it'll be mentioned again so it doesn't matter if I remember this." It's not a good thing in a book, really.
So, all up, Bay of Fires was an engrossing read that I enjoyed well enough once I put aside my disappointment that it wasn't going to be another gloriously beautiful book set in Tasmania. It does suffer from a glut of characters that make it a bit monotonous to get through, but it does have its positive sides. 2.5 stars.
dannafs's review against another edition
4.0
The Bay of Fires is a sleepy, tiny beach community on the Tasmanian Coast. Sarah Avery's family vacations there each Christmas, piling into a shack to enjoy the beaches and the fishing. The community is comprised of several families that have fallen into a pattern of gossip, abalone bakes, surfing, and sunbathing. However, a couple of years ago, a teenage girl disappeared from Bay of Fires without a trace. The people have tried to move on, but are jerked back to the reality that paradise may not be perfect when the body of a tourist washes up on shore, looking like the victim of a brutal murder.
Sarah is the novel's main protagonist, a tortured soul who drinks and fucks too much, and is plagued by memories of her bad behavior with her recent ex-boyfriend. She feels like a pariah in Bay of Fires, next to her pretty and mannered sister, and the rest of the quiet community. Sarah is likable, in spite of, and maybe even because of her faults, and also because she is absolutely brilliant when it comes to maritime life.
The village begins to turn on itself, as they engage in a witch hunt of sorts, trying to souse out the killer. Citizens are nervous and jumpy, including Sarah, who initially seemed unflappable. Folks immediately blame Roger Coker, a developmentally delayed loner with awkward social skills; Sarah is not convinced. Hall Flynn joins her as an investigative reporter seeking to put together the clues the police seem to be missing in an attempt to find the murderer.
Bay of Fires is a drama that accurately captures relationships: how we interact in a small town, who points fingers, and we shame ourselves in finger-pointing. The killer remains unclear up until the very end, which is always refreshing to me.
Favorite quote:
"I'm not convinced one person should have to fulfill another person's every need" (304).
Sarah is the novel's main protagonist, a tortured soul who drinks and fucks too much, and is plagued by memories of her bad behavior with her recent ex-boyfriend. She feels like a pariah in Bay of Fires, next to her pretty and mannered sister, and the rest of the quiet community. Sarah is likable, in spite of, and maybe even because of her faults, and also because she is absolutely brilliant when it comes to maritime life.
The village begins to turn on itself, as they engage in a witch hunt of sorts, trying to souse out the killer. Citizens are nervous and jumpy, including Sarah, who initially seemed unflappable. Folks immediately blame Roger Coker, a developmentally delayed loner with awkward social skills; Sarah is not convinced. Hall Flynn joins her as an investigative reporter seeking to put together the clues the police seem to be missing in an attempt to find the murderer.
Bay of Fires is a drama that accurately captures relationships: how we interact in a small town, who points fingers, and we shame ourselves in finger-pointing. The killer remains unclear up until the very end, which is always refreshing to me.
Favorite quote:
"I'm not convinced one person should have to fulfill another person's every need" (304).
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