Gemma is standing in line for coffee at Bangkok Airport, when a cute guy helps her out, drugs her and kidnaps her. She wakes up in a rough bare room in the middle of the outback, where the only person visible is Ty (the cute guy from the airport). What follows is a fascinating thriller in which Gemma tries to get back home and Ty tries to convince her that home is with him in the vast central deserts of Australia.

Lucy Christopher was raised in Melbourne and now lives in the UK and she has done an amazing job of portraying English Gemma’s fear and awe of the vast middle of Australia. What sounds like a straightforward thriller becomes a nuanced, complex take on a landscape of beauty and danger and one girl’s fight to regain control of her life.