Robyn Ayres works as the camp caretaker on Finch Island, a former leper colony off the coast of Queensland. Her current clients are a group of ex-military men who run a tough-love program for troubled teens.
The latest crop looks like the usual mix of bad boys and sad boys. Then Robyn takes a second look at a kid called Darren. Last time she saw him his name was Aaron, and Robyn was his primary school teacher. And she was somehow at the centre of a vicious small-town custody battle involving his terrifying grandmother.
Bruising classroom dynamics, manipulative parents and carers, and horrendous small-town politics form the backdrop to a nail-biting thriller in which the tensions of ten years ago start to play themselves out, building to a violent climax in the present day.
‘This is the kind of book that makes your teeth ache and then you realise you’re clenching your jaw as you read … I highly recommend this for a good, suspenseful read …’
Sisters in Crime
‘Catherine Jinks cements herself as a must-read Aussie crime writer with this book. It’s atmospheric and hard-hitting; if you’re a fan of Australian crime thrillers, don’t miss this.’
The Australian
‘A taut thriller with a plot unlike any I have read before … it is a story that can’t be put down.’
ReadPlus
‘A hard-boiled facility with the thriller mode’.
The Age
‘A tense, intimate island thriller.’
Readings
”Catherine Jinks has cemented herself as a must-read Aussie crime writer. Gripping, atmospheric and hard-hitting, The Attack is a riveting thriller from start to end.”
Better Reading
‘A tense thriller … with … a brutal and terrifying climax.’
The Canberra Times
