Set over two time periods this is narrated by Phoebe who was murdered 10 years ago and Claire who is back in Australia for a 10 year reunion just after Phoebe's body has been found. A good read with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

3.5* rounded up

Sara Ochs’ 'The Outback' is a twisty, dual-timeline destination mystery thriller that set against the stark beauty of the Australian outback. It follows a group of former study-abroad friends who reunite a decade after one of their own vanished. The discovery of her remains forces them to confront buried truths.

The alternating perspectives of Claire in the present and Phoebe in the past work well to develop the story and keeps the narrative cohesive and engaging. I did find at the start that I skim read Phoebe's sections a little as she was initially insufferable but we do get more character development as the story progresses and secrets buried deep are brought to the surface.

The story has a fast pace with plenty of twists that help maintain suspense throughout. However, most of the characters feel pretty shallow with little overall development so you don't ever truly feel a connection to them. But for me, in a destination thriller like this that doesn't derail too much as the story is strong and enough intrigue in the mystery to keep you reading on.

Overall, 'The Outback' is a much like other thrillers in this style - compelling, fun, and filled with suspense. Add this to your summer reading list and you won't be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Penguin for a digital review copy of "The Outback" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

The Study Abroad scheme welcomes foreign students to Australia for a month over Christmas, this is a time of adventure, discover and fun for the young people until one year it isn’t. The story is told in a mixture of then and now by Claire and Phoebe who met on the first day at Hamilton College, their hosts for the month, and became friends immediately.
Ten years after the trip they return as the body of the one that didn’t go home has been found. A well written story that had me gripped and is full of twists and a totally unexpected ending.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

It was supposed to be paradise.
A group of friends are studying abroad in Australia, having the time of their lives. Sun-kissed skin, whirlwind romances, all-night parties – they think it will never end, that nothing bad will ever happen to them. But not all of them came home.
Accepted onto the exclusive Adventure Abroad Programme, they travel the country, swim with sharks, hike in the national park. But it isn’t long before their trip of a lifetime ends in violence and betrayal. And now they have to go back.. Years pass, but none of the surviving friends forget what happened that night. So when the remains of a girl are found in the outback, they know it’s time to face up to the past. All of them are guilty of something, but who is really to blame?

Enjoyed the multiple points of view but have to say there was a lot of characters to get to know and I wasn’t overkeen on any…..but there were twists and surprises in the story and the setting was great and easy to visualise with the writing and so for me it was a decent read with maybe a bit more pace needed throughout to move things on

A quick paced, sharp murder mystery novel with well-developed characters, all of which are unpleasant to a certain extent.

Ten years ago, a bunch of spoilt high school teenagers embarked on a month-long educational study in the Outback of Australia. Friendships as well as enemies were quickly established as they formed a tight group. Each, however, had their own reason for going there. Either to get away from controlling parents or start a new life. What happened was that two never left alive. Phoebe was reported missing, and Thomas met with an accident.

The novel opens with the 10-year reunion of the remaining group who have decided to mark it with a trip to Sydney. Just before they arrive the body of Phoebe is discovered, and the reunion turns into a visit down memory lane to find out what happened all those years ago.

Told through the perspectives of Phoebe and Claire, her roommate, we see a group of teenagers more focused on getting drunk and bed hopping than any cultural benefits on offer. The two timelines worked well in setting up and maintaining a tense atmosphere. There are some interesting insights into how dependent certain parts of Australia are on tourism or educational visits to survive, which I found interesting and the twist at the end was a huge surprise.

Thank you NetGalley and ARC for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.

Really enjoyed this dual timeline thriller that travelled across Australia. I love books that keep me guessing and this one did. There was enough mystery in both threads of the story to keep me turning the page and I thought the author interweaved them well.

Thank you for the early copy.

I do love a destination thriller, seeing the characters out of their comfort zone in a place that they don’t know people or the place. A group of students from around the world head off on the adventure of a lifetime from Sydney, through North Queensland and into the outback. A month of learning and experience that they could never dream off.

At first things are going well, lots of drinking and partying. It isn’t long before they start to rub each other the wrong way and tensions rise. Danger is everywhere in the Australia outback, from snakes and spiders to each other. One of them goes missing and the trip comes to an end.

It is now 10 years later and the surviving students are planning a reunion in Sydney, just as police contact them with the news that human remains have been located in the last place they visited.

I can’t say that ai especially liked any of these characters. They were all kind of selfish and egotistical but that made it so much more fun to read. None of them could be trusted. It was a fast read, I powered through it in a day. Secrets, love affairs, this story has it all.

Thank you so much to Random House UK, Transworld for my early copy of this book to read. Publishes on July 3rd .

The description of this book really drew me in and a lot of the descriptions of the Australian outback were good. However, although I wanted to know what had happened to Phoebe I didn’t really warm to any of the characters and there were just too many red herrings. To be honest I thought Claire was a bit pathetic.

I thought the two points of view ten years apart worked well but ultimately I didn’t care about any of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC

I enjoyed this book, it was fast paced, with lots of twists and turns.
It kept my interest and I wanted to know what happened next!
Love a good destination thriller too and the characters were well developed.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to North Falls. A small town where everyone knows everyone. But nobody knows the truth. Emmy Clifton has lived here all her life. She thinks she knows her neighbours. She's wrong.
She thinks it’s just another hot summer night: a night like any other. She's wrong.
When her best friend's daughter asks for help, she thinks it’s just some teenage drama. She thinks it can wait. She’s never been more wrong in her life.
As the town ignites in the wake of the girl's disappearance, Emmy throws herself into the search. But then she realises: You never really know a town until you know its secrets.

