EXCERPT: . . . I stripped to my bathers and waded into the foam. It was biting cold and seaweed swirled around my ankles as I tackled the slick stones. Aha. This would be why Barren Cape wasn't super popular. There were lots of beaches along this stretch of South Australia, most with gentle shores and clear blue water. Not to mention closer to the CBD. Barren Cape was an underwhelming spot in comparison. Maybe the resort developers weren't fully aware, maybe they didn't care. Any guests might have spent more time by the pool or in the cocktail bar than on the shore, and of course they would've had the immense sea views from their windows.
Once I was waist deep, I began to swim. It was glorious to have the sweat washed away. I floated, bobbing with the sea, hair fanning in the water. Couldn't help grinning. A beach all to myself.
I lifted my head and studied the resort. No sign of movement. The buildings looked back at me. Still, hollow, yet not foreboding or unsettling. In fact, I felt sorry for the place. It was neglected, unloved.
It was calling out to me.

ABOUT 'BARREN CAPE': An abandoned resort seems the perfect place to hide, but is Barren Cape a refuge or a trap?

Former housemates Mac and Erika are homeless.

Well, Erika is fine, she just has to live with her parents until she can find another rental. Mac's situation is much worse – family isn't an option and she's surfing the couches of her increasingly exasperated friends.

Driving around one lonely afternoon, Mac discovers Barren Cape. Once destined to be a luxury escape, now it's just wire fence and gray cement.

It's stark, but quiet. There's no harm in staying a little while…

MY THOUGHTS: Michele Prak has elected to build this novel around the ever-increasing problem of homelessness which affects more and more of our young (and not so young) people as rentals are converted to Air BNBs. The idea of using a partially completed and abandoned resort - to be honest, I was immediately thinking of the abandoned and derelict Sheraton Resort in Rarotonga - was nothing short of inspired. Such buildings are at once sad and chilling. Thank you, Michele Prak, I will never again be tempted to poke around in one!

While Mac is feeling much safer in her empty hotel room, which while it has a door has no handle, than when she was sleeping in her car, there are things going on in the seemingly empty resort that should have her running for her life.

We've all heard the idiom, 'No good deed goes unpunished, and in Mac's case this is very true. Her reaching out to help someone else may be her undoing. Mac should also remember that a secret is not a secret when more than one person knows.

I can't say any of the characters are particularly likeable. But that's okay, I don't have to live with them. They are all human. They are all in circumstances I would hate to endure. With this in mind, I can cut them some slack.

The story is told from multiple points of view - Mac, Erika, and Brex. Erika is Mac's ex-housemate and best friend, Brex a young teenager Mac tries to help.

This is a book best gone into knowing as little as possible. Just enjoy the simmering tension and the increasing sense of menace. I had no idea how this was going to end but while it is a little bit of a cliff-hanger, I was more than satisfied.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#BarrenCape #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: She is a professional communicator with a thirty-year career in PR, social media, and politics. Her short stories have been shortlisted in several competitions, and she was runner-up in the Furphy Literary Award 2021. Michelle lives in Adelaide and teaches communication subjects at the University of South Australia.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia via NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of Barren Cape by Michelle Prak for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

This is a fantastic thriller. I wasn’t sure that Prak could live up to her explosive debut, which I loved, but this is an excellent, outstanding thriller with unexpected twists.

Former housemates Mac and Erika have become homeless, victims of the housing shortage and a greedy landlord interested in short term rentals. While Erika can return to her parents, Mac can’t.

Mac becomes increasingly stressed as she wears out her welcome on friends’ couches, and tries dangerous options like sleeping in her car. And then one afternoon she comes across Barren Cape. Intended to be a luxury resort, it’s been abandoned half built – and it looks like the perfect refuge for Mac.

But it’s not as deserted as Mac thought it would be, and maybe it’s not the safe refuge she thought either.

Prak kept me off guard with some great twists. She’d introduce something which is a relatively common trope in thrillers, and I’d know what to expect next – and then she’d subvert it. It was great, within a few chapters I was off balance and couldn’t foresee much of the plot. Mind you, just to mess with you, a few things happen exactly as you expect!

