Evelyn's disappearance from the small town of Nannine remains a chilling mystery after nineteen years, leaving her twin sister Mina consumed by the unresolved case. Mina's secluded life on the family farm, overshadowed by public scrutiny and the unclaimed reward for information, may finally face a breakthrough.

Shelley Burr's debut novel, "Wake," delves into the eerie atmosphere of the Australian outback, weaving a suspenseful narrative filled with intriguing characters and buried secrets. The incorporation of blog posts throughout the story adds depth to the exploration of media intrusion into personal tragedy. "Wake" stands as a compelling addition to the genre of Australian crime noir, deserving comparison to acclaimed authors like Harper and Hammer. Highly recommended for its gripping storytelling and atmospheric setting.

Mina's twin sister Evelyn goes missing under suspicious circumstances the summer the girls are 9 years old. Nearly 20 years later she's still never been found. A successful private investigator rolls into the sleepy rural Australian town hoping to come into the good graces of Mina and solve the long cold case. There's a bounty of reward money to collect and he'd love to use it to help erase a past he'd soon like to forget.

Wow, I really really enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. I was heavily invested in Mina and her struggles as an adult, cheering on both her and Lane in their quest for the truth. I loved how the author sprinkled hints like breadcrumbs throughout the entire novel, leaving me curious and hooked; I had to know more and had to know what happened. They layers of the case and the mystery unfolded slowly around the truth, shocking me at every turn. I will say that there were some loose ends not quite tied up at the end that somewhat bothered me until I saw that there is another in this series that hopefully cleans it up a bit. Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by Wake, great story-telling and twists. I'd recommend this to readers who enjoyed books like We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker, it gave me very similar vibes. Great book!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review

Wake by Shelley Burr was a slow burning character driven book. I personally did not enjoy it as it was difficult for me to get interested in the story and did find it a little long and I had to keep going back and re-reading parts. This one has a number of excellent reviews even it wasn't one that really intrigued me.

Thank you #NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this book.Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, 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 come out.

Mina McCreery’s twin sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago from her room on a remote farm in the Australian Outback. Her mother offered a million dollar reward, but she was never found. Lane Holland, a private investigator of cold cases gains the reclusive Mina’s trust in an effort to solve the case. Lane has his own secrets and motives for wanting to uncover what happened. This novel is haunting and suspenseful, leading to an unexpected conclusion.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Evelyn disappeared in the middle of the night years ago and no one has solved the case. Her sister Mina is still dealing with the loss. Lane who is a private detective thinks he can solve the case and needs the reward money.

Good story with lots of plot twists. Good writing and it pulled you in with lots of questions as you read it.

Another great mystery set in Australia! If you’re looking for a lot of action you’re not going to find it with this book. But if you’re looking for a whodunnit with some twists that leave you wondering which characters are truly trustworthy then this one is for you. I appreciated the well developed main characters and how as levels of their pasts are revealed they both became more intriguing. While it felt a little rushed to the conclusion, it was still an enjoyable mystery and I look forward to the author’s next one! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for and advanced copy for an honest review.

Mina's sister Evelyn disappeared in the middle of the night when they were 9 years old. She's now 30, and still dealing with the loss, one of the most famous in Australia's history. Lane is a private detective with extremely unconventional methods, but he gets results. He's certain he can solve this cold case and get the prize money that he desperately needs. I liked the amount of suspects thrown at you despite the small town, and the real life consequences of what happens when your family member disappears. Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Wake...

The title had me curious. It didn't offer much more information than a single word that lingered.

As my interest piqued over the title, I was completely in awe over the cover. The colors were eye catching yet it was the picture of the house that had a mysterious edge to it that left a lasting effect on my brain ....

The synopsis on the back had me engaged and eager to want to read the book and then to top it all off they compared Wake to Gillian Flynn's "Sharp Objects", okay, you got me, I was sold.

I have a thing for debut authors, everyone deserves a shot at the big dream and I want nothing more than to discover every hidden gem. Shelley Burr, is just that, she is a hidden gem.

Wake, is a compulsive read that will have you at the edge of your seat, gnawing down at your nail beds. I was instantly captivated with the writing style and the way Burr was able to be so detailed in description . The characters were flawed and real, the twist was one I could not anticipate and the conclusion? Well, that one came out of left field.

The talent is there, Burr, will have a long writing career and have a wide range of readers who will adore her. I am one of them. I highly recommend Wake to all crime fiction fans.

Here is a little teaser about this incredible book :

The tiny outback town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of Australia. Once a thriving center of stockyards and sheep stations, years of punishing drought have petrified the land and Nannine has been whittled down to no more than a stoplight, a couple bars, and a police station. And it has another, more sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of young Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago.

Mina McCreery’s life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sister’s case—which is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked destocked sheep farm.

