Story is told through the alternating chapters of two brothers - Sandy who is 15 and Red who is 18. They live on a farm in the Mallee with their father and the story picks up with Sandy trying to work out where he will be next year doing VCE - will he be at boarding school in Adelaide or Melbourne, or stuck in the middle of nowhere. The story opens with Sandy nearly being drowned in a river by a dead cow floating by....which, after the initial shock his brother thinks is hilarious. But things aren't always funny to Red - there is so much anger in him as he blames himself for his mother's death ( being hit by a car in Melbourne) - and he is always getting in scrapes with people. The two stories intertwine with Sandy (SPOILER ALERT) being rejected by the boarding schools and Red falling for his best ( stoner) mate's Ryan's ex-girlfriend Lisa; which causes Ryan to stalk her and leads to a thrilling climax.....Ryan steals Red's dog after bashing him senseless and Sandy must ride out into the desert to try and save both him and the dog.

Slow start but gets better...and I like how the author sometimes puts in two chapters in a row from the same brother to keep the story flowing. her writing evokes the joint feelings of wide open spaces of the desert and also the claustrophobic nature of small country towns. Highly recommended. ( )