A thriller really only works if you care about the central characters, and you certainly do here. Prak has a subtle touch with characterisation, developing our empathy for the characters gradually, in a way that echoes our growing awareness of the danger they’re in. Mac and Erika are the characters we focus on most, but Prak is capable of pulling out sympathy for the most unexpected characters.

This is a novel that doesn’t reflect particularly well on men – a full range of lousy behaviour is on display. Unfortunately a lot of it rang true. Every woman has met at least one, and probably several, men who behave like this. This helps the novel feel realistic.

Finally, I absolutely did not see the final chapter coming. It fit perfectly with the rest of the novel, but still took me off guard. This is a fast read – in part because you don’t want to put it down for long – and that adds to the sense that we’ve arrived at the conclusion rather breathlessly.

I loved this novel – it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve read recently. Prak has more than lived up to the promise of her debut (“The Rush”). Most readers should enjoy this, and many, like me, will be looking out for Prak’s next novel.

When Mac (Mackenzie) and her flat mate Erika are forced out of her rental share house in Adelaide, Erika returns to her family’s home but during a rental crisis, Mac is unable to find another place to live. She’s not welcome at her mum’s and is wearing her welcome couch surfing at friend’s places. Looking for somewhere safe to sleep at night, she breaks in to an unfinished resort on Barren Cape and sets up camp. However, after Erika visits the resort, she invites friends over to party with alcohol and drugs and Mac begins to regret staying there. Unknown to Mac there are also other people in the resort and Mac ‘s safe refuge may end up turning into a trap.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this thriller as much as Michelle’ Prak’s debut thriller ‘The Rush’. The novel paints a realistic picture of the rental crisis affecting young people and creates a disturbing atmosphere of menace in the eerie, empty resort. Despite this the tension never really built up and I didn’t find any of the characters or their actions very believable. I will however, continue to watch out for this talented writer's next book.

Michelle Prak’s second novel Barren Cape takes on a very familiar modern story as its hook. Young people in Australia (in this case Adelaide) who have been priced out of the rental market and have become effectively homeless. She builds around this a number of other hot button issues, including domestic violence, stalking and teens behaving badly to build a thriller.
The narrative of Barren Cape is built around three characters. The first two Mac (Mackenzie) and Erica were flat mates until they were evicted and their flat became a holiday rental. Erica moves home but Mac finds that she cannot live with her mother and ends up couch surfing with friends. When that gets tired, she finds an abandoned, half built resort down the coast, breaks in and sets up in one of the empty rooms. This is where she encounters Brex, a teenager who also cannot go home because her mother’s boyfriend is back in the picture. But Brex has more secrets than that, secrets that she does not want Mac to know. When Erica spills the secret of Mac’s find to her crush, the situation quickly spirals out of control.
The characters have a genuine feel but that means that none of them are particularly likeable. Prak does a good job of building up the tension, particularly placing the action mainly from Mac’s point of view. Early on Erica feels like a character just brought in to compare with Mac’s life and make it harder but she does come into her own with a bit of a redemption arc in the last third of the book. Brex too has a familiar backstory for teenagers sleeping rough, although her two friends come across as much less developed.
The abandoned, half-built resort with its seaweedy beach, particularly at night is both an inviting and creepy setting for the action. But there are a number of conveniences in the plot to drive the tension, particularly those involving Brex and her friends and their situation. And some of the elements that are developed earlier in the novel seem to peter out or are forgotten. But the feeling that some elements of the final confrontations don’t quite make sense are cleared up in an ending that unravels a number of twists.
Barren Cape does generate some thrills and has some things to say about modern Australia. But its thrills are a little contrived and the whole package does not quite live up to its initial promise.

A mystery thriller, Barren Cape (2025) by Michelle Prak is set in Adelaide with several young characters. Housemates Mac and Erika are forced to leave their rental property and move back home. Mac is uncomfortable living with her mother’s boyfriend and decides to couch-surf until she finds her own place. Craving her own space, Mac decides to camp in an abandoned luxury development, known as Barren Cape. Yet things turn bad when Erika visits and her friends decide to party. Caught up in a dangerous situation, Mac finds herself trapped, her things stolen and unable to escape. Overall, it’s a disappointing tale, seemingly focused on housing issues, lacking real tension and under sketched characters, making it a two and a half star rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given. With thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

Barren Cape was an interesting read and I appreciated the focus on the rental crises here in Australia. Sleeping/squatting in an abandoned development does sound like something people would do when they are desperate to have a roof over their head but don't want to inconvenience their friends and family and/or have overstayed their welcome after many months.

