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High Wire
You only take the High Wire if you're desperate - or up to no good.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the 'Wire' crosses slabs of lawless land, body-dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris knows all too well that her jurisdiction - covering 200,000 square kilometres of South Australia desert - is the place where people go to disappear. But nothing could have prepared her for today's rapidly unfolding crime a runaway teenager, a burned-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
Further down the High Wire, Harvey Buck and Clare Holland are strangers thrust together for the road trip from hell. Ambushed on the roadside by a vengeful crew, the pair are being forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions.
Edna Norris is hot on their trail. But catching up to them might mean becoming part of their living nightmare . . .
'Fox writes cinematic action with moody characters, a high-octane plot, amid a Wake in Fright-like atmosphere of absurdity and menace.' Sydney Morning Herald, Fiction Pick of the Week
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the 'Wire' crosses slabs of lawless land, body-dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris knows all too well that her jurisdiction - covering 200,000 square kilometres of South Australia desert - is the place where people go to disappear. But nothing could have prepared her for today's rapidly unfolding crime a runaway teenager, a burned-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
Further down the High Wire, Harvey Buck and Clare Holland are strangers thrust together for the road trip from hell. Ambushed on the roadside by a vengeful crew, the pair are being forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions.
Edna Norris is hot on their trail. But catching up to them might mean becoming part of their living nightmare . . .
'Fox writes cinematic action with moody characters, a high-octane plot, amid a Wake in Fright-like atmosphere of absurdity and menace.' Sydney Morning Herald, Fiction Pick of the Week
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First published September 24, 2024
107 people are currently reading
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About the author
Candice Fox
28 books2,107 followersCandice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney's western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.
Hades is her first novel, and she is currently working on its sequel.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.
Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.
Hades is her first novel, and she is currently working on its sequel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
September 28, 2024
EXCERPT: A set-up with a burning car was just the right kind of bullshit for the High Wire. The secret track that cut through the Australian Outback from Broome to Sydney had started out as a trucker-only thing; a flat, even, mostly hazard-free route that skirted Indigenous conservation areas, cattle farms and small towns. It was far enough into the dusty forgotten corners of the states that joined hands across it that each jurisdiction liked to think that any problems on the Wire weren't theirs. Satellite coverage was patchy and routine patrols weren't feasible, so after the truckers let slip about it, the track became party central for drug traffickers trying to move cargo from the south-east corner of Australia to the north-west. And for the bandits who wanted to take advantage of that. Bandits who liked to set cars on fire, draw people in, rob and murder them.
Harvey had two choices now.
Drive on.
Or turn away.
ABOUT 'HIGH WIRE': You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.
The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop’s night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare’s trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .
MY THOUGHTS: Yeah, nah . . .
Very well written, tense as hell, but too much bloodshed and killing and not enough mystery and intrigue for me. Clare's story on its own would have made a wonderful read, and that was the most interesting aspect of this book for me. But I would have preferred a different outcome for her. I came very close to abandoning the read at this point.
Edna and Talon are terrific characters, and there is enough material there for a whole book. (Might we see more of them?)
And Buck . . . yes, I was rooting for him throughout. I just can't call him Harvey; he's not a Harvey. He's an interesting and complex character - tough as nails on the exterior but a bit of a marshmallow centre.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there was just a tad too much going on in this book for me. It's like three major weather systems colliding. I like a little more subtlety, finesse.
If you are looking for a tense, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thriller with bombs, hostages and lots of death, this is it! Sorry - it's just not my thing.
⭐⭐.5
#HighWire #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney's western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Penguin Random House Australia via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of High Wire by Candice Fox for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
Harvey had two choices now.
Drive on.
Or turn away.
ABOUT 'HIGH WIRE': You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.
The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop’s night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare’s trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .
MY THOUGHTS: Yeah, nah . . .
Very well written, tense as hell, but too much bloodshed and killing and not enough mystery and intrigue for me. Clare's story on its own would have made a wonderful read, and that was the most interesting aspect of this book for me. But I would have preferred a different outcome for her. I came very close to abandoning the read at this point.
Edna and Talon are terrific characters, and there is enough material there for a whole book. (Might we see more of them?)
And Buck . . . yes, I was rooting for him throughout. I just can't call him Harvey; he's not a Harvey. He's an interesting and complex character - tough as nails on the exterior but a bit of a marshmallow centre.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there was just a tad too much going on in this book for me. It's like three major weather systems colliding. I like a little more subtlety, finesse.
If you are looking for a tense, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thriller with bombs, hostages and lots of death, this is it! Sorry - it's just not my thing.
⭐⭐.5
#HighWire #NetGalley
THE AUTHOR: Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney's western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.
As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Penguin Random House Australia via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of High Wire by Candice Fox for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
September 28, 2024
4.5★
“A set-up with a burning car was just the right kind of bullsh*t for the High Wire.”
The High Wire is a bush track – not always exactly the same track – that cuts across from Sydney all the way to Broome on the west coast of Australia. Truckies, drugrunners, anyone lying low uses it to escape notice.
“The track became party central for drug traffickers trying to move cargo from the south-east corner of Australia to the north-west. And for the bandits who wanted to take advantage of that. Bandits who liked to set cars on fire, draw people in, rob and murder them.”
It’s a secret that’s not really a secret so much as a difficult and dangerous place to police. It is hard enough to cover an outback region from a one-cop-shop that’s responsible for ‘settled’ areas with stations and farms and small towns, some that are just wide spots in the road.
“Overall, Edna and Stevenson [another female cop], along with Indigenous leaders in the communities that dotted their jurisdiction, enforced law in a land area almost as large as New Zealand.”
The book opens with Harvey Buck driving on the High Wire in a hurry to get to Sydney after receiving a frantic phone call that Shayna is dying. When he sees a car on fire a long way in the distance, he stops before getting closer. It could be a trap – of course it could. It could also be a genuine traveller in trouble, in which case he doesn’t want to leave anyone stranded.
He moves ahead – it’s a woman. She’s horrified at her car that has “overheated” (I’ll say!) but she seems almost as wary of Harvey. He refuses to leave her there and gives her a lift, which is when they begin running into trouble together.
“This was bad. Very, very bad. Because whoever these guys were, they had either law enforcement or military training. The style of takedown was telling Harvey that. Everything about it, from the road spikes to the warning shots to the ‘big-dog’ voice the guy was using, the one they taught in the academy, the one from the gut.”
This is a complicated story, Harvey’s, hers, Senior Sgt Edna Norris’s (and the sidekick she acquires), and the soldiers from Harvey’s past. I wouldn’t even try to summarise it, other than to say the action is as red-hot as the car fire, and the tension is appallingly taut.
Not only is someone on the hunt for Harvey, it seems his new lady friend, Clare, is running away from home as well, and there’s no way her husband won’t be tracking her with helicopters and whatever else he can think of. He’d rather shoot her than let her get away.
Suicide vests are also involved (remember the soldiers?), and people die everywhere in some pretty awful circumstances. This is not one for the faint-hearted, but somehow, Fox just keeps me reading. She may not make things simple, but she does wrap it all up well.
I didn’t “like” most of the people (which makes it easier if Fox decides to eliminate someone), but I was fond of the two cops and the young man, Talon, who was supposed to be in custody to be sent home. It’s just that Senior Sgt Norris has so much ground to cover that she has no time to take him to an airport, so he travels with her and absolutely loves being an amateur detective. Turns out he’s not bad at it.
I’m sure I’m not alone in saying it would be fun to see them again sometime.
Thanks to #NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of #HighWire for review.
“A set-up with a burning car was just the right kind of bullsh*t for the High Wire.”
