A great mystery set in a small town where every neighbor is a suspect! A young girl is missing in a small town and suddnely, everyone's secrets are coming out.

I love reading books set in Australia because I only know the country through stories. I love that the land and the heat are characters themselves in the story as much as everyone else. In this seemingly idyllic small town to raise families, I liked that we also had the POV of the kids as well as adults and detectives. The kids' side to the story was always a bit more confused but also, they knew more about the missing girl and some about the adults. The twists were well plotted and kept me chasing all the red herrings. I was surprised by the final reveal. What a great story. It sucked me in completely and held me until the end. I loved this one.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

"For every girl child, there seemed to lurk a dead-eyed man, hair receding prematurely, with a car and the offer of a lift and a plan and a knife and a shovel. Did we create the man by imagining him or was he idling there in his car regardless?"
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"None of us can escape who we are when others aren’t looking; we can’t guess what we’re capable of until it’s too late."

Durton, New South Wales, 2001, the hottest November ever. Twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi has gone missing somewhere between school and home. Authorities are alerted, and a search is on. Her bff, Ronnie, believes that Esther has not met a dark end, and is determined to find her.

Durton is not exactly a garden spot, although a suggestive apple does put in an appearance. It is a secondary town, to a secondary city, a drive west from Sydney measured in double-digit hours. While there may be some appealing qualities to the place, what comes across about Durton is that it is the back end of nowhere, a physical manifestation of isolation, and thus a fitting image for the isolation experienced by its residents, albeit not quite actual outback. It is a place where there are some who are, wrongfully, ashamed of who they are, and there are some others who should be. The main exports of Durton appear to be fear, pain, abuse, and despair. The local kids call it Dirt Town, which is the title of the book in Australia. The name fits. Not sure why it was retitled Dirt Creek for its North American release.

The action begins on Tuesday, December 4, 2001, with the discovery of a body. Then it goes back to Friday, November 30, tracking the events that led up to that discovery, and continues for a few days beyond. Over the course of these days, we follow Ronnie Thompson and Lewis Kennard, Esther’s mates, Constance Bianchi, Esther’s mother, and Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels, the detective assigned the case, as they try to figure out where Esther is, and what happened to her, if anything. Ronnie is a first-person narrator, so we get a good close look at her. The Lewis, Constance, and Sarah chapters are in third person, but we still get a pretty good sense of what is going on inside them. The unusual element here is the presence of a first-person Greek chorus, speaking in the voices of children, and offering an omniscient view of the goings on.

"I started a PhD in creative writing in 2016. It can be dangerous to ask me about collective narration because my research project looked at novels that had Greek chorus-like narration, and I can go on a bit. But I do have a clear sense of where Dirt Town the novel started. I sat down to write a short story from the point of view of the children of a small town, kind of like the one where I had grown up. What I wrote was largely just these kids coming home from school, but there was an energy in it that made me think it could be a novel. That writing is still in the book, pretty much as it was written. It occurred to me that if I was in these kids’ heads, then I needed something for them all to be looking at, thinking about: an experience that was as big as the town. One of the next flashes I had was that a girl had died, and the story grew from there." - from the Books and Publishing interview

Durton is a close-knit community in a way. Shelly McFarlane, for example, is best friends with Constance Bianchi, Esther’s mother. Shelly’s husband, Peter, is brother to Ronnie Thompson’s mother. There are more, but the connections in Durston occupy a place higher than purely communal, but less than purely familial. And yet, there are many ways to be, or to feel, alone. Constance is English-born, but married a local, and feels very out of place, as the cowboy-ish appeal of her handsome husband has faded under the weight of experience. Lewis has a secret that makes him feel very alone and vulnerable. Sarah must contend with her recent, nasty, breakup with her partner. There are abused people here, who are afraid to tell anyone, lest they suffer even more, given how ineffective or feckless law enforcement has been about such things. This includes a long-ago rape that was never brought to justice. As a part of this, people wonder if they have somehow brought their misery down on themselves, which, of course, only adds to their feelings of isolation. What makes them different also makes them feel alone.

The story moves forward in a moistly straight line, after the initial jump back. There is a bit of history on occasion, for backstory, and there is overlap as different POVs occur simultaneously, reporting events Rashomon-style.

The mystery unravels at a comfortable pace, with clues being presented, conversations being had, and determinations being made about whether this or that connects to the missing girl. There is other criminality going on in Durton that may or may not be related, and there is a pair of missing twins not too far away, whose fate may or may not have anything to do with Esther’s.

The characters are sympathetic and appealing, which makes us eager to keep flipping pages to see if they are ok, in addition to wanting to find out what actually happened. There are the usual number of red herrings flopping about in the bucket. The fun of the clues is trying to figure out which are germane to Esther’s disappearance and which are intended to throw us off the scent. There is also a fair bit about life in Australia, this part of it, anyway. The most interesting element of the novel for me was the Greek chorus. It took a while to figure out who comprised it. That puzzle was fun, too. And the chorus offers a tool for exposition, which worked pretty well.