There are three groups in this story: 14-15 year old delinquents, then there is Mac and Erika in their early 20's and then Theo and his friends in their mid 20s. But I really struggled with not seeing a maturity difference between the older groups and the delinquents. It seemed like everyone's actions and language on the same level and quite immature.

I liked Mac, she was strong and focused and had a goal and I really empathized with her. She was really the only character that I became emotionally connected with. But I still struggled to see how she had x2 good paying jobs but yet couldn't afford to stay somewhere cheap at least a few nights a week, she didn't appear to be a big spender.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia and Netgalley for a copy to honestly review.

Mackenzie (Mac) was one of the homeless in her city of Adelaide, South Australia, as she and her best friend Erika had been evicted from their rental. Erika was able to return to her family home while they were looking for another place, but Mac didn't have that luxury. When she decided to join her sister, Georgia, in London, she sent off for her passport and visa, but the wait still meant she needed a roof over her head, and her friends were getting sick of her.

When Mac discovered the abandoned Barren Cape resort one afternoon when her random driving took her in a different direction, she decided to investigate. Burrowing under the protective fence; ignoring the "keep out" signs and security warnings, Mac discovered somewhere she could lie low at night. Deciding to tell no one, not even Erika, she was settled for a few days - until trouble visited...

Barren Cape is Aussie author Michelle Prak's second novel, and while I loved her first - The Rush - this one didn't live up to my expectations. There wasn't a character that I found likeable and there were unanswered questions at the end of the book, which was frustrating. I'll definitely give her next a go though, and look forward to checking it out.

With thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster AU for my digital ARC to read and review.

I had a really hard time with this book.
I appreciated the theme about homelessness and where home is not the sanctuary it should be but I just could not connect with any of the characters at all. I felt I was springing between them all.
It was a fast paced novel and it had a menacing undertone all the way through and since I usually am partial to this genre, sometimes some are just too dark and stifling for me. Perhaps this was one of them and it says more about me and my mood for it, rather than the book itself.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschusteraustralia for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

After being evicted, amidst the housing crisis in Australia, friends Mac and Erika are left with limited options. Erika turns to her family for refuge but for Mac, that’s not an option. She’s couch surfing at her friends places but she’s made the ask one too many times.

While driving around she discovers Barren Cape. It was meant to be a luxurious resort by the beach, but when the pandemic hit, the plans were abandoned. The building sits lonely and desolate, just concrete, empty rooms and chain link fences. But maybe it’s the perfect hideout for Mac at least for a little while. Her closest friend can’t keep a secret, some truant teens show up and a body is uncovered on the roof: her private and peaceful accommodation is no longer.

I loved the unique premise of this book and the author paints complex and multifaceted characters. I was immersed into the uncommon setting of the book and the creepy vibes of the abandoned resort. The multiple perspectives kept the pace moving and I was holding my breath for the safety of the characters. Filled with mystery and suspense, I recommend this one highly!

I’m hoping for a sequel…so much to explore for Mac and Erika. I could see another story with an update on Erika after that ending and Mac’s life in London!

Desperate times lead to desperate measures. When Mac finds herself homeless after her and flatmate are evicted, she finds it harder and harder to couch surf and rely on friend's hospitality.

While out driving one day she notices a turn off to an abandoned barely complete resort, Barren Cape. This place is empty, it's desolate, it's out of the way, it's perfect isn't it? No one would know if she camped there for a while. Problem solved.

Little does Mac know that she is not the only person that has found their way into Barren Cape. The situation Mac soon finds herself in will test her to her limits.

With a gradually building sense of menace and tension, I found myself bracing for jump scares and yelling at Mac quite a few times. The startling conclusion and revelation of what really occurred was frightening and so well done. I will never look at an abandoned building the same way again.

