What the Ground Can’t Hold (Shady Cosgrove, Picador)

What the Ground Can’t Hold is the story of an avalanche and its aftermath from the point of view of five characters. Emma meets up with two American men in Buenos Aires and accepts their invitation to go hiking. They stay at a refugio, a cabin run by Pedro, with several other hikers: a German teenager and his family, a tango dancer and another American hiker. Against Pedro’s advice, Emma’s American friends decide to leave, and while initially Emma is glad to see the back of them, she is horrified to discover they might have been caught in a nearby avalanche. In the beginning it felt like every character in this story had a mysterious secret—and then I realised that this was pretty much the case! It’s certainly one of the attractions of this story, and the pressure-cooker atmosphere inside the refugio is compelling. Most of the secrets link back to Argentina’s Dirty War and Shady Cosgrove does a great job of explaining both the war and its continuing impact. This is the first novel from Cosgrove, whose memoir She Played Elvis was shortlisted for the Australian Vogel Prize. I would recommend for mystery lovers and thriller fans. 

Jessica Broadbent is a former bookseller and trained librarian

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Category: Reviews