I loved this book!!

Wake centres around the 19 year old missing persons case of Evelyn McCreery in Australia where early on we’re introduced to a private investigator Lane who is approaches Evelyn’s sister Mina to help reinvestigate.

I was hooked on Wake from start to finish, the plot is so good and I love a good mystery. I know I always used to watch shows like Cold Case where there is a old case that’s gone unsolved and I like to see how everything unravels.

There is quite a alot to the main characters Lane and Mina and I loved reading more about their stories. It did keep me guessing until end, I know for a fact I never would have figured it out. The chapters are long but if you do read it yourself stick with it.

Wake is such a brilliant debut and I can’t wait to read more from the author.

I enjoyed this book. Mina has never gotten over the disappearance of her sister Evelyn when they were children- in fact it has shaped her life as she continues to obsessively search for Evelyn. Mina is a spiky, angry, distrustful and reclusive character. She eventually, reluctantly, accepts the help of an investigator with a good track record in solving similar cases. But Lane Holland has more than one reason for offering his help- is Mina right to mistrust him?
I liked the setting of the novel- a remote, dying town in outback Australia, and Mina’s vast family ‘station’. Some unexpected turns in the story, though the denouement was not wholly convincing.

This was a compelling read. Lane Holland is a private investigator who works on cold cases. Mina McCreery's sister went missing nineteen years previously and with a huge reward hanging on the case Lane takes it on. As I got further in I got to understand why Lane needed this job and the reprecussions that follow him. It is a brilliant read from the first to last page. The characters are very believable and the descriptions of the surroundings brought it all to life.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a good psychological thriller.

This is a thriller set in the Australian outback about the re investigation of a child’s disappearance many decades before. Whilst it has a good plot and the story flows well, I struggled to empathise with the characters and engage with the setting.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and review.

I loved this book. Reminiscent of Jane Harper, James Delargey and Chris Hammer, I was transported to Australia and a huge expanse of land under a searing sun. A great mystery, great writing and some characters too. Great stuff!

The blurb- Mina McCreery's sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family's destocked sheep farm.
When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer.
Lane wins her trust when his unconventional methods show promise, but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case, and his obsession with the answer will ultimately risk both their lives.

Wow - I was glued to this from the beginning, there's something really captivating about Australian crime thrillers set in such a huge landscape. I requested this as Im a huge fan of everything Jane Harper has written and this was touted as a similar book. Now Im a huge fan of everything Shelley Burr writes and will be waiting impatiently for more from her.

Wow Shelly Burr's debut novel is incredible. Such a talented writer! This book is full of twists and turns and I literally could not put it down!
I cannot wait to see what Shelly Burr comes up with next!
Thank you to Shelly Burr, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review this book.

So – yet another book from Down Under! This “Outback Noir” is really becoming a big thing, isn’t it?

It is, and it’s no surprise when you come across books like this – and a debut at that! And I hadn’t realised until now that this was the Winner of CWA Dagger for Debut Crime Fiction…and once you’ve read a chapter or two of the book, that won’t be a surprise at all! It absolutely blew me away, and to be honest it doesn’t read like a debut – you feel like you’re in the hands of a well-established author…it’s that good! Shelley Burr is a name to watch, that’s for sure!

Where is it set, then?

It’s set in a small, dying outback town called Nannine. About an hour’s drive outside it, on a large sheep farm eighteen years previously, one of the most notorious missing person cases in Australia took place. A nine-year-old girl called Evie McCreery was kidnapped – taken from the bedroom where she was asleep with her non-identical twin, Mina, and never seen again. It’s constantly debated on internet chatrooms (we see some of the Reddit-type posts at the beginning of chapters), but there’s been no answer to the whereabouts of Evie, or to what happened to her – despite a colossal reward, which was doubled by the McCreery family. Before she died of cancer, Mrs McCreery was a constant campaigner for answers as to what happened to her daughter – on TV, in newspapers, magazines, and eventually writing a book, the funds from which financed the McCreery half of the reward.

So where exactly are we at when the book opens?

