Hydra by Adriane Howell

This is a different kind of mystery story. Anja is at a loss, her mother has just died, her husband has left her, and she has just lost her job as an antiques assessor. And in a spontaneous moment she has spent her inheritance money on an old shack on an isolated patch of land set in a nature reserve next to a naval base. She is completely alone, with limited phone coverage and no wifi, and it is not long before she becomes aware of a presence outside in the dark. For a woman alone, the menace will always be men, men from the base, ready for a laugh at her expense, or a lone driver up her driveway ready to abuse her. She resorts to locked doors and sleeping with a knife under her pillow.

Interleaved with Anja’s story are redacted documents from a 1980’s military inquiry into strange happenings at the base, of possible cadet pranks and of mutilation of animals. Myths have sprung up about what happened there, myths that linger on in the memory of the locals. Perhaps the danger is something other worldly.

For the reader the mystery is complicated by a sense of the unreliability of the narrator. Anja tells us of the events that led to her dismissal but the detail is missing. Did she purposely smash valuable china, and injure an old lady in order to grab a priceless antique? Is she really a victim of malicious conniving by a manipulative colleague, or is Anja herself the paranoid stalker? Many of her actions, and her words, seem to be those of some-one close to the edge. The kindly local market administrator, Gemima, recognises her as a ‘possum’s broke its tail’.

Hydra is an intriguing exploration of death, grief and loss, and the unravelling of the mind, as Anja struggles to come to grips with her situation, and questions all her relationships. I read this book once, and then had to read it all over again: there is so much to explore in this novel. Whilst there are all the elements of a mystery novel, much of it is also very funny, particularly the dialogue where Anja tries to disrupt the euphemisms around death. The ending reaffirms women’s friendship and support, and is maniacal but also positive and affirming.

I would recommend this book for readers who have enjoyed the different perspectives offered in novels by Mark Brandi, e.g. The rip or The others. 

Themes: Mystery, Death, Mental health, Loneliness, Women.

Helen Eddy