Reviews with content warning for Rape - Dirt Creek

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor

19 reviews

orinposner's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An incredible novel, beautifully and carefully written. It tells the story of a girl’s disappearance and its investigation, but really the story of a small town with all the people in it, and their complicated, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, very real lives.

This book made me cry and cry, and for many different reasons. I felt sad, scared, confused and frozen along with these characters. There are 5 different POVs: the detective, two (extremely loveable) children of the town, the mother of the missing girl, and a fascinatingly strange first-person plural (“we”). The writing is astoundingly good, and by that I mean not just beautiful prose, but the detailed language of people’s minds – how they think, what they pay attention to, what they remember.

I was also hooked on the mystery, anxious for the detective (another great character) to gather more information, and flipping back pages to re-read and re-consider earlier scenes once I figured something out.

Content Warnings

shutupiamreading's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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nataliii's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Mysteries of any kind aren’t usually what I gravitate towards in my very moody reading habits, but a few things in the blurb stood out to me so I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve been drawn to Australian narratives recently, past and present, and while some reviews mentioned that they didn’t feel a sense of place in this story, I have to disagree. To me it felt both familiar and foreign, small town where everybody knows your name + Aussie quirks (from an American point of view here ✔️). While the action lost me here and there, this story really succeeded in its heart and had some beautiful, heart-breaking emotional pops that made the book for me. The voices of the children were well done and the Greek chorus super eerie, and the adult were all just so sad (so real).

The missing child element was really difficult - I don’t think I can read another story like this for a long while.

Thanks to NetGalley and FlatIron for a digital ARC of this book!

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library_dreamer's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Twelve-year-old Esther goes missing after school one day in rural Australia. This is not something that happens in this small town. As the investigation unravels, dark secrets in the town surface that may or may not be connected to the child's disappearance.

I thought this novel was a wonderful mystery that left me fully engaged from start to finish. I suggest this one to all who love murder mysteries.

CW: Child abuse, child death, rape, animal abuse, homophobia, domestic abuse, ableism

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings

whatmorgsreads's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

*I received a digital copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

ɪɴ ʜᴀʏʟᴇʏ sᴄʀɪᴠᴇɴᴏʀ's ᴅɪʀᴛ ᴄʀᴇᴇᴋ, ᴀ sᴍᴀʟʟ-ᴛᴏᴡɴ ᴅᴇʙᴜᴛ ᴍʏsᴛᴇʀʏ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪʙᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀʏ ᴍᴇᴇᴛs ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ ɢᴏᴇs ᴍɪssɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ғᴀʟʟs ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ.

A small town is torn apart when 12 year old Esther disappears in rural Australia. Secrets are exposed and everyone looks guilty, including Esther’s own father.

This novel is told from multiple perspectives, including a collective ‘We’ perspective of unnamed children from the town. This gave the novel a unique spin. At times though, I felt like it broke up the pace of the story. It was a great perspective to have towards the end, though. It is a slow burn mystery that is heavily character driven.

My favorite POV is through the eyes of Ronnie, Esther’s best friend. I felt the most attached to her character. My least favorite POV was Detective Sergant Michaels. While her investigative skills were great, I found it hard to like her character personally.

This novel does mention animal abuse in a few scenes. I really disliked that, but it’s a book. I get it. It’s not real.

I do wish the story had been a little more fast pace, but the multiple perspectives kept the story flowing. This was not a predictable mystery and I was kind of shocked to discover who actually killed Esther.

Sophie Lougran was an excellent narrator.

Overall I think this is a good debut mystery novel that I would recommend to others.

Content Warnings