''Scrublands'' is the debut crime novel by Australian author

Chris Hammer Chris Hammer (born 1960) is an Australian journalist and writer of crime fiction. He is known for his best-selling Martin Scarsden series of novels. Early life and education Chris Hammer was born in 1960. Career Hammer has a 30-year caree ...

. It was published in 2018 by

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

. The story is set in the fictitious town of Riversend in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

during a period of intense

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, and revolves around a small-town

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

who kills five of his parishioners before being shot himself, and a journalist's investigation into his motivations. The novel is a

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

told in

third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...

present tense. The novel is the first to feature the author's character Martin Scarsden. It was followed by two others in the series: ''Silver'' in 2019, and ''Trust'' in 2020. A four-part television series based on the novel was aired in 2023.

Plot

In the drought-stricken town of Riversend, the charismatic priest Byron Swift, who was well-liked by the community, suddenly turns violent, shooting five parishioners on a Sunday morning. Swift is then shot and killed by a local police officer. A year later, journalist Martin Scarsden, haunted by war memories, arrives in Riversend to write about the crime's impact on the town. As he interviews locals, he discovers that the official story, as reported by his newspaper, might not be entirely accurate. Martin delves into the community, uncovering differing opinions about the priest, and finds that the town has hidden complexities not evident at first glance.

Publication history

Following its initial publication in 2018 by Allen and Unwin the novel was reprinted as follows: *

, Australia, 2019 * Wildfire, UK, 2019 * Atria Books, USA, 2019 * Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2023 The novel was also translated into German and Norwegian in 2019, Romanian in 2020, and Chinese, Italian and French in 2021.

Reception

The book was met with generally positive reviews. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' described it as a work of "remarkable breadth and depth", with other publications calling it stunning and a brilliant debut. The book's detailed setting (aided by research for Hammer's previous non-fiction book, ''The River'') is emblematic of the isolation and drought experienced in many rural Australian communities; one publication described it as "full of Australianness". Hammer was awarded the 2019 John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger by the UK Crime Writers' Association for the book.

TV adaptation

In 2019, ''

Scrublands Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It ...

'' was optioned for television. Season 1 of the series was released on Stan on 16 November 2023, and was aired on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

in the UK in the same month. A second series was announced in 2024.

References

{{reflist 2018 Australian novels Australian crime novels Novels set in New South Wales Novels about journalists Allen & Unwin books