The Night Shift

At 2:17 a.m., a worker disappears into the Australian outback. The security cameras capture everything. Except how he got out.

Deep in Western Australia's unforgiving Pilbara region, the remote Kestrel Ridge mine operates around the clock. Thousands of kilometres from the nearest major city, workers endure exhausting shifts, relentless heat, and endless stretches of isolation.

But something is happening after dark.

When electrician Josh Calder vanishes from his accommodation village, the security footage reveals a disturbing sight: Josh calmly walking towards the desert, following a mysterious woman dressed in white.

There's just one problem.

The woman is dead.

And according to the mine's security records, the gate Josh walked through never opened.

For safety adviser Mara Voss, the disappearance should be a straightforward investigation. With only days remaining on her temporary assignment, she intends to uncover what happened, document the evidence, and leave the isolated mining operation behind.

But the deeper Mara investigates, the more disturbing the evidence becomes.

Workers report hearing familiar voices calling from empty corridors. Telephones ring with messages from people who died years earlier. Security recordings contradict eyewitness accounts. Employees begin behaving strangely, wandering into dangerous areas with no memory of why they went there.

And every unexplained incident seems connected to the same time.

2:17 a.m.

As Mara follows the evidence, she discovers references to a forgotten communications station, hidden maintenance records, and a devastating mining incident buried beneath decades of official silence.

Someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the past hidden.

Someone is watching her investigation.

And someone knows things about Mara's family that should be impossible to know.

When a recording surfaces containing the voice of her father-a man declared dead fourteen years earlier-Mara realises the mystery is no longer confined to Kestrel Ridge.

It has followed her for most of her life.

With a dangerous operation approaching, communications failing, and more workers disappearing, Mara must decide whom she can trust. Her only allies are a maintenance electrician haunted by his own loss, a village manager concealing a terrible secret, and a determined police officer struggling to uncover the truth before the evidence disappears forever.

But the closer they get to the answers, the more dangerous the night becomes.

Because the greatest threat at Kestrel Ridge isn't necessarily what lurks beyond the security fence.

It's what happens when someone discovers how easily the human mind can be manipulated.

And out in the darkness, another shift is about to begin.

THE NIGHT SHIFT is a gripping Australian outback suspense novel combining psychological tension, disturbing mysteries, corporate secrets, and shocking revelations.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

• Psychological thrillers filled with unexpected twists

• Atmospheric mysteries set in remote locations

• Missing-person investigations and buried conspiracies

• Suspenseful stories where nothing is quite what it seems

• Complex characters confronting dangerous secrets from their past

Some secrets are buried for a reason. Others are waiting to be found.

Your shift begins at 2:17 a.m.