The High Wire is a bush track – not always exactly the same track – that cuts across from Sydney all the way to Broome on the west coast of Australia. Truckies, drugrunners, anyone lying low uses it to escape notice.
“The track became party central for drug traffickers trying to move cargo from the south-east corner of Australia to the north-west. And for the bandits who wanted to take advantage of that. Bandits who liked to set cars on fire, draw people in, rob and murder them.”
It’s a secret that’s not really a secret so much as a difficult and dangerous place to police. It is hard enough to cover an outback region from a one-cop-shop that’s responsible for ‘settled’ areas with stations and farms and small towns, some that are just wide spots in the road.
“Overall, Edna and Stevenson [another female cop], along with Indigenous leaders in the communities that dotted their jurisdiction, enforced law in a land area almost as large as New Zealand.”
The book opens with Harvey Buck driving on the High Wire in a hurry to get to Sydney after receiving a frantic phone call that Shayna is dying. When he sees a car on fire a long way in the distance, he stops before getting closer. It could be a trap – of course it could. It could also be a genuine traveller in trouble, in which case he doesn’t want to leave anyone stranded.
He moves ahead – it’s a woman. She’s horrified at her car that has “overheated” (I’ll say!) but she seems almost as wary of Harvey. He refuses to leave her there and gives her a lift, which is when they begin running into trouble together.
“This was bad. Very, very bad. Because whoever these guys were, they had either law enforcement or military training. The style of takedown was telling Harvey that. Everything about it, from the road spikes to the warning shots to the ‘big-dog’ voice the guy was using, the one they taught in the academy, the one from the gut.”
This is a complicated story, Harvey’s, hers, Senior Sgt Edna Norris’s (and the sidekick she acquires), and the soldiers from Harvey’s past. I wouldn’t even try to summarise it, other than to say the action is as red-hot as the car fire, and the tension is appallingly taut.
Not only is someone on the hunt for Harvey, it seems his new lady friend, Clare, is running away from home as well, and there’s no way her husband won’t be tracking her with helicopters and whatever else he can think of. He’d rather shoot her than let her get away.
Suicide vests are also involved (remember the soldiers?), and people die everywhere in some pretty awful circumstances. This is not one for the faint-hearted, but somehow, Fox just keeps me reading. She may not make things simple, but she does wrap it all up well.
I didn’t “like” most of the people (which makes it easier if Fox decides to eliminate someone), but I was fond of the two cops and the young man, Talon, who was supposed to be in custody to be sent home. It’s just that Senior Sgt Norris has so much ground to cover that she has no time to take him to an airport, so he travels with her and absolutely loves being an amateur detective. Turns out he’s not bad at it.
I’m sure I’m not alone in saying it would be fun to see them again sometime.
Thanks to #NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of #HighWire for review.
October 13, 2024
The High Wire is a secret unmarked, red dust backroad from Sydney to Broome across the middle of Australia, known only to the few who use it for illicit means such as drug running or body dumping. Pretty much a lawless area with little traffic and patchy mobile coverage, it’s not somewhere an innocent tourist would want to find themselves stranded.
Harvey Buck is a man in a hurry. He needs to get to Sydney from Alice Springs because he received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend to say she is dying. He still loves her but can’t be with her after what happened to him while they served together in Afghanistan. He was going to fly but the airport was closed due a bomb threat, so his only option for getting there fast is via the High Wire.
Despite his rush, when he sees a woman, Clare Holland, standing by her burnt out car Harvey feels compelled to stop and offer her a lift for her own safety. Little does she know she would have been a lot safer staying out in the desert.
Also, out on the High Wire are three old army mates looking for revenge and planning an ambush. Harvey and Clare will soon find themselves in their sights and in for a whole lot of trouble. But others are also on the High Wire that day looking for Clare. Her husband is hot on her trail, with his own reasons for wanting to find her before anyone else.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, the only police officer in an area over 200,000 square kilometres was on her way to Clifton Hills police station via the High Wire with a runaway teenager called Talon, when she also comes across Clare’s burnt-out car and signs that someone else has stopped for her. Her day is about to get even busier when a bank robbery in a tiny town is called in. What she doesn’t know is that the local crime wave is just getting started.
Candice Fox has written a fast-paced, rip-roaring outback thriller. It’s wild and crazy but all comes together in a fiendish hate fuelled plot that not everyone will survive. Harvey and Edna are excellent characters, both strong, resourceful and quick thinking. Harvey is a tough ex-soldier with a soft-hearted centre and Edna a seasoned outback cop with a chequered past and a quirky sense of humour that shows through in her conversations with Talon. They’ll both need all the tricks they have up their sleeves to get through this nightmare of a day.
The tension is high from the outset and never lets up in this gripping, clever, rollercoaster of a novel. There is bloodshed and collateral damage along the way, peppered with plenty of action, twists and mayhem, so be prepared to hang on tight to the edge of your seat once you start reading. 4.5★
With thanks to Penguin Random House Au for a copy to read. This original review was first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/hi...
Harvey Buck is a man in a hurry. He needs to get to Sydney from Alice Springs because he received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend to say she is dying. He still loves her but can’t be with her after what happened to him while they served together in Afghanistan. He was going to fly but the airport was closed due a bomb threat, so his only option for getting there fast is via the High Wire.
Despite his rush, when he sees a woman, Clare Holland, standing by her burnt out car Harvey feels compelled to stop and offer her a lift for her own safety. Little does she know she would have been a lot safer staying out in the desert.
Also, out on the High Wire are three old army mates looking for revenge and planning an ambush. Harvey and Clare will soon find themselves in their sights and in for a whole lot of trouble. But others are also on the High Wire that day looking for Clare. Her husband is hot on her trail, with his own reasons for wanting to find her before anyone else.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, the only police officer in an area over 200,000 square kilometres was on her way to Clifton Hills police station via the High Wire with a runaway teenager called Talon, when she also comes across Clare’s burnt-out car and signs that someone else has stopped for her. Her day is about to get even busier when a bank robbery in a tiny town is called in. What she doesn’t know is that the local crime wave is just getting started.
Candice Fox has written a fast-paced, rip-roaring outback thriller. It’s wild and crazy but all comes together in a fiendish hate fuelled plot that not everyone will survive. Harvey and Edna are excellent characters, both strong, resourceful and quick thinking. Harvey is a tough ex-soldier with a soft-hearted centre and Edna a seasoned outback cop with a chequered past and a quirky sense of humour that shows through in her conversations with Talon. They’ll both need all the tricks they have up their sleeves to get through this nightmare of a day.
The tension is high from the outset and never lets up in this gripping, clever, rollercoaster of a novel. There is bloodshed and collateral damage along the way, peppered with plenty of action, twists and mayhem, so be prepared to hang on tight to the edge of your seat once you start reading. 4.5★
With thanks to Penguin Random House Au for a copy to read. This original review was first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/hi...
September 29, 2024
2 books in one year, oh Candice, you do spoil us. Not only that, but High Wire is set in Australia!! It has been a while but it was truly worth the wait. Pick this book up when you have plenty of time on your hands, believe me, you will not want to put it down. The fast pace of this book will have you turning those pages as quickly as you can.
Harvey Buck thinks he is doing a good thing, stopping to help a woman by the side of the road who is having car trouble. The car is going nowhere so he offers her a ride, and that is when all hell breaks loose. The pair are soon being held hostage and forced to wear bomb vests and do their captures bidding or risk being blown to pieces.
Ow while all this is happening, big hearted Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is following all the carnage that this party are leaving behind, with a teenage boy in tow. I loved the character of Edna, bossy and funny but so caring at the same time.