Enter Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Before she died, Mina’s mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the family’s farmhouse. The lure of cash has only increased public obsession with Evelyn and Mina—but yielded no answers.

Lane wins Mina’s trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their lives—and yield shocking results.

This is one of a few recent mysteries set in a dry, rural town in New Zealand. Wake follows the sister of a girl who was kidnapped and assumed dead many years ago. When a stranger comes to town looking to help, she's skeptical. This one had me on the edge of my seat! For fans of Jane Harper.

This was a decent mystery. I liked the characters and the way the author slowly revealed details of the story. And I loved the setting. I felt like the farm and town of Nannine were characters themselves.

The ending was not clear cut so if you like your mysteries fully explained at the end then this one might bug you. I have my own opinion about what happened to Evie but certainly there are other possible options.

What I didn’t like: felt it was a bit too long, at one point near the end the author had the characters walking to the windmill which seemed very far away then Mina is standing near it or under it in another scene which didn’t make sense conceptually but maybe I missed something.

Overall, 3.5 stars for me. I would read another book by this author.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

I love books set in Australia so I was very excited about this one, but it just was way too long and convoluted. I had hoped for something like Jane Harper or Hayley Scrivenor.

Lane Holland, Jr. is a private investigator who specializes in cold cases concerning missing children. It’s not job he’d hoped for, but things happened, and he had to take guardianship of his younger sister. Money is tight, and he’s hoping to collect the reward money on the highly publicized case of missing Evelyn McCreery. It’s been a long time, but he has hope he can figure out what happened to her.

Evelyn’s twin sister, Mina, keeps searching for Evelyn on the property of her family’s sheep station. They’re in a very remote area, and no one has a clue as to what happened to Evelyn. When she was alive, Mina’s mother did everything she could to discover her daughter’s whereabouts. Now, Mina does all that she can to protect herself from further pain, but that’s hard to do when you’re sister’s disappearance is the biggest mystery in Australia’s history.

Alanna Rennold also has a missing sister. She believes her father snatched young Christa from the yard where they were in temporary foster care. She was befriended by Mina’s mother, and now, she and Mina are best friends. They support each other because no one else understands exactly what they’ve been through.

Secrets abound that will come to tie all of them together.

This was a great book. It kept me guessing, revealing information a little at a time, and offering many possible suspects. It kept me guessing and wondering, even at the end, when things seem to be tied up, but might not be. I’d love to see more of these characters.

I enjoyed this book. It was a page turner, and I learned a bit about life in the less populated areas of Australia. The characters were interesting, and their secrets drove the story. The plot was well-developed and complex, but not so much so that it allowed the reader to get lost. I highly recommend this book. I’m going to buy a copy to give as a gift to a friend who lives on mysteries.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

Mina McCreery lives alone on her family farm, in the small town of Nannine Australia, and is still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her twin sister Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago.
When Lane Holland, a private investigator who has a knack of solving missing person cases, offers Mina his expertise to investigate the mystery of Evelyn’s disappearance, Lane is actually getting closer to unearth some dark twisty long-buried secrets that would stun the tight community of Nannine.
WAKE is a gripping thriller that starts at a measured pace, and the suspense intensifies with surprising twists and turns as I turned the pages!
I like Shelley Burr’s creative idea of naming this novel WAKE, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading something dark, mysterious and suspenseful!
#Wake
#NetGalley

Almost twenty years after her disappearance, the mystery of what happened to nine year old Evelyn McCreery remains unsolved and the topic of speculation in a small dying town in Australia. Evelyn retired for the night with her twin sister Mina in the bedroom they shared on their parent's expansive farm, but come morning she was gone. There were no signs of forced entry, no strange tire tracks in or out of the secluded, gated property, no fingerprints, no evidence to indicate what happened to the happy youngster. Over the years, theories ranged from an unknown stranger abduction to an inside cover up by family to the young girl wandering lost over the deadly Australian outback.

All these years later, Mina McCreery continues to be haunted by her sister's disappearance as well as hounded by the media and the notorious, accusatory internet chat rooms. While locals have become protective of her privacy, she can't ignore the way they avert their eyes and whisper on the rare occasion she ventures into town for supplies. The perpetual aftermath of her twin sister's disappearance shaped Mina's life into adulthood as the incessant influx of reporters and bounty seekers refused to grant her the opportunity to bury the past and live her life in peace. As a result, Mina's become a recluse, existing alone on the now barren and destocked family farm - one that's almost as dead as she feels inside. Her daily routine includes walking sections of the massive family acreage in search of any tiny thread of evidence that might point her in the direction taken by her sister and abductor. It's at this point that Private Investigator Lane Holland intrudes upon her solitude with a request for an interview. Lane's life is shadowy at best, but he's had success in solving other cold cases especially abductions of young girls. Mina reputes his offer of assistance and writes him off as another bounty seeker, but when he proves his skills by helping another local family she relents and begins cooperating with him. However, readers soon learn that Lane is driven by more than the lure of reward money. He, too, is haunted by nightmares of a dark past that could entail imminent danger to his younger sister if he doesn't find a resolution. The story that ensues is dark, complex and twisted.

