The Rush

March 7, 2023
The Rush by Michelle Prak gives new meaning to the words gripping and horrifying. Take Jane Harper’s The Lost Man, add some sinister Wolf Creek, and you’re on the right (or very wrong) rural noir track. The Rush begins with local Quinn’s discovery of an abandoned body on an isolated road in remote South Australia. Add an agitated group of four backpackers on their way to Darwin, their overlap at the remote outback pub where Quinn works and lives—and let the fun/horror begin. In some ways The Rush is a misleading read. It starts off a bit predictably, as a familiar road-tripping, Gen Z story set in a standard Australian outback setting. While the writing is taut from the beginning, with strong scene-setting and dialogue, you are not prepared for the fast-paced twists ahead. It is anything but your typical outback thriller. The unravelling horror is set up so masterfully by the stream of banal travel banter, ominous weather and testy human dynamics. The characters are developed steadily, evoking physical responses from the reader (the main villain Joost with his ‘pale eyes and hungry sneer,’ a stand-out). Aside from its entertainment value, The Rush makes you think, raising relevant themes of climate change, toxic masculinity and the troubling culture of online gaming communities. The Rush is a strong addition to a popular niche in the reading market—well written, compulsive crime thrillers that transport readers to places they are only brave enough to visit from the safety of their armchairs.