I have loved Honey Brown's novels since the first one came out. This is no exception.
Informing her parents that she wouldn't be attending their Christmas Day lunch Sarah Barnard gathers a few things together then saddles up Tansy her black mare. Wanting to get away from all her troubles she decides to head for the high country to Mortimer Rangers to a cabin called Hangman's Hut situated on top of Devil Mountain.
My View:
Such a surprising conclusion - I didn't see this coming.
Honey Brown has again written a deeply moving and confronting narrative - again she chooses to put the difficult subjects in the forefront of our minds and challenges us to reassess the story and the issues she has presented us.
I feel I'm not equipped to properly review this genre as I'm so new to it, but I'm equipped to have witnessed a story that held my attention from first word to last. Honey Brown (she has her own amazing story to tell - I only realised today - and seems to be a woman of amazing strength) has written a fantastic, gripping, clever, engaging and utterly enjoyable story.
A psychological thriller with an irresistible pace, and beautifully described bush setting.
Having read After the Darkness last year I thought I knew what to expect from Honey Brown and while I was rewarded with a compelling story of psychological suspense, the shocking twist in the tale of Dark Horse took me by surprise.
After a messy divorce and the reluctant sale of her property Sarah Barnard can't face a day of forced celebration with her parents and so just after dawn on Christmas morning, she packs supplies and canters into the bush upon her beloved horse, Tansy.
I must have been living under a rock? How have I not read Honey Brown before this ....
Dark Horse, which was recently named Best Adult Novel at the 14th annual Davitt Awards (held by Sisters in Crime in Melbourne, Australia), is a gripping and gritty tale, part survival story, part psychological thriller.
The story begins with our protagonist, Sarah, waking from unconsciousness on Christmas morning.
There was something about this book that I just couldn't put down. I read it in a single sitting.
Tansy was frisky, shying away from the horse float, not wanting to go inside at all. Sarah, light and fine boned, was no match for the big black horse, especially while she was throwing her head around.
'We hope you enjoy your journey to the famous site of bushranger Sid Gibson's grave at Hangman's Hut'
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.
Great suspense novel! Makes you want to read quickly to find out more about the two main characters.
I picked up Dark Horse by Honey Brown from the local library. I've been meaning to read more of her work after finishing and loving Red Queen last year.
Intense, mysterious, intriguing, dangerous, all of these can easily describe Honey Brown's soon to be released novel Dark Horse.
As described in the blurb it's Christmas Day, and with a broken down business and marriage, Sarah sets off with Tansy (her horse) to escape reality when a freak storm hits and traps them both on the mountains.
Hands down Honey Brown is the Australian Queen of Psychological Thriller and suspense.
Brown's books are powerfully imaginative and scarily unnerving and just about everything you could hope to expect from a a thriller.