Michelle Prak's Barren Cape is a gripping thriller that masterfully explores the precariousness of modern living and the lengths to which individuals will go when pushed to the edge. The novel introduces us to Mac and Erika who are former housemates who find themselves abruptly homeless. While Erika reluctantly returns to her overcrowded family home, Mac faces a harsher reality—couch-surfing among friends with dwindling options. Her discovery of Barren Cape, an abandoned coastal resort seems like a temporary refuge. However, this seemingly safe haven soon reveals unforeseen dangers which challenge Mac's resilience and survival instincts.

The characters are intricately developed, with Mac's journey highlighting her strength and determination amidst escalating threats. The plot is meticulously crafted, offering psychological suspense that keeps readers on edge. The twists just keep coming, you think you have one figured out and another pops up!!

Barren Cape is more than just another thriller novel, to a degree it's an exploration of societal issues and personal endurance.

I'm a huge fan of Michelle Prak and look forward to her next novel!

Barren Cape is a classically orchestrated thriller whose cast, for various reasons, due to circumstances mostly beyond their control, are drawn to an abandoned, semi-constructed luxury resort on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.

For Mac, the deserted development site promises salvation. Evicted by a greedy landlord, and having exhausted the goodwill of friends, it’s a sanctuary while she awaits her passport and British visa application. For her former housemate Erika, it’s a cool place to show off to her nightclub crush—although Theo bringing along a couple of mates wasn’t exactly what she planned. For schoolgirl Brex, it’s a place to hide out from her mother’s seedy boyfriend. Meanwhile, as they converge on Barren Cape, the police are searching for an escaped killer...

Michelle Prak’s thriller is the kind that had me shouting advice to its characters. Yep—it’s the kind of page-turner where everybody make bad decisions for the sake of our entertainment, and you have to buy into that conceit to truly enjoy the ride. I’m well versed in that practice, of course—I’ve spent a lifetime obliging authors. They hand me that contract, and I sign it every time. Everybody here is terribly flawed, manipulated by exceptional circumstances. Even when a character acts deplorably—and boy, do they—their actions are rooted in desperation. When I didn’t sympathise, I empathised.

Barren Cape builds to a breakneck crescendo. Prak machinegun-fires twists in her story’s final third, which effectively superglued the book to my hands. Escape was not an option.

Mac and Erika are flatmates but an eviction and lack of available housing leaves them both homeless. Thankfully Erika has her family but Mac needs another solution. Cue Barren Cape, a once destined luxury resort that is now abandoned, surrounded by wire fences and unoccupied. It may be a gift for Mac, or a trap.
As she organises to stay there, she realises it may not be the ideal place to camp out after all.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Australian setting, right by the beach, with dangers lurking at every turn. Like the author's previous novel, this one was filled with suspense and mystery, with some interesting supporting characters that kept me turning the pages.

An abandoned and isolated half-built luxury beach resort. A escaped prisoner. A homeless young woman and a trio of smartarse teenagers. Sounds like an interesting setup but in the end disappointing. There’s a few thrilling moments but mostly I just didn’t care about the characters and even though the story is fast moving some of the dialogue is just stupid. And why introduce the stalker character and do nothing important with him? Meh.

Michelle Prak's novel, Barren Cape, focuses on the impacts of Australia's current housing crisis. The book features a number of people who have become homeless: "my father sheltered dogs, while his youngest daughter didn't have her own fixed address." While I liked it drawing attention to the difficulty people face when couch-surfing, and the way not having a home impacts upon self-esteem, I didn't feel like this theme went anywhere, or had anything to say about homelessness really: "Despite my friends' insistence that I could stay as long as I needed, I was an interloper, a charity case, surviving on the fringes of their success as fully functioning adults." What it does make clear is how consuming the question of where you'll sleep each night is, though the lead protagonist Mac still manages to hold down two jobs throughout. By pitting homeless people against each other in the book, I found it undermined the good work it set out to do by raising awareness of the impact of feeling like you do not belonging anywhere: "People rushed past, ferrying bags of food; people with someplace to be. People with homes."

