HERESY
Couples Retreat
Mercedes Mercier
Penguin, $34.99
Why do we enjoy watching the rich get rich? Mercedes Mercier’s third novel is a stylish destination thriller that attempts to answer this question with a telescope in one hand and a microphone in the other.
While on Kangaroo Island, three wealthy couples gather for an exclusive long weekend at a remote mansion known as the Reef House – a “glass and stone ruin” surrounded by isolation; a taste of opulence that feels less like a sanctuary and more like a theater.
Among them is the wise and self-centered Ash, whose marriage to Nick has turned into something weak and isolated. After years of working together to start a successful apparel line, their chemistry has fizzled. Hoping that the trip might rekindle their romance, Ash agrees to join the famous “Let-loose Weekend” – devised by her husband’s partners Hugh (the alpha) and Rupert (the consigliere).
Nick surrounds Hugh and Rupert with a mixture of admiration and dependence, his business ambitions having their approval (Hugh is an investor in the business). Men share a dark history of masculinity and giftedness defined by silent competition.
If the characters initially register as puppets – the poor socialite, the jaded heiress, the clingy entrepreneur – that’s the point. This novel works perfectly to make you dislike them. Police officer Emily Quinn describes the restless joy of this drive: “As bad as they are, at least they’re entertaining.” Here is Mercier’s mission statement. This book understands that narratives about rich people often function as escapism and moral judgment.
Meanwhile, Quinn, a probation officer recently assigned to the island, is also an outsider trying to find his place in a deeply wounded society.
The narrative alternates between Ash and Quinn, a structural choice that is one of the book’s greatest strengths. Both women are primary observers and secondary participants. Quinn demonstrates the appeal of the police because he “becomes the one watching”. He initially meets the group on a ferry, cataloging their wealth symbols through the same lens as our fellow hero. Diamond bracelets clash against Cartier bracelets, justice trembles under empty talk. Wealth serves as a theme as well as a way to invite readers to chortle and curse.
This book is like recent television, with all the predictable hilarity of the genre. But there is danger here too, and it is coming in early. Ash and Quinn sense that something – or someone – lurks just beyond the edges of consciousness. Shadows move to the periphery. The island itself is given over to atmospheric details: eucalyptus and mallee trees, isolated from the wind, the restless calm of a place where privacy can be endangered.
Where Couples Retreat excels is in its motion. It’s compulsively readable and each revelation pushes the story towards darker territory. The crimes that emerge from men’s past suggest a web of influence in which “people in high places” hide wrongdoing with sinister ease. The friendship that protects the group is revealed to be less about love than shared secrets and guilt.
Quinn’s arc, although very low, provides a basic counterpoint. A young man, inexperienced and eager to claim power, navigates the dual challenges of policing a tight-knit community while negotiating his alienation. Fleeing her emotionally abusive ex, her confusion deepens as she follows him to the island, though she dwells more easily in narrative than meaningful presence. Still, his perspective gives the novel an important friction, a reminder that power is not evenly distributed.
Prose itself can be used; moments of tension are frequently relieved by predictable phrases. But stylistic skill is not the main priority of the novel. Its pleasures are more immediate: speed, intrigue, and the noise of polished surfaces opening to reveal unsavory subterranean forces.
Finally, the book delivers what it promises: a juicy, fast-paced thriller with beautiful people, spoilers with lots to hide and lose more. It understands the appeal of watching the powerful waver and point the finger back at us. Why can’t we look away?
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Jessie here is the author of the novels A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing and The Honeyeater. She is a columnist for Women’s Agenda and a book critic for SMH and The Age.
