With his second novel, The Brink, Holden Sheppard cements himself as a writer to be reckoned with, combining insight, boldness and delicacy in a compelling mystery–psychological thriller. When 13 high school leavers head for a coastal town north of Perth, they’re hell-bent on a week of living wild and ditching the constraints and expectations of school and family. A change of plans lands them on a craggy offshore island, where isolation, substance abuse and festering grievances combine to stretch relationships to the limit. When a body is discovered, all pretences of friendship snap.
In language heartfelt and gritty, Sheppard develops the pulse of the novel – the call to readers to be brave enough to be who they want to be, wisdom relevant to all ages. Sheppard’s depiction of setting – the heat, shoreline, rocks and scrub, the fifties-style shacks – is masterful. The landscape is sometimes exquisite, sometimes ominous, but always integral to unfolding events.