Australian crime thrillers have been my new love. Told through dual timelines about missing girls, this brilliant Aussie crime thriller had me on the edge of my seat. Fantastic read.

Lowbridge is the first novel by Australian author, Lucy Campbell. Moving to her husband’s hometown of Lowbridge was meant to help Katherine Ashworth come to terms with her profound grief over the loss of their teenaged daughter without being constantly confronted by well-meaning people who know the story. But it’s not really working: she’s just about hibernating in the Hayward house, while Jamie commutes to Sydney daily for work.

When she leans a bit too heavily on alcohol and sleeping tablets, Jamie issues an ultimatum, and her vows to get out, to interact, to do more, accidentally find her at the Lowbridge and District Historical Society, where her interest in the town is piqued. Employing her promotional skills results in a successful bushfire awareness campaign, but the focus of her next campaign has Jamie concerned.

He claims to be worried that bringing the early 1987 in broad daylight disappearance of sixteen-year-old Tess Dawes, back into the pubic eye, may hinder Katherine’s recovery, but she eventually learns there’s something he’s not sharing. He tries to discourage her from looking into it, but Tess’s mother Julianne welcomes any action that will put her daughter’s name on people’s lips: maybe someone will remember something, even thirty years on.

Soon enough, Katherine learns of another teen whose earlier disappearance never raised the same degree of concern: Jacklyn Martin was from the wrong side of the tracks, a motherless teen whose father was an abusive drunk, and everyone accepted without question the story they were told. But now, the answers that Katherine’s queries invoke put that in doubt, while several people in town would rather she didn’t dig up the past.

Campbell effortlessly evokes her era and setting with popular culture references and topical issues of the time. She populates her tale with players whose emotions and reactions are easily credible, whose dialogue is natural, and many of whom have appeal, for all their very human failings.

The dual-timeline narrative alternates between Katherine’s narrative and the events of summer 1986/7 mostly from Tess’s perspective. Campbell certainly keeps the reader guessing right up to the final reveal, offering up plenty of potential suspects who could have stopped to give Jac and later, Tess, a lift. This is an outstanding Australian rural crime debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Ultimo Press.

A cold case set in the 1980's . Yes please. 2 of my favorite tropes. This book lost a star for me as I just couldnt connect with some of the characters. It was also a bit predictable.

I really enjoyed this book by an author I've never read before. Brooding twisty a at times sad this story delivers on many fronts. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Set in the Australian countryside, this book is told though different viewpoints and in two different time periods. Katherine is in a bad place, drinking too much and abusing pain and other medication. The relationship with her husband is in a bad place and they have left Sydney for the small town of Lowbridge for, initially, undisclosed reasons. Katherine makes a deal with her husband Jamie, that she will start to improve her life. During a walk out of the house, she comes into contact with Margaret, who runs the town's historical society.
When returning to the historical society, Katherine starts to discover the town's secrets and also the reasons for her own problems is gradually revealed. Tess disappeared in 1987 and around the same time another girl, Jac leaves town. Tess is missed by her family, Jac who has lived a life of abuse and poverty not so much. Katherine becomes determined to find out what happened to both girls . Her husband who was at school with them both is less enthousiastic about her obsession.
Although slow moving, this is a well told story, credible and with unexpected twists. Characters and events are well described and interaction between the teenagers at school and in the later time period is right.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Told through dual timelines about missing girls, this brilliant Aussie crime thriller had me on the edge of my seat. Brilliantly written, I loved every moment reading this one. Lucy Campbell is an author I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from.

I enjoyed this debut Australian thriller. Set over two timelines, the characters were well written adswell as the insular country town setting. My main criticism is that the narrative pace was a little slow at times. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

A small town in Australia in 1986/7 we meet Tess, Louisa and Sim. Typical teenagers and best friends. Sim"s parents are trying to open a women's centre, for medical purposes as well as a refuge to escape any form of abuse. The town is not fully in support, worried about the sort of people this will. This welcome distraction allows the girls to sneak out for a school party, and not one which ends well. Shortly after the party, Tess leaves work and is never seen again.