Overall, I found this an enjoyable, well, considering the subject matter, engaging read, with interesting characters and a mystery that Scrivenor draws you in to trying to solve. Dirt Creek is an excellent Summer entertainment, good, clean reading pleasure.

"We are not sure if it was our childhood or just childhood in general that has made us the way we are."

Review posted – September 2, 2022

Publication date – August 2, 2022 (USA)


I received an eARE of Dirt Creek from Flatiron Books in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.

For the full review, with links, please head over to my site - https://cootsreviews.com/2022/09/02/dirt-creek-by-hayley-scrivener/

In the small and stale town of Durton, the residents think they know everything about everyone…but they are clearly mistaken when a 12-year old girl named Esther goes missing.

Esther’s best friend, Ronnie, is eager to find her. So is Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels, Esther and Ronni’s school friend, Lewis, and most of the rest of the town. What could’ve possibly happened to her?

This is a bleak, slow burn of a drama. I can see how it may not be for everyone, but I was hooked and wanted to know what happened to Esther. The characters are interesting - some dark, some broken - and everyone could potentially have something to hide. Little nuggets of information are given throughout the book, but you’ll need to be patient as there is a lot of background to the foks of Durton.

The writing is excellent, and although I don’t really think this is a mystery in the literal sense, it’s still compelling and does a nice job of answering all of the reader’s questions by the end.

Thank you to Flatiron Books for a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 8/2/22.

Ronnie's best friend Esther disappeared on her way home from school. It was the last Fiday afternoon in November. She was only twelve years old. It happened in Durton known as Dirt Creek in rural Australia. Ronnie is determined to find her friend. Detective Sergeant Sarah and Smithy are on the case. All of the men seem to be a suspect. Dark secrets and lies are revealed. Everyone seems to know each other.

This was a slow burner but I never was bored. It was very intriguing.
It is a very sad story.
I loved the beautiful prose. Her writing is very similar to Jane Harper's.

No no no no no! There is pet abuse in this book!! Beware if this is a trigger for you! There actually are a lot of other triggers too. My rating would of been 4.5 rounded to a 4 if it didn't have the pet abuse in it.
I really did enjoy the plot. This was a very atmospheric read. I did jot enjoy the We Chapters.

The characters were very well done. My favorite character was Ronnie.
This is a debut novel and its hard to believe that this is her first novel.
This was not a predictable read and has some twists.
It was a very riveting read.

This was a buddy read with Jayme, Marilyn, Susan and DeAnn.

I received a free arc of Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor from from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

Set in Durton, Australia, this debut novel creates a small-town populated by a mostly unlikeable set of adult characters. Along with chapters voiced by a Greek chorus composed of kids of the town, this one was very atmospheric although a bit of a slow start.

Esther, Ronnie, and Lewis are great friends torn apart when Esther (12-years-old) goes missing one day. She parts ways walking home from school with Ronnie and never makes it home. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels is sent in to find Esther.

Searchers find a stash of drugs hidden away and the case takes on new tones. Are the crimes related? What about the twins also missing in another town?

Lewis saw something on his way home, but he has secrets he’s hiding too. Can Sarah get to the bottom of things before another crime takes place? It seems that just about everyone is town is hiding something. The tension built in this one and I was not successful at puzzling this one out.

Not a perfect book, but this debut author is one to watch!

Atmospheric River.

Oh, the secrets in this small town!

In rural Dirt Creek, everyone knows everyone, but they don’t know every THING.

I was eagerly anticipating uncovering the juicy details because clandestine activities can be so entwined in a place like this. Older than dirt and affixed firmly behind the surface, just waiting for some inquiring mind to knock them loose. Bring it on!

I loved the mood created by the author while the landscape was brought to arid life. I also loved the writing, plot, and character development, save that most of the men in this book were transcribed as foul.

Dirt Creek had the potential of a four to five star read for me but I was upended by the gratuitous killing of a kitten. If that wasn't enough, another cat was abandoned by its owners, and a distressed dog left chained up all day.

Maybe the author doesn’t like animals or wanted to create shock value, but WHY? We already had a dead child, and the overplay ruined my reading experience.

Readers should also be advised of domestic violence, gang rape, and bullying in two different forms along with a heavy LBGTQ presence. Not everyone will feel comfortable reading about same gender “interactions” and frequent descriptions of the lead detective’s failed relationship felt forced.

I wanted to like the Detective Sergeant - she seemed like a good cop until her lecherous leanings toward witnesses and turning her back on the the hysterical dog made her unprofessional. Did I mention that she was also an abuser?

After thinking about this for several days, I can’t bring myself to rate this more than two stars even though the writing was stellar. Animal abuse is the hill that I choose to die on.

This was a group buddy read and I want to thank my friends DeAnn, Mary Beth, Jayme, and Marilyn for discussing this with me.

