Thank you Harper Audio, #partner, for the ALC of Wake in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: August 30, 2022
Summary:
For fans of Jane Harper’s The Dry or Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, a searing debut crime novel set in the Australian outback, where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community…and will ultimately lead to a reckoning.
The tiny outback town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of Australia. Once a thriving center of stockyards and sheep stations, years of punishing drought have petrified the land and Nannine has been whittled down to no more than a stoplight, a couple bars, and a police station. And it has another, more sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of young Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago.
Mina McCreery’s life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sister’s case—which is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked destocked sheep farm.
Enter Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Before she died, Mina’s mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the family’s farmhouse. The lure of cash has only increased public obsession with Evelyn and Mina—but yielded no answers.
Lane wins Mina’s trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their lives—and yield shocking results.
Compulsively listenable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, Wake is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people’s private tragedies become public property, and how it’s never too late for the truth to come out.
My thoughts:
There must be something in the water because the crime fiction coming out of Australia lately has been AMAZING!!! And this debut from Shelley Burr is no exception! This is another instance where I saw a bunch of my Aussie book friends raving about and just knew I had to get my hands on…and it totally delivered!
Much like the book, Dirt Creek, which I also loved, this one also explores the effect of trauma on a small town when a young child goes missing. This is such a compulsive story – once I started, I was completely captivated and had such a hard time putting it down. The two main characters, Mina and Lane, are so richly drawn, and I felt for each as we get to know their backstories and what led to where they are now. Mina is harsh but you can’t necessarily blame her. Lane is broken and you can’t help but root for him. They might not take to each other right away, but the banter between them is quite witty.
Interspersed throughout the story are snippets of conversations from online forums about the missing persons cases in the area. This provided such an interesting dynamic to the story – a few times it had me rethinking a few things I thought I had already put together. I also found that throughout the story, I was on guard as to what Lane’s true motivations were.
To me, this had all the hallmarks of what I love in a thriller – interesting characters, buried secrets, chilling crimes and an atmospheric environment. It’s a slow-burn mystery that really kept me on my toes as the pieces are slowly revealed with just the right amount of twists and turns to keep the suspense building and you turning the pages. I’ve long been a fan of NordicNoir, but I think AussieNoir is quickly becoming a new favorite!
Audio thoughts:
This book translates so well onto audio and the narrator, Jacquie Brennan, does a great job bringing the characters to life. Her pacing is pitch perfect and she brings just the right amount of emotion and tension into her voice as needed.
