The Broken River - Chris Hammer

The discovery of the body of well known entrepreneur Wolfgang Burnside draws detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic to The Valley - a former goldmining town in NSW that has seen better days. What unfolds is a crime mystery involving a bank robbery, DNA discoveries and family intrigue, environmental protests and police and political corruption.

Aussie Crime Noir

I’ve spoken before of my fondness for the works of Jane Harper, and how there’s something about the landscape of Australia that lends itself to crime fiction. So many different types of settings, with plenty of open space in which to get up to no good. I’d previously enjoyed ‘Scrubland’ by Chris Hammer so was happy to give this a go.

I do love a book that includes maps, so I was onside with ‘The Borken River’ from the start. The town, with it’s rivers, disused goldmine, dilapidated mansions, farms, falls and escarpments is well detailed and I referred to it a lot.

Because this is a book that jumps back and forth quite a bit - it begins in 1998, before the story is divided into two timelines between 1994 and 2024. It’s a book where there’s a lot going on and you really need to be paying attention - I do like a good thriller, but I would have struggled with the audiobook for this.

Characters

Apparently this is the fourth outing for the now well established duo of Buchanan and Lucic. There are snippets of what’s gone on before between the two, but this very much felt like Buchanan’s outing. It does work well as a standalone, though perhaps there’s an added layer of enjoyment if you’ve read the previous books.

I liked how Chris Hammer gives Buchanan a personal involvement in the story - it certainly upped the stakes. As usual in a small town thriller, the fun is in identifying who is the most likely culprit - I certainly never worked it out and was kept guessing right to the end.

Simmons Burnside is the officer investigating the events of 1994 - father of the deceased Wolfgang of 2024 - and I liked the character of Amber who also features during this period. She has an interesting backstory and I found her a sympathetic figure.

Setting

As usual with Aussie crime books, I loved the setting. It’s so ripe for an epic crime mystery like this. I could easily imagine the small town with the pub, general store, cricket ground etc.

The disused goldmine plays a big part - it took me a while to imagine it, but it was worth it. I’m not sure if I ever fully understood how it worked, but that’s more likely down to me not understanding the workings of the mine.

Summary

Thoroughly enjoyed this, an epic crime mystery that stretches across the decades. Interesting characters, a fascinating setting and a plot to pull you right in and keep you invested in the story, with some big reveals making it all the better.

(This book is known as ‘The Valley’ outside of it’s UK release).

Kindle Edition - 420 Pages publisehd on October 1, 2024 by Wildfire

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