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In Riversend, an isolated Australian community afflicted by an endless drought, a young priest does the unthinkable: he kills five parishioners before being taken down himself.
A year later, journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend. His assignment: to report how the townspeople are coping as the anniversary of the tragedy approaches. But as Martin meets the locals and hears their version of events, he begins to realize that the accepted explanationâa theory established through an award-winning investigation by Martin's own newspaperâmay be wrong.
Just as Martin believes he's making headway, a shocking new crime rocks the town. As the national 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 other deaths in the district, if at all? Martin struggles to uncover the town's dark secrets, putting his job, his mental state, and his very life at risk.
For fans of James Lee Burke, Jane Harper, and Robert Crais, Scrublands is "a gritty debut...sensitively rendered" (The New York Times Book Review) that marks Chris Hammer as a stunning new voice in crime fiction.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 8, 2019 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781508277422
- File size: 382804 KB
- Duration: 13:17:30
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Narrator Rupert Degas exhibits mastery as he delivers this gripping debut novel. In a gritty, nuanced tone, he captures the toughness and complexity of the denizens of Riversend, a drought-ridden Outback town pulled from obscurity by a brutal mass murder. From the outset, Degas's convincing Aussie accent and Hammer's rich descriptions draw the listener into a story that starts as a simple assignment designed to save a reporter's failing career and quickly builds to a provocative tale of crime, secrets, and tangled relationships. Hammer's well-developed characters are given credible identities with Degas's deft use of accents, modulation of tone, and varied pacing. The action is fast, the plot multilayered, and the listening experience smashing. Listeners will be left hoping for more from Hammer and Degas. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine -
May 31, 2018
In a dying Riverina town thatâs suffering a merciless drought, âgood people fight to retain honour and dignity against unfair oddsâ. Shockingly, one Sunday morning, the townâs priest opens fire and guns down five parishioners before being shot dead himself by local police. This gripping opening scene immediately hooks the reader. A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives for an investigative piece on how the residents of Riversend have coped with the tragedy. As Martin gets to know the various town charactersâeach with their own secretsâmore shocking revelations about the shootings come to light and further crimes and mysteries are unearthed. How are they related, if at all? Increasingly, Martin finds himself personally entangled in the lives of those heâs covering. The complexities of the narrative and its characters are mind-boggling, but always presented cogently with impressive prose and brilliant plotting from debut author Chris Hammer, who has decades of experience as a journalist. This âwhy-dunnitâ (not âwhodunnitâ), is a remarkable study of human fallibility, guilt, remorse, hope and redemption. The descriptions of landscape are often evocative in the style of Tim Winton, with the parched country-town setting reminiscent of Jane Harperâs The Dry. Hammer is an author to watch. It is hard to imagine Scrublands not being loved by all crime and mystery fans.Scott Whitmont is the owner and manager of Lindfield Bookshop and Childrenâs Bookshop
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