A new face appears, hoping to be able to finally put the case to bed. Lane Holland needs the reward money, as he wants to finance his younger sister’s Lynnie’s university course so she doesn’t have to work at all sorts of menial jobs, which would end up eating into her study time, as he knows from personal experience – it’s how he financed his Criminology degree. (I’ve been there – just after moving into a flat in Glasgow’s West End I found a job waitressing in a pizzeria on Gibson Street, for £12 a night. What was meant to be two nights a week soon became five, and I was very popular with my three flatmates, too, as when I left at 11 pm the chef would insist I took a pizza – a meal was a perk of the job. I used to see my flatmates hanging out the window as I walked home with the box! Happy days…anyway, I digress…!)

But Lane is no stranger to crime solving, is he? Hasn’t he already had some success solving cold cases?

He has, and has already received two rewards for solving cold cases involving missing girls or young women. However, they weren’t nearly so high profile as the McCreery case – and nor were the rewards so substantial.

It takes a fair bit of time to build up trust with Mina who, understandably, is tired of gawkers and rubberneckers, and people who think she – or one of her family – may know more than they’ve hitherto revealed about Evie’s death. Unlike her late mother, Mina and her father don’t court the media, and do what they can to get by in farming, as well as a call centre job working from home Mina has, advising other farmers, many in despair at the state of the industry, on behalf of the Australian Government.

What did you enjoy so much about the book?

I really liked the characters, and how they were developed – Mina and Lane are both essentially loners, and somewhat distrustful of others due to events in their childhoods (Mina’s we obviously know about; we learn more about Lane’s background as the book moves on.) It’s very well-paced, gradually drawing you in so you want to learn more and more about Mina, Lane, and, of course, what did happen on that fateful night that was to change so many lives forever.

There are also some fantastic twists, although I’m giving nothing away! Shelley Burr is clearly going to be a name to watch – and with the buzz around so-called Outback Noir at the moment, she couldn’t have picked a better time to release her first novel…and I, for one, can’t wait to read more of her work!

One of the best books I’ve read so far this year!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
This book centres on the disappearance of a child many years ago, and covers the relationship between her sister Mina and Lane, the private investigator who tried to uncover the truth about what happened to get the reward money. There are side stories providing interesting subplots about other characters and I thought the remoteness of the area was described very well to provide a realistic background.
I thoroughly enjoyed the many twists the story took to it's unexpected conclusion. It is amazing that this is a debut novel, it is cleverly-crafted, written realistically and in an engaging way - brilliant!

BRILLIANT!!!
I loved every minute of this read and can see why Shelley Burr won the CWA Debut Dagger award for this book!

In April of 1999 nine-year-old Evelyn McCreery disappeared from her home in Nannine, New South Wales. She disappeared from the room she was sleeping in with her twin sister Mina. It is now years later and nobody has been able to figure out what happened.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories but what really happened to Evie? Was someone close to Evie responsible for her disappearance or was it a stranger?

Then we meet Lane Holland. a Private investigator who specializes in cold cases. Will he be the one to finally figure out what happened and what is the real reason he is so invested in this case?

Her style of writing and storytelling reminds me very much of one of my favourite Australian authors Jane Harper and I can't wait to read more by this awesome author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

It’s rare I give a book 5 stars, but I can’t see any other option for this masterpiece. I was hooked from start to finish, pulled into the riveting storyline and the intriguing cases that Lane Holland was working on. I didn’t necessarily love the characters all the time, though this doesn’t mean I didn’t think they were well thought out. They were. Mina is a broken woman, broken by the life she had to lead after her sister disappeared. While I didn’t like her personally, I could see why she was the way she was. The same with Lane, his own complicated upbringing would have had an impact on who he became as an adult. It was definitely a book full of broken characters but they were so real, so human, they were everything you need in fictional characters because they weren’t just carbon cut outs of people danced up for fiction. They were living and breathing throughout the story. Their actions didn’t always make sense, but they were so well formed in their flaws. Rural Australia will always make for such fascinating stories and it’s a shame there’s not far more of them. I appreciate that this story exists. I wish I could read it again, not a re-read, just experiencing this from start to finish like I hadn’t read it before. What a novel.

