Catch Us the Foxes

Marlowe Robertson is a young photojournalist looking for the big break to get her out of small-town Kiama. She has a sort of rivalry going with Lily Williams, who was once her best friend. Lily has just earned herself a cadet-ship and is on her way out of the town and Lo is just a bit envious. It’s while working for the local paper as a photographer that she discovers’ a murdered Lily’s body at the local show. Soon she is trying to solve the murder and find justice for her one-time friend and goes on an interesting journey along the way.

I won’t go into any more specifics here but this story has multiple red herrings and the twists and turns are enough to make the reader a bit dizzy. That said, it is certainly an easy book to read and I finished it in less than three days. While reading I had a certain uneasiness about the story. Sure, it’s meant to be creepy but I still struggled with the plot at times and questioned some of the twists and turns. Marlowe is definitely a complicated character but I don’t feel it’s explored as well as could be. Her relationship with Lily is definitely unclear. I mean it’s mentioned repeatedly they were best friends as young children but then they weren’t and there’s another story that isn’t explored. I can only guess they are rivals of sorts at this stage. And yet they don’t seem to be that either. And that’s just one relationship that doesn’t feel like it’s properly fleshed out. Other characters like her best friend, Dan, her father, and star journalist Owen are relationships that never feel quite right to me. They just don’t make sense when placed against the background provided.

I understand that Kiama is a real place and I am at a loss as to why this was used in a story that shows the town as being narrow and close-minded. I can only say that perhaps the reader needs to think of this as an alternative universe, otherwise, this could easily provide a false perception of this very real place.

I wanted to like this more but it just doesn’t sit well with me and I can only give this two stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Australia for sharing an advance reader copy with me. I have voluntarily provided this review.