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  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9781760895686
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432

The Bluffs




LONGLISTED – ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year
SHORTLISTED – Indie Book of the Year - Debut Fiction
SHORTLISTED – Dymocks Book of the Year

'Tense, atmospheric and unsettling, this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page, and long after you turn out the lights.' – Christian White

When a school group of teenage girls goes missing in the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers, the people of Limestone Creek are immediately on alert. Three decades ago, five young girls disappeared in the area of those dangerous bluffs, and the legend of ‘the Hungry Man’ still haunts locals to this day.

Now, authorities can determine that the teacher, Eliza Ellis, was knocked unconscious, so someone on the mountain was up to foul play. Jordan Murphy, the local dealer and father of missing student Jasmine, instantly becomes the prime suspect. But Detective Con Badenhorst knows that in a town this size – with corrupt cops, small-town politics, and a teenage YouTube sensation – everyone is hiding something, and bluffing is second nature.

When a body is found, mauled, at the bottom of a cliff, suspicion turns to a wild animal – but that can’t explain why she was discovered barefoot, her shoes at the top of the cliff, laces neatly tied.

'This atmospheric, scenery-rich crime tale embodies both the beauty and brutality of nature – especially human nature...The Bluffs establishes Perry as a fierce new talent.' Apple Books

'The narrative races along, pulling the reader from page to page with a freight-train momentum that starts with the first word and ends with the final full stop.' Sunday Examiner
‘A riveting story that will give even a seasoned thriller reader goosebumps... The Bluffs is a perfect winter read that will pull you in and won’t let go. Perry has managed to exceed expectations for his debut novel. Full of mystery, crime and a certain hair-raising charm, you won’t be disappointed.' Better Reading

  • Published: 2 July 2020
  • ISBN: 9781760895686
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432

About the author

Kyle Perry

Kyle Perry is a drug and alcohol counsellor based in Hobart, Tasmania. He has grown up around the Tasmanian bush and seas, with the landscape a key feature of his writing and his spare time. He loves the sea, and his entire leg is covered in ocean tattoos.
His debut novel, The Bluffs, has been translated into five languages. It was shortlisted for the Dymocks Book of the Year and the Indie’s Debut Fiction Book of the Year, and was longlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year.

Also by Kyle Perry

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Praise for The Bluffs

'Tense, atmospheric and unsettling, this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page, and long after you turn out the lights.'

Christian White

'The narrative races along, pulling the reader from page to page with a freight-train momentum that starts with the first word and ends with the final full stop.'

Sunday Examiner

A great read, especially for crime fiction junkies. But it may be a little unsettling for parents of teenage girls...

Sunday Examiner

A ripping crime thriller set in the Great Western Tiers.

Sunday Examiner

The Bluffs is the first novel by Kyle Perry and it’s intense! Think The Blair Witch Project meets Pretty Little Liars with a good dose of Twin Peaksthrown in – yikes! Another very impressive new novelist from Tasmania telling a very modern gothic Tasmanian tale…bravo, Kyle.’

Heather Rose

A brilliantly twisty yarn for all fans of Aussie noir.

New Idea

The creepy, atmospheric debut you can't miss.

Booktopia

This atmospheric, scenery-rich crime tale embodies both the beauty and brutality of nature – especially human nature...The Bluffs establishes Perry as a fierce new talent.

Apple Books Review

The Bluffs marks the debut of a writer who I think is going to become a major figure in Australian crime fiction…Written with compelling insight into small town mentality and the power of social media, this is a very atmospheric and intense thriller. The story grabs your attention from the opening pages and keeps a strong hold on it as the book twists its way through some good surprises….I raced through the final fifty pages to the suspenseful conclusion.

murdermayhemandlongdogs

A spine-tingling and absorbing crime thriller about small town secrets and mythic bush tales. This atmospheric read will keep you turning the pages until the very end.

Who Weekly

A riveting story that will give even a seasoned thriller reader goosebumps... The Bluffs is a perfect winter read that will pull you in and won’t let go. Perry has managed to exceed expectations for his debut novel. Full of mystery, crime and a certain hair-raising charm, you won’t be disappointed.

Better Reading

The Bluffs is a very promising début, ambitious and well-rounded, with a satisfying twist at the end that emerges organically from the more serious and sensitively rendered concerns of the novel.

Australian Book Review

Various staples of Australian storytelling are used in this thumping debut novel to good effect, especially the figure of the damaged detective and internal tensions within the police. The spirit of place looms large in Australian crime writing, and Kyle Perry makes superb use of remote and wild landscapes in this packed narrative of lost girls, corrupt police, dope dealers, teenage social media influencers and much more.

The Age

I don’t think there are enough words to describe how GOOD this book is. I still can’t believe it is a debut novel as it has all the markings of an experienced crime writer. One of the best murder mystery thrill rides I have been on in a long time.

Dymocks - Book of the Year nomination

Awards & recognition

ABIA

Longlisted  •  2021  •  General Fiction

International Thriller Awards

Nominated  •  2021  •  Best First Novel