No Country for Girls: The most original, high-octane thriller of the year

As a fan of Australian crime fiction, I was excited to start reading No Country For Girls.From the very first chapter, the reader is thrown into a tense and gripping story. We meet the wonderfully sharp-edged Charlie and the calmer Nao during the night, they’ve never met before but when they stumble across each other they become allies after a brutal murder. We then follow their journey through rural Australia as they try to outrun the law in a dead mans Ute with a bag full of stolen gold ingots!I mean the premise for the story is bloody superb, and it does not let up! I found No Country For Girls an exceptional book, so well written from the point of view of 2 girls from different sides of Australia by descent, the way Emma Styles portrays their inner feelings and thoughts is so perfect! Both girls have “backgrounds” that have molded them into the people they are now, and it shapes the whole novel and the outcome.I was literally full of anxiety reading No Country For Girls, the plot weaves at a fast pace just like the girls across Australia, and there are so many shocking moments that will have you going ” oh no” out loud! As always I’m not giving any of the plots away, but if you like your thrillers dark, edgy and realistic then No Country For Girls is going to be a book for you.I read this novel in 2 days so that tells you how superb it is, I had both girls, Charlie and Nao firmly in my mind, in fact even after finishing No Country For Girls, they are still vivid and alive in my mind!A triumphant debut novel from Emma Styles, about friendship, hope and survival. I hope Emma Styles will be up there with the other big names of Australian Thrillers very soon. I am so eager for the next novel!A ripper of a 5-star read from me!

I'm really getting to like Australian fiction - particularly when you get the sense of the wide open spaces and the insufferable heat and dust (from a Brit's standpoint!). At the start I was wondering if I would bother to finish it (not finishing is very rare for me), but the story gradually took hold and I was hooked. Not usually keen on the style of writing - both the way it is written and the chapters written from different people's standpoints - but in this case the story did win through.One little inconsistency that should have been picked up in editing: at one point "the caller ID on the screen says private", then on the next page "the number rings out when ... calls it back". How can it? if the number was private then there would be no number to call back.

Rating: 3.1/5In recent years I have read a number of novels written by graduates of the University of East Anglia's creative writing course and I have been impressed to varying degrees by all of them. Emma Styles debut, "No Country for Girls" is the latest example and is another capably written and enjoyable piece of fiction.As is already indicated in the accompanying marketing blurb, it is impossible not to draw comparisons with "Thelma and Louise". There are certainly some clear similarities, but it would be doing the author a disservice to say that this is merely a facsimile of that story, but with the location switched to Australia. Charlie and Nao are two young women brought together by circumstance, who find themselves on the run and being pursued across the country. There is plenty of action and adventure along the way, but at its heart this is essentially a character-driven story. The narrative is predominantly supplied from the viewpoints of Charlie and Nao with Emma Styles generally doing a good job of distinguishing clearly between the two central protagonists.I have to confess that I didn't warm to this novel immediately and in the early stages I wasn't convinced that I was going to find it to my liking. However, bit by bit, I found myself being drawn in and I think much of the credit for that must go to the author for delivering a storyline with decent pace and regular tantalisers, but also for moulding characters that became increasingly captivating.The option to bring this to the screen has already been taken up and it wouldn't be difficult to imagine it replicating the recent success of Jamie Dornan's "The Tourist", which was also set in the wide-open spaces of Australia. In the meantime, you could certainly do far worse than to pick this book up and spend some time in the company of Charlie and Nao.

Fast paced story of two young girls , thrown together through circumstances beyond their control. They are gritty and brave and I loved it !!!

Good storyline with great details of the Australian outback as two girls try to outrun a crocked cop.If you're gonna drive in the outback make sure you put bull bars on yer ute!

The media could not be loaded. No Country For Girls is one of those rare thrillers as beautifully written & it is plotted & character driven. This is a class act and already option for a movie so without giving any spoilers - treat yourself to the hardback and read before you see the film. Thoroughly recommend - the setting in outback Australia lifts the road trip story & antagonistic buddy structure brings a new twist to the genre. Another book I stayed up allNight reading. Recommend to all thriller readers - this is one of the best & picked out by Val McDermott at Harogate Crime Festival. A writer to watch & a def bestseller. LOVED it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🔥⭐️📚📚📚🔥🔥

It starts with a bang and never lets up. Great characters (not just the main protagonists either, even the minor characters are sharp). Some clever echoes and reflections in the plot and background. Terrific sense of place.It's inevitable, given the plot, that a lot has to happen very quickly and while there were moments when I thought how are they going to get out of this??? and then maybe wasn't quite sure afterwards if they really could have done what they did but really, didn't have time to worry about it since I needed to find out what happened next. Definitely un-put-downable.

I was anxious to read this as it contained everything I love in a mystery thriller. My favourite location for a story is the Australian Outback. and it contained a frantic cross-country race across the hot, dusty wilderness. Much tension and danger were described in the narrative, but somehow, it fell flat for me. I regret I never became engaged emotionally with the characters or with the vivid visual descriptions. I can't understand why I didn't love this story. Prospective readers should read the many positive reviews by those who found it exciting and rated it highly and not be influenced by my reaction. A gangster pursues two young women on the run, and they imagine by police officers also. The two women are teenagers who had just met, and a gruesome and harrowing situation followed. From very different backgrounds, they would never be together in normal times. Charlie is seventeen, has been expelled from school for fighting, and presents herself as crude, angry and impulsive. She stole a gold bar from her sister's boyfriend, and he is determined to get it back. Nao has dropped out of university and arrives at Charlie's home looking battered and bloody. She is more stoic, calmer, and plans ahead, but has dangerous secrets. Charlie's sister, Bree, is also involved in the absurd situation. After being thrown together in a traumatizing experience, they escape in a vehicle containing a bag of gold bars. This adds to their dangerous and anxiety-ridden motor vehicle flight. Against all odds, the conclusion was very satisfying.

No Country For Girls is a high-octane gallop through the Australian outback that had me on a knife's edge. Brilliantly paced and expertly crafted, Styles creates a world that immerses readers in a fresh, wild take on Australiana. I was utterly absorbed from the outset and rooted for the protagonists as they gained inner strength and audacity on this exhilarating road trip. I can see it as a movie, too! An absorbing and beautifully written novel.

Although the characters in the book travel far, the story doesn't get off the ground. Too much repetition, tiring guesswork, disappointing resolution. Too bad, the idea of 2 young women in the outback sounded promising.

I could not put this book down, it was a cracker of a read. The two main characters draw you in and I was rooting for them right from the start. The Western Australian outback is a character in its own right and perfectly depicted. The character development, twisty plot and setting descriptions made it thoroughly enjoyable even with the nail biting moments.

Strange as it may sound I enjoyed reading this book. There are things that happen, maybe not as dramatic as what I have just read, but things that happen and we don't know what the end will be. Thanks for a good read