Title: Wake
Author: Shelley Burr
Published: April 27th 2022
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pages: 368
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Crime, Mystery
RRP: $32.99
Rating: 4 stars
A Top Ten bestseller, WAKE is a searing debut crime novel where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community . . . and will ultimately lead to a reckoning.
Evelyn simply vanished.
The small town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of New South Wales. Once a thriving outback centre, this ghost town now has one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister.
Mina McCreery‘s life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister’s case. Now a reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked, destocked sheep farm. The million-dollar reward her mother established to solve the disappearance has never been paid out.
Enter Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Lane has his eye on the unclaimed money, but he also has darker motivations.
WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people’s private tragedies become public property, and how it’s never too late for the truth to set things right.
Review:
Shelley Burr rose to attention when she received the coveted CWA Debut Dagger Award in 2019. This Varuna Fellow and Bath Novel award winner made a grand entry into the burgeoning Australian crime fiction scene with Wake, her first novel. A gripping cold case, family trauma, an unsolved mystery, community tensions and public grief defines Shelley Burr’s excellent debut novel.
Wake transports us to a small speck of a town called Nannine, located in a desolate area of New South Wales. Living conditions are pretty harsh in this community, thanks to the impact of drought and with it community resources have dwindled. But the town of Nannine is still known for its sensational unsolved mystery and the tragic disappearance of a young girl from her property, some two decades ago. When Evelyn McCreery vanished from her bedroom nineteen years ago, she left her twin sister in a pit of grief. Now Mina McCreery is a damaged woman who continued to weather many setbacks and challenges in her life. Mina is still very much in the public eye as true crime enthusiasts continue to probe into the unusual case of her sister’s disappearance. In response, Mina tries to live a solitary existence, but her sister’s case continues to haunt her. The reward that was created by Mina’s family all those years ago to help locate Evelyn still remains unclaimed. Along with a bevy of true crime enthusiasts fixated on Evelyn’s case, a man named Lane Holland has displayed a keen interest in this cold case mystery. But Lane’s reasons for attaching himself to this tragedy may not be honourable. What does Lane know about Evelyn’s case?
There has been a fair amount of hype attached to Shelley Burr’s first release Wake since it was published in April last year. I have even seen Burr’s writing compared to big name Australian crime fiction writers such Chris Hammer and Jane Harper. I think this comparison and positive talk is definitely warranted, Wake is a debut novel that deserves plenty of merit.
Australian crime fiction novels have come a long way in the last five to ten years. It is humbling to see so many great new authors out there willing to take a chance and turn their hand to this very popular genre. Shelley Burr’s name comes with some great support both from fellow authors, book reviewers, the media and of course the awards this book has received. I went into Wake with some big expectations and they were met with ease. Wake is a well-constructed debut crime fiction release. Burr’s prose is refined and astute. It is also a very situational read. The reader feels as though they are part of the Nannine community circle. The setting is delivered with impact, drawing the audience right into this hard red box with force. The landscape seems to increase the sense of tension and despair in relation to the main crime case ever further.
Wake is filled with characters who appear to be full bodied creations. I was able to attach myself to lead character Mina very quickly. I felt the agony, anxiety, heartache and despair this woman faced in her relatively young life. I also hoped and prayed that Mina would eventually find out the truth as to what happened to her sister. Burr is able to capture the raw emotions, deep feelings and credible responses of dealing with such an enormous family tragedy in the public gaze. This was a highlight of the novel in my opinion. In Lane, the other lead protagonist of Wake, we have a man that that holds many cards close to his chest. Lane is shrouded in mystery and his secrets form the basis for the main plot twist. I think even seasoned Australian crime experts may find this one hard to solve quickly.
Unmerciful, obsessive, forceful and canny, Wake is first-rate Australian crime fiction debut that will stand tall next to notables such as The Dry and Scrublands.
Wake by Shelley Burr is published by Hachette Australia on April 27th 2022. $32.99.
https://www.hachette.com.au/shelley-burr/wake
*Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.
To learn more about the author of Wake, Shelley Burr, visit here.
