Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2024
Cover design Christa Moffitt, Christabella Designs
Cover images Elisabeth Ausley/Trevillion Images
This really is a very clever book, set in two time frames and geographical locations. Not only is the twisting story startling in its resolution but the author has contrived to drown us from page one in the same confusion as her hero, Lachy.
We are entirely in his head for much of the story wondering what on earth is going on. He suffers from blackouts, apparently fuelled by excessive alcohol consumption and these become just one of the author’s cunning devices to eke out the answers we need to solve the multiple mysteries – tiny bit by tiny bit to the end.
Lachy and his son Kai are living on the family rural property – Lachy is hiding away from problems at work and Kai has been ‘sent to Coventry’ because of his drug use at home in the city, where he normally lives with his Mum and Step-father. Lachy’s sister Sheridan and her family come to join them for an Easter celebration but it goes horribly wrong and both Kai and Lachy come under more pressure.
Meanwhile a woman from Lachy’s past life in the USA has contacted him to ask for a DNA sample. Why? Wrestling with his demon blackouts, Lachy fears he may have committed a crime, as he cannot clearly recall the events that might have led to this request.
Sheridan insists that Lachy go to the US to sort out both his issues at work and this new problem. His efforts to get to the bottom of the situation by discussing it with Sheridan’s husband and his long-time best mate Nick get him nowhere, as Nick seems to have his own secretive agenda.
This is where the story from two decades ago in Philadelphia meets the present. Lachy and Sheridan’s mother, now in care in Australia, was originally from a strict religious family, her father a minister of their fundamentalist church, her life painfully constrained and defined by rules and brutality. This high drama – including the story of a secret love – runs parallel to the present day mystery. When Lachy goes to the US the magic of DNA eventually leads us to several solutions.
It is impossible for me to avoid secrets that mustn’t be told if I go into any more detail and so I will leave comment about plot to that. What must be said, however, is that this story of family secrets both past and present is addictive reading.
The author examines the nature of sibling relationships and family dynamics in both strands of the book and delves into the darkness this can create. We can so easily identify with the brother-sister relationship which is central to the contemporary story but the sisterly love of the historical story is also potent.
Other subtle ‘traces’ are in the references to water and environmental crises. Lachy works in developing countries delivering water services; Gloria’s long time friend and neighbour to the family property comes with a secret past which we eventually discover has an environmental tag.
The secrecy and nefarious deeds by the powerful are as important as the environmental connection – the whole book is bathed in obscurity and it takes a rather freaky doll won at a carnival twenty years ago to tie all those ends together and reveal the hidden.
The Last Trace is a first-rate thriller, not merely for the beautifully designed mysteries it presents because of Petronella McGovern’s finessed writing and accomplished storytelling style. We find ourselves caring for both the living and the dead in this tale and willing justice to be meted out in every plot strand, even if posthumously.
It takes courage, of course, for this to happen, and the finding of that courage is a significant part of the redemption stories of more than one of the book people. How very satisfying when we witness this!
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for my review copy and to Petronella for a stimulating conversation about this work, writing techniques and the dark matter of the book.