Modern day and Jamie has moved back to Lowbridge with his wife Katherine, a last chance to get her life together after the tragic loss of their daughter, before the only option left is rehab. Katherine becomes involved in logging documents from the town's history, when she sees the story of Tess, and the heartbreak she feels for her mother takes over. Desperate that the family should have closure in one way or another.

As well as the mystery/suspense, which is written brilliantly, there are some socially devisive subjects which are handled with so much respect. Each side is allowed its voice within the story without prejudice, and there is a huge mirror held up to the judgements we can make to other kids at school...which we then carry on as adults! This is an exceptional read.

Lowbridge is a chilling mystery with a cast of believable characters. It follows two timelines set in small-town New South Wales: one in the 1980s and the other thirty-odd years later. Lucy Campbell skilfully and gradually weaves these two stories together and eventually we learn why Lowbridge has kept its secrets for so long.

A trio of schoolgirls at Lowbridge High School look for ways to entertain themselves. They have the usual concerns: sport, boys and having fun without their parents’ anger crashing around them. Then a Lowbridge girl goes missing and everything changes. The people of the town close ranks – perhaps to protect the guilty? – and the mystery remains unsolved.

Katherine Ashworth and her husband Jamie Hayward move to Lowbridge in an attempt to recover from the grief of their own trauma. For Jamie the town is familiar – he grew up there. Katherine has the twin challenges of overcoming her agony and depression in order to find her feet in a new community. Discovering the town museum gives her a new sense of purpose, but stirring up the past soon starts to add to her problems.

Lowbridge is an absorbing read and, with a variety of red herrings and false leads, it kept me guessing. The characters support the storyline well, so that it’s hard to guess which are simply grumpy, which are genuinely charming, and which might hold the vital clues to the mystery of the girl’s disappearance.

The book’s structure is handled very well. It’s easy to tell whether a chapter is in the past or the present and to identify the links between the two time periods. In both timelines, the backstory is very gradually revealed – and I don’t want to spoil that by including too much detail here.

As a European myself, I felt that the book plays strongly to Australian stereotypes, where men hold the power, ganging together in an atmosphere of alcohol and chauvinism, and women are weak and downtrodden. Maybe it was really like that in the 1980s? However, it’s worth noting that this is very relevant to the story. There is also cause for optimism as Katherine sets about using her wits and skills to solve the mystery and set both the town and herself on the path to healing.

This is a very good, well written Australian thriller. Set in two timelines, it's filled with beautiful descriptions, is character driven and is a steady read. I liked Katherine, the main character, and her determination to find out the truth about two missing girls. A good summer read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

There's lots to enjoy in Lucy Campbell's debut novel, a dual timeline, smalltown Australian setting, more than one missing child and seething teenage hormones are all packed into this well scripted novel.
The book opens with a teenage girl getting into a car in the 1980s, even though she knows she probably shouldn't. All the tension of the 'there but for the grace of god' moments is perfectly encapsulated in just a few punchy pages. Despite lots of local press and family appeals the girl is never seen alive again.

Fast forward to the present day and Katherine and Jamie have moved back to his hometown of Lowbridge, to try for a fresh start after the tragic loss of their own daughter. Katherine has been drinking to bury the pain whilst Jamie has been working harder than ever; is their grief going to destroy everything they have left?

Katherine eventually finds the inner strength to move forward, immersing herself in the town's historical society, where she becomes involved in local history projects. Her research leads her to the disappearance of the school girl and she is understandably reminded of her own loss. She becomes obsessed by the girl's disappearance but will she be able to find anything else out?

The two timelines work really well together, the teenage girls re-appearing in the current timeline as middle aged women was a nice touch and a great way to bring the two stories together. The small-town feel where everybody knows everyone's business came across well; nothing is forgotten even 40 years later. The joy and excitement of being a teenage girl, talking about your future, boys, jobs, everything all felt very fresh and real. Katherine's grief and pain at losing her daughter is palpable and you can feel her utter devastation and sadness at the rift between her and Jamie.

