Author pic : Anna Downes. Courtesy simon and Schuster
The wild beauty of Tasmania’s Southwest wilderness captures the imagination and has become the perfect setting for DARK DAYS HOTEL, the latest psychological thriller by best selling author Anna Downes. From the prologue, the mystery begins: Who is Juno? Who or what is she escaping from and will she make it?
Reading on, we are welcomed to the luxurious Aonaran Resort and Spa – a place that takes health and wellbeing very seriously. Promises of bespoke therapies offered by a socially-minded organisation that is also eco-friendly sounds too good to be true, and it’s not long before we realise that things are in fact, not as they seem. Enter protagonist Liv, an overworked nurse at Derwent General’s emergency department. She comes across a barefoot woman in silk pyjamas. She does everything she can to save her life, but fails. Guilt-ridden, she begins her quest to discover who the unknown woman was, and where she came from. Her only clue – a hotel room key – leads Liv to the exclusive health resort.
With her celebrity mother in toe, Liv books a room for some self-care and sleuthing. At first, Liv is impressed by the glamour and ultra-exclusivity that the guests experience as they seek to refresh, renew and reinvigorate themselves. The calm and soothing sanctuary is an indulgence for Liv, where cutting edge technology seems the perfect antidote for her self-medicating and burnout. But it’s not long before that allure shatters. Mystery surrounds a staff member who goes missing, surveillance seems suspiciously overt and the resort’s gleaming surface loses its shine as the inner workings of the hotel become apparent.
Downes creates a suspenseful, sinister atmosphere, and contrasting the seductiveness of the wealthy, with the exploitation experienced by workers in care industries, provokes bigger questions about lifestyles of the rich and famous. This prompts consideration of the dubious ethics of the beauty and lifestyle industries, where those with money can buy just about anything – particularly in a time where science and technology raises ethical questions that were once hypothetical but now seem possible. It raises questions about the limits of self-interest when science is used to widen the gap between the uber rich and ordinary people.
Downes excels in developing complex, messy yet relatable characters that draw the reader in. The novel is well paced. The dual narrative alternates between Liv’s attempts to discover the truth about the Jane Doe whose life she could not save while being drawn into the intoxicating world of the one percent contrasted well with the experience of the hotel workers who serve and sacrifice without understanding the bigger picture where benevolence masks uneven power dynamics. I tend to gloss over the science that frankly, I struggle to understand. But frankly, I’m not here for a biology lesson, and it was the twists and turns that keep me turning the pages.
Using the untamed spirit of the Tasmanian landscape as the setting for the novel works well, contributing to the tension between industry and development, progress and preservation, and calling into question the increasing popularity of beauty tourism and its problematic nature. The novel is dark, gripping and mysteriously satisfying.
Anne Downes’ DARK DAYS HOTEL is published by Simon & Schuster.
