Jonathan Arnold reviewed Scrublands by Chris Hammer
Review of 'Scrublands' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Considering how I read it in less than two days, I guess you could say I liked it. It was a propulsive page turner, sucking me deep into the Australian bush, wondering just what bizarre turn it might take next. Perhaps sometimes a few too many turns, but still an incredibly engrossing read right from the first page.
The Prologue describes a mass murder and the action practically never lets up from that moment on. The protagonist is a washed up journalist, trying to right himself after some emotional trauma (much like, I think, the protagonist in Gillian Flynn's [b:Sharp Objects|18045891|Sharp Objects|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475695315s/18045891.jpg|3801]). He heads to the Outback, somewhere between Sydney and Adelaide, to see how the town is recovering from the shooting of 5 people one year ago. And maybe try to figure out why the priest did it, before he was gunned down by the local cop.
As …
Considering how I read it in less than two days, I guess you could say I liked it. It was a propulsive page turner, sucking me deep into the Australian bush, wondering just what bizarre turn it might take next. Perhaps sometimes a few too many turns, but still an incredibly engrossing read right from the first page.
The Prologue describes a mass murder and the action practically never lets up from that moment on. The protagonist is a washed up journalist, trying to right himself after some emotional trauma (much like, I think, the protagonist in Gillian Flynn's [b:Sharp Objects|18045891|Sharp Objects|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1475695315s/18045891.jpg|3801]). He heads to the Outback, somewhere between Sydney and Adelaide, to see how the town is recovering from the shooting of 5 people one year ago. And maybe try to figure out why the priest did it, before he was gunned down by the local cop.
As you might imagine, things spin out of control almost immediately. All kinds of stories shoot off from this one act, and it becomes a confusing melange of emotions and motivations. And Martin tries to sort things out, while he tries to sort himself out, until he becomes a big part of the story himself.
In this book, the town of Riversend and the climate of a long drought become characters in themselves. Searing, breathtaking heat, alternating between scorching breezes and deathly still, all become palpable in Hammer's hands. You feel yourself becoming as lethargic as the narrator, as he drags himself from one end of the small, dying town to the other.
That was certainly the best part of the book. He obviously knows the country, having written a very well regarded travelogue of the area ([b:The River: A Journey through the Murray-Darling|7600287|The River A Journey through the Murray-Darling|Chris Hammer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309947462s/7600287.jpg|10016594]) and he brings the heat and gobsmacks you upside the head with it. And of course there is a terrible conflagration that Martin barely survives and the drought just carries on.
But sometimes I felt like there were just too many things going on. From the starting mass murder, to drug running and growing, rapes, abuse, bad cops and good cops, and even the Australian intelligence agency getting involved. There were a ton of story lines and I guess that's just part of the charm. Some of them are connected and some aren't and Martin tries to unravel it all.
And Hammer does a good job of wrapping things up fairly neatly. He doesn't fall into the trap of long bits of dialogue, although sometimes I wish authors weren't so keen to so explicitly spell everything out. And he does it a couple times, because there is so much to explain!
But it was a great page turner. I literally could not put it down, as I read it most of the day today. I just couldn't imagine where it was going next and what was propelling all these interesting characters. Highly recommended!
