Review: Wild Place - Christian White
After devouring The Ledge with Tandem Collective's readalong, I was absolutely hooked on Christian White's ability to craft those delicious Australian suburban settings with unexpected twists that leave you reeling. So when a gorgeous fellow bookstagrammer gifted me Wild Place for my birthday, I was excited to get stuck into it.
Set in 1989, Wild Place follows Tom Witter, a high school teacher living what appears to be an idyllic suburban life in Camp Hill with his wife and teenage sons, Marty and Kieran. His summer break routine involves DIY projects, neighbourhood watch meetings, and the usual parental vigilance. But when local teen Tracie Reed vanishes, everything shifts. The community forest known as Wild Place once a backdrop to everyday life suddenly transforms into something menacing. Tom becomes convinced that Tracie's disappearance is somehow linked to this dense woodland, and his determination to protect his sons spirals into an obsessive investigation that drags him into genuinely dark territory.
What makes Wild Place particularly brilliant is how Christian White weaponises the Satanic Panic era. Remember when parents, whipped into hysteria by sensationalist media, genuinely believed heavy metal music and Gothic fashion were gateways to demonic possession? Christian White doesn't just reference this cultural paranoia , he weaponises it. The atmosphere he creates is thick with suspicion, judgement, and the kind of hysteria that turns neighbours against each other. Every shadow becomes sinister, every teenage rebellion potentially diabolical.
If you loved The Ledge like I did, Wild Place offers that same suburban Australian unease but wrapped in a distinctly retro package that somehow makes everything feel even more unsettling.
I'm already eyeing his remaining backlist with eager anticipation.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/42YFy95
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