The Drowning Girls — Chris H

One simple sacrifice is all they need.

'Eerie, atmospheric and addictive, The Drowning Girls shimmers with gothic tension' Candice Fox

Cast a stone. Aim true. Let her sink.

Nate can't believe he's dragged himself up to this backwater town. Port Flinders would have fallen off the map years ago, except for one thing. Tourists flock to its mangrove-lined shores for the annual Drowning Girl festival: sacrifice a girl at sea, and the fishing hauls that keep the town afloat will prosper. Or don't and the whole town will sink.

But it's just a legend, a gimmick. Everybody knows that.

As fireworks light up the night sky, a woman's body is pulled from the inky waters of the gulf. Shock waves threaten to tear Port Flinders apart when she's identified as Kelsey Webb: a local teenager thought dead for twenty-five years.

As Nate tries to find the truth about what happened to Kelsey, he uncovers a string of deadly accidents over the decades. All women. All drowned. And always during the festival.

In his search for answers, the legend of the Drowning Girl begins to take hold of Nate, weaving its way into his head and threatening to pull him under, and he begins to question which sacrifices are truly necessary.

'Lando grips and holds the reader underwater - the characters' nightmares of the drowning girl are palpable and the story is claustrophobic, despite the vast ocean nearby. This novel is for readers who love to delve into Sarah Bailey or Chris Hammer's mysterious, complicated histories, or swelter in Candice Fox's oppressive Queensland heat.' Books+Publishing

'The Drowning Girls weaves superstition, small-town tensions and past deeds into a close, suffocating tale infused with the heat and humidity of far north Queensland.' Maryrose Cuskelly

'A haunting Australian novel that strikes right at the reader's core with its moving storytelling. Featuring a unique mystery in an evocative setting, this is a great read from a rising Australian star.' Canberra Weekly

'Tropical Noir is a thing and Veronica Lando has it in the bag! A twisted tale of a desperate town, buried secrets, superstition, folklore, and murder set against a vividly realised Gulf Coast landscape that pulses off the page.' Dinuka McKenzie

'Sophisticated prose, a setting that felt like I could reach out and touch it, and more twists and reveals than I could imagine - Lando's writing sucks you in and doesn't let you go.' Mercedes Mercier