The legendary Bill Kemp is brought back to life in Outback by Michael Davies, the breath-taking sequel to iconic author Desmond Bagley’s Domino Island.

The rugged splendour of the Australian Outback has never appealed to insurance investigator Bill Kemp. Not even in his wildest dreams did Bill Kemp ever imagine that he would find himself trekking deep into Australia’s remote interior. But when his services are engaged by clients Sophie and Adam Church, he finds himself with no other choice but to grit his teeth and begin his adventure into the Australian wilderness. Bill is not exactly looking forward to travelling deep into the heart of this beautiful country and it quickly transpires that his trepidation was not in vain…

Sophie and Adam have inherited an opal mine that has been abandoned for years. This legacy puts in motion a terrifying chain of events that puts them in the eye of the storm – alongside Bill Kemp. As past secrets, long-simmering resentments and dangerous lies come to light, a ruthless adversary becomes determined to wreak their twisted revenge and will stop at nothing to exact their nefarious ends -unless somebody stops them in time.

Will Bill Kemp manage to thwart his foe’s plan for vengeance? Or will the Australian Outback be his final resting place?

An edge-of-your-seat thriller where the chills and surprises come thick and fast, Michael Davies’ Outback is packed with twists and turns, nail-biting suspense and adrenaline-pumping action that will keep readers absolutely glued to the pages of this book.

Michael Davies’ Outback beautifully honours Desmond Bagley’s legacy and it is sure to appeal to devotees of this much-loved storyteller and new readers alike looking for a fast-paced adventure that will keep them on tenterhooks.

After the events in Domino Island, ex-military intelligence officer turned insurance investigator, Bill Kemp, is out of a job and in need of a break, so he finally accepts the long-standing invitation from his old army buddy, Kenny Hines, to visit him and his wife, Dolly, in Sydney. Kenny is now a lawyer and is currently probating a will from an old opal miner called George Deakins who has stipulated only that he wants his property to remain within his family. It has taken Kenny some time to track down any family, but at last he has found George’s niece, Sophie, living in England to where her mother had moved before Sophie was born. Now Sophie has flown to Sydney with her brand-new husband, Adam, to find out more about her inheritance. It seems the opal mine is played out and George’s home is a ramshackle hut, so it looks like maybe the inheritance won’t be worth much. But why then is Sophie being warned off, and by whom? As the threats take a violent turn, headstrong Sophie decides she wants to visit the property and the mine before she agrees to give up her claim. And Bill, partly out of friendship for Kenny and partly because he’s beginning to miss the excitement of his previous work, agrees to go with her and Adam, out to the back of beyond in the Australian Outback, and give them the benefit of his experience.

Domino Island was written by Desmond Bagley, a prominent thriller writer in the 1960s and ‘70s. It was not published in his lifetime though. The manuscript lay among his papers, more or less complete, until a couple of years ago when Collins Crime Club decided to publish it. Michael Davies took on the task of “curating” it – basically tidying it up and making it ready for publication. Now, to honour Bagley’s centenary year, Davies has written this thriller, set in Bagley’s time and starring the hero of Domino Island, Bill Kemp.

The British action thriller had something of a heyday in the post-war period, roughly from the ‘50s through to the ‘70s. It was largely a man’s world – the thriller writers were mostly male (I struggle to think of any British women writing this kind of action thriller at this time, in fact), the heroes are almost exclusively male, usually veterans of the Second World War (as were many of the authors) and therefore skilled in weapons, fighting and survival; and the women are usually in peril or seductive temptresses, sometimes both. Ian Fleming’s James Bond books are of course the epitome of the style, but there were several other writers equally well known at time, and Bagley is up at the top of the list. They’ve fallen out of fashion a bit now, I think, possibly because the attitudes to gender and sometimes race haven’t aged well, and also because, for some obscure reason, modern readers seem to prefer angst-ridden drunks with “issues” to proper heroes! Or, at least, publishers seem to think we do…

Davies has done a remarkable job of catching the style of those great action writers, while toning down the aspects that don’t sit so well with a modern audience. Setting the book in the 1970s allows him to get rid of all the technology that often turns modern protagonists into nerdy geeks rather than action heroes. Sophie is neither weakling nor temptress – she’s got a brain and she’s got guts. Bill Kemp is a traditional sort of hero, with the skills he learned in his military life honed by years of adventures since. But he is not an alpha male surrounded by bikini-clad beauties and luscious femmes fatales, all falling helplessly for his manly charm! I loved being able to enjoy one of my favourite genres in the traditional style without the usual necessity of cringing over the hero’s behaviour towards women.

