Vikki Wakefield writes fiction for young adults and adults. Her books explore family, class and relationships in a contemporary setting. Her novels All I Ever Wanted, Friday Brown, Inbetween Days and Ballad for a Mad Girl have been shortlisted for numerous awards. This Is How We Change the Ending won Book of the Year: Older Readers, Children's Book Council Awards, 2020. After You Were Gone, a psychological thriller, is her first novel for adults. She is working on her second one.
'Elegantly written and utterly chilling. A dark and twisting novel of psychological suspense that will have you turning pages and checking your locks.' * Emma Viskic, author of Those Who Perish * 'Gripping, propulsive, and unbearably tense - the best psychological thriller I've read in years.' * Mark Brandi, author of The Others * 'An original thriller full of empathy. Flawed and vulnerable, Abbie is so real. I was with her all the way.' * Sarah Bailey, author of The Housemate * 'An elegant, powerful and utterly compelling thriller. The best book I have read all year.' * Lucy Christopher, author of Release * 'After You Were Gone cleaves open ideas of friendship and family, revealing the complex inner workings of our closest relationships. In doing so, Wakefield achieves what all good crime writers aspire to do: she forces the reader to stress-test their own sense of morality. She looks you in the eye and asks what would you do if the unthinkable happened? What would you sacrifice? How far would you go? At once tense and atmospheric, After You Were Gone is also brilliantly plotted and populated with complex characters. An exciting new voice in Australian crime.' * J.P. Pomare, author of The Last Guests * 'Spooky, believable, compelling. I kept turning the pages hoping for a way out.' * Leah Swann, author of Sheerwater * 'Beautifully written and superbly unnerving, After You Were Gone is the very best kind of thriller: tender and wise as well as pulse-poundingly tense, with characters so real you want to linger with them even as you race through the pages, desperate to find out what happens. Absolutely wonderful, I could not have loved or admired it more.' * Anna Downes, author of The Safe Place * 'Through captivating prose and an intricately crafted plot, After You Were Gone explores the complexities of what it means to be a mother: the joy, the rage, the floundering-and the desperate, unquenchable love.' * Amy Suiter Clarke, author of Girl, 11 * '[A]n expertly crafted psychological thriller that reminded me of Adrian McKinty's breakthrough international bestseller The Chain in its need-to-know addictive propulsion...The ending felt just right.' * InDaily * '[S]atisfying and unpredictable...Wakefield delivers compulsive, heart-thumping suspense in spades.' * InDaily * 'This is how to write a psychological thriller; stylish prose in a warts-and-all tale...Wakefield makes a seamless transition into the adult genre.' * Herald Sun * '[Vikki Wakefield's] first foray into the realm of adult fiction has arrived in the form of a masterful psychological thriller...Fast paced, perfectly plotted and brilliantly conceived, this is a chilling tale of identity, judgement, loss, determination and complex relationship dynamics.' * ArtsHub *