That is all you need to know going in. Candice will take you on the wildest road trip you could imagine, and then more. Her characters are relatable and full of personality. You will get to know them quite well, and have some rather strong feelings for them, and not all of them will be good.
This is an action packed, drama filled adventure that you will not want to end. No matter how much I tried to slow my reading down I just could not do it. Another absolute belter of a book from my favourite Australian author. Get ready for the High Wire, out September 24th.
Harvey Buck thinks he is doing a good thing, stopping to help a woman by the side of the road who is having car trouble. The car is going nowhere so he offers her a ride, and that is when all hell breaks loose. The pair are soon being held hostage and forced to wear bomb vests and do their captures bidding or risk being blown to pieces.
Ow while all this is happening, big hearted Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is following all the carnage that this party are leaving behind, with a teenage boy in tow. I loved the character of Edna, bossy and funny but so caring at the same time.
That is all you need to know going in. Candice will take you on the wildest road trip you could imagine, and then more. Her characters are relatable and full of personality. You will get to know them quite well, and have some rather strong feelings for them, and not all of them will be good.
This is an action packed, drama filled adventure that you will not want to end. No matter how much I tried to slow my reading down I just could not do it. Another absolute belter of a book from my favourite Australian author. Get ready for the High Wire, out September 24th.
September 30, 2024
What I enjoyed most about this book was the setting, pace and the flashbacks. The setting was in Outback Australia , I pictured the Northern Territory. The pace - it was relentless it didnt stop from start to finish. The flashbacks I liked because it gave me an understanding of the "why". This book is the perfect combination of both character and action driven. It has a theme of revenge .
September 24, 2024
High Wire is Outback Gothic at its bleakly isolated best. The wide open expanses of the Australian outback leaves those who travel the lonely roads exposed to attack with little chance of help from passersby. When the ambush is planned and well executed, the feeling of hopelessness is even greater and the tension multiplies. This is a thriller that starts out with a jolt and then inexorably ups the tension page by page.
The High Wire is a barely-known dirt road running from Sydney to Broome through the middle of the country. It’s used as a “kind of shortcut for losers and drug runners”. It’s a dangerous track to traverse, a lawless environment where you regularly find burned out or abandoned cars along the way.
Harvey Buck knows the track and is equipped to survive most encounters along the way. Clare Holland has had the misfortune of breaking down, her car going up in flames and Harvey stops to offer her a lift.
Their car is brought to a sudden stop, all four tyres blown out by the road spikes laid across the track, ambushed by three men in balaclavas. Suddenly, Harvey’s contingencies for survival on the High Wire are blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris patrols from her one cop station, having to cover an unbelievably large region of Australia’s outback. She’s used to getting called out to trouble on the Wire. So when she finds Clare’s burnt out car and, some time later, Harvey’s abandoned car she starts forming a picture in her mind about what might have happened. It’s not a great picture and she commences slowly following the worrying trail.
The incidents on the High Wire aren’t random acts of violence. As the danger increases and the stakes are raised we’re gradually made aware of both Harvey’s and Clare’s respective pasts. The former soldier who served in Afghanistan and the Police Commissioner’s wife have had a storied past and past deeds have indeed brought them to this perilous situation.
In Harvey Buck and Edna Norris we have two highly competent operators and Candice Fox does a great job in fleshing them out. Although they’re in separate scenes throughout the book, they’re resourceful, filled with ingenuity and passionate in what they believe in. All these traits help them when they’re under attack but also hinders them when faced by authority. They’re kind of on opposite sides of the law, yet they equally come across as the story’s main protagonists.
In some respects High Wire is a wild chase thriller through some of the harshest, most unforgiving land on earth. But there’s far more at play here. Retribution, payback, domestic abuse and guilty consciences dominate the minds of just about all the players.
On this section of the High Wire, the action is intense as every moment leads up to a potentially cataclysmic finale. This is a strong plot that, for so much of the story, appears to be leading up to only one inevitable outcome. But then, it’s the unexpected that Candice Fox is so adept at delivering.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Australia and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC to allow me to read, enjoy and review this book.
The High Wire is a barely-known dirt road running from Sydney to Broome through the middle of the country. It’s used as a “kind of shortcut for losers and drug runners”. It’s a dangerous track to traverse, a lawless environment where you regularly find burned out or abandoned cars along the way.
Harvey Buck knows the track and is equipped to survive most encounters along the way. Clare Holland has had the misfortune of breaking down, her car going up in flames and Harvey stops to offer her a lift.
Their car is brought to a sudden stop, all four tyres blown out by the road spikes laid across the track, ambushed by three men in balaclavas. Suddenly, Harvey’s contingencies for survival on the High Wire are blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris patrols from her one cop station, having to cover an unbelievably large region of Australia’s outback. She’s used to getting called out to trouble on the Wire. So when she finds Clare’s burnt out car and, some time later, Harvey’s abandoned car she starts forming a picture in her mind about what might have happened. It’s not a great picture and she commences slowly following the worrying trail.
The incidents on the High Wire aren’t random acts of violence. As the danger increases and the stakes are raised we’re gradually made aware of both Harvey’s and Clare’s respective pasts. The former soldier who served in Afghanistan and the Police Commissioner’s wife have had a storied past and past deeds have indeed brought them to this perilous situation.
In Harvey Buck and Edna Norris we have two highly competent operators and Candice Fox does a great job in fleshing them out. Although they’re in separate scenes throughout the book, they’re resourceful, filled with ingenuity and passionate in what they believe in. All these traits help them when they’re under attack but also hinders them when faced by authority. They’re kind of on opposite sides of the law, yet they equally come across as the story’s main protagonists.
In some respects High Wire is a wild chase thriller through some of the harshest, most unforgiving land on earth. But there’s far more at play here. Retribution, payback, domestic abuse and guilty consciences dominate the minds of just about all the players.
On this section of the High Wire, the action is intense as every moment leads up to a potentially cataclysmic finale. This is a strong plot that, for so much of the story, appears to be leading up to only one inevitable outcome. But then, it’s the unexpected that Candice Fox is so adept at delivering.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Australia and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC to allow me to read, enjoy and review this book.
November 12, 2025
High Wire by Candice Fox
Synopsis /
You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.
The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop’s night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare’s trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .
My Thoughts /
Buckle Up! Hold on tight! Make sure your car is in good working order. You do not want to break down here!
I'm a big fan of Candice Fox and it's occurred to me, now that I've just finished, High Wire, that she's turned her hand to writing more action-packed thrillers. Oh, don't get me wrong – she's still 'all about the mystery' but there is more edge-of-your seat action going on; and in this one, the accelerator is definitely planted right to the floor. I think that's one of the things that makes her such a successful author, the ability to swivel and change up her writing style, yet still keep the reader hooked. Oh, that and the fact that Fox frequently uses an Australian setting (to great effect I might add) in her novels doesn't hurt!
The main backdrop for this story is something called the High Wire track. The High Wire is a fictional lawless track which is an unmarked, remote, and highly dangerous path, favoured for use mostly by criminals and drug runners and runs across the country, from Sydney all the way through the heart of the Australian desert centre across to Broome in Western Australia. It's a long, desolate stretch, with little to no mobile coverage and minimal passing traffic. In other words, it's not a place you'd want to find yourself stranded in.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
As with all her novels, Fox writes great characters, and High Wire is no different. When Harvey Buck receives word his ex-girlfriend doesn't have long to live, he drops everything to travel to Sydney to see her one last time. When an unexpected incident closes down the local airport, Buck decides to navigate his way through the High Wire from Broome to Sydney.
