Girl Falling (Hayley Scrivenor, Macmillan)

Girl Falling is the second novel by award-winning crime writer Hayley Scrivenor. Three women—Daphne, Magdu and Finn—head out for a day of rock climbing in the Blue Mountains, but only two return. Was it a tragic accident, or was something more sinister at play? Exploring the intricacies of trust, betrayal, coercive control, identity, freedom and sexuality, Girl Falling is a twisting crime thriller. Finn finds herself wading through her grief at the loss of her girlfriend, Magdu, and reflecting on the eerily similar death of her younger sister. Both events catapult Finn into the manipulative orbit of her long-time friend Daphne, pitting her against Magdu’s family, and everything she had willed herself to believe. Scrivenor beautifully crafts a sense of time and place across multiple timelines, although occasionally, it feels like this richness doesn’t extend to some of the peripheral characters. Senior Constable Dale Gosling, who is investigating Magdu’s death, for example, is a gay First Nations police officer in a small mountain town. However, it is unclear if he is from a local First Nations community, if he grew up in the town, or if he, like Finn, faces prejudices about his sexuality. Perfect for readers of Scrivenor’s gripping debut, Dirt Town, Jane Harper’s Force of Nature, and Wake by Shelley Burr, Girl Falling plunges the reader into the depths of grief and pulls back the security blanket of lies some people hide under in order to keep living beyond the consequences of their actions.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Kate Frawley is a former bookseller and a librarian in training. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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