Cold River

The sensational new novel from the author of the bestselling thriller, The Creeper, winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2025.

Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly . . .

Senior Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria's High Country. But there's something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up Mount Viking, that's not sitting right with her.

Louis was an aspiring journalist, researching the illegal tobacco trade - also known as chop chop - that was once so prevalent in the area. And the last person he interviewed before his hike has just met a gruesome end . . .

But with no other leads, and with the search winding down, Sally is forced to accept the young man died in a tragic accident.

Until she learns of another missing persons case that bears striking similarities. Astrid Marlowe, a young lawyer, vanished in the same mountains two years earlier.

Were Louis and Astrid simply unlucky hikers lost in the treacherous terrain? Or did they both stumble into something - or someone - they shouldn't have?