You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
Knowing the risks, Buck is prepared to gamble. Not long into the journey, Buck sees a woman stranded by a burning car. He drives straight past. But his conscience gets the better of him and he turns back to help. The woman, Clare Holland, is fleeing from her husband, who she says is trying to kill her. It turns out that Clare is the least of his worries, because not long after Buck had rescued the stranded woman, they are both kidnapped and strapped into bomb vests by a group of ex-vets with a vendetta. The kidnappers have a deadly endgame, but in the short term, force the pair to commit a series of increasingly criminal acts; or, face the alternative – having their vests detonated.
Meanwhile, seasoned local cop, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is on their tail trying to piece together the 'why' for the pair's seemingly unprovoked crime spree.
To be fair, the violence in this story is chaotic and traumatic and may be a trigger for some readers. If this is you, you might be better placed to pick up a different Candice Fox novel – there are so many to choose from. Fox always delivers plenty of action – and High Wire is no different. The pacing is full throttle, with the tension building to the explosive finale.
Are you brave enough to drive the High Wire?
Synopsis /
You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.
The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.
Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop’s night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare’s trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.
And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .
My Thoughts /
Buckle Up! Hold on tight! Make sure your car is in good working order. You do not want to break down here!
I'm a big fan of Candice Fox and it's occurred to me, now that I've just finished, High Wire, that she's turned her hand to writing more action-packed thrillers. Oh, don't get me wrong – she's still 'all about the mystery' but there is more edge-of-your seat action going on; and in this one, the accelerator is definitely planted right to the floor. I think that's one of the things that makes her such a successful author, the ability to swivel and change up her writing style, yet still keep the reader hooked. Oh, that and the fact that Fox frequently uses an Australian setting (to great effect I might add) in her novels doesn't hurt!
The main backdrop for this story is something called the High Wire track. The High Wire is a fictional lawless track which is an unmarked, remote, and highly dangerous path, favoured for use mostly by criminals and drug runners and runs across the country, from Sydney all the way through the heart of the Australian desert centre across to Broome in Western Australia. It's a long, desolate stretch, with little to no mobile coverage and minimal passing traffic. In other words, it's not a place you'd want to find yourself stranded in.
A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.
As with all her novels, Fox writes great characters, and High Wire is no different. When Harvey Buck receives word his ex-girlfriend doesn't have long to live, he drops everything to travel to Sydney to see her one last time. When an unexpected incident closes down the local airport, Buck decides to navigate his way through the High Wire from Broome to Sydney.
You only take the High Wire if you’re desperate – or up to no good.
Knowing the risks, Buck is prepared to gamble. Not long into the journey, Buck sees a woman stranded by a burning car. He drives straight past. But his conscience gets the better of him and he turns back to help. The woman, Clare Holland, is fleeing from her husband, who she says is trying to kill her. It turns out that Clare is the least of his worries, because not long after Buck had rescued the stranded woman, they are both kidnapped and strapped into bomb vests by a group of ex-vets with a vendetta. The kidnappers have a deadly endgame, but in the short term, force the pair to commit a series of increasingly criminal acts; or, face the alternative – having their vests detonated.
Meanwhile, seasoned local cop, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is on their tail trying to piece together the 'why' for the pair's seemingly unprovoked crime spree.
To be fair, the violence in this story is chaotic and traumatic and may be a trigger for some readers. If this is you, you might be better placed to pick up a different Candice Fox novel – there are so many to choose from. Fox always delivers plenty of action – and High Wire is no different. The pacing is full throttle, with the tension building to the explosive finale.
Are you brave enough to drive the High Wire?
July 25, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¼ – Fox walks the high wire, and mostly nails the landing. This Outback Noir blockbuster is original, fast-paced, fun, intense & was one I found near impossible to put down. Despite some pretty silly circumstances (on the investigative side) that could derail most books, Fox handles it all so well it manages to stay on-track.
There’s something irresistibly satisfying about watching a writer like Candice Fox let loose with unrelenting velocity and grit-drenched plotting — and The High Wire is exactly that: a propulsive, punchy thrill ride that moves like a storm front and rarely lets you catch your breath.
At its core, this is a kinetic, high-stakes thriller about a fugitive woman — the wrongly accused and maddeningly resourceful Sarah — who’s on the run not only from the law but from her past, a web of secrets, and a particularly dogged bounty hunter in the form of Marshall. It’s all go, from page one. Fox wastes no time on protracted exposition — she tosses you straight into the fire, and dares you to keep up.
Where The High Wire truly excels is in its action sequences — feral, balletic, and pulse-raising in the best ways. From car chases that practically peel the words off the page to brutal close-quarters confrontations that feel ripped from the Jason Bourne school of brawling, Fox choreographs the mayhem with precision. It’s cinematic, almost rhythmic — a study in tension and release.
The pacing is relentless. Chapters detonate like landmines. Dialogue cuts like glass. It’s one of those rare novels where you keep promising yourself “just one more chapter,” only to find it’s suddenly 1:00 a.m. and you’re 300 pages deep. The tension rarely plateaus — instead, it builds, coils, and snaps back repeatedly, keeping the reader perpetually on edge.
What holds this just shy of elite status — say, that elusive 4.5 or 5-star echelon — is Fox’s slight penchant for the implausible. Certain elements, while wildly entertaining, teeter dangerously on the edge of credibility. A few narrative turns stretch believability to its limits — moments where cause and effect feel dictated more by adrenaline than logic. It’s not quite enough to derail the novel, but it may make a few readers roll their eyes even as their knuckles stay white.
But in a way, that’s part of the Candice Fox signature — a style that marries grit and gall, violence and verve, with just enough moral ambiguity to keep things interesting. And make no mistake: her characters are well-wrought. Sarah is no damsel; she’s flinty, complex, and utterly capable. Marshall, too, is more than a walking badge — he’s burdened, conflicted, and surprisingly sympathetic.
If The High Wire were a film, it would be a high-budget, tightly edited cat-and-mouse thriller with smart casting and no bathroom breaks. It knows exactly what it wants to be — and aside from a few narrative indulgences especially in regards to Country Police Officer Edna — but it gets there in impressive fashion.
📖 Key Passages📚
“She didn’t run for freedom anymore — she ran because stillness meant capture, and capture meant the end of the only story she had left to write.”
“The bullet hit the side mirror first, then the glass exploded inward. He didn’t duck. He didn’t flinch. He just recalculated.”
“They were two broken things chasing each other through broken places — and maybe that was why neither one could stop.”
There’s something irresistibly satisfying about watching a writer like Candice Fox let loose with unrelenting velocity and grit-drenched plotting — and The High Wire is exactly that: a propulsive, punchy thrill ride that moves like a storm front and rarely lets you catch your breath.
At its core, this is a kinetic, high-stakes thriller about a fugitive woman — the wrongly accused and maddeningly resourceful Sarah — who’s on the run not only from the law but from her past, a web of secrets, and a particularly dogged bounty hunter in the form of Marshall. It’s all go, from page one. Fox wastes no time on protracted exposition — she tosses you straight into the fire, and dares you to keep up.
Where The High Wire truly excels is in its action sequences — feral, balletic, and pulse-raising in the best ways. From car chases that practically peel the words off the page to brutal close-quarters confrontations that feel ripped from the Jason Bourne school of brawling, Fox choreographs the mayhem with precision. It’s cinematic, almost rhythmic — a study in tension and release.
The pacing is relentless. Chapters detonate like landmines. Dialogue cuts like glass. It’s one of those rare novels where you keep promising yourself “just one more chapter,” only to find it’s suddenly 1:00 a.m. and you’re 300 pages deep. The tension rarely plateaus — instead, it builds, coils, and snaps back repeatedly, keeping the reader perpetually on edge.
