This is a mystery thriller about the childhood friendships between four teenage boys that end when a decision is made to help one of their group who is in trouble.
Remains are found in a forest near the narrator’s childhood home. The secret he has been carrying since he was a boy could be revealed at any moment. He thinks he knows whose remains they are. He decides it’s time to go back to his childhood home, to get closer to the investigation as one of his childhood friends is part of the investigative team. They have not been in contact since he left home in his teens.
To say more about this book would give too much away. The narrative is excellent as you bounce from the past to the present. The author gives you only what you need to know and the reveals are at his choosing. Each chapter ends in a way I did not expect. The pacing is excellent throughout.
The Ledge does have echoes of Stephen King and you will notice these if you are a fan. White, in the Author’s Note, acknowledges It and Lord of the Flies as inspirations for this book. The Ledge though, is totally White’s.
This book was such a unique read, with really well-plotted twists and turns. I felt at the mercy of Whites’ ingenuity as he lead me astray down paths and then wound me back in. I kept thinking, ‘Yes, I know where this is going!’ but then foolish for going there.
I loved this book. Christian White, I want more!
Reviewed by Teresa Lewis
READ AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN WHITE ABOUT THE LEDGE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christian White is an Australian author, screenwriter and producer. His debut novel, The Nowhere Child, won the 2017 Wheeler Centre Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript. Since publication The Nowhere Child has been shortlisted for major awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year and Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Indie Book Awards’ Debut Fiction Book of the Year. Rights to The Nowhere Child have been sold in 17 international territories, and acquired for a major screen deal.
His second novel, The Wife and the Widow, was released in September 2019 in Australia and January 2020 in the US. It became an instant bestseller and won the 2020 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction.
Christian’s third novel, Wild Place, was published on October 2021.
Christian co-created the television series ‘Clickbait’, with Tony Ayres (The Slap), which went straight to number 1 on Netflix in 41 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK.
Christian has recently co-written Apartment 7A (with Natalie Erika James), a psychological thriller for Paramount Pictures, and co-wrote the feature film Relic, a horror/drama starring Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an AWGIE award for Best Feature Film at the 2019 Australian Writer’s Guild Awards.
Christian has also authored an audio novella for Audible and co-authored two more with his wife, Summer DeRoche.
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