Haze by Sam Elliott

Constable Dahlia Turner is checking properties to ensure residents have evacuated as wildfires threaten their coastal Australian town, when she comes across the unimaginable – two of her close friends murdered and their son missing.

Beyond shocked, Dahlia is desperate to find the missing boy – her godson – all the while as the fires around her rage out of control. Many suspect the local cult, People’s Cleansing Light, of arson, but others wonder if businessman Hunter Rochford and his many henchmen are behind the carnage.

Dahlia is in a race against time as the fires spread and evidence is burnt. In the chaos, things are made more complicated as her past collides brutally with the present. Allegiances are questioned when she has to go back to the cult she once belonged, to investigate. Fowler, a detective from out of town, is brought in to help with the investigation, but will her blunt ways put her at odds with Dahlia before they can successfully work together? Then there is the case of a stalker threatening to destroy her career unless he gets what he wants.

Atmospheric, twisty and gut-wrenching, this is a pacy page-turning crime thriller, with a complicated and courageous lead character. All the while, the fires burn and the air is choked with smoke...

Reviewer: Karen McMillan

Pan Macmillan