The Wreck by Riley James is a stunning, twisty survival mystery thriller. The writing style is exceptional and the text flows beautifully. It is engaging and mesmerising. I was hooked from page one. I read it in a day as it was so hard to put down. All the elements are here with severe isolation, high stakes and characters being pushed to physical and psychological limits. Of course, there is the man versus nature theme but also the man versus ‘monster’ on land. Beware of those who may be wolves in sheep’s clothing!
The Wreck displays a perfect balance between wilderness struggles and internal mental conflict. The characters are brilliantly drawn and delivered, all quite different from each other at the start. Though some may become more similar than they planned. A few had genuine good intentions, while others left you with a huge question mark. What are they up to? A few become completely unhinged in this frightening environment.
The atmosphere of this setting is creepy and wild at times. This bred lots of fear in the castaways (and this reader!). There are some pretty horrific scenes that made me uncomfortable for sure. But that is the point of such a story. It is one of those things where you want to look away, when difficult truths and activities erupt, but curiosity pulls you in and pins you to the page.
I don’t think I will ever forget this story. And Malin may go down in history as one of the scariest literary figures ever! She offers her assistance to castaways but what is her motive? Slowly and stealthily she moves in the shadows across the landscape while her personality unfolds across the pages. Beware, her character development arc is full of surprises. Since we get her point of view, we are able to follow closely her emotional, mental and moral journey. And as the plot unfurls, her core beliefs, shortcomings and worldviews shift – particularly noted in the last line of the Prologue.
This story was inspired by the ‘Bass Strait Triangle’ — the waters and airspace between Victoria and Tasmania.’ Aircraft and ships have disappeared here in the past and more recent a plane in 2025 carrying local travellers vanished without a trace. This area is a place of harsh weather patterns, strong winds and massive waves.
The Wreck contains both a current (1997) shipwreck and a past (1977) plane crash in this dangerous area. A boat carries a couple of researchers to the island. One man named Waffle, is a leading expert on Bass Strait shipwrecks but he has become focused now on UFOs. Second passenger is a bright PHD student named Teo who wants to prove his mentor’s paranormal theories wrong. Plus there is deck hand Hannah and her godfather Flinty at the helm who were hired to take these two to the island where a plane has crashed. These characters are trying to locate and solve a twenty year old mystery. But before they go ashore, disaster strikes after the weather shifts and their boat is severely damaged. Their race for survival begins here.
The format is an interesting one, with two timelines and three points of view. First the Prologue introduces Malin on a beach. She is the voice of despair that reveals the book’s whole premise. She has found herself in a world without humanity. After ‘many cold-blooded lessons’ she comes to the conclusion that there is ‘no such thing as true humanity’. She sees people as serpents and that her husband Daniel was right all along: “No beast of prey would spare anything it could devour.’ A chilling thought, especially after you finish the novel and have spent time with these characters and then go back to re-ead this Prologue (something I often do). Once doing that, the activities and messages in this novel will hit you even harder.
After the Prologue, we get a Podcast transcript that describes the event of a young trainee pilot ‘Von’ who left Moorabbin Airport in Sept 1977 for a solo flight across Bass Strait on an evening flight. After an hour he sees a storm brewing. Then a dark shadow spreads over him. He checks with the Melbourne air traffic controller if there is another aircraft in his vicinity but the response is negative. His path is clear. Then silence. He disappears.
In Chapter One we meet Teo, a PHD student, and learn about his earlier university years when he worshiped Waffle: a man who mesmerised him through his knowledge and vibrant lectures. But eventually the shine wore off, when Waffle destroyed his academic reputation with his new fanatical paranormal beliefs in UFOs and their part in these aircraft and ship disappearances.
In Chapter Two, Hannah takes centre stage. This very likeable nineteen year old, a waitress in a café, seems to go unnoticed by those around her. Yet she is bright, resourceful and a quick thinker. When asked by her godfather if she would like to join him on a boat trip to Disappointment island, she does not know where it is. I love her wit and inner dialogue when she first learns about this place. She thinks she might already be living there (metaphorically) as that seems to be her life. Flinty is asked to take these researchers to this island because he is the only one who has been there lately. Why does he ask her to go with him? Pieces of a certain plane have been found that may be of interest to her. And, of course, she accepts and embarks on an adventure. But little does she know it will be the greatest challenge of her life: a fight for survival.
There is a lot in the text about natural environment conservation. Two characters have moved to the island to escape the world’s changes. But it becomes obvious this kind of withdrawal from society can produce some serious negative mental results. The line between moral and heinous acts is blurred. The negative effects of living outside a social community means losing the moral compass and ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Or if you accept Malin’s perspective, she believes this type of environment exposes and proves the awful core of humanity.
The challenges on this island and the descriptions of the location will leave you with a sense of eeriness and dread. There are some serious twists in the plot that are clever and unnerving. It is an untamed environment with feral activity where characters are pitted against each other and trying to survive in their own way. This story is seriously well written and an incredible testament to this author’s talent. Future books by Riley James will be on my TBR pile.
I could forever rave about the psychological, social and spiritual implications of The Wreck but this review would become even more epic in size. Just get a copy of this brilliant novel and read it! Highly recommend. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
