Shadow of the Osprey. Peter Watt, Corgi. £6.99

Set in Australia, in the early days of settlement, this rip-roaring novel soon gets you in its grip.

Treachery, both in families vying for power and individuals settling scores, is a dominant theme in the story.

It is 1874, and in a fierce land, full of marauding white men, the Aborigine is still fighting the invaders in a bloody guerrilla war.

Michael Duffy is a dreamer, turned soldier of fortune, returning to the colony he left as a young man, with a dangerous mission to undertake. Battle scarred and weary he still has a price on his head for a murder he did not commit.

In a new country, still rife with old scores to settle, Michael has to watch his back as his old adversaries, the Macintoshes, still carry on old feuds. Vengeance is mandatory.

News of the Palmer River gold rush lures American prospector Luke Tracy back to the continent, and, by chance, to a meeting with the love of his life, Kate O'Keefe.

Kate is a woman determined to make and consolidate a fortune in a country dominated by powerful, ruthless men.

The many vivid characters and scenery make for a vibrant second novel for Peter Watt. An Australian, he depicts his country with attention to well-researched detail.

His story-telling is as exciting as a Wilbur Smith epic in fact since both of them write with such love of their countries, it could be said that Peter Watt intends to take over in Australia, where Wilbur Smith left off in Africa.

Annie Dendy