This Australian adventure begins with a small party of travellers in Alice Springs boarding a tiny plane headed for Kakadu rainforest. Well-heeled Abigail has fidgeted through the trip so far. Her daughter has been sent home along with her husband's secretary; looking at Spencer, Abigail is certain that the secretary is only one of the women he has been seeing. But there is no way she's going to end up an impoverished cast-off, so she puts up with it.

LOST IN KAKADU is what happens in the shocking aftermath of a crash. One minute they're watching brumbies, the next the engines stall and a tree limb tears through the cabin. Abigail wipes blood from her forehead, trapped beneath a body. Another traveller scrambles through the wreckage, searching for survivors. Mackenzie finds only Abigail alive. Shocked and thinking about society funerals, she's not much help at first and only starts thinking straight when she gets bitten by ants. Mackenzie has to return to the plane to look for a first-aid kit. He just knows they should not leave the wreckage as it will be spotted from the air amid the trees. There's no phone signal so they set about survival.

A fire is easy work, but next day with food gone the two are forced to extract a knife from a dead man's pocket to prise open the hold containing their luggage. How much longer will they be in the jungle, and what else will they have to do to stay alive, especially after they find something in the hold that they hadn't expected?

I first thought this was going to be a Crocodile Dundee situation but practical Mackenzie turns out not to be an expert on bush survival, and he happens to be gay, and now his life partner has been killed. Abigail is fairly daft not to change into her flat shoes as soon as she gets them, and to adjust her makeup. She doesn't know any gay people and only grudgingly comes to accept her companion's talents - he's able to cook, for a start. The wildlife is part of the scenery, from birds to giant frogs, and Abigail says she hopes her friends never find out what she's had to do. "They'll be happy you survived," Mackenzie assures her. "You don't know my friends," says Abigail. High time this lady had a life change, I think, though I was sceptical about the length of time they're in the bush. Kendall Talbot has concentrated on characterisation in the excellent adult adventure LOST IN KAKADU.