Description

The stunning new novel from the No.1 international bestselling author of Scrublands and ‘master of Australian noir’ Chris Hammer.

On a bright sunny day in Port Silver, ex-journalist Martin Scarsden misses a call from his girlfriend Mandy. Checking his voicemail later, all he hears is her terrified scream before the phone cuts off.

Back at the house, he finds a policeman unconscious on the floor, and Mandy gone.

So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life deep.

And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a man has been discovered – a man to whom she was engaged to marry. It’s time to face her demons once and for all; it’s time she learned how to trust.

Set in a Sydney riven with corruption and nepotism, privilege and power, TRUST is the third riveting novel from award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer Chris Hammer.

Praise for Chris Hammer:

‘The best Australian crime novel for years’ The Times

‘Hammer is a great writer – a leader in Australian noir’ Michael Connelly

‘Stunning – a page-turner which stays long in the memory’ Sunday Times

‘Intelligent, thought-provoking – an almost-perfect crime novel’ Ann Cleeves

Publisher Review

A compulsively page-turning thriller where the parched interior looms as large as the characters -- Katharine Murphy * Guardian Australia * Hammer's portrait of a dying, drought-struck town numbed by a priest's unimaginable act of violence will capture you from the first explosive page and refuse to let go until the last. His remarkable writing takes you inside lives twisted by secrets festering beneath the melting heat of the inland, the scrub beyond waiting to burst into flame. Scrublands is the read of the year. Unforgettable * Tony Wright * A superbly drawn, utterly compelling evocation of a small town riven by a shocking crime * Mark Brandi * Brilliant and unsettling, Scrublands stands at the junction of Snowtown and Wake in Fright, that place where Australia's mirage of bush tranquillity evaporates into our hidden fears * Paul Daley, writer and journalist * Scrublands kidnapped me for 48 hours. I was hopelessly lost in the scorching Australian landscape, disoriented but completely immersed in the town and people of Riversend, as the heat crackled off the pages. I was devastated when it was time to go back to the real world. This book is a force of nature. A must-read for all crime fiction fans * Sarah Bailey * Set in the parched Australian landscape, Scrublands is a brilliantly plotted thriller which reveals a town full of brooding secrets. I couldn't put this compelling debut down -- Sarah Ward * author of The Shrouded Path * It's hard not to compare Chris Hammer's Scrublands to Jane Harper's acclaimed The Dry ... [It will] capture your imagination from the first page -- Karen Hardy * The Age * Scrublands is the epic novel about rural life in Australia that we need right now ... It sits right up there with the late Peter Temple's Broken Shore, Garry Disher's Bitterwash Road and Jane Harper's The Dry, even as it extends their focus and reach ... Remarkable -- Sue Turnbull * Sydney Morning Herald * Incendiary . . . A rattling good read, ambitious in scale and scope and delivering right up to the last, powerfully moving page -- Declan Hughes * Irish Times * Atmospheric, utterly gripping, and written with devastating beauty. Scrublands is as scorching as wildfire and as hard to look away from -- Gytha Lodge * author of She Lies in Wait * A heatwave of a novel, scorching and powerful... Extraordinary * AJ Finn * Well-rounded characters, masterful plotting and real breadth; this is an epic and immersive read -- Laura Wilson * Guardian * My pick for debut thriller of the month (and maybe of 2019) ... Beautifully written, this would make a terrific small-screen series -- Bethanne Patrick * Washington Post * Extremely accomplished ... Deliciously noirish ... Set in the blistering heat of a remote Australian town ravaged by drought and threatened by bushfires, this is a complex, meaty, intelligent mystery ... Hammer's writing is so evocative the heat practically rises off the pages of Scrublands -- Alison Flood * Guardian 'Best Recent Thrillers' * A dark and brilliant thriller, one that lingers in the mind * Mail On Sunday * An almost perfect crime novel ... Intelligent, thought-provoking, great narrative energy, a central character who's imperfect but self-aware, and of course that amazing setting ... I loved it' -- Ann Cleeves * author of Raven Black and Wild Fire * Stunning ... Scrublands is that rare combination, a page-turner that stays long in the memory -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month) *