No Trace (Gabe Ahern #2) in Aussie Readers

Nov 19, 2023 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-read, psychological-thriller, thriller, crime, aussie-authors, mystery, 3500-2023, 2023-release

Gabe Ahern was working on Goldmont Station with his friend Cameron and the family as a dog trapper. The cattle station was overrun with wild dogs and Gabe's success as a trapper gradually brought the station back to the way it should be. Now, with tourists, the muster crew, plenty of staff and the odd stranger, Gabe often felt overcome. His comfort zone was to be alone, to leave no trace, but it was sometimes difficult. And when he received the phone call from Turner, the policeman who was in ch ...more

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Jun 26, 2023 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-only, australian-author, mystery-crime-thriller, chcc-e-book-or-audio, fiction, favourites-adult

5★
“‘You’re him! That guy! The one who uncovered that people-smuggling ring a few years back. Irene, you remember. We watched the news, were amazed because we’d only been in Carnarvon the month before.’

Gabe said nothing, but inwardly swore to himself. He should have stayed up at the workers’ quarters. F*king tourists.”

Gabe has more reason than most to want to avoid the tourists, especially nosy, talkative ones like Frank. This is book 2 of Wild Dogs, but you don’t need to have read Wild Dogs to e ...more

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Oct 12, 2025 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, australian, series, crime, thriller, outback

The first in this series, Wild Dogs was such a fantastic read, I absolutely loved it. Originally it was supposed to be a stand alone but the author was convinced to make a change and also, to give Gabe another adventure (and there’s since been a third one as well) and we’re all the better for it because Gabe is a great character. A rough-around-the-edges but with a heart of gold type of guy, deeply grieving a loss in his past, living a solitary life that involves a little too much drinking away The first in this series, Wild Dogs was such a fantastic read, I absolutely loved it. Originally it was supposed to be a stand alone but the author was convinced to make a change and also, to give Gabe another adventure (and there’s since been a third one as well) and we’re all the better for it because Gabe is a great character. A rough-around-the-edges but with a heart of gold type of guy, deeply grieving a loss in his past, living a solitary life that involves a little too much drinking away the pain.

Gabe is a ‘dogger’ working in remote Western Australia where roaming packs of feral dogs often bring chaos to livestock. It’s his job to track them and carefully dispatch them without harming other animals. This can involve more care than you might imagine, especially when he’s working close to a homestead where there might be domesticated and working animals. That’s the job he’s doing now, lying low after the events that occurred in Wild Dogs. The property he’s working on also hosts tourists and adventurers for ‘farm stay’ type things, grey nomads travelling around the country in caravans or campers, young people seeking adventure or knowing what life is like on the land. Gabe doesn’t do people very well, he didn’t anyway but since the trauma he went through recently, he seems to have even less tolerance for people and their questions and not listening to directions and doing whatever they want, than usual.

Things start going wrong on the property and people’s lives are in danger. Gabe is certain that someone connected to the events of his recent past is responsible and he’s going to have to come up with a plan to keep everyone safe….and make sure they can’t continue to target him.

This was so much fun – but I knew it would be! I bought this at my book club retreat last year, when Michael Trant was a guest author. I put it on my 25 in 2025 list because honestly, it felt like one that I knew I would be picking up.

I just really love Gabe as a character. I like his way of thinking, his ability to assess himself and his views and change his thoughts based on what information he’s given. He’s older and he’s set in his ways but he’s also able to be progressive and thoughtful. The friendship he made with the asylum seeker in the previous book is still a huge part of his life although we don’t get to see him in this story. We do get some information on him though, hopefully we continue to hear how that progresses. Gabe meets people from all walks of life and who doesn’t have a lot of patience for the people who don’t respect the station way of life or accept the advice they’re given. He frequently finds ways to take off when people start milling around and avoids larger gatherings.

However, Gabe is definitely the sort of person you want to have around in a crisis. He’s levelheaded and calm, he has ideas, he put his body on the line to do everything possible if someone is in danger. He has injuries from a car accident that still plague him, especially during strenuous activity but he grits his teeth and finds ways to keep going. Gabe is wryly funny and taciturn but he also cares deeply for people that he allows to get close to him.

It was no surprise to me that there was some form of payback on the cards for Gabe after what happened in the previous book. He got involved in some stuff, he ended up being the reason a lot of {bad} people are dead and there’s always going to be people that want revenge, that want someone to pay. It’s funny, I noticed a statement in this and I’m like oh, the clue was always there! I really liked the way this went and how Gabe went through the process of trying to figure out who it was that might’ve been sabotaging stuff on the property and how they had found him. He’s very careful to keep a low profile, he’s not on social media (the Bookface lol) and he doesn’t/hasn’t given interviews or anything about the previous incidents. He told the police his statement and then he basically disappeared.

But this book develops Gabe as a character a bit more, as a person who might not be such a loner anymore in the future. I liked that for him. I can’t wait to dive into book #3 and hang out with Gabe again soon.
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