Scrublands opens on the drought plagued Australian town of Riversend as the town’s priest, Byron Swift, opens fire on his congregation, killing five men in the process. Following his rampage, Swift is then gunned down by the local constabulary, quickly ending any chance of finding out what made the Man of God snap.
Cut to 12 months later and Martin Scarsden, a reporter for the Herald, has been given the assignment of investigating what has happened in the aftermath of the slaughter, and determining how the town has fared. Upon his arrival, he is treated poorly as the residents of Riversend all blame the media for sullying the name of their beloved priest. He finds hope in the form of the owner of the local bookshop and begins his investigation only to uncover dark secrets and hidden skeletons. Someone knows why Byron Swift shot his friends outside his church, but can Martin put together the pieces in time?
To be perfectly honest, this is not the usual preferred genre for the author of this article, however, it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. Hammer skilfully portrays the plight of a scorned reporter without making it feel too much like a pity party when literally no one likes him on his presentation to town. Pair this with Scarsden gradual fall from grace throughout the novel, the reader can really begin to sympathise with him. Add in a love interest with secrets of their own and the character development within gives the novel an amazing foundation on which to build.
When reading Scrublands, it is hard to forget the fact that this book, while technically set in a fictional outback town, must have been, as far as can be reasonably speculated, based in some way on an actual location. From the first pages, the reader can feel the heat of the day and smell the dust being whipped up by the wind in the midst of a debilitating drought. As the protagonist ventures around the township of Riversend, one can envisage the boarded-up windows of the local pub and imagine just how an old house could have been converted into a police station. Couple this with every readers favourite location, a bookshop (albeit a second-hand one), and Hammer was almost guaranteed to have a winner.
From the very beginning, the story has enough punch to captivate the reader and continues to do so throughout. After the initial blow dealt by a gun wielding priest becomes old news and Scarsden continues to battle with the mistrust of the citizens of Riversend, the story could have quite easily become cliched or outright boring, but Hammer manages to ration out the action in intervals far enough between that the reader never has a chance to lose interest. Insertion of an accident allowed a logical progression for all the characters to begin to trust the reporter and this is when the book really starts to take off. Twists in the plot await the reader at every turn and allow the story to feel fully thought out. I would like to say however that it could have probably been just as effective in 100 or so fewer pages.
Overall, Scrublands is a novel which really fulfils the brief as a well written piece of literature. Full of rich imagery, it really gets to the heart of the Australian battler while remaining true to the roots of a good crime fiction. While not necessarily maintaining the pace of other crime writers such as Kathy Reichs and James Patterson, due to the point of view being that of a reporter well after the initial events occurred, it can only be expected that a slow burn would occur. Despite this, Scrublands is a truly captivating work guaranteed to grab you from the first chapter then suck you in and spit you out as it reaches its final crescendo.
Scrublands is out now and you can find it on Book Depository and at other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
In an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself.
A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don’t fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can’t ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest’s deadly rampage.
Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking new development rocks the town, which becomes the biggest story in Australia. The media descends on Riversend and Martin is now the one in the spotlight. His reasons for investigating the shooting have suddenly become very personal.
Wrestling with his own demons, Martin finds himself risking everything to discover a truth that becomes darker and more complex with every twist. But there are powerful forces determined to stop him, and he has no idea how far they will go to make sure the town’s secrets stay buried.
A compulsive thriller that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page.
