Teenage mystery with local insight

My teenage daughter likes to have lengthy conversations about the books she’s reading. I enjoy these, although I can’t pick my favourite character from Stephen King’s It because, unlike her, I’m too scared to read the book (I’m also worried about the weight of it in her school bag).

If she were to read Rain Fall ,I suspect we’d have much to talk about because it’s the kind of book which, on the surface, seems almost slight: young horse-rider Annie meets handsome boy who’s come to town because his dad is investigating a murder, possibly involving Annie’s neighbour.

Miss 13 might enjoy the descriptions of the horse riding; she probably wouldn’t be too fussed about the romance. But there’s more complexity to the story and characters than the somewhat breathless cover line, “a missing neighbour, a mysterious boy, a dead body … a murder?” suggests.

Though it’s a thriller, ostensibly for 12-15-yearolds, it also deals with the fallout when local industries shudder to a halt. Rain Fall has its feet firmly planted on the West Coast — the descriptions of local landscapes, weather, towns

RAIN FALL

and industry are rich and relatable — where coalmines are closing and many people are losing jobs and livelihoods.

New Zealander West and her husband live on a small sheep farm near Dunedin but spent many years on the West Coast. It makes for some thoughtful and nicely written insights about the area:

“Our lives will be remembered in museums and on webpages. There will be no more heavy machinery on the coast, no more coal trains. The line will be empty, the sound of trains rumbling through the night gone forever. And the people will be gone too. There will be nothing left for them. What will the Coast be like then? Will there be only ghosts?”

As Annie deals with the usual teen experiences — romance, friendship and school, she’s also hearing her parents whisper about meetings and redundancies and whether they’ll have to sell the house and leave town. It adds realism and grit to the story and helps explain why Annie makes a series of early and questionable choices you just know will haunt her. She’s a fairly self-contained, taciturn teen and detail about what’s going on “at home” aids in making her choices a little more understandable. by Ella West (Allen & Unwin, $19) Reviewed by Dionne Christian