The Rush

April 1, 2024
With a torrential storm and flash floods moving in quickly, Quinn knows she needs to rush to the safety of the tavern where she works and lives, deep in the Australian Outback. But out in the remote wilderness, miles from anyone and absent cell service, she finds a body in the middle of the road. She has to help, but she also really needs to get to the tavern, where owner Andrea is alone and frightened with her young son while her husband helps an elderly neighbor with an emergency. Meanwhile, an epically dysfunctional group of four university students, woefully ill prepared for their Australian Outback road trip, is having a terrifying adventure of its own. Australian debut author Prak weaves these intersecting lives together in a taut, edge-of-your-seat thriller that slowly, skillfully layers on the suspense wrought by the remote and unforgiving Outback landscape, the menacing weather, and the dark side of human nature. Perfect for readers drawn to psychological suspense filled with believable twists and turns.

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March 7, 2023
The Rush by Michelle Prak gives new meaning to the words gripping and horrifying. Take Jane Harper’s The Lost Man, add some sinister Wolf Creek, and you’re on the right (or very wrong) rural noir track. The Rush begins with local Quinn’s discovery of an abandoned body on an isolated road in remote South Australia. Add an agitated group of four backpackers on their way to Darwin, their overlap at the remote outback pub where Quinn works and lives—and let the fun/horror begin. In some ways The Rush is a misleading read. It starts off a bit predictably, as a familiar road-tripping, Gen Z story set in a standard Australian outback setting. While the writing is taut from the beginning, with strong scene-setting and dialogue, you are not prepared for the fast-paced twists ahead. It is anything but your typical outback thriller. The unravelling horror is set up so masterfully by the stream of banal travel banter, ominous weather and testy human dynamics. The characters are developed steadily, evoking physical responses from the reader (the main villain Joost with his ‘pale eyes and hungry sneer,’ a stand-out). Aside from its entertainment value, The Rush makes you think, raising relevant themes of climate change, toxic masculinity and the troubling culture of online gaming communities. The Rush is a strong addition to a popular niche in the reading market—well written, compulsive crime thrillers that transport readers to places they are only brave enough to visit from the safety of their armchairs.