What holds this just shy of elite status — say, that elusive 4.5 or 5-star echelon — is Fox’s slight penchant for the implausible. Certain elements, while wildly entertaining, teeter dangerously on the edge of credibility. A few narrative turns stretch believability to its limits — moments where cause and effect feel dictated more by adrenaline than logic. It’s not quite enough to derail the novel, but it may make a few readers roll their eyes even as their knuckles stay white.
But in a way, that’s part of the Candice Fox signature — a style that marries grit and gall, violence and verve, with just enough moral ambiguity to keep things interesting. And make no mistake: her characters are well-wrought. Sarah is no damsel; she’s flinty, complex, and utterly capable. Marshall, too, is more than a walking badge — he’s burdened, conflicted, and surprisingly sympathetic.
If The High Wire were a film, it would be a high-budget, tightly edited cat-and-mouse thriller with smart casting and no bathroom breaks. It knows exactly what it wants to be — and aside from a few narrative indulgences especially in regards to Country Police Officer Edna — but it gets there in impressive fashion.
📖 Key Passages📚
“She didn’t run for freedom anymore — she ran because stillness meant capture, and capture meant the end of the only story she had left to write.”
“The bullet hit the side mirror first, then the glass exploded inward. He didn’t duck. He didn’t flinch. He just recalculated.”
“They were two broken things chasing each other through broken places — and maybe that was why neither one could stop.”
October 10, 2024
⭐️4.5 Stars⭐️
I absolutely loved that Candice Fox’s new book, High Wire is set in Australia, what a pulse pounding ride! High-octane action packed drama and well thought out characters makes for an explosive reading experience.
Henry Buck a former Australian soldier is on the secret track that cuts through the Australian Outback from Broome to Sydney known as the Wire, he’s in a rush travelling to see his dying girlfriend. The Wire is a track used by truckers and drug traffickers, it’s remote, unsafe and the area is known as a body dumping ground.
Henry offers a woman a ride whose car has become overheated and caught fire but they soon find themselves taken hostage, forced to wear bomb vests and take on deadly missions otherwise innocent civilians will die.
Clare Holland is running away but from what or who? There’s a dead body and the local outback cop Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is on the trail together with runaway teen, Talon Crest and it’s chaos all around.
Highly recommended, a compulsive read from one of Australia’s most talented crime writers!
Publication Day 24 September 2024
Publisher Penguin
I was so excited to receive a copy of the book, a huge thanks to the wonderful team at Penguin Books Australia
I absolutely loved that Candice Fox’s new book, High Wire is set in Australia, what a pulse pounding ride! High-octane action packed drama and well thought out characters makes for an explosive reading experience.
Henry Buck a former Australian soldier is on the secret track that cuts through the Australian Outback from Broome to Sydney known as the Wire, he’s in a rush travelling to see his dying girlfriend. The Wire is a track used by truckers and drug traffickers, it’s remote, unsafe and the area is known as a body dumping ground.
Henry offers a woman a ride whose car has become overheated and caught fire but they soon find themselves taken hostage, forced to wear bomb vests and take on deadly missions otherwise innocent civilians will die.
Clare Holland is running away but from what or who? There’s a dead body and the local outback cop Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is on the trail together with runaway teen, Talon Crest and it’s chaos all around.
Highly recommended, a compulsive read from one of Australia’s most talented crime writers!
Publication Day 24 September 2024
Publisher Penguin
I was so excited to receive a copy of the book, a huge thanks to the wonderful team at Penguin Books Australia
October 11, 2024
Fast paced, mysterious action thriller - enjoyed the story, didn't enjoy so much waiting to find out for so long why people were doing what they were doing but it helped with the suspense. I love how Candice Fox writes and the how we picture the scenery, especially in an outback Aussie novel. Would recommend, but only if you really can suspend disbelief.
Thanks to the author, netgalley and publisher for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to the author, netgalley and publisher for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.
December 19, 2025
Eager to delve into the latest novel by Candice Fox, I reached for this standalone thriller. In a part of Australia known for its unmapped roads, body dump sites, and places no mobile works, lays High Wire. Harvey Buck knows this all too well as he travels with his girlfriend who is in dire straits. They come across Clare Holland, whose vehicle has broken down. As Harvy takes Clare with them, the horrors begin. They are soon attacked by a crew in bomb vests and told they will be killed unless they commit a series of horrible crimes. While Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is handling a runaway teen in her policing role, she is pulled into the hunt for those reasonable for all these crimes. Working in the Australian outback, Norris begins her search, finding only burnt-out vehicles and bodies. She knows there is more to the story, but is being blocked by her superiors. The truth is out there, though it may be nestled in High Wire, sure to be lost in oblivion. Fox delivers a stunning story that never lets its action wane!
Candice Fox has long been an author I turned to for great Australian thrillers. The narrative introduces a frantic story that keeps the reader thinking. While the themes on offer leave much for the reader to ponder, the story has little time to pause. The narrative captivates and does not stop until all the pieces come together. Fox provides great ideas, helped by chapters of various length that keep the reader fully engaged. This is likely one of the best Candice Fox police procedural stories I have read, surely the culmination of great time and effort.
Characters develop easily, keeping the reader eager to learn more about what is going on. There is some decent humour that the Fox brings to her novels and this story did not lack any of it, while also ensuring the tension was met. Standalone novel characters must work extra hard to prove impactful and these traits are seen by attentive readers. The premise of the piece is complemented by the police perspectives, as well as those of the criminal element, which Fox has mastered. While I have long enjoyed her series work and the characters found therein, this book met its mark through the eyes of those who appear on each page.
The plot points of the book develop intensely and leave an unsettling aspect for the reader to ponder, as criminal happenings keep everyone on edge. I loved the twists on offer and can only hope that Candice Fox will keep writing novels of this nature to add more surprises to future books. I loved that I could not predict where things were headed, which proved to be an additional layer of intrigue. Candice Fox has long been an author on my radar and this book solidifies that she ought to remain there.
Kudos, Madam Fox, for a great Aussie flavouring to this thriller.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
Candice Fox has long been an author I turned to for great Australian thrillers. The narrative introduces a frantic story that keeps the reader thinking. While the themes on offer leave much for the reader to ponder, the story has little time to pause. The narrative captivates and does not stop until all the pieces come together. Fox provides great ideas, helped by chapters of various length that keep the reader fully engaged. This is likely one of the best Candice Fox police procedural stories I have read, surely the culmination of great time and effort.
Characters develop easily, keeping the reader eager to learn more about what is going on. There is some decent humour that the Fox brings to her novels and this story did not lack any of it, while also ensuring the tension was met. Standalone novel characters must work extra hard to prove impactful and these traits are seen by attentive readers. The premise of the piece is complemented by the police perspectives, as well as those of the criminal element, which Fox has mastered. While I have long enjoyed her series work and the characters found therein, this book met its mark through the eyes of those who appear on each page.
The plot points of the book develop intensely and leave an unsettling aspect for the reader to ponder, as criminal happenings keep everyone on edge. I loved the twists on offer and can only hope that Candice Fox will keep writing novels of this nature to add more surprises to future books. I loved that I could not predict where things were headed, which proved to be an additional layer of intrigue. Candice Fox has long been an author on my radar and this book solidifies that she ought to remain there.
Kudos, Madam Fox, for a great Aussie flavouring to this thriller.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
October 7, 2024
Oh I love a book set in outback Australia, this one is a cracker! 4.5 stars.
The Wire Track - Its a lawless remote track from Sydney to Broome (Cross country) that is used by drug traffickers and generally anyone up to no good. Due to the isolation, unsealed roads its a gateway to cross the country and evade authorities.
