Scrublands

by Chris Hammer

Paper Book, 2018

Description

"In the vein of The Dry and Before the Fall, a town's dark secrets come to light in the aftermath of a young priest's unthinkable last act in this arresting and searing debut thriller. In Riversend, an isolated rural community afflicted by an endless drought, a young priest does the unthinkable, killing five parishioners before being taken down himself. A year later, accompanied by his own demons from war-time reporting, journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend. His assignment is simple: describe how the townspeople are coping as the anniversary of their tragedy approaches. But as Martin meets the locals and hears their version of events, he begins to realize that the accepted wisdom--that the priest was a pedophile whose imminent exposure was the catalyst for the shooting, a theory established through an award-winning investigation by Martin's own newspaper--may be wrong. Just as Martin believes he's making headway, a new development rocks the town. The bodies of two German backpackers--missing since the time of the church shootings--are discovered in a dam in the scrublands, deserted backwoods marked by forest fires. As the media flocks to the scene, Martin finds himself thrown into a whole new mystery. What was the real reason behind the priest's shooting spree? And how does it connect to the backpacker murders, if at all? Martin struggles to uncover the town's dark secrets, putting his job, his mental state, and his life at risk as more and more strange happenings escalate around him. For fans of James Lee Burke, Jane Harper, and Robert Crais, Scrublands is a compelling and original crime novel that marks Chris Hammer as a stunning new voice in the genre. A compulsively readable thriller of the highest order, Scrublands never loosens its grip, from its opening scene to the very last page"--… (more)

Series

Martin Scarsden (1)

Publication

Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2018.

Media reviews

Sydney Morning Herald

Scrublands is the epic novel about rural life in Australia that we need right now. In its concern with crime beyond the suburban fringe, it sits right up there with the late Peter Temple's Broken Shore, Garry Disher's Bitterwash Road and Jane Harper's The Dry, even as it extends their focus and

reach. Nor is Hammer in a hurry. There's an expansiveness about Scrublands that gives the reader time to think, to reflect and to get to know both the place and the characters, who are far from one-dimensional despite their rather too obvious monikers. As Scarsden explores Riversend, you can follow his progress on the handy topographical map in the frontispiece. There's the main street, and there's the war memorial at the crossroads featuring the life-size statue of a soldier dressed in the uniform of the First World War, "boots, leggings, slouch hat". But the names of the locals listed on the white slabs include those who died in the Boer War, Korea and Vietnam. As Scarsden looks into the face of the bronzed digger, he ponders the ways in which a town like Riversend has already had to withstand so much more trauma than the punishing heat and punitive drought. Scrublands is a rural crime novel with remarkable breadth and depth that would also make a superb TV series.

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