The writing is simplistic, and the characters felt a bit shallow to me. Like other reviewers, I struggled to find a maturity in the adult characters that set them apart from the teenage characters, which impacted my ability to care about the outcomes for either group. There's also a moralistic tone underlying this novel: "At their tender age, having killed one man already, surely they were set on a path of violent crime." So again, I'm back to, is this meant to make us feel more or less empathy for people who are homeless? Not quite sure...

Did I drop everything to read the new novel from Michelle Prak? Yes, yes I did.

Mac was driving around one afternoon and came across Barren Cape. Once meant to be a luxury escape is now just a building that is sitting doing nothing. Recently Mac and her friend Erika have been evicted from there rental property. Mac has nowhere to go and comes up with an idea. Why doesn't she take a look around and stay at Barren Cape for awhile? It will save her so much drama in the long run.. or will it?

I powered through this book in just two days and couldn't stop myself from turning the kindle pages wanting more. Short chapters, some unlikeable characters and everything I have come to expect in a book written by Michelle. I found the different points of view and the location to be very well written. I felt like I too was at Barren Cape alongside Mac and my heart rate spiked throughout the read.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for a gifted copy of the book for my honest book review.

Michelle Prak brings the reality of the housing crisis in Australia to the pages of Barren Cape. I loved Michelle’s first book, The Rush, and knew that we would be in for another wild ride with this book. Once again, I was hooked not wanting to stop reading.

Best friends Mac and Erika find themselves out on the street when they are evicted. Try as they might, they can’t seem to find anything decent and affordable to move to so drastic measures are required. Erika can go back to her family home, as crowded as it maybe, at least she has a roof over her head and is safe. Mac is not so lucky and finds herself begging friends for a couch for a night. She soon tires of this and after a scary night sleeping in her car, she comes across an abandoned building site that was to be a high end resort. How bad could it be?

The author makes you feel the fear of breaking into this building and hiding from security, as well as that feeling of being alone. But how alone is she? Is she is danger? Mac is pretty resilient and tough but she starts to think maybe this is not such a great idea. Makes you think about what you would do in this situation.

Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster Australia for my advanced copy of this book to read, it was page turning and freaked me out in places. Out in Australia on April 2nd.

Barren Cape is the second thriller by Australian author, Michelle Prak. Yes, the housing affordability crisis has been in the news, but until Mac and Erika are evicted from their flat, it was someone else’s problem; now, it’s theirs, too. Erika goes back to her parents. After months of couch surfing and a frightening, aborted attempt at sleeping in her car, Mac stumbles on a possible solution: an unfinished coastal resort abandoned during the pandemic. No water or power, but standing empty, right on the beach, a public ablutions block nearby.

She sneaks in, sets herself up for a temporary stay (her British visa surely can’t take too long now) and makes sure to stay under the radar of the lazy security guard. What she doesn’t count on: a violent prison escapee, a trio of truant teens, and a thoughtless friend unable to keep a secret.

A bit of an introvert, Mac felt safe and happy on her own, but suddenly that all changes and her life is in danger. Luckily, when the friend eventually sorts her flawed priorities, she turns out to be gutsy and brave There’s not a huge body count, but there is plenty of tension, with twists, turns and surprises keeping the reader guessing. Topical, wholly credible, and nail-bitingly good.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster Australia.

Wow, what an unforgettable, suspenseful thriller!

When Mac and Erica become homeless, Erica reluctantly returns to her overcrowded family home. Mac is unfortunately not so fortunate and begins couch-surfing; until she discovers Barren Cape, an abandoned and unfinished resort. Surely there is no harm in staying at Barren Cape for a little while…

What follows is a chilling and timely reminder of the vulnerability of precarious living situations, and lack of support. I felt immersed in the coastal South Australian setting, and appreciated the varying perspectives of three strong, memorable female characters – Mac, Erica and Brex.

I love when I cannot see where a story will lead, and this certainly offered plenty of psychological suspense and a well-written plot, with twists that kept me guessing right to the end. I also enjoyed the exploration of friendship, the brashness of youth, independence, social isolation and fractious relationship dynamics.

With many thanks to Simon & Schuster (Australia), Michelle Prak and NetGalley, for this e-ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Michelle Prak has proven herself to be an incredible thriller writer, and I am very excited to read what she produces next!