Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor #bookreview

Thank you Flatiron Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Dirt Creek in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: August 2, 2022

 

Summary:

When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. As Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives in town during the hottest spring in decades and begins her investigation, Esther’s tenacious best friend, Ronnie, is determined to find Esther and bring her home.

When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. But why is Lewis refusing to speak to the police? And who else is lying about how much they know about what has happened to Esther?

Punctuated by a Greek chorus, which gives voice to the remaining children of the small, dying town, this novel explores the ties that bind, what we try and leave behind us, and what we can never outrun, while never losing sight of the question of what happened to Esther, and what her loss does to a whole town.

In Hayley Scrivenor’s Dirt Creek, a small-town debut mystery described as The Dry meets Everything I Never Told You, a girl goes missing and a community falls apart and comes together.

 

My thoughts:

As soon as I started hearing about this one from fellow Aussie bookstagrammers I knew it was something I had to read…and I immediately requested it. It immediately became an anticipated read for the month of August and I am so happy to say it totally lived up to all my expectations and then some! And I cannot believe this is a debut novel! This is an author to add to your must-read list immediately!

I am such a fan of smalltown mysteries and this one is definitely that. It’s a slow-burn for sure, but it pays off in a big way. I loved the way it was told, alternating amongst several different characters that are affected by the disappearance of young Esther, as well as periodic chapters narrated by a Greek chorus, which tell the bigger implications of what is going on.

This book is dark and gritty. It is a very layered story that takes its time unraveling and as the layers are slowly pealed back, more and more secrets come to light. You know from the very beginning how this one is going to end up, but it’s the how and why that drives you to keep reading. This one really kept me on my toes as to who was responsible – there are so many potential suspects and I kept thinking I had worked it out only to be completely surprised.

I highly recommend this one. If you love crime fiction, atmospheric reads, or slow-burn mysteries, this is definitely one to pick up.

 

*** I’m giving away a copy of this one over on my Instagram page – head here to check it out!