Review: `We hope you enjoy your journey to the famous site of bushranger Sid Gibson's grave at Hangman's Hut'
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2013
It's Christmas morning on the edge of the Victorian high country.  Sarah Barnard's marriage has collapsed, her trail-riding business has been bankrupted, and her parents have invited her to spend the day with them.  Sarah's determined to get some time to herself, and rides her horse Tansy up into the Mortimer Ranges.  Riding up to Hangman's Hut, a flash flood washes away the bridge Sarah and Tansy crossed.  Sarah continues on, hoping that once the weather passes she'll be able to find her way back down the mountain safely.  Sarah finds an abandoned workmen's camp which provides shelter and some food and settles in for the night.  And then she finds a lone, injured and unequipped bushwalker.  His name, he says, is Heath.  Sarah finds his presence unsettling, and his story and subsequent actions don't make sense.  The weather allows little respite, and when food starts to run low, Sarah searches for help.`All that mattered was not dying.'There are a few twists in this story which add to the suspense.  Physical discomfort is one aspect of Sarah and Heath's ordeal, another is the fact that things go missing: it's almost as though a third person is present.  Heath seems to be hiding something, which makes Sarah wonder if he really is who he says he is.  Is Sarah in danger?I thought I knew where this story was going, and I was completely wrong.  Which was good, because the story that unfolded was much more interesting than the one I thought I was going to read.  Until, that is, the end.  I didn't care much for the end - but that's me writing a different story.  I read this on a wet, cold autumn afternoon: just perfect.  This is the first novel I have read by Honey Brown: I'll be looking out for others.Jennifer Cameron-Smith