Gone Guru

 Gone Guru

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       October 10, 2026

 

Author  Nadine Browne

Distributor:      Fremantle Press
ISBN:                 9781760995560
Publisher:         Fremantle Press
Release Date:   2026  

   Website:   https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/gone-guru/

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In her debut novel, Gone Guru, Australian author Nadine Browne has drawn on her own upbringing in a fundamentalist church community to create this engaging cosy mystery set in New York, where the main protagonist’s life mirrors her own.

Like the author, Noni Barlow has won a prestigious academic scholarship to undertake a two-semester intensive creative writing course at New York University, where the staff included luminaries like Zadie Smith and her idol Joyce Carol Oates.

Two weeks after arriving in Harlem, and having paid Vincent, her landlord her bond and a month’s rent, she realises that she hasn’t seen him since parting with her hard-earned money, which has left her in a precarious financial position. Vincent has just vanished! Has he just gone on one of his journeys or is he the victim of foul play?

Who is Vincent McLean? Outwardly he looked as if he was down to his last cent with his bed sheets as clothes, but surprisingly he is the owner of a multimillion-dollar bank account! There are so many different views of him; Moksha, a charismatic guru with six million followers, the damaged soul looking for meaning, the kindly dog walker, or the despicable man, who was impervious to other people’s suffering.

When her idol Joyce Carol Oates dismisses her cult survivor memoir as old hat, Noni is forced to look to another theme for her writing. Vincent’s mysterious absence is the perfect idea for her novel. Also partly driven by curiosity, she enlists the help of Merelis, the sarcastic daughter of her Puerto Rican landlady and the fascinating octogenarian retired social worker, Danny, to track the guru down.

Readers will enjoy being able to picture the city and places referred to in this novel and will thus appreciate Nadine’s ability to bring New York and Harlem to life. I recommend this character driven contemporary fiction to readers, who enjoy a blend of light mystery, humour and quirky characters.

Crime, Fiction, General