Mystery set in AUSTRALIA

25th February 2026

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, mystery set in AUSTRALIA.

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Frances is heading north out of Sydney. She is driving through rough terrain towards her destination – Tranquilliam House – a retreat where she intends to spend 10 days centring herself. She has been buffeted by the latest, rather damning review of her novel and needs to take stock.

At the gates of this rather dour Victorian building (built by convicts, just to add a darker frisson), she is flummoxed by the entry code but is rescued by a couple in an extremely fancy vehicle, who draw up behind her little Peugeot. They themselves are here for some holistic couple therapy. Unseen hands go through the guests’ luggage, removing ‘contraband’ like sweet treats and alcohol, which sets a rather intrusive tone. But, naturally, it is for the good of the inmates (sorry, guests).

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The novel opens with Masha being treated in her office by an emergency ambulance crew, and it is paramedic Yao ministering to this clearly unwell woman. The two then pop up as the leaders of this retreat. Masha is an amazonian Russian, tall and  striking, and always on the look-out for cutting-edge therapies to introduce to her clients.

As the days pass, the sense of unease mounts among the guests, something is just off about this place but no-one can really put a finger on what is going on. Until the guests discover a very concerning issue.

The author clearly enjoyed drafting the character of Frances, who gets a fair crack of the whip, sharing her impressions and anxieties of her incarceration. Chapters are told from various characters’ views.

As one might expect with this author, the writing is tremendously good. The storyline is immersive until it begins to feel a bit preposterous, building up to the point of reveal; then, this small group of people starts to take matters into their own hands, cut off as they are in the middle of nowhere. As the author says: “...a remote location is convenient because your characters can’t run next door for help“.

For me the story just went too far off the rails towards the end which left me rolling my eyes. It is, however, a decent pool-side read. Clearly the story appeals to a lot of people, it has positive review and it has been turned into a TV series starring Nicole Kidman.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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