The plot is interesting and well-paced. It starts with a prologue in the mine where it’s all going horribly wrong for Bill, Sophie and Adam, and then goes back a few weeks to show what led up to that point. As it gradually becomes clear why Sophie is being threatened, there is an element of a treasure hunt, done as a race against time before the baddies catch up. Then it goes into full thriller mode as a full-scale face-off between the goodies and the baddies becomes inevitable, all in the extremely hostile environment of the Outback which I felt Davies portrayed very well. As is normal with this style of thriller, there’s a good deal of violence, but Davies doesn’t force us to wallow in graphic gore. The climax is a bit over the top, but again that’s the norm for this genre. I did wonder if Outback Australia was really this lawless as recently as the 1970s, but as Davies shows, it’s a big, empty country – when the nearest town is hundreds of kilometres away, who’s going to notice a little mayhem?

As a fan of this style of action thriller, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and am pleased to see that there is another Bill Kemp book from Michael Davies listed on Goodreads for publication next year. In the meantime, I really must read more Bagley!

Please see my post for review.

Blog tour - http://ramblingmads.uk/2023/05/19/blog-tour-outback-michael-davies/

Outback by Michael Davies.
Bill Kemp, Book 2.
Insurance investigator Bill Kemp had never wanted to trek deep into Australia’s remote interior. But when his clients Sophie and Adam Church inherit an abandoned opal mine, triggering some explosive long-lost secrets, they – and Kemp – find themselves facing an unknown enemy even more deadly than the vast, forbidding wilderness of the Outback…
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Full of action from page one. I loved Sophie and Adam and how they wouldn't give up. Liked Bill too. 5*.

Insurance investigator Bill Kemp is at a bit of a loose end, and makes a long overdue trip to visit his old Army friend, lawyer Kenny Hines, for an Australian Christmas. Bill is given a warm welcome by Kenny and his wife Dolly. He is enthralled by the views from their house across Sydney Bay, especially of the newly built Sydney Opera House, but it is one of Kenny's legal cases that really piques his interest.

Newlyweds, Sophie and Adam Church have come out to Sydney to meet Kenny, in order to find out about an unexpected inheritance from Sophie's uncle, George Deakins - an uncle Sophie did not even know she had. The details are hazy, but it seems Sophie is now the owner of a remote farm and opal mine in the Outback, at a place so off-the-beaten-track that even the nearest town of Oodnadatta is several hours' drive away. It all comes as a bit of a shock to orphaned Sophie, to say the least.

While Sophie is trying to get her head around her potential windfall, things start to get ugly. Someone is determined that she will never get her hands on her inheritance, and when veiled threats spill over into shocking violence, the only answer is for Sophie and Adam head out to the Deakins property under the care of Bill Kemp to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Outback continues the story of insurance investigator Bill Kemp that began in Domino Island - a novel completed by Michael Davies from an unfinished manuscript left behind by best-selling, thriller writer Desmond Bagley, after his death in 1983. I have not read Domino Island, but this all new adventure can be easily read as a stand-alone, as Davies helpfully fills in just enough of the backstory for you to get a handle on Kemp's character right from the kick-off.

This novel begins very much in slow-burn country, with a cosy reunion between old friends, at a time when Kemp is assessing where life takes him next. His skills are a perfect match for a little bit of digging into the mystery around George Deakins' surprise legacy, and as it happens, they are very much needed when events take a menacing turn and the Outback seems an unlikely respite from danger on the streets of Sydney.

The story really takes off once the road trip gets underway, with Kemp at the helm, attempting to keep Sophie and her apparently feckless new husband Adam safe from the perils of the Outback - and the hostile environment is soon made even more dangerous by less than welcoming locals, and the appearance of a group of mercenaries that mean business. The pace heats up nicely in line with the rising temperatures of the sun-baked wilderness, and there is plenty of action and intrigue to keep you on the edge of your seat, with a delicious National Treasure-esque thread as our little team of adventurers put the pieces of the puzzle together. There are some nicely contrived twists, and Davies does a splendid job of bringing the Outback alive. 

