A large book, moving slowly in some places, burning its complex way to uncover motivations and small-town backdrop to horrific murder of 5 local victims. Child abuse is right into it all make of the have to. It dredges back to betrayals in war time Afghanistan, violent takes and reparations...small town Australia. Acting a reporter, Martin picks up story in newspapers and gets international renown but recalls a traumatised environ, and prime

A tense story about a small town priest shooting dead 5 people. Why? How can it have happened?
I really liked this and read it very quickly. It was hard going at times but in a good way.
4/5 on goodreads

Set in Australia-this is a book about murder.
Sadly I found this book quite hard to connect with- it was quite difficult as to me it is a slow burner.
Not for me
🌟🌟

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for a honest unbiased review.
Read this book over Xmas period and it had an impact upon my festivities as right from the outset this book grabbed me and wouldn't leave me alone. Starting with a mass shooting by a priest in a small Australian outback town, the pace gathers and keeps running for close to 500 pages.
Have read a few Australian crime novels in the past year and this one is right up there with best.
Absolutely loved it and no hesitation in recommending.

When I read the description of Scrublands - drought-stricken rural Australian town, inexplicable massacre, troubled outsider sent to investigate - I have to admit to raising my eyebrows and muttering "so it's basically The Dry then?"

But, The Dry being my favourite crime debut of recent years, I decided to give Scrublands a try anyway. And, although I didn't love it quite as much, it was nevertheless a worthwhile and enjoyable read. The vivid descriptions of the outback and the dusty, desolate towns struggling for survival are a real strength, and were particularly resonant as the news is currently full of the devastating heatwave and drought affecting Australia. More complex than The Dry, with numerous complicated plot threads that deserve careful reading to fully enjoy the 'aha!' moments as they're solved, it did occasionally feel a little too overloaded with plot, becoming somewhat convoluted as the novel went on.

I understand this book is going to be “an outstanding success”. But sadly it wasn’t for me. I found it dragged, and there was something missing in the writing and the plot. Why does there always have to be a romance thrown in and always with a beautiful young woman.

Not one for me but I a, sure many people will love it.

I like Australia-set films and books and the best ones always seem to be these claustrophobic, tense, outback-set ones. Riversend is a dying town, both from its bad press and the stifling drought. Martin meets a motley collection of locals all with their own agenda and secrets (and with great names such as Harley Snouch and Codger Harris 😄). Slowly, he peels away the layers to discover why Father Byron killed five men and let's not forget all the other sub-plots running through the book. He's an imperfect character, head over heels with the woman who runs the bookshop, waxing and waning between staying and leaving and at times you question his judgement.
What I loved about this apart from the great characters is the setting. The author's descriptions of the heat, the oppressive sun and the deserted town are just stunning. You feel like you're there and when Martin buys ice-cold water from the store, you can taste it on your tongue.
It was so easy to read and so immersive, I read it really quickly and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and longing to get back to it, which is the sign of a truly great book. Original and thought-provoking, I give it 9 and a half out of 10. The reason it loses half a star is I wasn't entirely convinced about the denouement. I would still recommend it unreservedly.

I loved "The Dry" so was happy to read this and am so pleased that I did.

A writer new to me who can really write. Great characters, an original plot that drew me in and wonderfully evocative and atmospheric in his descriptions of time and place.

Far, far more than a mere whodunnit, this is literature at its best.

A crime novel set in a small Australian town, plagued by drought. It is nearly one year on from when it suffered a disaster, as a priest shot 5 men outside his church, with no one knowing why.

Martin, a journalist sent to do a 'one year on' piece gets drawn in by the town and its inhabitants, and so when two bodies are discovered after a wild fire, he is involved.

This was a really evocative read, with the drought, the importance of water, and the poverty that drought can bring to a small Australian town clear.

It was a very good crime novel, and I really enjoyed the visit to Australia!

Scrublands is out now, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

This was first published in Australia in 2018, and Amazon and GoodReads tells me it was a Number 1 Bestseller there!

Reading it did make me think about Nordic noir, and wonder if there could be a surge of Australian crime novels with Scrublands doing so well, and start pondering what that genre would be called, or perhaps it already has a name! Let me know if you know!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Headline (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Complex and perfectly flawed characters, intricate and intertwined plot lines and frenzied pace. This story about the slow trickle of destruction that works its way through one small town would make an excellent TV series.

Yet again another Australian mystery set in a scorching small town that I loved! I definitely have a type.
Set over 10 day Scublands follows Martin, a journalist reporting ‘a year on’ after a horrific mass murder and gets a lot more than the anniversary story he was looking for.

I adored the setting. Chris Hammer writes in such a way that I felt although I know every inch of this dry forgotten town.

Yes similar to Jane Harper but compared to this Jane Harper’s work reads like a cozy mystery.

Martin, being a journalist had many qualities I didn’t like. He was pushing and head strong and overstepped the mark on so many occasions but yet predictably I grew to love him. I really enjoyed watching him slowly become acceptable into the town.
As much as I loved the characters, there were so many and between the names and all the murder I found it challenging at times. That being said I was brilliantly refreshing to read a thriller/mystery that did challenge me, and a great change from the domestic psychological thrillers that are currently flooding the market.

