*I received a digital copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

ɪɴ ʜᴀʏʟᴇʏ sᴄʀɪᴠᴇɴᴏʀ's ᴅɪʀᴛ ᴄʀᴇᴇᴋ, ᴀ sᴍᴀʟʟ-ᴛᴏᴡɴ ᴅᴇʙᴜᴛ ᴍʏsᴛᴇʀʏ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪʙᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀʏ ᴍᴇᴇᴛs ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ ɢᴏᴇs ᴍɪssɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ғᴀʟʟs ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ.

A small town is torn apart when 12 year old Esther disappears in rural Australia. Secrets are exposed and everyone looks guilty, including Esther’s own father.

This novel is told from multiple perspectives, including a collective ‘We’ perspective of unnamed children from the town. This gave the novel a unique spin. At times though, I felt like it broke up the pace of the story. It was a great perspective to have towards the end, though. It is a slow burn mystery that is heavily character driven.

My favorite POV is through the eyes of Ronnie, Esther’s best friend. I felt the most attached to her character. My least favorite POV was Detective Sergant Michaels. While her investigative skills were great, I found it hard to like her character personally.

This novel does mention animal abuse in a few scenes. I really disliked that, but it’s a book. I get it. It’s not real.

I do wish the story had been a little more fast pace, but the multiple perspectives kept the story flowing. This was not a predictable mystery and I was kind of shocked to discover who actually killed Esther.

Sophie Lougran was an excellent narrator.

Overall I think this is a good debut mystery novel that I would recommend to others.

I listened to the audio of Dirt Creek and loved the Australian accent of the narrator. This story is about the mysterious disappearance of a child in a small town in Australia. We hear from the children of the town as well as the adults in order to give us a deeper perspective on what has happened to rock this community. Relationships are questioned and secrets are unearthed. Everyone seems to be a suspect in the disappearance. The narrator does an excellent job keeping the story moving along and varying her voice for each character. Read (listen) and enjoy!

Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor

Dirt Creek is a slow moving mystery that occurs in a small town in rural Australia. Esther a twelve year old girl goes missing and the rural town is faced with grief. Ronnie who is Esther best friend is determined to find out what happened to her friend. Lewis tells Ronnie he saw Esther at the creek with a man he did not recognize.

Who killed Esther is what Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels job to figure it out. Who is lying and why are they lying? The town is not at all what it seems. So much is happening under the eyes of the community. It seems everyone knows everyone and the men in town becomes suspects.

The plot was really good so much happening with some really good twists thrown in. I am surprised this is a debut author. She knows how to write a book that pulls a reader in and has you following along until the end. So many suspects and then when the truth comes out. I was surprised. There are some things in the story that can be triggering.

My favorite character was Lewis I really felt for him and his dad was just not a nice man. Lewis was trying to figure out himself his identity. Sometimes you need to tell a little lie to protect yourself from a father that would literally kill you.

Sophie Loughran did the narration and did a good job. I like how she gave each character their own voice. This book is for anyone who likes a slow moving mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. Also, be mindful their is some pet abuse in the story so if this is a triggering to you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a free audio version of this book for an honest review.

This was a great book. I enjoyed reading each of the characters perspectives. I think Ronnie was my favorite I loved how her personality came thru in the text. I listened to this on audio couldn’t wait to finish it to hear who did it. Overall a great debut for Haley Scrivenor.

I think Sophie Loughran did an amazing job with the narration on each of the characters also!

The only think that kept me from giving it a 5 star was that it was more of a slow building mystery and a few of the characters I felt like could have been more developed for dramatics to add extra shockwaves.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

A missing tween in a small town where there are so many secrets. When two detectives come to town to help find Esther they start to uncover those secrets. The small-time drug ring, the abusive father, and the town drunk. Even Esther's father is held arrested when he hits an officer when a shoe is found in his truck and comes under suspicion and secrets about him are found out. When the killer is found out it is someone really close but has spun a story they cannot believe any longer and denies. Will any of them ever be the same?

This might be my most disappointing read of 2022 so far. I really wanted to love Dirt Creek but unfortunately it was not for me.

TW: Animal Abuse

Set in a small, rural town in Australia, the secretes of the townspeople of Durton are upended when a twelve year girl named Esther goes missing after school.

The search for Esther is taken up by Detective Sergeant Sarah Marshals who is determined to solve the case.

The story is told from multiple points of views following different timelines. Normally this is the type of premise I would eat up and unfortunately it just wasn’t the case.

For starters the narratives felt extremely muddled. I couldn’t keep track of all of the characters and their perspectives. I did consume this book in audiobook format so that may have played a role. Either way the narrative felt extremely choppy.

The pacing is also extremely slow and I don’t mind reading slow paced books but this one just dragged on. It got to the point to where I just wanted to be done with Dirt Creek to be able to start my new book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of this debut mystery novel by Hayley Scrivenor, wonderfully narrated by Sophie Loughran - 4.5 stars!

In a small Australian town, during one of the hottest springs, young Esther disappears as she walks home from school. Her best friend, Ronnie, is determined to find out what happened to her. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels arrives in town to investigate the disappearance, which soon focuses on one person. But everyone in this small town is keeping secrets.

What a wonderful debut! This is a coming-of-age story, focusing on Esther, Ronnie, Lewis, but also voiced by a collective "we" of unnamed children. It's also the story of how our past colors our future and our decision making. One of the best themes to me was judgment - it's so easy for us as a society to judge others when, if truth be known, with one decision we could be one of the judged. There were plenty of suspects in this crime and I never suspected the way it would turn out. I loved how the author wrapped things up in the end, giving us a glimpse of the future of the characters. Can't wait to read more from this author!

