Scrublands (Chris Hammer, A&U)

In a dying Riverina town that’s suffering a merciless drought, ‘good people fight to retain honour and dignity against unfair odds’. Shockingly, one Sunday morning, the town’s 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 characters—each with their own secrets—more 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 he’s 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 ‘why-dunnit’ (not ‘whodunnit’), 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 Harper’s 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 Children’s Bookshop

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