Harvey (former solider) is making his way across the wire to see his dying girlfriend. He comes across a broken down car, it could be a trap... should he stop? He sees a woman, he cant leave her - he knows what happens on these roads the people who travel them. He stops to help. Clare is running away from an abusive relationship, her car has overheated she accepts the ride.
Just a few miles down the road they're ambushed by a group of men. Strapped into bomb vests and ordered to comply with horrific missions one after the other. If they refuse, not only will they die, but the bombs will be activated when they are among other people.
We follow along with Harvey, Clare and the outback cop Edna and her unlikely sidekick runaway teenager Tallon as they try to make sense of the chaos and hidden clues left behind the two fugitives.
This book packs a punch, its non stop action from the get go.... we know its all linked and connect but how? Ill leave you with that.
Its a fun thrill ride, I got Mad Max vibes and the aussie outback setting is gold. Loved it! Thanks to Penguin Books for my ARC.
The Wire Track - Its a lawless remote track from Sydney to Broome (Cross country) that is used by drug traffickers and generally anyone up to no good. Due to the isolation, unsealed roads its a gateway to cross the country and evade authorities.
Harvey (former solider) is making his way across the wire to see his dying girlfriend. He comes across a broken down car, it could be a trap... should he stop? He sees a woman, he cant leave her - he knows what happens on these roads the people who travel them. He stops to help. Clare is running away from an abusive relationship, her car has overheated she accepts the ride.
Just a few miles down the road they're ambushed by a group of men. Strapped into bomb vests and ordered to comply with horrific missions one after the other. If they refuse, not only will they die, but the bombs will be activated when they are among other people.
We follow along with Harvey, Clare and the outback cop Edna and her unlikely sidekick runaway teenager Tallon as they try to make sense of the chaos and hidden clues left behind the two fugitives.
This book packs a punch, its non stop action from the get go.... we know its all linked and connect but how? Ill leave you with that.
Its a fun thrill ride, I got Mad Max vibes and the aussie outback setting is gold. Loved it! Thanks to Penguin Books for my ARC.
July 21, 2024
This author is INSANE! In a good way, of course! How Candice comes up with these ideas for stories is beyond me.
In this one, a good samaritan stops to help a woman in distress on a highly questionable road through the Australian Outback. Shortly after this, both are taken hostage, made to wear a bomb vest and do unspeakable things. Behind them on the road are the police, a killer and a kid who thinks crime scenes are 'cool'.
High Wire is a high octane, hold on to your seat, crazy action adventure as we try to work out who is the good guy, who is the bad guy and how will it all end???
In this one, a good samaritan stops to help a woman in distress on a highly questionable road through the Australian Outback. Shortly after this, both are taken hostage, made to wear a bomb vest and do unspeakable things. Behind them on the road are the police, a killer and a kid who thinks crime scenes are 'cool'.
High Wire is a high octane, hold on to your seat, crazy action adventure as we try to work out who is the good guy, who is the bad guy and how will it all end???
January 5, 2026
An action-packed plot, in this thrilling Australian crime fiction novel!
This is a fast-paced, cat-and-mouse race through the ‘Wire’, an unmarked, yet notoriously dangerous track through outback Australia.
Candice Fox has created this well-written, multi-layered plot, with some memorable characters. I was particularly fond of Senior Sergeant Edna Norris and her ‘sidekick’ Talon.
This is a fast-paced, cat-and-mouse race through the ‘Wire’, an unmarked, yet notoriously dangerous track through outback Australia.
Candice Fox has created this well-written, multi-layered plot, with some memorable characters. I was particularly fond of Senior Sergeant Edna Norris and her ‘sidekick’ Talon.
November 5, 2024
200 pages too long! Too unbelievable for me, not to mention repetative. Kept thinking it must get better … And at the moment of actual tension … cut to epilogue! And bring it all to a conclusion in the concise manner that could have served the story well from page one. Obviously not for me.
November 19, 2024
What a wild ride!!
September 23, 2024
It occurred to me when reading High Wire by Candice Fox that the Aussie author has moved more into the thriller territory with her standalones. They're less about the mystery (the who or why) and more action-packed edge-of-your-seat stuff. I was unsure how I felt about that as I very much enjoyed Fox's earlier character-driven series. I needn't have worried however as she's still able to deliver on the character development front, it's just that they're underpinned by a race against time and the inevitable, rather than Ah-ha! moments.
And though I think of myself as less of a thriller-fan, here I was gripped. We know who the baddies are and learn fairly quickly about their agenda, but Fox manages to keep some secrets from readers and (as we've come to expect from her) is somewhat callously irreverent with readers' fragile hearts and allegiances.I rushed through this in two sittings, eager to see how things played out. And knowing Fox, remaining conscious that some of the bodies left behind may indeed be those I'd preferred to have made it through the novel as opposed to the more disposable baddies.
This is certainly one of my favourite of Fox's standalones; though of course we could indeed meet some of the characters (the - ahem - survivors) again and I wouldn't be at all mad about that.
4.5 stars
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
And though I think of myself as less of a thriller-fan, here I was gripped. We know who the baddies are and learn fairly quickly about their agenda, but Fox manages to keep some secrets from readers and (as we've come to expect from her) is somewhat callously irreverent with readers' fragile hearts and allegiances.I rushed through this in two sittings, eager to see how things played out. And knowing Fox, remaining conscious that some of the bodies left behind may indeed be those I'd preferred to have made it through the novel as opposed to the more disposable baddies.
This is certainly one of my favourite of Fox's standalones; though of course we could indeed meet some of the characters (the - ahem - survivors) again and I wouldn't be at all mad about that.
4.5 stars
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
October 3, 2024
The High Wire runs through the centre of the Australian outback. It’s not sign posted but if you know what to look for, you’ll know you’re on it. It’s the kind of road you drive down when you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, and driving on the road is also drawing too much attention.
Harvey and Clare get caught up in the ghosts of Harvey’s past. Clare’s present life is also catching up with her and she's trying to run as fast as possible. But they both run into a hell storm that is carried over from Harvey's time in Afghanistan where he is once comrades in arms have become the ones who want to bring him down.
We also meet Edna, or Senior Sergeant Norris, the only police officer this side of the high wire, who has seemed to have adopted a young delinquent called Talon who was on his way home from a not-so-wonderful encounter. They become a very interesting duo reluctantly of course for Edna with their sleuthing skills helping each other to work out what is going on and where in the world were Harvey and Clare. Edna was quite hilarious because you could really say that she was created to be this very tough police officer they could survive the Outback and survive anything crazy an out of the ordinary because that's exactly what she got when she became involved in the drama that was Harvey Buck.
The violence is chaotic, blunt, traumatic and psychotic. From personally fitted Kevlar suicide bomb vests to rifles and sniper guns, there is danger at every turn and for every single character. No one is left unscathed. There is a lot of killing and bloodshed in this story, and it is more a tension fuelled thriller. Clare’s story of being threatened by her husband and afraid for her life was quite intriguing and I think I would have loved a bit more of that story and impact unfold even though the moment where she shares this with Harvey is very impactful. This book will keep you reading, looking away and then reading more.
Harvey and Clare get caught up in the ghosts of Harvey’s past. Clare’s present life is also catching up with her and she's trying to run as fast as possible. But they both run into a hell storm that is carried over from Harvey's time in Afghanistan where he is once comrades in arms have become the ones who want to bring him down.
We also meet Edna, or Senior Sergeant Norris, the only police officer this side of the high wire, who has seemed to have adopted a young delinquent called Talon who was on his way home from a not-so-wonderful encounter. They become a very interesting duo reluctantly of course for Edna with their sleuthing skills helping each other to work out what is going on and where in the world were Harvey and Clare. Edna was quite hilarious because you could really say that she was created to be this very tough police officer they could survive the Outback and survive anything crazy an out of the ordinary because that's exactly what she got when she became involved in the drama that was Harvey Buck.