I am a sucker for an Outback tale, and although this does lack the intensity, emotional kick, and jaw-dropping reveals of the more seasoned Australian authors that have made this genre their own, such as Chris Hammer and Jane Harper, its old school thrills and spills are enormous fun. This has such a nostalgic air, and it really echoes the feel of a classic adventure in the style of Desmond Bagley and co - which I take my hat off to Davies for doing so well. As a first , and very entertaining, solo foray into the genre, this book hints at great things on the horizon, and I look forward to what comes next from Michael Davies.

The story:
When former insurance agent Bill Kemp pays a visit to ex-army friend and now lawyer Kenny Hines, he wants nothing more than to enjoy his Christmas in the sunshine of Australia.

When Hines ropes him in to assist in the inheritance case of Sophie Church, sole heir to her previously unknown uncle’s homestead, farm and mine, he welcomes the chance to flex his problem-solving muscles.

But when mysterious threats are made against Sophie urging her to drop her claim on the Deakins estate or face the consequences, a simple case of probate turns deadly. Seeking answers deep in the outback, Kemp accompanies Sophie and husband Adam to the abandoned opal mine. But with danger following them, and the harsh environment of the Australian outback to contend with, will the trio survive long enough for Sophie to claim her inheritance?

My thoughts:
Written to celebrate the centenary of thriller writer Desmond Bagley’s birth, and as a sequel to “Domino Island” (Bagley’s first novel to feature ex-army adventurer Bill Kemp), “Outback” by Michael Davies is a thrilling and action-packed read. Davies was trusted with curating “Domino Island” to publication, when the draft manuscript was discovered more than 30 years after Bagley’s death, and it’s great to read Davies original novel featuring this wonderful character.

We’re literally plunged straight into the story when we find Bill Kemp, along with Sophie and Adam Church, investigating an opal mine in the depths of the Australian outback on the edge of the Simpson Desert. The mine has been inherited by Sophie from an uncle she never met, and the trio are soon in difficulties, when Bill and Adam become trapped. The story then goes back in time to fill in the gaps of Sophie’s inheritance, and how Bill and Adam find themselves at the bottom of a mine shaft.

As the story progresses it becomes clear that someone is very determined to keep Sophie from her inheritance, and there is a great deal more at stake than an abandoned mine. The harsh and beautiful Australian outback is almost a character in its own right, and of all the enemies Kemp faces, it’s probably the most deadly.

Kemp himself is a great character, and I completely agree with Jeffrey Deaver’s description of him as: “part James Bond, part Philip Marlowe, and all hero”! With the survival skills he learnt as a soldier combined with his nose for a mystery, he’s an adversary that’s not to be underestimated.

The story moves along at a rapid pace, and I found the final showdown to be an edge-of-the seat read! This is a great book for all thriller fans; I’ll certainly be checking out “Domino Island”, and I hope this isn’t the last we see of Bill Kemp!

Insurance investigator Bill Kemp had joined his mate Kenny, a lawyer, and Kenny's wife Dolly, from England to the beautiful city of Sydney, where Kenny had established his business on the North Shore. Kenny had asked for his help as he was following up on an inheritance by his old friend George, who'd lived in the vast outback up near Oodnadatta. George's place was a few hours from Oodnadatta, a very small outback town, plus he'd also owned an opal mine. Sophie and Adam Church had arrived from England as Kenny had located Sophie as the only known living relative of Uncle George, a man Sophie hadn't known existed.

Realising they needed to travel to George's farm to find some paperwork, Bill, Adam and Sophie were the ones to go, leaving Kenny to continue his digging into the deeply hidden trails. But with threatening letters arriving, then a tragedy following, would they give up? No, it strengthened their resolve to see it through. For Sophie it was a matter of principal. But they weren't to know what was ahead. The dangers of the outback - deadly snakes, scorpions, feral dingoes, spiders - and then there was the most dangerous of all; man. And they wanted to stop the trio. Bill couldn't work out why, but when had that stopped him?

