Its New Years Day and the year isnt kicking off well for Tansy: her mothers dead, shes a cocaine addict and her boyfriend has just left her. A trip around the world seems like the only option except that shes not interested in seeing the world, just escaping from it, and the last people she wants to hang out with are backpackers. Like a lot of travellers on the Lone Its New Years Day and the year isnt kicking off well for Tansy: her mothers dead, shes a cocaine addict and her boyfriend has just left her. A trip around the world seems like the only option except that shes not interested in seeing the world, just escaping from it, and the last people she wants to hang out with are backpackers. Like a lot of travellers on the Lonely-Planet-led Asian Grand Tour, Tansy is intensely irritating at first. Always on the look out for the real Vietnam--the one in which she can walk around like a model, fanning myself gently, strolling into ancient temples and learning about inner peace--she is opinionated, narrow-minded and remarkably naive (for a supposed media luvvy). Once she has shrugged off her addiction to lines of coke, skinny lattes and Nicole Fahri jumpers, she becomes more appealing. So by the time shes fallen for Max, a fellow traveller, shell have won you over and youll be just as worried as she is about the serial killer who appears to be on her trail. Emily Barr is a former Westminster researcher who now writes for the Guardian and the Observer . Backpack is her first novel and, like Tansy, takes a while to find itself. City-girl pretensions jostle with shoestring-style travelogue and it is only when it hits full-throttle thriller mode that Barrs strength as a novelist becomes apparent. Be prepared for echoes of The Beach --hardly surprising given that Barr was an extra in the film. Also be prepared to get itchy feet--if nothing else, youll be tempted to reach for that backpack and slap on the insect repellent.-- Jane Honey