Around the beginning of the year, my brother told me that he was done with Outback Noir books. He said they were getting far too repetitive and predictable. I jumped to their defence, saying they were a great way to include the locked room trope as an entire small town and to show off the Aussie landscape. But…

I will admit the last couple of Outback Noir books have proved to be a little disappointing.

Dirt Town features Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels who is called to the small Aussie country town of Durton (nicknamed dirt town) when a young girl goes missing. The book is told from several points of view including Sarah’s, that of two school friends of the girl’s, and the very odd (and I must say annoying) collective voice of ‘we’.

The mystery plotline was not that intricate and I thought was pretty obvious early on. Sarah seems to do the classic suspect everyone until no one is left. I also felt that her and her colleagues' policing seemed implausible for the amount of officers involved.

The book’s strength, I think, lies in the way it presents, very realistically, several themes including domestic violence, date rape, homophobia and alcoholism.

I would read another Scrivenor book but maybe my brother is right and I need a break from outback noir for a while.

3 ½ out of 5

An engrossing read, a solid thriller. Not sure it fully hits all points in terms of small-town life and the various machinations that lead to poor decisions and disaster, and I'm not sure the wrap up was entirely satisfying, but there's no doubt this one keeps the pages turning and the mystery-lover's mind moving. Very curious to see what comes next for this writer.

Dirt Town (published in the US as Dirt Creek) is an impressive crime fiction debut from Hayley Scrivenor.

When twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi fails to return home from school one afternoon, the small country town of Durton is horrified. The reader knows from the outset that Esther is dead, though it’s five long days before the town learns her tragic fate.

Dirt Town unfolds from multiple perspectives, most notably the poignant voices of Esther’s best friends, Ronnie and Lewis; the missing girl’s devastated mother, Constance; investigative officer Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels; and a dramatic ‘Greek chorus’ that represents the children of the community.

This is an absorbing, tense mystery where Esther’s disappearance prompts the revelation of several secrets. It’s not just the girl’s killer who is desperate to hide wrong-doing from Michael’s investigation, and untangling the mistakes, deceits, scandals, and crimes that cloud the case is a challenge for an outsider. With so many viable suspects, I did not guess the answer as to who, or why, until it was revealed.

Sensitive readers may find particular scenes disturbing, but I did not feel they were gratuitous, and spoke to character.

The insular nature of the community, it’s remote location and hot, energy-sapping weather create an atmospheric read. The characters anxiety supports the momentum of the narrative, which is measured, but not slow.

Skilfully crafted, Dirt Town is a gritty, intense, and moving novel that exposes a tragedy and its aftermath.

While deadly deeds in heat-struck Australian landscapes have become more familiar to international readers in recent years thanks to the likes of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, and Gabriel Bergmoser, newcomer Hayley Scrivenor shows there’s still plenty of fresh takes left in ‘Outback Noir’. Scrivenor’s excellent debut is an intimate portrait of a community torn by the disappearance of 12-year-old Esther Bianchi, told via kaleidoscopic narration..

The use of a Greek chorus 'we' of unidentified local kids, along with the viewpoints of four main characters (Esther's mother, her young friends, missing persons detective Sarah Michaels), is one of several interesting aspects to DIRT TOWN, including Michaels’ sexuality and relationship history that bring a fresh perspective to an increasingly familiar if fascinating setting.

But the greatest triumph is Scrivenor's exquisite characterisation, as she deftly brings a variety of townsfolk to vivid life, along with the intricate tapestry of their secrets, feuds, prejudices, and (mis)perceptions. Esther’s disappearance is the violent tremor that sheers open the dusty veneer of Durton, and Scrivenor deftly juggles her multiple narrators, building tension and her piercing portrait of the town.

A character-centric crime novel imbued with humanity and hurt.

An amazing debut from yet another Aussie mystery writer. Haley Scrivenor has created a setting, that to anyone could imagine - a quiet country town, slowly disintegrating, its inhabitants clinging together. This last shred of community is shattered when a girl, Estie, goes missing.
The community mourns, but there are so many accused, each with something to hide. Into this comes police officers specialising in missing children.
From its initial shock of the missing girl, this story builds slowly, but once suspects (and secrets) begin to be revealed, the pace explodes and continues through to an unexpected conclusion.
I thoroughly enjoyed this debut. The author has used multiple perspectives of the townsfolk to tell the story, including the very unique 'We' perspective, which tries to capture the psychology of the town as a single being. Very impressive!
The ending sets us up for more from this detective, Sarah Michaels, and I, for one, cannot wait!

Ronnie and Esther live in a small Australian town nicknamed Dirt Town. They’ve been best friends forever until Esther goes missing when they are 12 years old. With the whole town trying to figure out what happened to Esther, more and more secrets are revealed.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michael’s, on the back of a bad breakup, throws herself into the case and the lives of the people of Dirt Town.

A tense, slow burn mystery that had me gripped from the very beginning, Dirt a town was a book I was walking around reading while I was doing everything else - I just had to know what happened to Esther. The trauma and grief was so hauntingly written, it really anchored the characters to the page and had me keenly feeling their desperation.

I loved the multiple twists the author threw at us and the complex story woven around such a character driven story. We were gifted chapters from quite a few different character view points, which definitely enhanced the joining of the dots and overall reading experience . There was one point of view that had me quite confused all the way to the end (I couldn’t really reconcile who it was for most of the book) but I really enjoyed each and every storyteller.

If you’re looking for a slow reveal mystery you won’t want to put down, make sure you pick up Dirt Town!

I actually ended up reading a finished copy before I was approved by NetGalley. I loved this book, following is the link to the review i posted to Good Reads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4768729470

"The knowledge would make her feel the crushing weight of what it was to live in such a small town. Everything and everyone touching everything else."

I love the creepy atmosphere a small Australian town has in contemporary fiction and Dirt Town has got it! As if the title of the book doesn't instantly place you in the setting. We know what has happened to Esther Bianchi before the detectives do, but that doesn't help us keep track of all the people in town and how they're interconnected and which of them would have a reason to harm a young girl. The solution is brilliant, yet understated. Dirt Town could be any town. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.