Beware of Dogs by Elizabeth Flann
This is a novel that sets us up for expectations of a very tense page-turning tale based around events that Alix Verhoeven has catapulted herself into from the moment she accepts an invite to a weekend house party on an isolated island. The opening words of her field diary entry dated Friday 13 April starts us off on the story that also arouses our curiosity. Why is she terrified to the point her ‘heart is pounding’?
In this well structured rather literary take on a thriller that sits quite comfortably within the emerging crime fiction genre of Australian Noir, author Elizabeth Flann introduces us to Alix Verhoeven who is a very skilled, resourceful, highly organised young woman; a geologist well respected in this field.
As the day-to-day mounting fear and tension for Alix, her field diary provides very interesting information around ‘bush tucker’ survival foods and skills as she recalls studies with Professor Atkinson’s Guide to Bushcraft for Geology Students. Alongside the tension and fear Alix has quieter moments during nights in a 'not-quite-cave that is really more of a shallow rock shelter' where she can’t lie down or fully stand. As Alix reflects on moments across her life to this point we get to know her and where the complexities of her life take shape. I could feel sympathy with the constricted tightened muscles and joints along with Alex as she emerged each morning to go through her self-disciplined well-planned day to ensure some exercise, food gathering and familiarisation with the surrounding area.
The style of this novel allows the landscape of the island (there’s a hand-drawn map to check it out ourselves) to become a character itself in this and in other circumstances would no doubt be a most interesting exploration in it own right. Although the author informs us it is a fictional place. There are quite cinematic moments within this well-written book and I wonder whether it will gain an option. It would be quite a chilling and very visual work in the right hands. Alix is a very complex character, and the book hints at topical matters around women, law enforcement, wealth and youth boredom along with loneliness and isolation that this brings.
It is no surprise Elizabeth Flann was the Banjo Prize 2019 recipient.
My thanks to Georgia Williams of Harper Collins for the opportunity to review the uncorrected proof version of Beware of Dogs by Elizabeth Flann.
The book is available from today 6 January 2021 and is available through Amazon, Booktopia, Dymocks, Angus & Robertson, The Nile. It is available in paperback and also as an Audio Book.
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