THRILLER
The Pact
Lisa Walker
Harper Collins, $32.99
Tess has always dreamed of becoming a writer. Encouraged by her mother, who had her own aspirations in literature that never came to fruition, Tess is raised in an environment where her mother shields her from relationships that she believes will not contribute to her daughter's success as a literary figure.
As Tess reaches the age where she can apply to and gain entry into the renowned and selective Ravensthorpe Writing College located in the peaceful English countryside, she holds two convictions about herself – she feels like an outsider, and in her mind, already a fraud as she joins the cohort of talented young individuals, all of whom appear to grasp not only the subtleties of friendship and social (and romantic) interactions, but also how to navigate the route to literary success.
Introduce Lula Thornton, the head of creative writing, whose role, as she appears to see it, involves taking vulnerable young students and pushing them to their limits until they break under the stress and uncover their authentic writing "voice".
It goes without saying, there are some setbacks along the way, but over time, to her astonishment, Tess becomes part of a close group of "cool" students. Ethan, one of the top students of the year, and the son of a well-known author, is taken by her, while Lula thinks Tess has the potential to become a writer. She is asked to form a group of four and ends up joining Ethan, another friend named Jazz, and Theo.
Tess's group is selected by Lula for her annual masterclass, which will lead to her choosing her Year's Chosen One, a highly sought-after pathway into the publishing industry. As the group participates in this yearly, somewhat strange tradition, they are introduced to a series of cunning tactics meant to encourage competition among them.
Everything goes terribly wrong when the four friends decide to have a night out at the top of the old college tower to celebrate together. When Lula arrives, a terrible accident occurs, and for some reason, she falls over the tower's short wall, plummeting to her death. The four, who are intoxicated and under the influence, don't realise what has happened. It isn't until the next morning, when she doesn't show up, that they start searching for her, discovering her body at the base of the tower.
Three years later, Tess, who had left Ravensthorpe following the incident, gets an unusual email inviting her to hike the Camino to Santiago route, only to discover that Ethan, Theo, and Jazz have also received the same invitation. Let's just say for now that what occurs on the path remains on the path, but the group's experiences are both eerie and amusing in equal measure.
It took me a moment to realise that one of my most cherished Walker books,Arkie's Journey to the Big New Thing, is also, as its title implies, a journey, undertaken by Arkie, who lacks the funds for an international pilgrimage, and instead, while evading a divorce lawyer attempting to deliver legal documents, embarks on a journey through some of Australia's enormous "landmarks". The Big Prawn and the Big Pineapple are just two examples. Walker possesses a sharp sensitivity to the absurd, frequently balancing on the edge between the implausible and the plausible with precise intensity, as she delves into the quirks of the characters she has developed, andThe Pact is no exception.
Walker employs a dual timeline featuring the college narrative and the pilgrimage path to transition between these two somewhat disastrous occurrences, while introducing a female detective who is relentlessly pursuing them, with a personal stake in uncovering the truth about what transpired that night.
Additionally, there is the hidden manipulator, controlling the actions of all four hikers, a sinister entity that they eventually uncover, which does not have their welfare in mind, yet will ultimately influence their lives in unimaginable ways as they all, with their insecurities, disasters, heartbreaks, and weary bodies, slowly progress along the path.
The Pact, with all its twists and turns, it serves as both a literary mystery and a delightfully strange combination of enigma, homicide, and magical chaos.
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