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emily_loves_2_read's review against another edition
4.0
Dirt Creek
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 8/2/22
Author: Hayley Scrivenor
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Sophie Lougran
Goodreads Rating: 4.06
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: When 12-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. Who else is lying about how much they know about what has happened to Esther?
Punctuated by a Greek chorus, which gives voice to the remaining children of the small, dying town, this novel explores the ties that bind, what we try and leave behind us, and what we can never outrun, while never losing sight of the question of what happened to Esther, and what her loss does to a whole town.
My Thoughts: This story is narrated by various people. At first, it was hard to keep characters straight, as the story progressed, it get easier identify who was narrated and their role. The narrator was amazing and I loved her accent, especially given that this takes place in Australia, it gave authenticity to the characters. The scenes were described so well, you felt like you were there in Australia on this investigation. The characters were well developed, had depth, had history, were mysterious, and creatively written. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, and just amazing. I loved how the characters lives intersected and were interwoven together. How deep does the secrets and betrayal go? Well, to answer that question, I would recommend stopping what you are doing and purchasing a copy of the book today!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 8/2/22
Author: Hayley Scrivenor
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Sophie Lougran
Goodreads Rating: 4.06
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
Synopsis: When 12-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief. When schoolfriend Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. Who else is lying about how much they know about what has happened to Esther?
Punctuated by a Greek chorus, which gives voice to the remaining children of the small, dying town, this novel explores the ties that bind, what we try and leave behind us, and what we can never outrun, while never losing sight of the question of what happened to Esther, and what her loss does to a whole town.
My Thoughts: This story is narrated by various people. At first, it was hard to keep characters straight, as the story progressed, it get easier identify who was narrated and their role. The narrator was amazing and I loved her accent, especially given that this takes place in Australia, it gave authenticity to the characters. The scenes were described so well, you felt like you were there in Australia on this investigation. The characters were well developed, had depth, had history, were mysterious, and creatively written. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, and just amazing. I loved how the characters lives intersected and were interwoven together. How deep does the secrets and betrayal go? Well, to answer that question, I would recommend stopping what you are doing and purchasing a copy of the book today!!!
celina31's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
dianap82's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hannah_likes_to_read's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
nina_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
Well I’ve found a new favourite Australian crime fiction writer! Hayley Scrivenor’s debut Dirt Town is a fresh take on the missing child mystery and I loved it.
On a scorching hot Friday afternoon in the small rural town of Durton twelve year old Esther Bianchi goes missing. Her best friend Ronnie simply can’t accept it and wants to try and find her and she ropes in their friend Lewis. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives from the city to investigate bringing her own baggage with her. Then five days later Esther’s body is found.
Dirt Town is the story of those five days, told in the alternating voices of Ronnie, Lewis, Constance (Esther’s mum) and Detective Michaels. Ronnie’s voice was in first person but the others were in third person, which gave the story an interesting shifting perspective. I found the use of the child’s POV to be really evocative. But most interesting of all to me was that the chapters were occasionally interrupted by chapters narrated by the voices of all the children of Durton – a collective Greek chorus if you will. These short chapters were so moving and gave the reader just a little bit more understanding of life in Durton and what its inhabitants were like. Truly so effective and unique!
Scrivenor has really nailed the oppressively hot atmosphere of rural Australian town, and she also nails its inhabitants. People who have lived there all their lives, people that have left and returned, aggressive men and their families and the neighbours who say nothing. The characters are vibrant and believable. And while the plot was a little slow burn you never stopped trying to figure out what happened, and the reveal was definitely a surprise.
The writing was clever and original, and the layers of themes went beyond the standard detective novel. I listened to this on audio and it was fantastic, I kept finding ways to squeeze more listening time in so I could finish it faster.
If you are a fan of Jane Harper or Chris Hammer (my faves!) I would recommend you give Dirt Town a go. It’s up there as one of my favourite examples of the Aussie outback noir genre!
On a scorching hot Friday afternoon in the small rural town of Durton twelve year old Esther Bianchi goes missing. Her best friend Ronnie simply can’t accept it and wants to try and find her and she ropes in their friend Lewis. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives from the city to investigate bringing her own baggage with her. Then five days later Esther’s body is found.
Dirt Town is the story of those five days, told in the alternating voices of Ronnie, Lewis, Constance (Esther’s mum) and Detective Michaels. Ronnie’s voice was in first person but the others were in third person, which gave the story an interesting shifting perspective. I found the use of the child’s POV to be really evocative. But most interesting of all to me was that the chapters were occasionally interrupted by chapters narrated by the voices of all the children of Durton – a collective Greek chorus if you will. These short chapters were so moving and gave the reader just a little bit more understanding of life in Durton and what its inhabitants were like. Truly so effective and unique!
Scrivenor has really nailed the oppressively hot atmosphere of rural Australian town, and she also nails its inhabitants. People who have lived there all their lives, people that have left and returned, aggressive men and their families and the neighbours who say nothing. The characters are vibrant and believable. And while the plot was a little slow burn you never stopped trying to figure out what happened, and the reveal was definitely a surprise.
The writing was clever and original, and the layers of themes went beyond the standard detective novel. I listened to this on audio and it was fantastic, I kept finding ways to squeeze more listening time in so I could finish it faster.
