The Leap

by Paul Daley

A white-knuckle ride into a nightmarish outback setting, where a man searching for mercy encounters a town baying for violent vengeance. A pulse-pounding literary thriller with a stunning final twist.
 
`Think three-fifths of the way to fuck-all-nowhere-ville. Pioneering grazing family. Once hallowed farming country gone to shit. Rabbit plagues and feral pigs. Never-ending drought. Full of Flat Earth Party-voting, climate-change-denying, God-bothering, gun-nut, ground-zero, wife-beating, racist, fundamentalist f*ckers. Pardon my French. Apart from that it’s just a great place.’
 
Welcome to The Leap, an outback town fuelled by fear, churning with corruption, prejudice and misogyny – and blighted by its inescapable history of frontier violence. Into this nightmarish morass falters traumatised British diplomat, Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill. He’s on his first Australian mission, one seemingly straightforward enough – until he arrives in The Leap to battle a town conspiring against him.
 
The Leap is baying for vengeance over the alleged murder of the celebrated daughter of a powerful local grazier. But Benedict is on an impossible quest for the mercy for the young woman’s two accused female killers. The townspeople will challenge and threaten him at every turn as he fights for justice, his future, his sanity – and ultimately his life.
 
From the acclaimed author of Jesustown comes a pulse-pounding throat-punch of a literary thriller, filled with humour, horror, blistering historical truths, indelible characters and a final twist that will take your breath away.

Genres: Australia, Crime, Fiction, Suspense, Mystery

260 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 29, 2025

About the author

Author and journalist Paul Daley's books—Canberra, Collingwood: A Love Story, Beersheeba and Armaggedon—have been finalists in major literary awards, including the Nib, the Manning Clark House Cultural Awards and the Prime Minister's History Prize. He is the winner of the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism and the Paul Lyneham Award for Press Gallery journalism. In 2013 he co-wrote, with Katie Pollock, the acclaimed political play, The Hansard Monologues. He also writes essays and short stories, and about history and national identity for The Guardian and Meanjin. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Lenore Taylor, and their children. This is his first novel.

Reviews

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!!!

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked Paul's book the leap
It was an interesting story thriller of the Australian outback with Ben the character leaping back and forth he is also going back through some of the most Australian historical events and thrillers interesting story and great descriptive language

[Nerelle Donnelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that the story had lots of potential, and although it obviously was a story about something and things did happen, it just didn’t quite get there.

The story is meant to be a crime thriller, however I have read my fair share of crime thrillers and it just doesn’t fit the bill. I see it as more of a drama filled with information on Australia’s past. I don’t think the oversharing of Ben’s past added to the story in any way. A little bit of information given to the reader to set up a background would have gone a long way, too much information was unnecessary.

Told from the main character’s point of view, Benedict ‘Ben’ Fotheringham-Gaskill, a character that I just couldn’t take to. He was always making the bad choices and then expecting sympathy, and could really have benefited from some backbone and a little willpower. He definitely came off as useless and whingey. I found Nelson much more interesting and entertaining.

It was very slow-paced and at times I struggled to make it to the end, but what I found the hardest thing to get past, was the authors constant use of overly complicated words. Now I don’t consider myself a genius, but I don’t feel that I am stupid either, but having to constantly Google words to find out what they meant was extremely frustrating. This sucked out any enjoyment for me and gave me a very unflattering impression of the author personality.

I wish I could find something more positive to say about this book as I don’t like to be negative as this is someone’s creation, however I struggle as the negatives outweighed the positives for me, so all I can say is maybe you will see a different side of this than me.

#theleap
#pauldaley
#notforme
#summitbooks

[Matthew PAWSEY · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read!
Set mostly in a ‘dark’ foreboding town in rural Australia. But in the end the town is not so dark, just the town Patriarch and his evil history of cruelty, violence and cover ups!
A story that reminds us of the traumatic history of our First Nations brothers and sisters and how that trauma is perpetuated today in many unrealised ways. A story that reminds us how ‘light’ repels the dark and forgiveness is so healing and also so humbling…

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down
This was a very difficult read. First up it is described as, and I quote, "A pulse-pounding literary thriller with a stunning final twist", which I would have to say was not my experience. Rather this was a social and political commentary and that is why it was so difficult to read. Set in The Leap a town in outback/rural north east Australia. A town described as:

"... three-fifths of the way to fuck-all-nowhere-ville. ... Full of Flat Earth Party-voting, climate-change-denying, God-bothering, gun-nut, ground-zero, wife-beating, racist, fundamentalist f*ckers."