The violence is chaotic, blunt, traumatic and psychotic. From personally fitted Kevlar suicide bomb vests to rifles and sniper guns, there is danger at every turn and for every single character. No one is left unscathed. There is a lot of killing and bloodshed in this story, and it is more a tension fuelled thriller. Clare’s story of being threatened by her husband and afraid for her life was quite intriguing and I think I would have loved a bit more of that story and impact unfold even though the moment where she shares this with Harvey is very impactful. This book will keep you reading, looking away and then reading more.
September 23, 2024
Much as I love Candice's books, I'm most excited when I find that this book is set in outback Australia. There's just something about that very hot middle of nowhere vibe; the suspense raised a few notches higher. This is not a car chase over the highway kind of exciting but trust me, it's just as good! All the characters were so damaged. So flawed. So real!
There were many characters in this novel and while there were some backstories, for most these were quite sparse and only what's pertinent to the plot and how these characters are the way they are now. While I wish for more about these characters (I'm such a nosy parker), this was structured well in that it did not detract the focus from the tension of the overall chase. When considered individually, each of these characters are so quirky and so are the rest of the cast! I love this about Candice's books, her characters are such fun to read (despite their brokenness).
Candice never disappoints as I really didn't expect that explosive twist near the end! Whhyyyyy though... I can't wait to see this on screen!
My thanks to the publisher for gifting me a copy of this book.
There were many characters in this novel and while there were some backstories, for most these were quite sparse and only what's pertinent to the plot and how these characters are the way they are now. While I wish for more about these characters (I'm such a nosy parker), this was structured well in that it did not detract the focus from the tension of the overall chase. When considered individually, each of these characters are so quirky and so are the rest of the cast! I love this about Candice's books, her characters are such fun to read (despite their brokenness).
Candice never disappoints as I really didn't expect that explosive twist near the end! Whhyyyyy though... I can't wait to see this on screen!
My thanks to the publisher for gifting me a copy of this book.
February 8, 2025
This was my first Candice Fox book and i thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely would love to see more books with Edna and Talon doing investigations, they were a great team. Looking forward to reading more Candice Fox books in the future.
September 12, 2024
Another great action packed novel from this author. What I like most about these books are the depth of character that is developed … oh and the action and twists and turns. Not usually my genre and I always read this author. Thanks to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.
December 3, 2024
4/5
Very excited to have read my first (but not last) Candice Fox book! After seeing her speak and finding her to be funny, relatable and super interesting I was very eager to get stuck into this! The book did not disappoint. I constantly found myself hand to mouth in shock at some of the scenes and character outcomes. This is an author who does not hold back and I loved that there was no cliche last minute rescuing as can be very common in detective crime books. Bad things happened and it was intense!!
Very excited to have read my first (but not last) Candice Fox book! After seeing her speak and finding her to be funny, relatable and super interesting I was very eager to get stuck into this! The book did not disappoint. I constantly found myself hand to mouth in shock at some of the scenes and character outcomes. This is an author who does not hold back and I loved that there was no cliche last minute rescuing as can be very common in detective crime books. Bad things happened and it was intense!!
September 20, 2024
Ingenious plotting
Fast paced narratives
Quirky but very real protagonists
Rural Noir
This is just the second book I’ve read by Candice Fox and both have been spellbinding
This is unusual for the cleverness and inventiveness of its plot- which alone is enough to mark her as one of the better crime authors staining page with ink at the moment. Add to that well drawn, believably human characters and we have a truly special combination. I genuinely think Candice a Fox is one of the best crime writers on the planet.
Fast paced narratives
Quirky but very real protagonists
Rural Noir
This is just the second book I’ve read by Candice Fox and both have been spellbinding
This is unusual for the cleverness and inventiveness of its plot- which alone is enough to mark her as one of the better crime authors staining page with ink at the moment. Add to that well drawn, believably human characters and we have a truly special combination. I genuinely think Candice a Fox is one of the best crime writers on the planet.
October 7, 2024
I am struggling to write this review, as I have seen nothing but rave reviews about this book, but I just didn’t like it and I’m here to write honest reviews, so that’s what your gonna get..
You have The Wire, which is an unmarked track through Australia, where all manner of crimes and dodgy going ons occur, but it never felt sinister enough for me and lacked in atmosphere.
Going into this, I was expecting to be on the edge of my seat and for things to feel intense, but that never came.
There wasn’t a single character that I truly connected with and the dynamics of Edna/Talk and Harvey/Clare did mesh well in my opinion.
There is so much death through this story, but each one felt very glossed over and insignificant and like, “oop, their dead, let’s move on”, especially the female death from a bomb, I wanted more detail and to be left with more of an impact.
I also never found there was any real twist or reveal, a character would think something and then it would just happen, so there was never a wow moment.
This was my first Candice Fox book and I’m not going to let this stop me from reading more of her work - at the end of the book was a Synopsis and a couple of chapters for her book Devil’s Kitchen and I would really like to give this a read.
I received this Ebook ARC from Penguin, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review and I am so appreciative.
You have The Wire, which is an unmarked track through Australia, where all manner of crimes and dodgy going ons occur, but it never felt sinister enough for me and lacked in atmosphere.
Going into this, I was expecting to be on the edge of my seat and for things to feel intense, but that never came.
There wasn’t a single character that I truly connected with and the dynamics of Edna/Talk and Harvey/Clare did mesh well in my opinion.
There is so much death through this story, but each one felt very glossed over and insignificant and like, “oop, their dead, let’s move on”, especially the female death from a bomb, I wanted more detail and to be left with more of an impact.
I also never found there was any real twist or reveal, a character would think something and then it would just happen, so there was never a wow moment.
This was my first Candice Fox book and I’m not going to let this stop me from reading more of her work - at the end of the book was a Synopsis and a couple of chapters for her book Devil’s Kitchen and I would really like to give this a read.
I received this Ebook ARC from Penguin, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review and I am so appreciative.
September 22, 2024
Multi-award winning Australian crime writer Candice Fox returns her fiction to Australia for the first time in a few years with the high octane thriller High Wire. High Wire is a little bit Jack Reacher and a little bit Mad Max but all Fox who once again takes some familiar tropes, twists and embellishes them and makes them her own.
Harvey Buck is on a mercy mission to Sydney see his ex who is dying of cancer. With all planes out of action he takes to the High Wire, a secret road that runs across the barren heart of Australia. The High Wire is a road used by those wanting to stay off the radar. Despite the risks, Buck can’t help but stop when he sees a woman stranded by a burning car. But she is not the one he needed to be worried about, not long after both are kidnapped and strapped into bomb-vests by some shady characters who have a bone to pick with Buck from their days in the army and who are out for revenge. As the carnage starts to escalate, local cop Edna Norris, is trying to piece together the clues while also trying to help a wayward teen but finds her own past coming back to haunt her.
Fox acknowledges the influence of Lee Child in her Acknowledgements. And some of the Jack Reacher DNA can be seen in the creation of at least Harvey Buck. But anyone familiar with Fox’s other work will be aware of the way she builds complexity into the DNA of her characters. Buck might be a resourceful lone-wolf style hero but he carries a truckload of guilt. Edna is an intuitive cop and a force for justice who does not let the rules stand in her way but also has skeletons in her closet. The side characters too have shades of complexity to them that make this more than just a chase narrative.
After setting her last few books in the US, Fox returns and, as always, uses her Australian setting to great effect. The High Wire runs through the arid center of the country – the small towns, the isolated properties, the long stretches of lonely road.