The whole story felt very real and very sad - a solidly written, well-told tale that deserves to be read.

Katherine (Kat) and her husband Jamie move back to his hometown of Lowbridge, after suffering a devastating loss of the death of their daughter. As Kat struggles to get through each day she literally stumbles upon the towns historical society and becomes involves in some of their projects, giving her renewed hope. One of the projects involves the disappearance of a young girl and Kat links the girl to another missing girl from the same time. As she digs further into the mystery, Kat finds some unexpected connections and secrets that some people will do anything to protect.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two timelines in this one, with the author revealing small pieces of the past of the missing girls, as Kat works her way through the mystery. I love a small town setting and the backstory with the significant events in the towns history added to the intrigue. This was a fabulous debut and I look forward to more by this author. 4.5*

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Ultimo Press for this gifted review copy.

Katherine and her husband move to the small town of Lowbridge after experiencing a traumatic personal loss, because Lowbridge is where her husband is originally from and where he grew up. After the move, Katherine is trying to cope with her situation in the only way that she knows - mainly through self medicating with alcohol and pills.

After accidentally becoming involved with the local historical society, she finds out about a case 3 decades ago, involving the mysterious disappearance of a local girl on her way home from a shopping mall in 1987. Katherine's focus shifts to the case and she becomes interested in finding out more.

As she probes to determine how a girl could go missing in such a small town, apparently without leaving a trace, Katherine discovers the disappearance of a second girl, which appears to have gone largely unremarked by most of the inhabitants of Lowbridge.

As is all too evident - especially in our media-savvy age - who gets noticed when they disappear, and which victims remain unknown with their disappearance going largely unnoticed (and why), is determined by the interplay of a number of factors. How did those combine to allow the vanishing of teenaged Tess Dawes to remain unexplained to this day?

In Lowbridge, there are those who have grown up forever marked by the events of that long ago time, and others who are keeping their secrets close. Not unsurprisingly, they are not happy about Katherine's self-appointed investigative role either...

This is an well-written small town mystery, which touches upon many contentious issues. Recommended to those who enjoy character-driven stories that deliver on good storytelling. I give it 3.5 stars.

Australian debut author Lucy Campbell’s, Lowbridge is her first crime fiction novel. Katherine Ashworth and her husband Jamie move back to his childhood town of Lowbridge, to move on from the grief of their daughter’s fatal accident. Struggling to function, Katherine stumbles across the local Historic Society and finds solace in assisting a local fundraiser based on the 1939 bushfires that almost destroyed the town. She then becomes aware of the tragic disappearance of a 17-year-old girl in 1987 which was a tumultuous time in the town’s history, as the battle for a Woman’s Support Service was causing division amongst locals. The narrative switches seamlessly between time periods in 1987 and 2018, with the hidden past and secrets having ramifications no one can foresee. It’s a captivating read with a depth of characters and events that make for a spell-binding story that has a heart and makes it an incredible debut with a five stars must-read rating. With thanks to Ultimo Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

I loved the dual timelines!! It was really well done and each story/timeline hooked you in with the characters. But I didn't love the end. It fell flat for me, especially after all the build up.

Overall, this was a well written thriller that I had trouble putting down!! Despite the end, I still really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more from Lucy Campbell.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

This was a bit of a different read. I was expecting a more murder mystery books, but it turns out that, yes there was a mystery, even several, but it is more of a empowering story about a woman who has lost her will to live to due a loss, and her way back to becoming an important part of the community.

This means that it started out a bit slow for me, and I was wondering where the book will take me, and when will the more fast paced part start. Once I realized this was not about that at all, I let the book guide me, and I really started to enjoy the book.

There are many good things happening in this book. It is great to see people grow, learn new things, and get interested in history for example. The best part however is that there is a lot of closure in this book. People find the answers they are looking for. Even though the answers are not the ones one might wish for, at least you get them. Also great to see characters grow.

I thought this sounded like a good thriller.

