A review by gabmc
The Bluffs by Kyle Perry

3.0

This book was definitely atmospheric, as promised by the blurb. In 1985 five girls went missing and their bodies were never found in the rugged wilderness of Tasmania. The legend of "The Hungry Man" was born around these disappearances. The main suspect in the 1985 cases suicided by hanging himself from a tree that had since become known as 'The Hanging Tree' as there had been four more suicides since then. His family never believed he had anything to do with the disappearances. Move forward to the current day and four girls have gone missing while on a school hike in the mountains. Their teacher is found by herself with a blow to the back of the head and no idea where the girls have gone. The twin sister of one of the missing girls, Madison, has a YouTube channel with a huge following - so the case becomes a media circus. Detective Con Badenhorst has been put in charge of the case. He is relatively new to Tasmania after moving from Sydney where he solved a high profile case which results in him suffering from PTSD. Con has to deal with small town politics, Madison's YouTube channel, corrupt police and the violent father of one of the victims. I thought the book was well written but some of the explanations of past events were a little vague. I didn't think the ending was realistic and didn't think the perpetrator had their motives and methods properly explained.