From its opening sequences, High Wire delivers plenty of action and mayhem as it slowly builds to a potentially explosive finale. But Fox, as always, has both of these elements under control, slowly turning upping the tension (and the body count) as the story progresses. But she also keeps readers invested through a pair conflicted protagonists with tarnished hearts of gold.
Harvey Buck is on a mercy mission to Sydney see his ex who is dying of cancer. With all planes out of action he takes to the High Wire, a secret road that runs across the barren heart of Australia. The High Wire is a road used by those wanting to stay off the radar. Despite the risks, Buck can’t help but stop when he sees a woman stranded by a burning car. But she is not the one he needed to be worried about, not long after both are kidnapped and strapped into bomb-vests by some shady characters who have a bone to pick with Buck from their days in the army and who are out for revenge. As the carnage starts to escalate, local cop Edna Norris, is trying to piece together the clues while also trying to help a wayward teen but finds her own past coming back to haunt her.
Fox acknowledges the influence of Lee Child in her Acknowledgements. And some of the Jack Reacher DNA can be seen in the creation of at least Harvey Buck. But anyone familiar with Fox’s other work will be aware of the way she builds complexity into the DNA of her characters. Buck might be a resourceful lone-wolf style hero but he carries a truckload of guilt. Edna is an intuitive cop and a force for justice who does not let the rules stand in her way but also has skeletons in her closet. The side characters too have shades of complexity to them that make this more than just a chase narrative.
After setting her last few books in the US, Fox returns and, as always, uses her Australian setting to great effect. The High Wire runs through the arid center of the country – the small towns, the isolated properties, the long stretches of lonely road.
From its opening sequences, High Wire delivers plenty of action and mayhem as it slowly builds to a potentially explosive finale. But Fox, as always, has both of these elements under control, slowly turning upping the tension (and the body count) as the story progresses. But she also keeps readers invested through a pair conflicted protagonists with tarnished hearts of gold.
October 28, 2024
4.5 stars.
An unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body-dumping grounds and mobile-phone blackspots. Harvey Buck encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers her a ride, but then the pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager when she crosses path with Harvey and Clare’s trail. This road trip from hell has only just begun.
This was my third Candice Fox book, and by this point I knew to expect high. She didn’t disappoint. Buckle up, indeed!
While trying to figure out the Harvey x Clare dynamics and how they would or wouldn’t click together, the Edna x Talon storyline slowly crept in… and completely captured my attention! Before long, I was more invested in Edna x Talon than Harvey x Clare. And just like other Candice books, this also had some moments that hit my heart.
I don’t want to say too much, because I could potentially spoil things. I’d recommend jumping in blind, because that’d be the best way to enjoy the twists and turns. Enjoy the ride!
(Thanks to Penguin Australia for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review)
See my bookstagram review.
An unmarked track through outback Australia, the ‘Wire’ crosses slabs of lawless land, body-dumping grounds and mobile-phone blackspots. Harvey Buck encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers her a ride, but then the pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager when she crosses path with Harvey and Clare’s trail. This road trip from hell has only just begun.
This was my third Candice Fox book, and by this point I knew to expect high. She didn’t disappoint. Buckle up, indeed!
While trying to figure out the Harvey x Clare dynamics and how they would or wouldn’t click together, the Edna x Talon storyline slowly crept in… and completely captured my attention! Before long, I was more invested in Edna x Talon than Harvey x Clare. And just like other Candice books, this also had some moments that hit my heart.
I don’t want to say too much, because I could potentially spoil things. I’d recommend jumping in blind, because that’d be the best way to enjoy the twists and turns. Enjoy the ride!
(Thanks to Penguin Australia for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review)
See my bookstagram review.
October 27, 2024
Geez that was tense. It was riveting and heart pumping.
The High Wire is a secret, but known, road that runs thru central Australia that people take if they want to run contraband or to avoid the authorities. It is a road you do not want to be caught on.
There was no let up in this book. By the end of the first chapter I knew I was in for a wild ride.
Harvey Buck, ex Australian army, is travelling on the High Wire to see his girlfriend in Sydney, when he comes across a burning car. He stops to help the distressed driver never for a second realising what he is getting himself into.
Within minutes he finds himself captured and in a bomb vest loaded with C4 and in the fight of his life.
Amongst the searing heat of the outback, the desolation of the High Wire and the unfolding and slightly unbelievable situation the police find themselves investigating is a story of revenge, redemption and survival.
With flashbacks to Harvey's time in Afghanistan explaining his predicament, I was wavering between cheering for him or his captors at times.
This book is pedal to the metal action all the way and it is exhilarating reading. If you like action, tension and a storyline that makes you hold your breath at times then High Wire is it.
The High Wire is a secret, but known, road that runs thru central Australia that people take if they want to run contraband or to avoid the authorities. It is a road you do not want to be caught on.
There was no let up in this book. By the end of the first chapter I knew I was in for a wild ride.
Harvey Buck, ex Australian army, is travelling on the High Wire to see his girlfriend in Sydney, when he comes across a burning car. He stops to help the distressed driver never for a second realising what he is getting himself into.
Within minutes he finds himself captured and in a bomb vest loaded with C4 and in the fight of his life.
Amongst the searing heat of the outback, the desolation of the High Wire and the unfolding and slightly unbelievable situation the police find themselves investigating is a story of revenge, redemption and survival.
With flashbacks to Harvey's time in Afghanistan explaining his predicament, I was wavering between cheering for him or his captors at times.
This book is pedal to the metal action all the way and it is exhilarating reading. If you like action, tension and a storyline that makes you hold your breath at times then High Wire is it.
October 2, 2024
I am a huge fan of anything that Candice Fox writes, she manages to create extraordinary tension, suspense and interest whilst at the same time including compassion and empathy in just the right spots.. High Wire (her latest) is no exception. The whole concept of a unmarked dirt track through Central Australia to Sydney that only those in a rush to avoid main roads and with the wrong motives would use is genius. It signals her welcome return to Australia as her setting. Put simply, she knows her country so well. The emptiness and the red dust are all encompassing.. Harvey Buck is the kind of complex character Candice Fox does so well, the impact of Afghanistan lingers over him and indeed drives the plot with a heavy dose of PTSD. Edna as a mature policewoman is another gift of a character. Always caring, putting everyone else first. I loved her. And as for Talon, he is just like every smart street kid you’ve ever known. The plot is a complete page turner and the end is a stroke of brilliance. Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher @penguinaustralia for the opportunity to review this book. I couldn’t put it down.
March 11, 2025
Audio 🎧 4.25 ⭐️ rounded down.
I really enjoyed this!
Set in the Australian Outback centering around ‘The Wire’ - a little known track that provides a shortcut through the middle of the desert - High Wire follows Harvey Buck an army veteran & Senior Sergeant Edna Norris on an truly wild journey.
I loved the characters particularly Edna and Talon and the dynamics of their relationship. I thought it was really fun.
The story was engaging and kept me on my toes the whole was through. While it may have been obvious what the story was leading to the particulars were really interesting.
I had a great time with this!
I really enjoyed this!
Set in the Australian Outback centering around ‘The Wire’ - a little known track that provides a shortcut through the middle of the desert - High Wire follows Harvey Buck an army veteran & Senior Sergeant Edna Norris on an truly wild journey.
I loved the characters particularly Edna and Talon and the dynamics of their relationship. I thought it was really fun.
The story was engaging and kept me on my toes the whole was through. While it may have been obvious what the story was leading to the particulars were really interesting.
I had a great time with this!
January 4, 2026
Could not put this book down! Was an absolute page turner. Envious tension throughout!!! With cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter!!! So well written!! I kept replaying the ending over and over after it finished!! Just loved this book!! A must read!
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