The fifth season by Philip Salom

Transit Lounge, 2020. ISBN: 9781925760644.
(Age: Adult) Jack is a writer, and an ill man. He is intrigued by the discoveries of unidentified dead people such as the Somerton Man or the Gippsland Man, still mysteries today, and he is writing a book about them whilst sojourning at Blue Bay. There he meets Sarah, owner of the house he is staying in, a young woman obsessed with the disappearance of her sister Alice. Sarah has become a member of the Missing Persons Advocacy Network and as an artist paints large murals of the face of her sister and other missing people around the country in the hope that somebody will see them and provide a clue as to their whereabouts. The Somerton Man or the Gippsland Man must also be known and missing by somebody, surely, so their interests have some overlap and draw them together.
The story becomes complicated by the fact that the previous lodger at Sarah's house was also a writer and artist, now missing, and he has written a book about the local townspeople including Sarah, and possibly Alice, but how much is based on life or is fiction becomes very confusing. This intertwining of the known and the unknown, the real and the imagined, become threads of thoughts and ideas about life, death, art and writing. There are pages readers will want to go back over to grapple with the suggestions and possibilities.
It is a book for intellectuals, but at the same time has some really grassroot renderings of iconic Aussie conversations in the local bar, and the veggie shop, a vein of humour that lightens the tone a little.
What is the fifth season? Maybe it's another dimension, maybe it's time, maybe it's the unknown. That should give you the clue that this is not your usual mystery story. It is a challenging read, but it is full of interesting ideas, and I'm sure the book will find its readers.
Themes: Missing persons, Unidentified dead, Loss, Mortality, Obsession, Writing, Art.
Helen Eddy