The Roadhouse in Aussie Readers

Aug 03, 2019 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-release, mystery, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, reviewing-by-request, romantic-suspense, arc, own-read

Charlie Carver wasn’t too upset to be leaving Melbourne and heading to the property a few hours east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory that she’d called home until five years prior. Her mother’s phone call letting Charlie know cousin Annabelle had died didn’t stir any grief, but she wanted to be by Molly’s side and the vulnerability she heard in her voice cemented her commitment. The thought that Annabelle had committed suicide didn’t sit well with Charlie however…

Not long after her arr ...more

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Jul 02, 2019 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, aussie-author, arc-are

The Roadhouse is an engaging story of romantic suspense, the eleventh novel set in the Australian Outback region from author Kerry McGinnis.

When Charlie Carver learns of her cousin’s suicide, she decides to leave behind her life in Melbourne, making her way to the remote roadhouse, east of Alice Springs, that she calls home. Little seems to have changed during her five year absence, except her mother appears to be struggling, and within days of Charlie’s return, Molly has a heart attack is is ai The Roadhouse is an engaging story of romantic suspense, the eleventh novel set in the Australian Outback region from author Kerry McGinnis.

When Charlie Carver learns of her cousin’s suicide, she decides to leave behind her life in Melbourne, making her way to the remote roadhouse, east of Alice Springs, that she calls home. Little seems to have changed during her five year absence, except her mother appears to be struggling, and within days of Charlie’s return, Molly has a heart attack is is airlifted to Adelaide for life saving surgery.
Charlie willingly steps up to run the roadhouse with the assistance of long time handyman, Bob, and a new cook, Polish backpacker Ute, and is also tasked with taking care of the details related to her cousin’s death. Though she disliked Annabelle, whose beauty barely masked her selfishness, and is beginning to suspect that the suicide could have been faked, Charlie is as shocked and puzzled as everyone else when the body of a murdered woman is found at a nearby abandoned mine site, and is identified as Annabelle.
When Charlie’s family home is ransacked shortly afterwards, she believes the incident is somehow connected to a visit Annabelle made shortly before her death, and danger could be closer to home than anyone expects.

I really enjoyed the mystery element of The Roadhouse, which firstly focuses on the possible motives for Annabelle’s suicide. Charlie is suspicious of the verdict from the outset, believing that even if Annabelle killed herself, she would never choose that particular manner in which to die. After the discovery of Annabelle’s body proves her right, Charlie speculates as to the meaning of a recent visit Annabelle made to the Roadhouse with a strange man in tow, and after the break in at her home, rashly follows a hunch and finds herself in a fight for her life in a tense and thrilling confrontation.

Unfortunately I did feel that the relationship between Charlie and Mike, a stockman she meets from a nearby station, was underdeveloped. The seeds of attraction were sown, but the couple spent very little time together, even less time alone together, and their relationship was unusually chaste for two twenty somethings in this day and age, all of which made Charlie’s ‘proposal’ awkwardly presumptuous, rather than romantic, in my opinion.

The Roadhouse is also a story about family. Molly was not a demonstrative mother, and Charlie’s feckless late father favoured Annabelle, who came to live with Charlie’s family as a young girl after the death of her own parents. Charlie felt overshadowed by her beautiful cousin whose spiteful behaviour towards her often went unnoticed. Charlie hopes to forge a closer relationship with her mother on her return home, and
over the course of the novel comes to understand more about her family’s dynamics.

Ute, with her unique grasp of English, was probably my favourite character in The Roadhouse, I enjoyed the humour she brought to the story and her practical approach to every facet of her life. I also liked the curmudgeonly Bob, whose gruff exterior fails to hide his soft spot for Charlie and Molly.

With a dramatic suspense plot, and likeable characters, in an uniquely Australian setting, I enjoyed The Roadhouse. ...more

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May 31, 2020 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, library-reads, aww2020

I’ve read a few Kerry McGinnis books and enjoyed them but there’s still quite a few I haven’t read. A lot of them are set in the Northern Territory, which is a place I definitely want to visit one day. Australia is such a big country but with very few large cities to hop between. This is also set in 1991 and even though that doesn’t feel that long ago, things have changed a lot since then, particularly with technology, accessibility, the global village, getting word out, staying in touch, etc.

Ch I’ve read a few Kerry McGinnis books and enjoyed them but there’s still quite a few I haven’t read. A lot of them are set in the Northern Territory, which is a place I definitely want to visit one day. Australia is such a big country but with very few large cities to hop between. This is also set in 1991 and even though that doesn’t feel that long ago, things have changed a lot since then, particularly with technology, accessibility, the global village, getting word out, staying in touch, etc.

Charlie left her family home near Alice Springs some years ago and has been trying to get her big break as an actress in Melbourne. It hasn’t been working out though, so when her mother calls and asks her to come home after the untimely death of her cousin Annabelle, who was raised with Charlie, it’s a good excuse to pack in Melbourne and return to the Territory for good. Charlie’s mother runs a roadhouse, keeping people fuelled and fed and although their relationship has been strained, Charlie sees this as an opportunity to improve things between them, by sticking around to help out and hopefully building a better rapport. Charlie’s mother has never been demonstrative, has never really admitted to needing anything from her or even wanting it. Her heart attack is a surprise to Charlie, who has never known her mother to be even a little ill. As Charlie steps in to run the roadhouse, the story of Annabelle’s death takes an ugly turn and it seems like she was caught up in something very serious. Even though they never had a good relationship, Charlie feels the need to find out what really happened to her so they can properly lay her to rest.

This book definitely made me think about the challenges of living remotely at a time when technology wasn’t what it is now. Even just getting there….Charlie can’t get a direct flight from Melbourne to Alice Springs, she has to go via Adelaide, which is not an issue now (unless it’s you know, a global pandemic). When her mother is taken to hospital and then transferred to Adelaide, each time Charlie calls to check on her, it has to be with careful consideration of the long distance costs. There are no cell/mobile phones, no internet. No Skype or FaceTime. Everything is done via landline and there would’ve been times when to make calls would’ve been incredibly expensive. Tracking someone down can take some time, especially when people work on remote cattle stations and can be out anywhere on the property.

There’s a lot about troubled family relationships here. Charlie had a difficult childhood – her orphaned cousin came to live with her family when Charlie was just a baby but the two of them never got along. Annabelle was spoiled, beautiful and wilful and had no interest in fostering a relationship with Charlie when she could compete with her and try and beat her in every which way. Charlie also wasn’t particularly close to her parents – her feckless father seemed to prefer Annabelle and her sensible, no nonsense mother saw to their needs without being warm and loving. After being betrayed in the worst of ways, Charlie left her home and hasn’t been back until now. Without Annabelle around any longer, it feels like Charlie might be able to finally carve out a place for herself where she grew up. Her mother needs help at the roadhouse, especially now. Charlie can tell that there are things that have been let go and that need work in order to bring the place back up to scratch. And after meeting Mike, a man who works on a nearby property, there might be even more reason to stick around.

The story revolving around Annabelle certainly went in some very unexpected ways and brought with it the sort of danger that would’ve been very unexpected. It was very much presented that one thing had happened to Annabelle, as strange as it seemed but it doesn’t take Charlie long to feel as though something is wrong with that story. There was a nice element of suspense later in the story as the danger and tension escalated around Charlie, the closer she got to the truth.

A good read, will definitely go back and read another Kerry McGinnis in the future. ...more

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