Fearless by Fiona Higgins, Australia, 2016

Fearless, set in Bali, is an exciting story held together by many interesting pieces of information about Indonesia – an exotic and, at times, unusual background against which the characters, a mixture of Indonesians, Javanese, Australians, Europeans and one American, play out their designated parts.
 

Fearless itself is the name of a course run by a man of European origin, Pak Tony, where participants are encouraged not only to verbalize their deepest fears but also to confront them. The course comprises a number of different segments or challenges, which are designed to move the participants out of their comfort zones while helping them recognize and, hopefully, abolish their fears.

The first two-thirds of the book concentrate mainly on the course activities and the different fears and backgrounds of the six people on the course. Then, as each person’s innermost fear is revealed, the story evolves, and small connecting fingers reach out between some of the people. The reader begins to wonder whether these fingers will become stronger or whether they will simply fade away.

And then something awful happens.

Fiona Higgins, who has lived in Indonesia, has managed to write a novel that is interesting, informative, intelligent and extremely suspenseful.

The photo of Fiona is from www.fionahiggins.com.au