Set in New South Wales, the harsh reality of the landscape and climate play a prominent role in Wake. After years of drought, the small farmers in the community of Nannine are desperately struggling to hold on to property that's been in their families for years, but is no longer profitable. A sense of loss is prevalent throughout - both of the people and the land. Burr expertly exploits the desolate setting, triggering an overwhelming sense of pure isolation that sets a dire tone and propels the pace and ever increasing tension forward. The story is rendered through two points of view, Mina and Lane, allowing readers firsthand knowledge of what each are thinking, plotting and hiding - while sowing seeds of doubt as to the validity of each one's version of events. There's a growing sense of doom and death permeating the hot, deadly space that is engulfed in this story that becomes more inauspicious as the story unfolds.

Wake is the story of a splintered family - one torn apart by guilt, grief, and the after effects of trauma suffered in the public eye. There's an alternate plot line weaving in and out of the main story line, teasing readers with hints of a sinister connection, but it remains just out of grasp until the final revelation. Some may lament the ending as things are not necessarily wrapped up in a big, neat, happy-ever-after bow the way some prefer, but the ending provides much needed answers and in my opinion is simply stunning . . . a brilliant move by author Shelley Burr. I'm amazed this is Burr's debut novel because this story is precise and well-crafted in the manner one comes to expect of more widely published authors. Burr finesses characters, plot lines and setting with apparent ease, affording readers a taut, highly addictive story that this reader couldn't put down. Highly recommended to fans of mystery and suspense. This is Aussie Noir at its finest. I'm a fan!

The tiny outback town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of Australia. Once a thriving center of stockyards and sheep stations, years of punishing drought have petrified the land and Nannine has been whittled down to no more than a stoplight, a couple bars, and a police station. And it has another, more sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of young Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago. Mina McCreery’s life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sister’s case—which is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family’s sunbaked destocked sheep farm. Enter Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Before she died, Mina’s mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the family’s farmhouse. The lure of cash has only increased public obsession with Evelyn and Mina—but yielded no answers. Lane wins Mina’s trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their lives—and yield shocking results. More than one agenda going on here which helps to develop the mystery surrounding the disappearance. There are some parts that drag but it comes to a satisfying end. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

I really enjoyed this book. I think cold cases are very interesting and thought it was great that Lane wanted to solve them, even if that means he gets to collect the award money. But, there it is more personal to Lane than just the money. I can't imagine being Mina or Alana and being a part of a family that has a missing child. Lane helps unravel a lot in the small town of Nannine. I haven't read many books based in Australia, but I love when I do!

This well paced atmospheric murder mystery set in the Australian outback will keep you guessing until the very end. Using social media posts as a kind of greek chorus adds to the mystery and gives interesting back story info.

Wake
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: True Crime
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/30/22
Author: Shelley Burr
Publisher: William Morrow and Company
Pages: 368
Goodreads Rating: 4.14

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and William Morrow and Company and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Mina McCreery's life has been defined by the intense public interest in her sister's case--which is still a hot topic in true-crime chat rooms and on social media. Lane Holland, a young private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Before she died, Mina's mother funded a million-dollar reward for anyone who could explain how Evelyn vanished from her bed in the family's farmhouse. Lane wins Mina's trust when some of his more unconventional methods show promise. But Lane also has darker motivations, and his obsession with the search will ultimately risk both their lives--and yield shocking results.

My Thoughts: This was more of a slow burn in parts, than other parts, I couldn’t wait to hit the button on my Kindle Oasis. This story resonates how personal trauma can rivet your life into the public eye and how some tragedy never heals. This was an exceptional true crime novel that lures you in and keeps you along for the ride. The story is primarily narrated by Mina and Lane, from their perspectives. The characters are well developed with depth, emotion, rawness, and creative. The author’s writing style was complex, suspenseful, twisty, and keeps you engaged. The story begins with the missing Evelyn, the characters are built, and the plot is delivered in multiple twists, then the end, while I knew who was responsible, I did not see that ending coming. This book releases tomorrow and I would recommend adding to your TBR!!

Lane is a PI who investigates cold cases on his own. No family asked him to help but he wants to help close the case and get the reward money. Mina has been living in her twin, Evelyn’s, shadow ever since Evelyn disappeared as a child. Mina wants to find her sister and accepts Lane’s help.

This is a debut novel and I thought the author did a nice job. There are several stories intermingled. The book is set in rural Australia and the author integrated the setting well and explained to the reader about the setting so I could picture it. I enjoyed the book but at times found it long. I had to refresh myself on the story when I came back to read it.