Outback is a sequel to Desmond Bagley's novel Domino Island which was discovered around 40 years after the author's death (and which I didn't know existed!) Author Michael Davies has written Outback: The Desmond Bagley Centenary Thriller, honouring the legacy of that great writer (I loved his work, him and Alistair MacLean) and Mr Davies has nailed this novel! This book, his debut, has been researched meticulously and I was very impressed. Intense, breathtaking and exhilarating, this 1970s novel, set in Sydney and Australia's vast outback, is well worth a read. And the twist at the end - I was gobsmacked! Highly recommended.

Now to search for Domino Island

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Outback by Michael Davies. I’ve become a fan of Australian crime fiction in recent years, so I jumped at the chance to read this book when I read the blurb. Our main character, Sophie, only discovers that she had an uncle called George, living in Australia, when he dies. She finds out that he has left her his entire estate in Australia, which includes an opal mine. But as Sophie heads out there to claim her inheritance, thinking that the opal mine might be worth quite a sum, it is clear that there are people there who are keen to make sure that she doesn’t get her hands on her uncle’s land. It seems that being left her uncle’s estate has become more of a curse than a blessing.

I was really intrigued to find out who it was who wanted to stop Sophie getting her hands on her inheritance. Does the land hold any secrets these people are desperate to protect? I loved the tension that Michael Davies creates as Sophie and her legal team, which includes investigator Bill Kemp, trek the Australian outback in search of her uncle’s opal mine. You can really sense how dangerous the terrain is around them, and if they stray from the path they’re on, or if they are separated, it could mean death.

This is the first time I’ve heard of Desmond Bagely, so I’m intrigued to look into his work after reading Outback, which Michael Davies has written as a sequel to Desmond’s novel, Domino Island. I really liked Bill Kemp, so I am keen to find out more about him. He is definitely someone who will go above and beyond for his clients and I hope that Michael Davies might continue with this series. It would be great to find out what happens to Bill Kemp next.

I loved the action scenes as the novel raced towards its finale. I could easily see this book being portrayed on the big screen. It would make for a fantastic action-packed movie. Outback is a fast paced read that I highly recommend.

An enjoyable Antipodean romp from Michael Davies. I love Jane Harper’s novels set in the Australian outback, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to request this title on NetGalley when it popped up! Insurance investigator Bill Kemp has a case involving a young woman’s inheritance - a remote outback farm with an opal mine. However, things start happening - all designed to warn them off and stop them getting to the mine. Undeterred, Kemp, Sophie and her husband Adam, travel into the outback to visit the farm and mine, Someone is really desperate for them not to make it back…
Great read,

Being a sucker for the really excellent run of novels from Australian authors recently I requested this one without doing my homework. I read Desmond Bagley as a teenager (a long time ago!) and thought that if the story of Bill Kemp was being continued, this would be an entertaining read. In a way it was, as there is plenty of action in the book - too much to be plausible st times, and the bones of the story are good, but the writing style was less appealing and there was too much gunfire, death and violence to be convincing, even in a remote part of outback South Australia. If you’re looking for a a good detective story set in remote parts of Australia, I would have to say there are more satisfying examples of the genre than this one.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for ARC.

I admit I didn't do quite enough homework before requesting this title, which is a sequel to a Desmond Bagley thriller, coinciding with the centenary of his birth. I haven't read Bagley since I was at school, longer ago than I care to share.
It's set in Sydney and the red centre of the Australian Outback, and there are opal mines, shady inheritance claims and nefarious baddies aplenty, in the style of Bagley and the other writers of his heyday. It's all very well handled by Michael Davies, but it necessarily feels dated in styling and attitudes, set as it is in a pre-internet age when 'the ladies' needed protecting from, well, everything. I found some of that quite jarring, and at times the courage and quick thinking of our hero Kemp stretched credulity, but other readers will simply enjoy the derring-do and the abundant well-written action scenes. I can see it being picked up for filming as an action-packed period piece.

The mention of Desmond Bagley – one of the finest action-adventure writers ever, in my opinion – on its cover was enough for me to request the Digital Review Copy of Outback by Michael Davies on NetGalley, and I am grateful to the publishers for permitting me to read and review this debut thriller featuring one of Bagley’s creations in the lead.

