A superb standalone thriller from Chris Hammer, the acclaimed and award-winning author of the bestsellers Scrublands, Silver and Trust.
In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people and billionaires do as they please.Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner's death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up and, if so, by whom?
The book is so well written and brilliantly atmospheric and evokes the heat and oppressive conditions of the small outback opal town. The land is always in the foreground and Hammer's descriptions of the outback indicate an intimate knowledge of the harsh and unforgiving country.
If you love a cleverly written complex crime thriller set in the parched and desolate outback, look no further and add this one to your list! There are twists and turns aplenty and the end he keeps us guessing right to the end,
Definitely a 5 star read.
Now to read Scrublands!
