Anna Downes’s extraordinary next thriller Red River Road follows a woman desperate to discover what happened to her sister on a solo road trip through the Australian outback.

Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.

Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?

And then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best—and only—chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.

Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory.

When I picked up this book, I went in expecting your standard missing white woman true crime novel, but the author tips that familiar trope on its head and turns this story into something much more complex and exciting.

The book focuses on three main characters: Katy, Beth, and Wyatt. Katy is searching for her missing sister, Phoebe, who disappeared several months ago while roadtripping around Australia. Phoebe was a travel and lifestyle influencer, and the only leads Katy has to go on are clues that she pulls from Phoebe’s Instagram posts. She uses these to trace Phoebe’s steps along the remote coastal highway in Western Australia.

As Katy delves deeper into Phoebe’s whereabouts, she crosses paths with Beth, a woman wrapped in some pretty dark secrets who is running from something (or someone). Beth fears that Phoebe may have fallen victim to someone she knows, so the two women join forces to uncover the truth behind Phoebe’s disappearance. We also get several chapters from a mysterious young man named Wyatt. All we know about Wyatt, in the beginning, is that he is dealing with a mysterious illness, things aren’t great at home, he has some anger issues, and he is hearing weird sounds in and around his garage.

As the plot unravels, we learn more about all three of our main characters and how their stories are connected. It all comes together at the end in a reveal that I did not see coming at all. Both Katy and Beth are unreliable in a big way, and if you’ve followed my reviews for any length of time, you’ll know that I love that!

Not only are the three main characters intriguing, but there are several side characters that serve a distinct purpose to the overall story, and I loved (or loved to hate) all of them. The author uses the characters as more than mere plot points or red herrings, and some of them end up being more than you initially thought they were. (Another big plus.)

The author does a great job of placing us firmly in the van with Beth and Katy. I felt as though I was right there with them, scouring the outskirts of Australia to find out what happened to Phoebe. The chapter length varied, and I loved how the chapters got shorter and more punchy toward the end as the action picked up. It really helped add to the sense of urgency. As I mentioned earlier, I went into this one expecting to read your standard missing white woman story, and I was afraid I might not be engaged because I really wasn’t in the mood for something familiar. I had nothing to worry about, though. I ended up getting sucked in within just a few chapters and ended up reading this in a day.

I also really enjoyed the psychological aspects of the novel. The author took the story in a direction I didn’t see coming, and it totally worked. Psychology has always intrigued me, and I love when an author does their research and works it into their story in a realistic way.

In the end, this one ended up being much deeper and more compelling than I initially thought it would be. I found this to be a captivating, edge-of-your-seat thriller with a surprising twist that worked exceptionally well. If you’re a fan of suspenseful mysteries with an unreliable lead, complex characters, and unexpected twists, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this one.

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