I liked this. From the first few pages, I became emotionally involved. I felt an emotional connection with the characters and was able to relate to them, and I cared about what happened to them. There was also some time shifting, alternating between the 1980s and a time close to the present day. This was something else that piqued my interest - I was intrigued by the characters in both narratives and found myself turning the pages quite quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

Struggling to survive in the aftermath of a debilitating personal tragedy, Kat and her husband return to his small hometown. Kat latches on to the local Historical Society as a safe place to avoid her own emotions. However, uncovering the past leads to secrets she can't escape.

This started strong. However, as more of the mysteries were unraveled, I got less and less interested in the various characters motivations. I would recommend this to people who lean more towards stories of generational trauma and women's lives than those who enjoy action-packed thrillers.

This is one of those books where you go in expecting one thing and discover something else entirely, but in a very good way.

After the death of her teenaged daughter, Katherine moves to the sleepy village of Lowbridge where her husband grew up. Needless to say that after such a devastating event, Katherine is struggling to move on with her life. Most of it consists of pills and vodka. Until one day she ventures out and has a funny turn right outside the building of the local historical society. Katherine quickly finds a friend in Margaret and, in trying to find a way to pick up the pieces of her life, she decides to help Margaret with filing and archiving of old documents. It is in doing so that Katherine comes across the mystery of two girls who went missing in 1987 and were never seen again.

Sim, Tess and Luisa were three high school friends in Lowbridge in the late eighties. These three girls couldn't possibly be any more different if they tried. Tess comes from a loving and supportive family, Luisa is the daughter of the Italian immigrants who run the local trattoria, and Sim seems to have it all. Except maybe the love and attention of her parents, who are far too busy trying to make a mark. One of these girls will go missing without a trace. But she won't be the only one. What happened to them? And why?

There are plenty of secrets to discover. There are people who are hiding things, one or two who know more than they're willing to share. The disappearance of the girls happened during a rather tumultuous time for the town of Lowbridge. Sim's mother had plans to open a women's centre, a decision that left the residents extremely divided. Especially surrounding the topic of abortion. It's not quite a period many look back on fondly.

As so often happens, I was mostly interested in the chapters set in the eighties. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with the three girls, watching them navigate the tough teenage years while still trying to have fun along the way. All this in a town where everybody knows everyone else's business. In the present chapters, Margaret and her friends, Colleen and Sylvie, were also quite likeable. But I couldn't at all connect to Katherine or her husband, although I'm not entirely sure why.

'Lowbridge' is not just a mystery and if you're going in expecting a thriller or a rollercoaster ride, this isn't it. It is not just about finding out what happened to the missing girls. This is very much a character driven story, which tackles some immensely difficult topics along the way. These are characters whose lives were turned upside down, who had to find a way to carry on somehow. 'Lowbridge' isn't full of twists to dazzle you, it doesn't require you to suspend disbelief, it doesn't rely on big theatrics or drama. It is "just" a really good story, with that small town setting I adore, with characters that feel realistic and believable, with a well thought-out plot, and a reveal that I didn't see coming.

A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying debut by Lucy Campbell. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more from her.

I was recently auto-approved by Ultimo Press, a small Australian publishing house. This is the third book I have read from them and I have to say I have been very impressed so far.

In this novel, Kat moves to Lowbridge, her husband's hometown, after suffering a significant trauma. Retreating into depression and alcohol, Kat searches for something to give her life meaning and stumbles across the Lowbridge historical offices and becomes involved in various projects which highlight the history of the small town. One of these projects is the disappearance decades earlier of a young girl, but when investigating this disappearance, Kat stumbles across a second girl, one who no-one has really missed.

What happened to those two girls, what secrets are this small town hiding and what does her husband know about the missing girls?

Like I say, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. The sense of the small town and its people really came through and the pacing of the novel was brilliant as it moved between past and present, bringing them together with an exciting conclusion. No great over-the-top drama, no suspension of realism, just a really good story, well told.

Definitely an author I will look out for in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ultimo Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review