And there in lies the first difficulty because, like it or not, most of us in Australia, are well aware that these people with such different opinions and life styles exist. While I could cheer for Daley, who did not hold back in showing his contempt for these people, nor for the politicians, some of whom he names, who share or play to these values, some of the methods and characters he used really frustrated me. The counter positioned "better people" were vastly superior. The British diplomat, Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill, sent to the Leap to appeal to the racist misogynists, was so very naïve even if I accept his too often repeated and explained past traumas. His constant ability to become a victim of the local's ways was both overly repetitive and became cringe worthy. And of course the truth wills out in rapidly unfolding, convenient, somewhat moralistic and dramatic end.
A difficult read for its truth telling and realism, but also in the way the characters were used for social commentary - historical and contemporary - to literally hammer a message home.

[Shannon Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly didn’t enjoy this book at first. It felt slow, the characters didn’t grab me, and I kept wondering if it was worth DNF. By the time I realised it had quietly pulled me in, the plot had already thickened in ways I didn’t see coming!!!
AND SUDDENLY I WAS BEN’S BIGGEST FAN.

He turned into this unpredictable, volatile presence, never quite doing what you expected, but always driving the story forward. He was so deeply flawed, sometimes frustrating, but complex in a way that made him fascinating!

By the end, I didn’t want it to be over. I would’ve genuinely liked a second book focused just on Ben, whether in London or Canberra. He was a difficult character, but one that stayed with me.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 32. Another Outback noir. Not sure about this one, the storyline is fine, but maybe it’s the way it’s told? It is short though, very wordy, even for me. I do like that it addresses past atrocities. 🤓📚 #tsreadinglist2025 #tsrecommendations

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

British Diplomat Benedict Fotheringham Gaskill (Ben) has been posted to Canberra as a cultural attaché. In his last two postings, in Thailand and Cambodia, Ben was involved in major tragedies and is not yet entirely over the PTSD, so he is hoping Canberra will at least be uneventful. Bern’s gap year in Australia left him with fond memories of blue skies and sandy beaches, however it’s January 2020 with bushfires raging along the east coast leaving the air dark and smoky.

No sooner has Ben arrived and started looking for a house for his wife and children, than the death of an Australian air hostess, Charlene Salter, in Saudi Arabia sees him sent off to the tiny inland town called The Leap where Charlene was born. Two British women have been arrested for murdering Charlene and if found guilty will be sentenced to death by stoning or beheading unless Ben can persuade Charlene’s father to accept a payment of blood money instead. The only problem is that Charlene’s father is a bible bashing bigoted zealot who believes in a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye.

Ben soon discovers that The Leap is a mostly white, racist, misogynistic town of hard drinking, drug taking, gun toting miners and farmers. He finds himself pulled into the lifestyle of the locals and spiralling out of control, when he should be trying to persuade Charlene’s father to change his mind. An indigenous man, Nelson Tyson, who is driving him around fills him in about the town’s history starting from the horrific massacres of the original inhabitants and the taking of the land by white people for farming.

Dark and disturbing, raw and unflinching, you fervently hope that The Leap is not based on a real town, although there are elements of truth we would all recognise. Ben is a deeply flawed character who makes a series of unfortunate decisions, but also soaks up all he sees as an outsider gaining a deep understanding of the character of the town and its people. Nelson’s dark humour and comments on the behaviour and relationship of the town’s indigenous people still suffering from the multigenerational harm inflicted on them by the white farmers and miners is insightful and sobering.

I really enjoyed this fascinating socio-political thriller and highly recommend it (although readers should be aware of a degree of violence, hunting of animals and derogatory language). 4.5★

With thanks to Simon & Schuster via Netgalley for a copy to read

[Kate Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both brilliant and bleak. Oh, and funny, darkly so.

I got so much out of this novel with its chaotic, adrenalin-slash-alcohol-fuelled rush towards reputational self-destruction (cringe factor off the scale) which is not the novel’s ultimate destination. It is deceptive that way. I like that a lot. I like being positioned to feel a certain way about a character as the story opens, to have that judgment of them confirmed and then to be asked to question it. I did not like Ben and spent a lot time wanting to slap him. What an absolute idiot! Every time he got sucked into an unhinged drinking spree with the locals, my eyeballs went ballistic. I could see the horrors looming.
Stuck for a period on a diplomatic mission in a one-horse town filled with rabidly misogynistic, god-bothering white supremacists who wield gun and ego with a red-veined intensity, late-career diplomat Ben is victim to his own weak nature and his brief. It was a smart move—and one that Daley has used before in Jesustown—to bring in an outsider to take in the reality of small town rural Australia. Ben is British, has a family in London due to join him shortly, suffers PTSD from previous missions and has a fondness for stimulants. He just can’t help himself. As we follow him from Canberra to The Leap, we witness truly repulsive behaviour from the local blokes that Daley is unafraid of depicting. It’s pretty filthy stuff. Ben comes up against the local bigwig whose daughter has been murdered in Saudi Arabia, a hypocritical, bible-quoting right-wing and self-righteous bully with whom he will have to lock horns.
True to the conventions of the genre, there will be tussles, threats, wheedling, secrets, and allies. There will be shame (in bucketloads), revelation and redemption. Most importantly of all, there is a reckoning with Australia’s racism towards the First Nations people. This is story about stolen land, about massacre, about ongoing racist abuse towards the Indigenous Australian. It is a counter to the glory of the pastorale narrative, of settler history that fails to acknowledge the harm it has done. This is not a story that relies on subtlety to achieve its aims. It relies on the brutish, visceral, and belligerent act to propel the reader into a swamp of repulsion and disavowal from which this reader emerged both bruised and weirdly triumphant.

[Jackie McMillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Leap is an interesting ride into outback Australia through the eyes of "a mid to late career diplomat." Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill has moral injuries resulting from his previous postings abroad, and is whiny for most of the book. He lands in Bondi and hates it for not living up to the memories he had of it: "Experience had also taught him that a revisited beloved place rarely lives up to the memory of it." He is visiting during the 2019 bushfires, but still seems to feel robbed: "The fires had taken that travel-brochure-blue water refracted through the signature blinding sunshine, for so long frozen in his memory. They had stolen the sky, that pristine Arcadian light. Boxed it up in black and grey." He also hates the young people who utilise it: "And all those bloody bogans on the street and in the bars had completed the sham." The only thing he hated that I agreed with was Prime Minister Scott Morrison: "a running to fat, obdurate-looking chap who resembled nothing more closely than a Clapham used car salesman with a sleazy grin". Ben thinks Morrison is a "rolled-gold tosser". I tend to agree.

Perhaps what stopped me from absolutely loving this book was disliking Ben who uses his wife Lucy to feel adequate, and a good helping of cultural cringe. Seeing our special places, people, and racism through the eyes of a British diplomat was at times pretty hard: "The fabled Aussie bush and its lonely highways were a haven for human monsters." Look so some serial killers targeted backpackers, okay, it wasn't ideal, but it ain't who we are, is it?

Seeing Ben, with an outsider perspective, say our remote towns are full of "Flat Earth Party-voting climate change denying, wife-battering, God-bothering, gun-nut, ground-zero, racist, fundamentalist f*ckers" might rev up a bit of 'love it or leave' in all of us. I think the writer, Paul Daley, does this purposely and cleverly, to get us to own and see all of us, including the frontier violence that set up our relationship to Indigenous Australians. It doesn't make it a comfortable read, but go there anyway...

With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for sending me a copy to read.

[Jillwilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is Wake in Fright meets ?....meets what?

In his acknowledgements, Daley references ‘Wake in Fright’. He writes: “The book and the movie vividly evoke a landscape of physical and social malevolence, with their acute critiques of Australian class and the divide between urbane coastal life and the interior’s dark heart.” He says that he wrote the book in the countdown to The Voice referendum in 2023 when racism against Aboriginal people was in full flight in many places.

In this novel, Benedict (Ben) Fotheringham-Gaskill is a British diplomat returning from trauma-based leave following some very wrenching assignments in Cambodia and other parts of South East Asia (the tsunami for instance). He has been given what should be an easy post in Canberra but on day 1, an Australian girl dies (is murdered?) in Saudi Arabia and the suspects are two British nurses. Ben has to fly to The Leap to try to persuade the victim’s father to forgive the sins of two British nationals facing the death penalty in Riyadh. The Leap is Wake in Fright territory on steroids.

I read it with my fingers covering my eyes (metaphorically) – in dread at the mistakes this guy was making and the horrific nature of some of how interactions. It felt a bit off the charts in terms of drama. What he conveys really convincingly is the aggressive “hospitality” of the local rednecks who insist on Ben drinking with them. I’ve seen that passive aggressive masculinity on show many times. However, I thought it was a bit one-note in terms of the binaries set up in the novel. I can understand where Daley was coming from in terms of trying to profile the ongoing violence suffered by Aboriginal people since colonisation but felt it needed a bit more work.

[Sharon J · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Leap by Paul Daley is a profoundly disturbing depiction of an outback small town in New South Wales.

English diplomat Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill has been posted to Canberra, arriving in Sydney in January 2020 when a lot of the Australian east coast has raging fires creating a smoke filled environment. While this is obviously difficult, Ben is finding his return to Australia below his expectations having stayed there in his youth. While waiting for his family to join him, he tries to settle into his work and living in Canberra. An overseas incident involving the death of a young woman from a town called The Leap allegedly at the hands of two British woman has him being sent to the town to try and get the family of the ‘murdered’ girl to support a reasonable justice process.

Ben is confronted by racism, bigotry, sexism and any other ‘ism’ you can think of. He is drawn into a drunken culture which becomes very confronting.

The writing style is excellent and the plot development moves at a fast pace. Descriptions of people (such as that of Scott Morrison), events (the kangaroo shooting expedition and pig hunt) and places in and around The Leap are captivating while at times being horrific!

Great characterisation and a storyline that is enthralling. While at times very dark, the author has put in humour which gives a bit of relief.

Great read and difficult to put down!


This review is based on a complimentary copy from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#TheLeap #NetGalley

[Shereen Lang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in an outback country town, where the white man rules the rooster and owns the town and it white people follow his lead..
English diplomat Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill has been posted to Canberra, arriving in Sydney in January 2020 when a lot of the Australian east coast has raging fires creating a smoke-filled environment. While this is obviously difficult for Ben as It’s all charged after being in Australia in his youth While waiting for his family to join him, he tries to settle into his work while finding a house for his family in Canberra to live once they leave England. An overseas incident involving the death of a young woman from a town called The Leap allegedly at the hands of two British woman has him being sent to the town to try and get the family of the ‘murdered’ girl to support a reasonable justice process.

Ben is confronted by racism, bigotry, sexism and any other ‘ism’ you can think of. He is drawn into a drunken culture which becomes very confronting and drugs.
There are many issues raised in this book regarding colonialism and indigenous rights, and the views of most of the town inhabitants are more than eye opening. While nothing is glossed over about the past, one of the indigenous characters uses humor to get his point across, and this works in this story.
I did find it slow in parts and too much waffling on about Ben past in Cambodia I know it was part of the back ground but too much.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment! I liked Jesustown but this is so bad on many fronts.
First, I have to say I entirely share Daley’s political views but when writing fiction I stay in fictive mode; what I think personally is not relevant to the characters I’m imagining. I certainly don’t like politics, whether I agree or not, shouted at me when reading fiction. It’s as if he can’t detach himself to write for “the face beneath the page” unless he is peeping over that face’s shoulder. For instance he takes a hit at PM Morrison in a slight episode that adds nothing to the plot. In similar vein his characters are black and white or just unbelievable. Ben, a well educated diplomat, has one beer and then drinks himself stupid night after night, while at home he is ever the gentleman. All the characters in the town The Leap (named after the fact that white settlers drive 70 aborigines of the cliff there) are evil, physically repellent, and utterly racist, homophobic etc. except for the vague Dorinda character. The town itself is as ugly as its inhabitants. He is painting not a dark but a jet black picture of rural Australia, modelled as he admits on Wake in Fright. It comes across as a one dimensional caricature of rural Australia. The dialogue likewise doesn’t ring true.

[Michele (michelethebookdragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Leap is one hell of a ride. It's outback noir on steroids, well more correctly, blue pills.

This book was insane - it's got religious zealots (Deuteronomy anyone?), racists, bigots, flat earthers, gun toting MAGA worshippers, feral pig hunters, misogynists and every other horrible Australian cliche and a rather English diplomat who gets sent to the arse end of Australia, a town called The Leap.

Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill is a British diplomat stationed in Canberra, when he gets sent to The Leap, a backwards town in the wilds of the Australian outback. While there he falls prey to his own weaknesses and this leads to a whirlwind of poor choices and threatens to derail his mission as well as his new posting.

There are many issues raised in this book regarding colonialism and indigenous rights, and the views of most of the town inhabitants are more than eye opening. While nothing is glossed over about the past, one of the indigenous characters uses humour to get his point across, and this works in this story.

If you like your characters a bit strung out and living life on the edge then this socio-political thriller should hit the spot.

I think I need to chase down the author's previous offering, Jesustown, if this is what can be expected.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Leap (2025) by Paul Daley begins with an English Diplomat flying into Sydney to start work at the British Consulate in Canberra. Barely settled into his office as he awaits his family joining him at the end of summer, Ben Gaskill is sent on a diplomatic mission to the Australian outback. Tasked with seeking leniency from the family of the dead Australian woman, Ben is sent to her family to seek their assistance. Dealing with the consequences of his previous diplomatic posting, Ben finds the heat and local hospitality overbearing. Overall, this Aussie noir features strong environmental factors in the crime mystery, with a three-section narrative that has an abrupt, disappointing ending, making for a three and a half stars read rating. This review is all my own opinion and freely given, without any inducement.

[Todd Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful piece of writing that I thoroughly enjoyed. There have been some great books written lately based in the Australian Outback, and this is certainly one of them. Englishman Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill would have got quite a shock coming back to Australia, where he was used to life in Sydney’s Bondi. It’s a real eye opener for him to experience the small country town called The Leap, where it’s like he landed on a different planet. Especially with it’s unusual mix of people, with very different views to him.
This is a special book that gave me many hours of enjoyment. It’s well worth a read. 5/5 Star Rating.

[Déwi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

The Leap is a psychological thriller that’s genuinely hard to put down—an easy-to-read page-turner that’s tightly paced and written with heart and humour. Daley creates vivid, believable characters who truly come to life, drawing the reader into the unsettling world of The Leap.

This novel also conveys a sense of moral reckoning and witness, an exploration of Australia’s frontier violence and the responsibility of remembering.

As someone based in Canberra, I particularly enjoyed the opening sections set there, but this novel will appeal well beyond that familiarity. Anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers will be gripped by Daley’s immersive storytelling.

[Katie Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book very slow and rather boring. I nearly DNFd it several times, but it was cold and stormy. We lost power and internet… so I just forced myself through it. Truth to be it did pick up pace near the end but the big ‘secret’ was predictable and hardly exciting. The book lacked a great plot, yet was not overly character driven either, with so many two dimensional and stereotypical characters. It’s that kind of book where the jacket cover is full of blurbs from other writers heaping praise on the book. It sucked me in, I will admit, but I suggest you don’t believe them! 😂

[Jack Kennedy-Salter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found myself very interested in this book and keen to finish it off. The characters of the Leap are well thought out and believable. Ben is an interesting character, though I feel like his consistent time spent at the bar getting drunk is a bit repetitive. Through it helps the story progress and is integral to Ben meeting more people from the town, I don’t think this matches his character.
Overall the book was engaging, well written but the ending left a little to be desired.

I’m giving it 3 stars due to the ending and Ben’s behaviour doesn’t seem to match his character

[Angelynn23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting and somewhat disturbing story about a small town in outback Australia. The first half of the book was dragging but it did pick-up when Ben was sent to town the called The Leap. The story got so intensely exciting and thrilling.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend this.

With so much thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for an amazing ARC.

[Anne Fenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is a good writer, able to move events along , create interesting characters, and bring things to a suitable conclusion. He has a clear grasp of current Australian attitudes and how things are seen. I enjoyed the first half but the ‘wake in fright’ elements, repeated drinking and men being men grossness really had me skipping through pages fast.

[Jim Rimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daley's novels are engrossing and speak to many of the contradictions in modern Australia, the heavy historical burden we carry, and the potential for us to build a better, more inclusive, brighter future.

I devoured this one but should note how unfortunate it is that publishers slap airport-novel style covers on works that should be treated with more respect.

[Jamie Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like a basketball game decided at the buzzer but without the excitement. The action goes back and forth in a rather played out way for 98% of the book, and then the decisive shot is landed quickly and conveniently with not much more than relief that the game is finally over.

[Mark Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt it was a pretty authentic depiction of the dark side and history of Australia.
A lot of this (and the history) is glossed over.
Good story too.

[Beau · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE LEAP is the best book I've read this year.

[Graham Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

i couldn't get into this story and only lasted 30 pages.

[Caroline Moorhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book but a very slow story

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the first chapter, even the first page, I knew this wasn’t going to be my kind of book. I persisted as I’m not one for DNF’s, but ultimately I did not enjoy this book