I hadn't realised this was a debut novel! It's an accomplished, enjoyable and pacey read, I liked the plot twists and the unpredictable ending. When I first started reading it reminded me a lot of 'Where the Crawdads Sing', because of Mina's character and the remote setting. The only bit of the book that I wasn't very keen on was the online murder chatrooms, I didn't feel they really added anything to the story.

Another brilliant Australian mystery - I cannot get enough of this sub-genre at the moment and this is no exception. Following a PI as he tries to uncover the mysteries revolving around a missing girl's cold case, but are his intentions more self-serving than he is letting on? I really enjoyed this one and how the storylines came together, as well as the small town outback setting.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for ARC.

Nine year old Mina McCreery's twin disappeared from her home in mysterious circumstances 19 years ago, sparking a nationwide hunt for her and wild speculation ever since. Mina herself has been subject to a lot of rumour and accusation, staying on in the remote family homestead. Evelyn and Mina's mother had kept the flame of publicity burning, appearing on TV, writing books, and putting up a reward for information.
Every so often the reward brings out private investigators or other interested parties, determined to succeed where others have failed and solve the mystery. At first, Lane seems to be just another one of these.
Shelley Burr's debut is just amazing - complex, layered, capturing the sense of place and the ongoing effects of child hood trauma deftly, while keeping us turning the pages in anticipation of yet another twist. The ending is heart rending and satisfying. Loved this slice of Yeah Noir.

I really enjoyed this book!

The characters were complex and multi-dimensional, there were lots of red herrings, all of them equally possible and the resolution did not come easy or without sacrifice.

I loved the desolate location it was set it, a very isolating feeling, together with feeling isolated not only by the internet sleuths and 'close friend'.. just what a claustrophobic atmosphere and tension!

I cannot believe this is a debut book! I cannot wait for the next book by Shelley Burr!

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

This is a tightly plotted and highly accomplished novel and I was surprised to find it’s a debut for Shelley Burr. The writing throughout is totally engaging with a wealth of well depicted characters and an incredibly twisted storyline.

The take centres on a cold case investigation into the disappearance of a 9 year old girl. The investigator has his own backstory as he comes from the town and this provides interesting overlaps between the characters and events. It’s a small town filled with secrets and getting to the heart of what happened takes the reader in an exciting journey. It takes an unexpected turn more than once and the outcome was a total surprise….to me. Absolutely brilliant writing from a gifted and natural storyteller. It’s certainly in the emerging Aussie noir genre which I love and I’m hoping there’ll be more from Shelley. Totally immersive and highly recommended mystery thriller.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. A debut novel but very well put together. Good characters, good writing, a compelling premise and an atmospheric setting, this is a very engaging thriller that hooked me early on and kept me reading to the end!

Having greatly enjoyed Jane Harper’s novels, I am now ready for an emergence of ‘Aussie noir’ as a thriller subgenre. One novel that qualifies for this category is Shelley Burr’s debut novel. The setting is the remote New South Wales town of Nannie. It is here that private investigator Lane Holland arrives to look into the cold case of missing nine-year old Evelyn McCreery. Although the child disappeared from her bedroom almost twenty years ago, the locals sternly maintain their silence and it takes Holland a long time even to get Evelyn’s twin sister Mina, who still lives on the family ranch, to talk to him. But what if it is not only Mina who has been traumatised by previous events but Holland as well? This tightly-plotted novel interweaves so many lies and untruths that the final denouement arrives as an extraordinary surprise. A highly recommended read. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for the free ARC that allowed me to read this extraordinary debut and to produce this book review that is honest and unbiased.

A very unusual story of a cold case being researched by a young detective who has a back story of his own. Tying the two together takes him on a journey around his old home town. He meets people involved in the case, but he has to be careful of how much information he discloses, otherwise he could be in deep trouble.
A good read.

This was everything you need for a thriller and crime story. It is not as black and white as you first think and like most typical thrillers, is full of twists. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.