Thank you to Mcmillan, Flat Iron Books, and NetGalley for my electronic review copy. I truly appreciate reciving an ARC and I'm sorry that I couldn't get on board with this one.

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor

Ronnie and Ester, twelve year old girls, are best friends. They are also good friends with Lewis, who has been ostracized by their schoolmates. When Ester goes missing, Ronnie doesn't understand why Lewis doesn't tell the police what he saw. But, as we will find out, everybody in the little down of Durton aka Dirt Town has secrets, even the kids.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels and her partner are sent to the town to investigate Ester's disappearance. It's obvious people are hiding something, telling lies, blaming others. But, Ronnie isn't going to let her best friend stay missing, she's going to make sure she is found.

There is a Greek chorus of kids that seems creepy and sinister to me. But then this entire town and it's inhabitants seem creepy and/or repulsive. The story and the story telling is good, but I'm not the right reader for the story. There is animal abuse that is too much for me but luckily I was told where at least one event occurs so I could avoid it. Still, animal abuse (and a slew of other abuses) is a part of this story, and it shut down my enjoyment of the book. Not all stories are right for all folks and this one wasn't right for me.

Thank you to Macmillan Publishers, Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

“We saw him crouch to scoop away earth with one hand, running his fingers along the shiny, black plastic. It was four days, since anyone, including us, had seen Esther Bianchi.”

I was unfamiliar with the term “Greek Chorus” but it refers to a homogeneous, non individualized, group of performers of a Greek tragedy, who comment in a collective voice, periodically about the dramatic action.

The book opens with the Greek Chorus like narrator “WE”- the remaining children, of Durton (Dirt Town), letting us in on the fate of 12 year old Esther, although in reality, these omniscient narrators were not “in the know” at the time of the discovery.

Fortunately, these short chapters only occur sporadically, as they didn’t quite work for me.

They felt COLD, when a book about a young girl losing her life, should feel ANYTHING BUT!!

This is a SLOW BURN, mystery about what happened to Esther, on the day she disappeared while walking home from school, and thankfully we feel more emotion from the remaining narrators, whose point of views alternate.

Ronnie ‘s narrative is shared in the first person, and is the most moving. She is an only child who loves Llamas, and her best friend Esther, like the sister she never had.

She thinks Esther was the brave one-but she will do anything to try to find her friend.

We also have the viewpoint of another child, Lewis who was a classmate and friend to both Esther and Ronnie.

We also have chapters shared from the third person POV of Constance (Esther’s mom) and Detective Sergeant Sarah Michael’s, who was sent from Melbourne to investigate.

Dirt Town is a dying town, hot and dusty, and small enough for everyone to know one another.

At least, they think they do.

But even in small towns secrets can be hidden…

MELANCHOLY and SOMBER, this is another well written, character driven crime story-and an impressive debut-but for such a sad story, I expected to feel more, emotionally for the characters.

I may have-if the Greek Chorus “WE” chapters had not been included.

3.5 rounded up

⚠️ Trigger Warnings: This book has them all! A brief but GRATUITOUS scene of the abuse of a kitten. and disturbing treatment of a dog. Domestic abuse, child abuse and mention of rape.


I received a free ARC of Dirt Creek by Australian author Hayley Scrivenor from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review. It was published as Dirt Town, in the UK and Australia. (the title I prefer).

AVAILABLE on August 2, 2022.

“The best liars were the people who could believe their own bullshit.”

Dirt Creek is a slow-burn mystery about the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl in a small town in rural Australia.

Durton, aka Dirt Creek, is a small town filled with secrets. On the surface, it seems like an idyllic community to raise a family, but when 12-year-old Esther doesn’t return home after school, the town and its inhabitants fall under scrutiny. What seems like an innocent town is filled with some dark and dirty secrets. As the police investigate, secrets are exposed, culminating in a shocking reveal about Esther’s disappearance.

The narrative switches point of view with each chapter, and the timeline shifts based on perspective, so one has the opportunity to understand events from multiple POVs. The primary narrators are Constance, mother of Esther; Lewie, a 12-year-old boy with a secret; Ronnie, Esther’s best friend; and Sarah, a police detective trying to solve the mystery behind Esther’s disappearance. All characters were well-developed and offered a unique take on Esther’s disappearance. Ronnie’s character was my favorite. Sarah’s character’s obsession with her ex grew redundant and annoying. She also looks at almost every woman as a potential love interest, which also annoyed me--her character was a little too overdone and could have benefited from a good dose of subtlety, but overall, she was likable.

Another perspective is offered in chapters titled “We.” These chapters didn’t quite work for me.

The story takes place in 2001 and slowly covers the days following Esther’s disappearance. This is a slow-paced mystery, and it is equally a character study. Dirt Creek is a desolate, isolated town that Scrivner brings to life. The blurb compares this book to The Dry and Everything I Never Told You<, Dirt Creek is neither, but it is a solid read and an impressive debut.

I received an ARC of Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.