Chris Hammer Archives

Book review: The Valley by Chris Hammer

September 28, 20243 min read

The Valley by Chris Hammer is the fourth in the Ivan Lucic / Nell Buchanan series and again the former journalist offers an investigation that becomes personal with Nell discovering a link to a murder victim. And again Hammer is able to combine a whodunnit with social commentary on the (former) logging industry and its workers clashing with environmentalists; the impact on mining as well as mother nature on their surrounds; the need to balance the environmental AND economic sustainability of small communities; also moving into ecotourism, clean energy and pumped hydro.

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Book review: The Seven by Chris Hammer

October 20, 20232 min read

Belatedly publishing a brief review I posted in Goodreads.

I very much enjoyed The Seven by Chris Hammer – the third in the series – which unfolds in three timelines.

In 1913 a young Aboriginal woman, Bessie, goes to work for a family who’s one of several in the area (south of the Murrumbidgee River) interested in setting up an irrigation scheme. Hammer’s journalistic background comes to the fore here, as it has in previous novels where he’s blended history and fiction.

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Book review: The Tilt by Chris Hammer

October 5, 20223 min read

The opening chapter of The Tilt by Chris Hammer is prefaced by a map and a family tree. Now, I know many people LOVE a good map but I’m spatially challenged so tend to avoid them at all costs. And the family tree had me worried that there were so many players we’d need help remembering who was who. But thankfully it’s not the case at all. Instead it gives us context and a reminder how complex lives can be in small communities.

Interestingly I also realised that you sometimes assume there can be no secrets in small towns of intertwined communities and families, but instead it can mean they’re often so well hidden or buried they’re left to fester for years.

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Book review: Treasure & Dirt by Chris Hammer

September 28, 20213 min read

I’ve very much enjoyed all three books in the Martin Scarsden series by Chris Hammer. I’m constantly surprised how easily the former journalist can transition from reporting cold hard facts to articulating the beauty of the landscape or settings of his books. It’s about his ability to string together words I realise. Something hard to explain or define, but when it’s done well… you know it.

His latest book, Treasure & Dirt, doesn’t feature Scarsden but it’s kinda Scarsden-adjacent as it features police officers we’ve met in that series.

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Book review: Trust by Chris Hammer

October 15, 20204 min read

Trust is the third novel by former journalist Chris Hammer. If you’ve sufficient time on your hands you can check out my reviews of Scrublands (2018) and Silver (2019).

Because of Hammer’s own background he’s effortlessly able to instil a realism in his lead, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden. It reveals itself in everything from the way Scarsden has strange memorabilia from warzones around his old apartment, to the way he’s able to find information from sources at the drop of a hat, to the instinctive hunt when he’s on a case.

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Book review: Silver by Chris Hammer

September 30, 20195 min read

Journalist Chris Hammer’s Scrublands – featuring an investigative journalist looking into the seemingly incomprehensible mass shooting by a priest in a small Australian town – was one of my favourite novels of 2018.

It was (is) beautifully written. I still remember the opening paragraphs and pages and how well Hammer transplants we readers into the small town of Riversend.

I was reminded of that in the opening paragraphs and pages of his latest novel, Silver, as he does that very same thing again. We’re there, with Martin as he returns to his childhood hometown and to his memories.

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Book review: Scrublands by Chris Hammer

July 30, 20184 min read

I’d had this book for a while before tucking into it Saturday evening in the bath. I wasn’t too sure it was for me, though I’m not sure why. Perhaps some antipathy towards what felt like ANOTHER book about small town or rural Australia? I’m not sure.

But… holy shit, this book blew me away! I was hooked from the get-go. The opening scene (prologue) is great. And kinda dire. The writing is excellent, the plot intriguing and the lead character, Martin is both enigmatic and very (very) real all at once.

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