Catch Us the Foxes by Nicola West [4/10]

In a quintessential small Australian country town, the young journalist hero of “Catch Us the Foxes” stumbles upon the ritualistically mutilated body of her best friend, and embarks on a crusade to track down the killers. Debut author Nicola West sends the plot spiraling into deep dark corners of this hidden rural world, deep into the lives of her friends and family, and the brisk plotting is one of the highlights of this entertaining novel. But it is difficult to empathize with a crime solver who seems to oscillate between robust competence and trembling anxiety, and one of the plot machinations had me guffawing in disbelief. Catch Us the Foxes is pleasant, if flawed, reading.