Red River Road
Anna Downes
Minotaur Books
August 27th, 2024
Red River Road by Anna Downes has Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.
Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?
And then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best—and only—chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.
Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Anna Downes: During the on-and-off lockdowns of 2021 I was obsessed with travel, and road trips in particular. I dreamed daily about converting a campervan and setting off on a long-distance drive around the country, but I couldn’t make it happen for real, so I decided to do the next best thing and write about it instead. I wanted to craft something scary and fun, so naturally my first ideas included serial killers, ghosts and hitch-hiking final girls – but my research took me into more sobering territory and I found myself drawn more to the realities of life on the road and the true lived experiences of travelers, particularly women on their own. The story then became more about safety and the cultural messages we receive about danger. When women say they’re off to explore the world on their own, why exactly do we worry for them? What do we think is going to happen, and how does that compare with what actually does? Where and with whom are women truly safe? Those questions, combined with a highly unusual news story that I happened to read one day (no, I’m not going to reveal which one!), formed the basis for what became Red River Road.
EC: In the first chapter you talk about someone driving under the influence, speeding, sleepy-why this scene and what did you want to convey?
AD: When we first meet Katy, she’s in a state of emotional precarity and I think I was partly trying to capture the disorientation she feels from the start: she’s in a strange new situation in a strange new place, it’s dark, and she’s totally out of her depth. I needed to convey a real sense of vulnerability and exposure from the outset, so I brainstormed a ton of different nightmare scenarios and driving alone at night on an isolated road in the middle of the outback was top of my list. Add in fatigue, alcohol, the sinister appearance of another vehicle and sudden mechanical failure and you’ve got a whole bunch of real problems – the origins and consequences of which then kick off the plot.
EC: How would you describe Katy?
AD: I’d say that as a person Katy is cautious, introverted, sensitive and fiercely loyal. She doesn’t think much of herself but puts others on pedestals and would without question do anything for those she loves no matter the cost. She hates attention and injustice of any kind and is quick to anger. At the beginning of the book she’s scared, lonely, lost and consumed by grief; without Phoebe, or any answers as to what happened to her, Katy’s own life no longer makes sense. As a result, she’s stuck in a place of endless waiting and wondering with no agency or recourse to healing or change. But the deeper she digs into her sister’s disappearance the more she learns about herself, and even though some of what she finds is dark and painful she also finds more strength and resilience than she’d ever imagined.
EC: How would you describe Beth?
AD: Beth is deeply thoughtful and intelligent person whose spirit has been repeatedly crushed, a dreamer with a broken heart. She’s smart, perceptive and can read any room; but also naïve in many ways and rarely affords herself the same compassion and insight she extends to others. She has a big heart but can be sly and ruthless too – qualities that often serve her well. Above all she’s a survivor whose instincts keep her fighting to keep her head above water even when it seems easier to sink and drown.
EC: Do you think both were vulnerable, fearful, caring, and had grief?
AD: Absolutely. Kate and Beth are both many things at once: secretive, manipulative, self-serving, but also full of love and fear and hope. Initially they seem very different, two women whose natures seem completely at odds – but they have so much more in common than they know, which is what ultimately connects and binds them. In fact, you could even say they’re two sides to the same coin: each has the key to the other’s mysteries, though not in ways that either would expect.
EC: What was the role of Phoebe?
AD: In terms of narrative, Phoebe is the basis for the story in that she’s the reason Katy is on the road in the first place; her disappearance is the thing that gets all the story balls rolling. Thematically, she’s a means by which I could explore the appeal and benefits of solo female travel and the lighter, more aspirational side of vanlife. Through her I could delve into social media, influencer culture, identity as construction, and the risks and rewards of living at a time where we’re all constantly recording ourselves. She’s also there to remind us of all the ways women are deemed responsible for their own safety, especially when they look a certain way, and what happens when they ‘fail’ to protect themselves.
EC: What was the role of Wyatt?
AD: It’s hard to answer that without spoilers, but Wyatt’s purpose is to show us yet another side of the story, one that we probably wouldn’t usually look for. As a young man growing up in a small fishing town in a remote area, his perspective is completely different to those of the female characters but no less essential to understanding the bigger picture. I loved writing him because I had to put myself in the place of someone whose life I will never live, whose circumstances aren’t easy to parse, which set my imagination on fire. It was challenging but think in the end I could see him more clearly than any other character in the book.
EC: Why base the story around a road trip?
AD: The short answer is that I’m obsessed with travel, especially road trips, and if you’re going to immerse yourself in a particular world for a year or two it might as well be one you know and love. The longer answer is that I think at the time I was noticing a proliferation of crime-thrillers, specifically those set in Australia, featuring small rural towns with big secrets, and while that’s great and valid I really wanted to do (and read) something different. I was itching for something that moved rather than remained static, with literal velocity and an ever-changing landscape, where the characters are converging on one another as opposed to stuck in one location. Then when I found Western Australia’s Coral Coast I completely fell in love: not only was the scenery exactly what I’d pictured – topographically diverse and iconically Australian – but I could also see how the popular route from Perth to Exmouth might actively shape the narrative as opposed to just enhancing it.
EC: Why this quote-did you speak with some who were abused: “Some people know exactly how to inflict pain without leaving evidence.”
AD: I guess the meaning of that line is two-fold. First, I’ve done plenty of research and many survivors of gendered violence describe how their abusers often know exactly how to hurt them without leaving physical evidence; instead of targeting the face or arms, the marking of which could invite questions or intervention, they’ll go for parts of the body or skin that often remain hidden. Second, pain isn’t always physical. Psychological and emotional damage leaves no visible marks and can be hard to prove, as many perpetrators know well. It’s important to recognize all the various forms that violence can take and to normalize the idea that a situation isn’t made any less dangerous by an absence of quantifiable signs.
EC: Next book?
AD: I have an audio drama coming out next year, set in a LA acting studio, which I’m very excited about. And I’m currently working on a fourth novel, about which I can’t say too much except that it’s about an estranged mother and daughter, both with hidden agendas, who travel to a hotel from which guests are known to disappear. I’m aiming to hit a spot somewhere between The White Lotus and The Shining!
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