Book Review – January 2023 – Dead Man’s Creek – Chris Hammer

So this is the latest from one of your favourite writers, Chris Hammer…

It is, and it’s a book I’m really excited about – as I think anyone who reads it will be! I know he’s written some exceptional books before – Opal Country, which I reviewed last year, and Scrublands, from 2019, spring instantly to mind – but despite it only being January I can already see this as a contender for one of the books of the year (I’m still to do a list of favourites from last year; indeed I’m still to review a couple of them, and some other very good books as well – I’ll get there eventually…!)

We have the return of Nell Buchanan from Opal Country in this book, too?

Yes, and on this occasion she moves onto centre stage, because although Ivan Lucic does make a reappearance in this book, it’s very much Nell’s story, some of it literally. The reason I say this is because part of the backstory involves her family history, in the form of one of the cold cases. Now she’s been promoted to homicide she’s sent to investigate, partly as she’s from the area – but obviously that’s before it emerges she has a family connection to a case…

One of the cold cases suggests there’s more than one…

Indeed there is – and both of them have equally compelling back stories, which are contained in the book. It’s similar to the way Michael Connelly builds a back story to a cold case and, like him, it’s masterfully done. Whenever I read the words, “cold case” in the description of a book I get really excited – I feel it gives a writer licence to do almost anything, in any historical period, and the best are really good at it. Let’s face it: modern investigations often involve more desk work and technological examinations of phones, laptops, etc, whereas digging into old cases are guaranteed to involve more shoe leather and talking to those who were actually there – and these things are the real building blocks of a good crime fiction novel.

So this must have been really enjoyable for you!

It’s exceptionally well written, the way we learn the back stories to the two cases. The bodies are discovered when a regulator, which controls the amount of water which goes into the forest, is bombed (presumably by an eco-warrior) and the area beyond it is drained, revealing a skeleton.

In other chapters, we are taken back to two different times: 1943, when most of the local men are away at war, but a camp for Italian POWs is in the forest, where they are put to work. This timeframe is narrated with the use of an elderly man’s statement, remembering in detail his boyhood, taking care of the cattle grazing in the forest while his father is at war. These portions of the book are beautifully detailed: the horror of the war may be lurking in the background, but he and his friend Bucky are up to typical boys’ larks – swimming in the river; spying on the Italians, imagining them to be spies, before he realises they are ordinary men, just like his father; helping out at the charcoal furnace by weighting the empty water buckets with their bodies. It’s probably the highlight of the book, and just so wonderfully written.

The other time we go back to is 1973, where we meet teenagers in a really hot summer, swimming in the regulator (now built) and dreaming of getting away from their small town lives, while they listen to music like Joni Mitchell’s Blue. As the names are revealed we realise this is the case with the connection to Nell’s family. Could she have a murderer in the family?

And the present day isn’t short of action, either…?

It certainly isn’t, with the attempted murder of a twitcher, and an attack on Nell – not the first; the vaxxers, cookers, and preppers, as well as a long-time feud with her family and another, ensure she has to watch her back in what used to be a quiet town, where she knew everyone, and where she could relax. She’s beginning to learn that police aren’t welcome everywhere – just when she’s trying find her feet with the homicide promotion. She’s desperate to prove to Ivan she can run an investigation single-handedly, but of course the family connection means she has to step aside…at least officially. It doesn’t stop her investigating on the quiet, naturally…

This sounds like a really busy book!

There are a lot of things happening – but bear in mind there are 470-odd (wonderful!) pages for it all to happen, so nothing feels rushed; it’s an exceptionally well-paced novel. Both of the historical storylines are really engaging, and I’d be hard-pushed to pick a favourite, but, if forced to choose, I’d say the wartime tales, told in James Waters’ voice, nudges ahead, as it really brings the era and place alive, just as it must have been for a boy.

This novel really shows Chris Hammer to be a master of his craft – it’s his best so far, and that’s saying something, especially after the wonderful Opal Country. Weaving all these storylines together takes an exceptional level of talent, and that’s something Hammer’s proving he has – and then some. This book, and it’s characters, are guaranteed to linger long in the memory.

With thanks to Wildfire Books for the proof copy. This review is unbiased and is my own opinion of the novel.

Author Chris Hammer

BLURB: Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder – a ‘file and forget’.

But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult – and dangerous – than she’d ever expected.

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more treacherous her path becomes. Can she survive to root out the truth, and what price will she have to pay for it?

Gripping and atmospheric, Dead Man’s Creek is a stunning multi-layered thriller from Chris Hammer, the award-winning author of Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year Scrublands (2019) and Times Crime Book of the Month Opal Country (January 2022).