Darkness on the Edge of Town (Jessie Cole, Fourth Estate)

Darkness on the Edge of Town is a fast-paced and tense novel. Vincent, a 40-year-old single dad, helps a young woman, Rachael, when she crashes her car outside his home. This triggers a chain of events that unsettles his seemingly mundane life with his 16-year old daughter Gemma. The narrative switches between Vincent and Gemma’s perspectives, as they both try to understand Rachael and how she has entered their lives. On the margins are a number of other characters—Vincent’s mum, his ex-girlfriend, Gemma’s friends, Rachael’s partner—who add important information, and colour, to the story. There is much to admire in the simplicity of Jessie Cole’s writing, and the matter-of-fact tone of her debut novel is refreshing. Rachael’s character is shrouded in mystery, and it is this, more than anything else, that makes this book difficult to put down. However, the story ends abruptly and the reader is left feeling somewhat unsatisfied. That said, Darkness on the Edge of Town is an engaging and thoughtful novel that will appeal to readers of commercial fiction.

Eloise Keating is a journalist with Bookseller+Publisher

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews