As Far As You Can Go

As Far As You Can Go by Lesley Glaister is a desolate thriller set in the Australian Outback. Cassie feels like something needs to change between her and Graham, her boyfriend of three years. He randomly goes off and she has suspected him of wandering a time or two. When she sees the ad looking for a couple to go to the Australian Outback she decides this will be the test. Just the two of them in the desert to see if they can make it or if it be the end of them. 

The job entails living in the remote edges of the Outback and helping to take care of of the mentally unstable Mara as well as cook and clean for her husband Larry. At first it's just the distance that's hard, there are no phones, no email, no way to contact their family. Cassie longs to share information with her twin sister Patty so she begins to write her letters in the hopes that the next time the neighbour Fred comes by he will take the letters into town and post them. 

No letters come back though, and desperate for some sort of conversation she begins to turn to Larry who has impressed her with his kindness towards his wife. Cassie begins to feel like she's being watched even when she's alone. She begins to get lethargic and blames it on the sun. The one bonus is that Cassie and Graham have exposed their secrets and are now working towards something. 

Then the strange turns into stranger and Cassie and Graham find themselves torn as they attempt to unravel the mystery and debate about running. But where do you run to when you are trapped in the middle of no where?

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in two days actually and was immediately drawn into the tense prose and the dark desolation of it. I loved the detail that was used to describe the Australian Outback and it's barren beauty. I did begin to wonder why the English don't just buy cigarettes the way we do here with filters and pre rolled but I went along with it. 

The action was slow to build but it made sense, you were always waiting for the next twist and turn that the novel would throw at you. However, what I didn't like was the end. It was .... too neat and yet gave no real details of how the characters were dealing with the aftermath of what they had been doing.