If you are a fan of Jane Harper or Chris Hammer (my faves!) I would recommend you give Dirt Town a go. It’s up there as one of my favourite examples of the Aussie outback noir genre!
becsbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
“She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible.”
On a hot day in Dutton best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together, but sadly Esther never makes it home. Ronnie is determined to find her and has a plan to find out what happened. Her best friends just simply can’t be gone.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels is assigned to the case, she knows what people are capable of and knows more than anyone what people can do on a moment of weakness.
Lewis can’t believe Esther is gone, he was the last person to see her but can’t can’t tell anyone that without telling them where he was and who he was with.
Sadly Esther’s body is discovered and their worst fears become reality. She’ll never be able to swim again or play with Ronnie or hug her mother. The story follows the strength of a community and the dedication to justice.
I feel like I’ve not read a good Aussie small town Murder mystery in a hot minute. I flew threw this one, unable to put it down until I knew what happened. I loved the different point of views and for once I didn’t even pick the murderer. Looking forward to reading what come next for Hayley Scrivenor
On a hot day in Dutton best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together, but sadly Esther never makes it home. Ronnie is determined to find her and has a plan to find out what happened. Her best friends just simply can’t be gone.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels is assigned to the case, she knows what people are capable of and knows more than anyone what people can do on a moment of weakness.
Lewis can’t believe Esther is gone, he was the last person to see her but can’t can’t tell anyone that without telling them where he was and who he was with.
Sadly Esther’s body is discovered and their worst fears become reality. She’ll never be able to swim again or play with Ronnie or hug her mother. The story follows the strength of a community and the dedication to justice.
I feel like I’ve not read a good Aussie small town Murder mystery in a hot minute. I flew threw this one, unable to put it down until I knew what happened. I loved the different point of views and for once I didn’t even pick the murderer. Looking forward to reading what come next for Hayley Scrivenor
pilebythebed's review against another edition
4.0
There is a lot of Australian rural crime around at the moment. While Jane Harper’s The Dry far from started the trend it certainly set a benchmark which many authors have tried to meet. The latest into the genre is Hayley Scrivenor who brings a slightly classical approach to her rural crime debut Dirt Town.
Dirt Town opens at the end of 2001, with the discovery of a body, eleven year-old Esther Bianci, buried in a shallow grave on a property outside of the town of Durton. This opening chapter is headed “We” and it is narrated by Scrivenor’s version of a Greek Chorus, the collective consciousness of the children of the town (and the ones who coined the nickname Dirt Town for their home). But the majority of the narrative, which immediately drops back five days, the day that Esther disappeared, is narrated through a range of point of view characters – Esther’s friends Ronnie and Lewis, her mother Constance and the lead investigator of the case Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels.
So many Australian rural crime stories, including two of this year’s other debuts – Maryanne Cuskelly’s The Cane and Shelly Burr’s Wake – revolve around missing children. Many are set in the past and include child point of view characters (The Cane, again, but also Greg Woodland’s debut The Night Whistler among others) and in doing so deal with issues of sexual violence, domestic violence, toxic masculinity and the treatment of sexual identity. And they mostly use the crime as a triggering event to bring up long held secrets and tensions. All of which makes it difficult for a debut like Dirt Town to stand out from the pack.
But Dirt Town does manage to hold its own which is why it was shortlisted for Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Scrivenor delivers a deeply effective story set in a well realised community in a recognisable time (hard to believe it was only twenty years ago). The use of the chorus, in particular gives a communal perspective of what people knew, what they suspected and what they ignored. And the resolution is both surprising and devastating.
Dirt Town opens at the end of 2001, with the discovery of a body, eleven year-old Esther Bianci, buried in a shallow grave on a property outside of the town of Durton. This opening chapter is headed “We” and it is narrated by Scrivenor’s version of a Greek Chorus, the collective consciousness of the children of the town (and the ones who coined the nickname Dirt Town for their home). But the majority of the narrative, which immediately drops back five days, the day that Esther disappeared, is narrated through a range of point of view characters – Esther’s friends Ronnie and Lewis, her mother Constance and the lead investigator of the case Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels.
So many Australian rural crime stories, including two of this year’s other debuts – Maryanne Cuskelly’s The Cane and Shelly Burr’s Wake – revolve around missing children. Many are set in the past and include child point of view characters (The Cane, again, but also Greg Woodland’s debut The Night Whistler among others) and in doing so deal with issues of sexual violence, domestic violence, toxic masculinity and the treatment of sexual identity. And they mostly use the crime as a triggering event to bring up long held secrets and tensions. All of which makes it difficult for a debut like Dirt Town to stand out from the pack.
But Dirt Town does manage to hold its own which is why it was shortlisted for Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Scrivenor delivers a deeply effective story set in a well realised community in a recognisable time (hard to believe it was only twenty years ago). The use of the chorus, in particular gives a communal perspective of what people knew, what they suspected and what they ignored. And the resolution is both surprising and devastating.
madeleinekl's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 - all these 'struggling small Aussie town murder' books start to bleed into one, but this has some good characters and a didn't see the ending coming.
hg_shelves's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5