Book Review: Kakadu Sunset
by Annie Seaton
If you were to make a judgment about this novel based on a glance at the young woman on the cover, dressed in skimpy shorts and standing beside a lagoon, glowing orange in the dying light, you might assume Annie Seaton's ‘Kakadu Sunset’ is a typical romance novel. But you’d be wrong. There’s far more to this book than meets the eye. As well as its strong romantic elements, it also happens to be a riveting enviro-thriller with some very serious issues simmering under the surface.
Ellie Porter is an intrepid helicopter pilot, who takes tourists on scenic flights over Kakadu National Park. Having grown up on a mango farm adjoining the Park, Ellie is passionate about the area and its preservation. One day, when she is flying over the old property, she notices extensive man-made scars in the earth and resolves to discover exactly what is going on.
Meanwhile, Ellie finds herself with an attractive new colleague by the name of Kane McLaren, who happens to be the stepson of the current owner of her family home. Can he be trusted to help in her search for the truth, or is he in cahoots with those who are defacing the landscape?
The main characters are well drawn. Ellie is a smart, feisty, capable woman in a job that is traditionally male. Kane is also interesting, as much for his ‘muscled arms and tight abs’, as for the secrets lurking in his recent past.
This book is a real page-turner, and I love the way the author has made the crocodile a leitmotif, weaving its way through the story in both a physical and a metaphorical sense. Annie Seaton’s prose is lucid and polished, and her descriptions of the Kakadu landscape vivid and lyrical.
I look forward to the other books in her planned trilogy. Read more in my interview with Annie Seaton.
And by the way, all you film producers out there, here’s a great commercial screenplay in the making.
IN A NUTSHELL:
With its strong characters, evocative prose and mix of romance and suspense, Annie Seaton’s ‘Kakadu Sunset’ will not only transport you to one of the most magnificent landscapes on earth but also keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
'Kakadu Sunset' is published by Macmillan Australia and is now available at all good bookshops and online.
Deborah O’Brien
18 January 2016