Fear is the Rider

It was quite silent in the scrub. No breeze stirred the leaves and no bird moved, except for the kite hawks wheeling silently, eternally, high in the hot air.She smelt her attacker before she saw him.A heavy stench hit her with such force that she started with shock. It was a smell she’d never encountered before. Not man, not animal, something like carrion, but alive. It seemed to envelop and suffocate her, then became tangible as two arms wrapped around her body and began tearing at her clothing.A young man driving from Sydney to Adelaide for work decides to take a short detour into the desert. He turns his hatchback on to a notoriously dangerous track that bisects uninhabited stone-covered flats. Out there, under the baking sun, people can die within hours.He’s not far along the road when a distraught young woman stumbles from the scrub and flags him down. A journalist from Sydney, she has just escaped the clutches of an inexplicable, terrifying creature.Now this desert-dwelling creature has her jeep. Her axe. And her scent …

Kenneth Cook was born in Sydney in 1929. He achieved recognition as a fiction writer with the publication of his first novel Wake in Fright in 1961. Critically acclaimed, it has been translated into several languages and is still in print 45 years later. It was made into a classic Australian film in 1971.Wake in Fright was followed by over 20 fiction and non-fiction books, including Eliza Frazer, Bloodhouse, Tuna and Pig . His antiwar beliefs were reflected in his powerful novel The Wine of God's Anger and in the play Stockade. Kenneth Cook died of a heart attack in 1987 while on a publicity tour promoting Wombat Revenge, the second volume in his bestselling trilogy of humorous short stories. Humphrey Bower is a gifted and versatile actor. Since obtaining a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature at Oxford University, he has worked extensively in theatre, television and audiobook narration. Humphrey won the prestigious Audie Award (US) for his performance of The Family Frying Pan by Bryce Courtenay, and was shortlisted for an Audie Award for his performances of Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan and Brother Fish by Bryce Courtenay. Humphrey's sensitive and intelligent readings are highly regarded and he is well-known for his capacity to perform a variety of accents.

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