12.46: 13-year-old Claire Bingley stands alone at a bus stop
12.47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her
12.52: Claire is missing . . .
Six minutes - that’s all it took to ruin Detective Ted Conkaffey’s life.
Accused but not convicted of Claire’s abduction, he escapes north, to the croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.
Amanda Pharrell knows what it’s like to be public enemy no. 1.
Maybe it’s her murderous past that makes her so good as a private investigator, tracking lost souls in the wilderness.
When it seems that her latest target has a life more shrouded in secrets than her own, she enlists help from the one person in town more hated than she is: Ted Conkaffey.
But the residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair’s every move.
And for Ted, a man already at breaking point, this town is offering no place to hide . . .
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‘A fast-paced, expertly crafted read with a cast of colourful characters’ Guardian
‘Atmospheric Australian thriller’ Grazia
Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney’s western suburbs. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
Candice won back-to-back Ned Kelly awards for her first two novels – Hades and Eden. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed Fall, Crimson Lake, Redemption and Gone by Midnight. Candice’s first collaboration with James Patterson, Never Never, was a Sunday Times and New York Times no. 1 bestseller. They have co-authored three further novels featuring Harriet Blue – Fifty Fifty, Liar Liar and Hush Hush.