I found this a good read. Three dimensional characters and a story that progresses at a decent speed to keep you interested. The descriptions are good too. Enjoyable.

"The Outback", also known as "This Stays Between Us", is an incredibly engaging read set against the stunning backdrop of Australia. It follows a group of friends who, after ten years apart, come together for a reunion that quickly turns into something unexpected and dark. Their friend Phoebe, who vanished a decade ago, has been found, and now everyone in the group becomes a suspect in a chilling police investigation.

What I loved about the story is how it unfolds through two different timelines and perspectives. We get to see the past through Phoebe's eyes and the present through Claire's viewpoint. This dual narration adds so much depth to the mystery! There are plenty of surprising twists along the way, and even though I figured out who was behind it all, I was still completely hooked on the unfolding drama.

The characters really popped for me; they felt so realistic and relatable. Each one has their own secrets, which keeps you guessing about whom you can really trust. Their dynamics were really well done!

Overall, I found this book to be a fantastic read, and I can’t wait to dive into more works by this author. If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, I highly recommend "The Outback"!

A big thank you to Random House UK for sharing a digital review copy with me through NetGalley. All my thoughts in this review are completely my own, and I’m excited to share them with you voluntarily!

A group of friends, made ten years earlier on a student adventure, meet up in Australia to re-forge old bonds and to remember two of their group who never made it home. Tommy ‘s death was tragic but pretty straightforward (or was it?) and Phoebe’s body has recently been found, leaving each member of the group to assess their own role in what happened a decade ago. The story is told by Claire in the present and mostly by Phoebe in the past and the two timelines are seamlessly interwoven by the author to allow the narrative to flow freely. As an Australian I have to say that some of the police interrogation methods didn’t ring entirely true but this is an engrossing story with well forged characters and the landscape of the Australian outback described in convincing detail - well worth a read.

This is a review for an ARC provided by NetGalley
2.5 stars rounded up

10 years ago, a group of university students spend a month(+?) in Australia where affairs, death and every other form of drama becomes the norm. 10 years later, the remains of one of the group are found, forcing the survivors back to confront their secrets.

The description of this book is so intriguing and in some ways the plot lives up to it, but the book is seriously missing a lot of depth. I didn’t develop a connection to any of the characters, with the main narrator feeling completely bland, her only personality trait being her haunting guilt. The rest of the group live up to specific stereotypes and don’t divert far from those. The chemistry in both platonic and romantic relationships was nonexistent, evidenced by the author having to constantly add reminders of how characters felt about one another.

I did enjoy the switched POVs between the two key characters and between present day and 10 years ago. Some reviews have said that this is confusing, but I never felt lost in this aspect of the book.

Despite the book feeling like it drags in areas, the author somehow struggled to provide any depth to the characters and each plot point felt quite random. The build up to finding the answers did feel slightly climactic, but the twists felt so unrealistic that it fell quite flat. I think the epilogue was wholly unnecessary and made the rest of the book feel a bit redundant.

Overall it was an easy enough read, and with some work I think it could actually be quite a decent book.

Wow. This was such a fun book to read. It was exciting and it was very hard to put down because you keep wanting to know the rest of the story! The story lines from before (Phoebe) and now (Claire) were easy to follow and the story itself was very interesting. I am very curious to read other books by this author

I enjoyed this book. The Outback setting added to the intensity and drama of the plot.

Telling the story through Claire in the present and Phoebe in the past helped to reveal clues and revelations.

I felt the ending required suspension of belief as to the killer's motivation. A bit too much of a coincidence. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book.

A group of friends reunite in the Australian outback, where they studied together ten years earlier, which was meant to be the trip of a lifetime but ended in violence and betrayal. When the remains of a girl are found years later, they know it’s time to face up to what really happened previously.

I really enjoyed this author’s previous book so was looking forward to this one. I love a destination thriller and the Australian outback is always a great setting for an isolated, tense read. It certainly ended up having a compelling, immersive atmosphere, where as a reader you can feel the environment around you.

Even though I enjoyed the setting, I did find that this was a bit of a slow burn which meant at times it lacked suspense. I enjoyed the way the story was told in different points of view and I found the characters interesting, although there were a few to remember. Having read quite a few thrillers, I did find the overall story a bit samey and predictable, however saying that, this was still an entertaining, solid mystery and I look forward to seeing what the author writes next. 3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

A crime thriller set in the Australian out back following a group of international students who reunite following the discovery of the body of another friend ten years previously. The slow pace and the multiple characters who were thinly stretched diluted my interest in the novel. However, the setting was rich in description and it will make a good holiday read.

I really enjoyed this book. 10 years ago a group of young people embarked on a study programme in Australia. Sadly, the trip ended with the disappearance of Phoebe, who was never heard from again. Now Phoebe's remains have been found and the group are back in Australia to answer the Police's questions. Told in 2 time frames, this is a real page turner that will keep you guessing right to the end.
Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

OMG! What have I just read! This book is amazing!!! I loved the storyline, I loved the characters, the good ones & the bad ones. There's so many twists and turns, this book will have you staying up reading well into the night. I read this in one sitting. Definitely 5 stars from me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️