One more time?

I’ve teased this for a while, but I can now officially confirm that I’ve started work on my next adult novel – The Reckoning. And this book will be not only a full return for Maggie, but a finale.

I’ve felt like Maggie has been kind of in limbo since The Inheritance in 2021. Which I know sounds ridiculous given her major roles in The Hitchhiker, The Lodger, various short stories and, of course, the upcoming Hunted movie. But the truth is that I never really saw Hitchhiker or Lodger as ‘Maggie’ books per-se. Yes, they explore new aspects of her character and continue on from the earlier novels, but to me they’re part of a ‘Driver Trilogy’ (including The Caretaker) that Maggie happens to have a key role in but is not the protagonist of.

From the start I have known there are two things that have to happen before Maggie’s story can end. The first, of course, is to reveal the truth about her mother. The second was set up in The Hunted and to date nobody has picked up on what it is.

Five years since her first appearance, I think it’s time I rewarded my most loyal readers with those two things, and give Maggie her well earned final bow.

The Reckoning picks up about fifteen years after the events of The Hunted. Maggie lives a quiet, solitary life in hiding, far from the dangers of her youth. She’s haunted by guilt and regret but determined to stay well away from trouble.

Until she learns that an old friend has been murdered in a way that only she recognises and Maggie realises that she is being baited into a deadly, decisive final confrontation with the demons of her past. One she may not survive.

If The Hunted was a horror thriller and The Inheritance noir, The Reckoning is a full fledged modern Western. It will be action packed and heartbreaking and, I hope, deeply satisfying. It also offers a very slight reboot to Maggie – this older version of her will not be the reckless ruthless rage monster of the earlier books. This is a Maggie who will do almost anything not to hurt another person. Until, of course, she has no choice.

Why am I ending her story now? There are a lot of reasons for that and at some point I'll write a bigger piece going into them. But I had started to feel like the younger, beserker version of Maggie had run her course. There are plenty of other Maggie stories that could be told, but very few with any real weight for her as a character. Right now a trilogy of Maggie novels that mark the beginning, middle and end of a turbulent character’s story feels like it does the most justice to her.

I know for some referring to this as a finale is concerning, but I will say that I don’t plan on this being the last time you see Maggie. It’s the end of her story, but the time jump means irrespective of her fate in this new one, there’s nothing stopping her from turning up in other stories that take place in the interim. For example, Maggie appears in High Rise and will appear in any sequels that book gets, set well before The Reckoning.

What I wanted was to give Maggie a final chapter all her own, one she doesn’t have to share with Jack Carlin or The Driver or Anders. This book, more than any before, is all hers. And I plan on making it a really damn good one.

The Reckoning will be released in 2026. Get ready.

Come launch Andromache in the Dark AND High Rise with me

With two books out next month I figured I’d be tempting fate by inviting everyone I know to two separate launch events just weeks apart, so I decided to do it all in one. Andromache in the Dark (out July 2) and High Rise (out July 29) will be launched together at Readings Hawthorn on July 31. Stay tuned for more information about who’ll launch the books, but in the meantime secure your (free) spot at this link. See you there.

Backstory’s Second Draft is finished

Backstory has… not been easy. But after a very in-depth rewrite process, I think all the work will end up being rewarded. I took a big swing with this book, writing something for Audible that is uniquely designed to be enjoyed as an audio experience. It’s absolutely a novel, but with elements of radio play threaded throughout that will make it very different to anything else of mine you’ve read. And you won’t have to wait too long to see if it works – Backstory drops in October. Listen out.

School Talks

Last month I had a very busy few days darting between Carey Grammar in Camberwell and St Peter’s College in Cranbourne for multiple packed talks and workshops. But the students were fantastic, the teachers welcoming, and as tiring as it was it was also so much fun. Thanks to both schools for having me.

New French edition of The Inheritance

Maggie has earned herself quite the following over in France, and I’m stoked that The Inheritance will be getting a new look edition this November, with another fantastic cover.

Recommendations

I was going to put Sinners in my last newsletter but I had so much to say about Joseph Knox’s True Crime Story that I decided to focus on that. Since then, however, I’ve watched Sinners again and I can’t stop thinking about it.

This film is such a stark repudiation of all my complaints regarding cinema lately. To touch on what I’ve probably spoken too much about, I’ve had a bit of a generalised feeling for a while that most of what’s coming out is either a giant four quadrant blockbuster or self-consciously inaccessible art film, with very little in between. It’s largely the reason that Challengers struck such a chord with me last year – it was a rich, meaningful story that also managed to be wildly entertaining at the same time.

Sinners scratched much the same itch, even though the two films have very little in common. Set in the Deep South in the 1930s, Sinners follows two twin brothers who return to their hometown from a stint working for Al Capone with a dream of using their ill-gotten gains to open a Juke Joint for their community. But things take a dangerous turn when the supernatural talent of a young musician draws a pack of vampires to their opening night.

Sinners defies categorisation. It’s funny and heartfelt and gruesome. For the first half not much happens but the characters are so vivid and well realised that you just enjoy their company. It features a couple of musical sequences so audacious I almost said ‘what the fuck’ out loud in the cinema before I realised how thoroughly they were working.

Sinners hit bigger at the box office than anyone could have expected and has been widely celebrated. It shatters the claim that audiences won’t turn up to original films anymore. They absolutely will – the films just need to be this good. If Sinners opens the door to more idiosyncratic movies for adults that don’t forget to entertain, then its success will be the best thing to happen to Hollywood in a long time.