Sydney of the 1970s is a thriving, shiny metropolis where retired insurance investigator Bill Kemp is enjoying his joblessness – caused by his recent adventures in the Caribbean – and the hospitality of his old friend from the war, Kenny Hines, and his wife, Dolly. Hines is an attorney, and one of his latest cases involves a sizeable property in the Australian outback that includes an opal mine that had belonged to his childhood friend George Deakins until his recent demise. Deakins has bequeathed the property to his niece, a twenty-something London caterer named Sophie Church – who never had a clue about the existence of an uncle – and has retained Kenny to deal with the legalities. There are certain intriguing matters about the case that Kenny wants Bill to investigate but Bill is reluctant. However, when Sophie arrives in Sydney along with her husband, a reticent accountant by the name of Adam, on Kenny’s invitation she receives threatening messages that warn her against claiming her inheritance, piquing Bill’s interest. Things turn a lot more serious within a short while, and people start to get hurt – one of them fatally – and the key to the mystery seems to be lying deep in the outback – one of the harshest, deadliest, and remotest places on the planet. Understandably, Bill accompanies Sophie and Adam to the desolate, unwelcoming outback in the heart of South Australia on a gritty, action-packed adventure that would pit them against ruthless killers and the merciless desert in which only the toughest will survive.

The plot of Outback is not too complicated, and the first-person narrative by Bill Kemp sprints away at a fast clip. Bill Kemp is a tough, resourceful, and dependable man who feels realistic with humane flaws. Sophie Church is as strong and intelligent as she is beautiful and attracts the reader’s interest and sympathy. The other characters, like the ebullient Kenny and his delightful wife Dolly, the enigmatic Adam, and the intimidating giant, Smith Penney, are all well-etched. Davies’s lively descriptions of the unforgiving outback and the action sequences do ample justice to the association of Bagley’s name, though I’m not sure if more than Bagley’s lead character has found its way into this novel. Davies serves up several twists along the plot where good people turn bad and vice versa, keeping the reader riveted to the pages.

Outback, for me, was an exhilarating ride that I would recommend to all those who love adventure – and Australia. Reading Outback has reminded me that I have read far too few books set Down Under than I should have, which I am planning to rectify soon. So, on to more Australian adventures!

I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an advance copy of Outback, the second novel to feature Desmond Bagley’s character Bill Kemp, set in the late 1970s.

Insurance investigator Bill Kemp is on holiday in Australia visiting his old friend, Kenny, and ends up in the outback hunting for an opal mine recently inherited by Sophie Church and her husband, Adam. Someone doesn’t want Sophie near the mine and is willing to stop them at any cost.

I have never read a Desmond Bailey novel, but I am, currently, a sucker for outback novels so I couldn’t resist the lure of Outback. Sadly it didn’t hold my attention and it took me days rather than hours to finish.

The novel is told from Bill Kemp’s first person point of view and that offers continuity in the narrative. It also makes the twists sharper and should offer a more immediate sense of danger in the action scenes, but I didn’t take to his voice. There is no excitement in his character and that makes the action scenes feel orchestrated rather than genuinely thrilling.

The novel is well plotted with threats and unidentified bad guys seeking to do them harm at every turn. The threats and violence ratchet up as the novel progresses, to an unlikely degree, but, hey, it’s fiction, until the denouement where the motive and main perpetrator are unveiled with a big twist.

I think the biggest asset in the novel is the descriptions of the outback. The author is strong on the dangers and puts Bill in some very perilous situations, but fortunately he has been well enough educated to escape them. I was surprised at myself, but I wasn’t able to get into the lo-fi era and was constantly thinking about the modern day technology that would probably have nullified most of his trials and tribulations. Obviously Outback is not for me.

Bill Kemp is in Australia to visit an old Army buddy,Kenny, who persuades him to help his clients, Sophie and Adam Church make a trip into the outback to a remote opal mine that Sophie has inherited from an uncle she didn’t know she had. Bill, an insurance investigator, is between jobs at the moment and doesn’t particularly want this job, but when threats are made to Sophie, his instincts kick in.

Set mainly in the outback, this book gives you a sense of how vast the country is, as well as dangerous for the unwary, where one small mistake or miscalculation can be deadly. Originally a character from Desmond Bagley, Kemp is an interesting man, self contained, experienced and instinctive. It’s an atmospheric read, giving a real taste of outback Australia, the things people will do for money and also what they will do to survive. A good debut thriller, intense at times, with a nicely twisted plot and a satisfying solution. 3 1/2⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.