'She wonders if they have discovered her missing yet. Has it broken in the news? Who has been assigned to cover her story? Have they started spooling through her social media and pulling out photographs? Constructing a narrative about who she is and what possible reason any person has to kidnap or (let's be frank) kill her? She tries not to let out the whimper that's building in her sternum, at the thought that he might. Kill her, that is. He might kill her.
'Kate Delaney has made the biggest mistake of her life. She picked the wrong guy to humiliate on a girls' night out and now she is living every woman's worst nightmare. Kate finds herself brutalised, bound and gagged in the back of a car being driven god knows where by a man whose name she doesn't know, and she is petrified about what's in store for her.
'As a journalist who is haunted by the crimes she's had to report over her career, Kate is terrifyingly familiar with the statistics about women who go missing-and the fear and trauma behind the headlines. She knows only too well how those stories usually end.
'Kate can only hope the police will find her before it's too late, but she's aware a random crime is hardest to solve. As the clock ticks down, she tries to keep herself sane by thinking about her beloved boyfriend and friends, escaping into memories of love and happy times together. She knows she cannot give way to despair.
'As the suspense escalates, Kate's boyfriend Liam is left behind, struggling with his shock, fear and desperation as the police establish a major investigation. The detectives face their own feelings of anguish and futility as they reflect on the cases they didn't solve in time and the victims they couldn't save. They know Kate's chances of survival diminish with every passing hour.
'Acclaimed and award-winning writer and journalist Louise Milligan has written a stunning and surprising thriller with a gigantic heart: a gripping, propulsive and brilliantly original debut.' (Publication summary)
'Louise Milligan has made her name with hard-hitting journalism. This year, she released her debut novel, Pheasants Nest. The award-winning investigative reporter spoke to Kill Your Darlings editor Suzy Garcia about transferring her skills to fiction writing, drawing inspiration from real-life stories and why Ireland always has a special place in her heart.' (Introduction)
'Amid-career genre change is always cause for attention. Best known for her fearless investigations into institutional sexual abuse, it is hardly surprising that Louise Milligan should transfer her journalistic nous and commitment to social justice into the realm of crime fiction. Pheasants Nest is part of a movement in post-#MeToo crime fiction, which has flourished in Australia and abroad in the past decade. It challenges the norms of the genre to centre victims and amplify the reverberations of violence against women (recent examples include Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women and Jacqueline Bublitz’s Before You Knew My Name).' (Introduction)
'In Louise Milligan's debut novel, Pheasants Nest, journalist Kate Delaney goes missing after a night out in Melbourne's inner north.'
Louise Milligan Wears Her Heart on Her Sleeve
Michael Williams
(interviewer),
2024
27813745
2024
single work
podcast
interview
'Star investigative journalist Louise Milligan has spent her career working on some of the most high-profile criminal cases in Australia. This incredible breadth of experience informs her first novel Pheasant’s Nest, which follows the abduction of a young journalist and provides a unique insight into the media, policing and politics that surround a crime like this. This week, Michael sits down with Louise to discuss the leap from reporting to fiction and why writing this book was a kind of therapy.' (Production summary)
'Amid-career genre change is always cause for attention. Best known for her fearless investigations into institutional sexual abuse, it is hardly surprising that Louise Milligan should transfer her journalistic nous and commitment to social justice into the realm of crime fiction. Pheasants Nest is part of a movement in post-#MeToo crime fiction, which has flourished in Australia and abroad in the past decade. It challenges the norms of the genre to centre victims and amplify the reverberations of violence against women (recent examples include Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women and Jacqueline Bublitz’s Before You Knew My Name).' (Introduction)
Louise Milligan Wears Her Heart on Her Sleeve
Michael Williams
(interviewer),
2024
27813745
2024
single work
podcast
interview
'Star investigative journalist Louise Milligan has spent her career working on some of the most high-profile criminal cases in Australia. This incredible breadth of experience informs her first novel Pheasant’s Nest, which follows the abduction of a young journalist and provides a unique insight into the media, policing and politics that surround a crime like this. This week, Michael sits down with Louise to discuss the leap from reporting to fiction and why writing this book was a kind of therapy.' (Production summary)
'In Louise Milligan's debut novel, Pheasants Nest, journalist Kate Delaney goes missing after a night out in Melbourne's inner north.'
'Louise Milligan has made her name with hard-hitting journalism. This year, she released her debut novel, Pheasants Nest. The award-winning investigative reporter spoke to Kill Your Darlings editor Suzy Garcia about transferring her skills to fiction writing, drawing inspiration from real-life stories and why Ireland always has a special place in her heart.' (Introduction)
