Panic by Catherine Jinks

Publisher's Synopsis

After posting a drunken rant that goes horrifically viral, Bronte needs a place to lie low. Jobless, friendless, broke, she volunteers as a carer on an isolated rural property. She won’t be paid for looking after dementia sufferer Nell, but at least she’ll have a place to stay. Bronte’s host is Nell’s daughter Veda, who runs spiritual rebirthing retreats. She also claims the rights of a sovereign citizen and rejects the authority of the state, refusing even to register her car. She has acquired a small but devoted following of the like-minded.

Are they harmless cranks, with their conspiracy theories and outrage at government overreach? Or dangerously paranoid domestic terrorists? And what is the dark secret that Nell, in her confused state, keeps harking back to? Bronte, increasingly uneasy, would be getting far away from the whole place—if she had anywhere else to go.

My Review of Panic by Catherine Jinks

A suspense/thriller that makes use of the hate-filled social media as well as the dark spaces where the conspiracy theorists lurk to fuel the motivation behind lots of grim behaviour. Panic by Catherine Jinks follows a situational drama that quickly escalates from a normal situation into an out of control showdown.

Bronte has fled from her home, her friends and her haters. Her crime? She has posted a drunken video on social media and her now ex-boyfriend and his friends are setting out to destroy her reputation.

To get away from the storm of abuse, she’s taken on a job as a carer on an isolated property just outside of Bathurst in the central west of New South Wales. She’s looking forward to being in a place where no one recognises her - where she can get away and wait for the whole thing to blow over.

But it doesn’t take long for her to wonder exactly what she’s gotten herself into. Veda, the woman who has hired her, runs a spiritual retreat for mental healing. That’s not so much a problem. But the fact that, on the way home from being picked up at the train station, they’re pulled over by the police for dodgy number plates sets Veda off on a waaay over the top rant against the “illegal authorities” really sets her on high alert.

The initial run in with the police is the tipping off point. It’s the point where some people might have bailed there and then. Bronte stuck it out, after all, her main objective was to escape the haters on the ‘Net. 

Things go from bad to worse and, of course, when Bronte finally decides it’s time to get out of there, it’s all too late.

Panic is an atmospheric thriller that moves quickly from normal to alarm bells. Bronte, as the main character, is a complex personality. She’s clearly bringing problems to the party and this affects her judgement. She comes across as a relatable victim whose main fault is that she tends to suffer from indecision. I felt for her, even when I started to get quite impatient with her. 

I had the disquieting experience of feeling as though the story resonated with me until it tipped over into a more manic territory where control, and ultimately believability, was lost.