Scrublands is a tightly plotted, brutal
book that focuses on the aftermath of a mass murder in a small Riverina town
near the NSW/Victorian border.
When burnt-out journalist, Martin Scarsden, arrives in Riversend to write about
the tragedy that brought an already struggling town to its knees, little does
he suspect that his ethics and what remains of his personal integrity will be
compromised. Finding a place still reeling from the multiple deaths as well as
the loss of the man who committed the murders, he tries to befriend locals with
varying degrees of success. After all, these are people who have been hurt by
media attention, used as fodder for sales, entertainment and ratings as opposed
to understanding, and are naturally suspicious of Martin and his intentions.
But when Martin becomes more involved than he ever suspected he could and his
career and that of his closest associates is put on the line in an effort to
uncover the truth, Martin knows that he has to get the bottom of not only why a
priest turned a gun on locals, but the other mysteries that are plaguing the
area – no matter what the personal cost might be.
This is a taut, terrific thriller that had me turning the pages well into the
night. The descriptions of the town, the landscape with its bleak skies,
unrelenting heat and the tangled scrublands and what they conceal, as well as
the peculiar inhabitants with their various peccadilloes, was mesmerizing. You
could feel the hot air burning lungs, the perspiration drying on skin, as well
as the malaise that comes with coping with such high temperatures. The receding
river, the desire for rain, for water, for life, haunts the book, as do the
various secrets the townspeople keep, the gruesome deaths and their impact.
Scarsden isn’t always a likeable protagonist, but he’s a self-reflective one
that finds more than he ever bargained for in the small, dying town of
Riversend with one deadly story to tell and then some. It’s a novel that will
grip you by the throat and not release you until the last page. Terrific.