Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

Publisher's Synopsis

In the drought-ridden rangelands of Western Australia, Gabe Ahern makes his living trapping wild dogs for local station owners.

Still coming to terms with his wife’s death – and the part he played in it – the old bushman leads a solitary life. Until one morning, when he rescues a young Afghan man, Amin, from certain execution.

Now, with a gang of people smugglers on his tail and the lives of Amin's family on the line, Gabe is drawn into a ruthless game of cat and mouse. His main opponent is Chase Fowler, a kangaroo hunter with bush skills as wily and sharp as his own.

As the old dogger and roo-shooter go head to head, Gabe will need all his cunning to come out of this alive…

My Review 

Wild Dogs is a high-octane Australian outback thriller that combines the wily guiles of expert tracking and evasion with stone killer people smugglers. The result, of course, is a fast-paced high stakes game of hide and seek through some of the harshest landscape imaginable.

Gabe Ahern works as a dog trapper out in the Western Australian outback. He prefers the solitude his job provides, particularly following the death of his wife. While doing some illegal trapping on protected land he saves the life of Amin Tahiri, an Afghan man who appeared about to be executed in the middle of nowhere.

Little does Gabe realise that by saving Amin he has invited the formidable Chase onto his tail. Chase is as talented at tracking as he is ruthless and has no qualms about putting a bullet in his quarry. His aim is to finish the job that Gabe averted - and is quite happy to add Gabe to his hit list along with Amin.

Now, here’s the thing. On the one hand you’ve got Chase, an expert tracker, who’s trained to pick up the smallest signs to find his prey. On the other, you’ve got Gabe, a dog trapper whose job it is to disguise and hide his presence so that wild dogs and dingoes can’t detect him. It’s a scenario to make for a very exciting chase.

The burr in Gabe’s behind is that even though he has just saved Amin from certain death he now feels that it’s his duty to keep him safe. But Amin is desperate to return to the people smuggler’s camp - right into the teeth of danger - to rescue his wife and son.

Through Amin we are given a close-up view of the world through the eyes of an Afghan man who has been forced to flee his homeland. When his only other option was death at the hands of the Taliban we start to understand the difficulties many of the asylum seekers who hit our shores face. I felt, through all of the fast-paced violence taking place, there was a sobering dose of reality in his plight.

Gabe is a gruff old coot who’s definitely no saint himself. But he’s still a character who proves to be a far more complex personality than first appearance suggests. He’s a hero you can easily get behind and cheer for. And just a little bit resourceful, just quietly.

With the help of a couple of important secondary characters who managed to get themselves entangled in the action the tension is ratcheted up to extreme levels. People smugglers, desperate refugees, police corruption and police violence are all thrown into a hell-for-leather fight for freedom.

When you pick up an action/thriller novel your primary hope is that you’ll be entertained. Wild Dogs definitely provided me with plenty of entertainment along with just a little education in terms of the plight of the refugee. Mark down Michael Trant as an author you should be on the lookout for.