(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

It is 2001 and as the world charges into the new Millennium, a century-old dream is about to be realised in the Red Centre of Australia: the completion of the mighty Ghan railway, a long-lived vision to create the 'backbone of the continent', a line that will finally link Adelaide with the Top End. But construction of the final leg between Alice Springs and Darwin will not be without its complications, for much of the desert it will cross is Aboriginal land. Hired as a negotiator, Jessica Manning must walk a delicate line to reassure the Elders their sacred sites will be protected. Will her innate understanding of the spiritual landscape, rooted in her own Arunta heritage, win their trust? It's not easy to keep the peace when Matthew Witherton and his survey team are quite literally blasting a rail corridor through the timeless land of the Never-Never. Wen the paths of Jessica and Matthew finally cross, their respective cultures collide to reveal a mystery that demands attention. As they struggle against time to solve the puzzle, an ancient wrong is awakened and calls hauntingly across the vastness of the outback...

*2.5 stars*

Oh, I am so disappointed with this book. I had had such high hopes for it - so many people had told me to keep an eye out for it, that it was going to be something special...and a lot of the reviews on Goodreads and other places looked great...

But for me, it just wasn't.

Look, there were some really good aspects to this book: the research involved to tell this story must have been immense. The knowledge of the impositions placed on Aboriginal people during the construction of the railway; the history of the peoples themselves and their connection to the land; the work that went into the planning and construction...that was all very good, and I appreciated it a lot.

But, when it came to putting it all together, it just fell flat for me. The MC's - Jessica and Matthew - weren't very interesting to me, a didn't develop a connection to either of them. The dialogue was pretty plain as well - at times, I felt like I was reading a book from a debut author who hadn't found their groove, not an author who has more than a dozen novels to her name...

Sadly, this book didn't grab as I had hoped...


Paul
ARH