This is a pretty hefty book, with buckets of intrigue, twists and turns. A lot of crimes happen all with in the space of a week. Fires. Abduction. Murder. Rape. Fraud. Some linked, some not. Maybe too much.

This was a brilliantly written example of the wonderful work we are seeing coming from Australia at the moment!

A multifaceted whodunnit set in an Australian town that is suffering from a variety of problems and is slowly dying. A year ago the then vicar opened fire on his congregation killing 5 of them. Journalist Martin Scarsdale is sent to investigate the crime a year on and see how the town is fairing.. Martin finds Avery different aspect to what happened unearthing a far reaching and more complicated story. It would appear that many inhabitants hav3 somethin* to hide and this is a town with a history. Plenty of action emerges. An interesting read

A superior crime novel set in small town Australia during a drought. The town was the setting for a multiple murder, committed by the local priest and Martin is the journalist, sent to report on how the place is recovering twelve months later.
On the face of it this was a straightforward crime. The priest shoots dead five people and is then killed himself by the local policeman. But the longer Martin is there the more questions arise.
I thought that the battle between telling the truth and exploiting people who have suffered huge loss was well demonstrated and Martin is a sympathetic character, although he does come over badly at times.
Overall, I thought this was well written, had a good plot and the story unfolds slowly, which I liked, although it did get bogged down in detail at times.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

5 dead , 6 including the priest that shot them ! But the real story had never transpired. This book had me hooked, there was so much going on sometimes it was hard to keep up . The authors writing had you drawn into the pages and you could almost feel the heat from the ferocious Australian sun ! Excellent debut . Will be looking to read more from this author. My thanks to netgalley and publishers for my chance to read

The sun hangs over Riversend like a sentencing judge. Riversend is one of those rural towns in Australia where not much ever happens - except a mass killing, bush fires, rape, people living secret lives, suicides, allegations of paedophilia, cat killings, abductions, drug growing and motorcycle gangs and just in the mix are four love stories. But what they all need is rain. What a fabulous plot, great characters and its just one of those books you don't want to end. My rule of never rereading may be broken just to take in the great writing of Chris Hammer and I expect this to be one of the best books I will read this year. I awarded this book 5 stars but had 10 stars been available it is worth them. If this isn't made into a top film I will eat my hat. I cant recommend it enough.

There’s been a lot of buzz about this book – which was a huge bestseller in the country where it is set, Australia – and now that I’ve read it I’m not at all surprised: it’s a humdinger.

The setup is terrific. A reporter, Martin Scarsden, arrives in a tiny drought-struck town in the Australian outback. A year ago the local priest suddenly produced a gun before his Sunday service, and shot five men before being killed himself. Martin is going to do a piece to mark the one-year anniversary, see how the town is coping with the aftermath. He starts digging, and begins to find out the stories behind the story. The plot is one of the most labrynthine I have ever read: the amount of stuff going on in this one small town is extraordinary – but the author carries us along, and tells his story beautifully. A good way into the plot Martin considers what is going on:
He has saved someone in a fire; saved the life of an accident victim; stands accused of driving someone to suicide; been pilloried on national television; posted bail for someone accused of perverting the course of justice; and now has just saved yet another life.
I have edited this to prevent spoilers, but the passage gives a good idea of the dramas within – and that isn’t the half of it.

One of the surprises for Martin in the town is that the priest, Byron Swift, isn’t reviled, and some people still think well and kindly of him. How can that be…? The answer is long and complicated. But the book is thought-provoking – how would you feel if someone you knew well and respect did something out of character, something bad in itself. Would you hate him, or still try to have an affection for him?



Hammer takes his time, it is not a short book, but I was happy with that. I chose the passage above to feature because it is exactly the kind of item that often makes me impatient in a thriller – who cares who is travelling in which car? But this image he created of the massive convoy was so visual, and so vivid, that it lived in my mind afterwards. One of many superb features. The dry, ravaged land is a major part of the story, and there is a terrifying bushfire among many other memorable scenes.

As well as everything else, Chris Hammer has produced wonderful character names: Mandalay Blonde, Harley Snouch and Codger Harris. And he is funny – I loved the description of the priest as a ‘backblocks Rasputin’.

It does contain a certain amount of violence, but much less than many comparable books.

So yes – I loved this book, I thought it was marvellous, and really lived up to all the advance publicity. It pulled me in, and I couldn’t put it down. I found it involving, and despite the melodramatic plot, it raised fascinating questions about morals and ethics. It is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time.

Several of my blogging friends alerted me to this book with their reviews – in particular Bill Selnes at Mysteries and More, whose two posts on the book are well worth reading. He concentrates on different aspects of the book, and I found his thoughts illuminating. And Sarah Ward also enthused about the book over at Crimepieces.

Top image is a picture of scrublands from freeaussiestock.com.
Second image, same source.

