Ten years ago, sixteen-year-old Gemma Toombs was kidnapped from Bangkok Airport by an infatuated drifter, Tyler MacFarlane, who took her to a secret den in the Australian desert. Now her name is Kate Stone and it’s her turn to confront Ty and try to find answers to the questions that have obsessed her since her ordeal. What is the legacy of this coercive relationship? Who holds the cards now? In the confusion of past and present, will Kate remain trapped in a deranged dance of desire and revenge? Or will she regain control and find release?

Set in both London and Perth, a courtroom drama and a road trip in the searing heat of the West Australian desert, Release is the story of two people confronting each other, each intent on destruction and survival. A companion to Lucy Christopher’s bestselling novel Stolen, this gripping psychological thriller explores a young woman’s discovery of the complicated truth about a relationship that once seemed alluring.

For readers of Gillian Flynn, S.J. Watson and Helen Fitzgerald.

Lucy Christopher is a British-Australian writer, whose first YA novel Stolen was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, won a 2011 USBBY Outstanding International Book Award, and received the UK’s Branford Boase Award. Lucy has written several other novels for young people, was the director of the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, and is now a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Tasmania. Release, a companion to Stolen, is her first novel for adults. When not writing, Lucy spends her time daydreaming, walking dogs, and visiting family and friends spread across the world. She is passionate about the importance of wild environments.

‘Gripping and totally twisted—you’ll break social engagements so you can stay home and finish it.’ Christian White, author of Wild Place

‘Daring, edgy and electric.’ Samantha Harvey, author of The Western Wind

‘Utterly compelling, clever, heart-stopping.’ Jo Nadin, author of The Talk of Pram Town