The book starts off at a blistering pace with a mass shooting outside a church in Riversend, Australia, where the local priest opens fire and kills five townspeople. The story then moves to a year later when journalist, Martin Scarsden, travels to Riversend to write about the town on the anniversary of the tragedy.

I thought it was on well written, and I liked the fact that the author took time to build up a sense of suspense. Layers of deception are removed one at a time and the reader's perception of who the characters are changes. There were some cliches such as the fact that the single, young, attractive woman in the town of course falls for the main character, and I think the conclusion wrapped things up a little too neatly, but on the whole, it was a good read.

TW: swearing, mention of animal abuse (although no details given), and violence.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Headline, for the opportunity to review an ARC.

A really good atmospheric read. This is a really good story with a lot of action and a complicated plot. There are a lot of characters and a lot happening around one town. This book is slow to start but definitely worth sticking with.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Wowee. The quality of crime fiction coming out of Australia and New Zealand is quite incredible and we are being well and truly spoilt. There’s Jane Harper’s The Dry and Force of Nature (with The Lost Man on the way next month), Vanda Symon’s Overkill (the next book in the series, The Ringmaster is out in April) and now we have Chris Hammer whose book Scrublands was one of my first reads of 2019 and it is quite frankly exceptional.

Journalist Martin Scarsden is sent by his editor to the remote town of Riversend to write a piece on how the town is coping as the anniversary of a significant and brutal crime approaches. Nearly a year earlier the priest opened fire outside of church killing five parishioners before being killed by local police officer Robbie Haus-Jones. Riversend is in the midst of a drought, the river is dry, the ground is scorched and cracked and the scrubland which surrounds the town makes it an unforgiving place to live. Riversend is a pot just waiting to boil over and Martin will be there when it does.

Martin is in his early 40s and has PTSD from a terrible event that took place whilst he was working in Gaza. His editor feels that a feature on Riversend will be a gentle way of easing his way back into journalism. The only thing is nobody has told Riversend that and his investigations uncovers information that indicates there may be more to the shooting than first believed. He finds himself knee deep in secrets and lies in this claustrophobic town and what follows is a masterclass in storytelling.

This book almost felt like a western at times, especially in the descriptions of the town itself which is set amongst parched land containing the bare necessities of a pub, shop, police station, church, hotel. Everybody knows one another and they’re not particularly trusting of Martin after the press reporting of the shooting a year earlier. He finds himself trying to ingratiate himself to uncover what actually happened a year earlier but this isn’t exactly simple when so many people want to keep things hidden.

The priest, Byron Swift was held in high regard and much to Martin’s surprise still is, despite him murdering 5 people. What hold did Byron have over the town? Why do people still talk fondly of him? Martin’s attempts to dig are hampered by a bush fire and then something happens which brings the press back to Riversend and he finds that not only is the town back in the public eye but he too is thrust into the spotlight.

This is a brilliantly written book with incredible plotting and pacing and is a real page turner. I tore through it devouring it in a day or two, reading it whenever I could. I loved Martin (and have to admit to developing a bit of a crush on him) but more than that I loved the way the plot was built with small and large reveals feeling true to the book and not just a twist for the sake of it. It is a character led mystery with stacks of intrigue and a compelling narrative and is a real gem of a book. I can’t wait to read more by Chris Hammer.

Outstanding

This is Chris Hammer's first fiction novel although he has already written two well-regarded non-fiction books.

Martin Scarsden’s light as the “go to” journalist is fading rapidly after a life-changing event in Afghanistan. However, he still has the confidence of his editor, Max, but feels that being despatched to report on life in Riversden, a year after the killing of five residents by the local priest, is a sop to keep him busy.

On arriving in the small Australian outback town, he senses that things are not quite as they seem but doesn't know where to start. The townspeople have had their fill of intrusive reporters, so he has his work cut out. Gradually he gains the confidence of a few main characters, and so his investigation starts. His delving into the town's past wreaks devastating effects on all concerned.

Although it's a long book, there are no extraneous words or padding. Every word is precisely in the right place and serves its intended purpose. The writing is crisp and to the point. The author's use of words is superb and points to his career as a journalist. As a result, the story is atmospheric in the extreme, and the dust, heat and tragedy pour off the page.

The plot itself is multi-faceted. It's complex without being complicated. For this reason, it feels genuine. Most people have lots to contend with in their lives, and it's true in this book as well. Just as you think you have understood it all, something else crops up which adds another dimension to the relationships between the residents. All the characters are beautifully developed as individuals the reader comes to love or hate. Essentially, it's a story of human failings, but it's a wonderful story, superbly portrayed.

I have one criticism which is not related to either the novel itself or the author. I received an advance paperback copy, and the quality of paper and print lacks to the extent that I found it impossible to read for more than 30 minutes without eyestrain. The edition is grey and the paper a dirty beige making the contrast between the two poor. I would feel short-changed had I forked out a penny short of £9 but ultimately would have been more than pleased that I had persevered.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.