I like a novel that solves the mystery and also let’s you know how the survivors have been affected, even years later. DIRT CREEK by Hayley Scrivenor and narrated by Sophie Loughran, did just that.

When a 12 year old schoolgirl suddenly came up missing after school one day, the tiny town of Durton (Dirt Town to the locals) had found themselves under the scrutiny of a well trained Detective Sergeant. Everyone was a suspect and a lot of secrets came out of hiding.

This is told from the viewpoint of a few different people and it was sometimes confusing switching around each chapter. The mystery does get solved and I like that it was a drawn out process getting there. The perpetrator didn’t just blurt out the entire story when confronted, it was a bit of a surprise but the clues fit in looking back. At the end it fills you in on how the kids and families faired 20 years later and how they were effected by all that happened then.

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook, and will give it 4 stars. I like that since it’s based in Australia the narrator speaks with an Australian accent. That helped to keep location in mind while listening.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the gift of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Dirt Creek is a novel set in a rural town of Durtin Australia. On a Friday afternoon in November, 12 year old Esther doesn’t make it home from school. Her best friend Ronnie is determined to find her, while another friend, Lewis, is holding back information for personal reasons. Detective Sergeant Sarah and Smithy are called in to help the local force with the case. Dark secrets are revealed as the case is investigated and there is more than one suspect as the story progresses and in the end the town of Durtin will never be the same. It’s hard to believe that this slow burn of a mystery is Schrivenor’s debut. With characters that are real and a location that is haunting, this book, while heart wrenching, is quite a gripping listen as the voice of Sophie Loughran brings the story to life.

This was an average mystery. It was fairly predictable. I knew who committed the crime down to two possibilities. It’s more of a small-town drama. I don’t like child death, but I knew that about the book going in so don’t fault it for my own decisions. I just didn’t particularly connect to it.

Good listen!

Starting with the cover: the creek image that they used looks just like the ones I grew up with and is what drew me on. The font is a little difficult to read--in my opinion the individual letters are a little narrow and with no crisp contrast they blended into the image. 3 stars

The narrator is easy to listen to and has clear, crisp annunciation. The story flows well and does a great job of making sure we know who's perspective the story is currently being told from. 5 stars

The story: the story has highs and lows. Overall, it's a good story but it tends to read a little more like a PSA or Documentary about missing Aussie kids. The mystery just isn't really there and the story just fizzles away when they finally reveal the culprit. I did appreciate the wrap-up at the end, where the author wrote about the future that the characters would have. This also landed towards that documentary feel. Biggest critique?
As an American, I had to pause the book and Google quite a few terms that had different meanings here (exapmles: Ute, Footie, etc.), and the authors abbreviation of Air Conditioner to "AirCon" drove me bonkers. 3 stars

Overall: I do recommend this book. As a teacher of high school students, I would absolutely recommend this book. It's clean with nothing in it I wouldn't want them exposed to. I listened to this back and forth to work each day and it took almost a week. I had no issues picking back up where I left off each time.

Total review: 4 Stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor.

Sadness and fear is running through this small Australian town when beloved twelve year old Esther goes missing. And even though no one could imagine ever hurting this young girl, there are plenty of sketchy suspects to go around. And it turns out that even the unlikely suspects are holding deep secrets.

Oof, this was a well written, dry and hot small town mystery. I could feel the waves of tension in the town, the fear of each other's friends and neighbors, and not knowing who to trust. It was a very foreboding and heady mystery full of unexpected pockets. Definitely a rush of a summer read!

Audiobook (great voice!)
Dirt Creek is a tiny rural town in Australia where everyone seems to know everyone's business and the town is held together basically by threads. The threads unravel when 12 year old Esther goes missing and it's up to either Det Sergeant Sara Michaels and her partner or some of Esther's determined friends to find her.

The book is told from multiple viewpoints with the chapter changing the time and viewpoint to allow different perspectives on the action. I really enjoyed that part of the novel and was guessing up until the end what happened. The ending was longer then most which enabled most loose ends to be thoroughly tied up. If you like slow burn mysteries, atmospheric setting and rural town gossip, then Dirt Creek is for you! #MacmillanAudio #Flatironbooks #Netgalley #DirtCreek #HayleyScrivenor

This book has a great opening that really hooks you in with questions you want answered. Yet it took me a while to figure out the cast of characters and to get into the plot. The story is told from alternating perspectives of some of the main characters with a mystery character entitled just “we” that gives you a look into the goings ons of the small Australian town. This small struggling town experiences the tragic disappearance of one of its children. What happened to her and is anyone safe? The young characters' voices are powerful as they struggle to come to terms with one of their own being in their lives one day and unexpectedly out of it the next. I would definitely recommend this book to those who want a book that explores the emotional impact of a tragic mystery in a small town. I did find that the ending was a bit drawn out. I found the audio version to be suspenseful when it needed to be but not always holding my attention. It was more difficult to keep track of the different narrators on the audio over the book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced audio version of this book!

Wow. This was an incredible first audiobook experience for me. At 10 and a half hours, I wasn't sure how I would like devoting that much time to this book, but I ended up bingeing it over the course of 3 days. I didn't want to stop listening!

The audiobook I found to be incredibly immersive. The narrator did a fantastic job really diving into each character. The author did a wonderful job creating such an atmospheric story. The sweltering heat of rural Australia in summertime I think has as much a role as any other character.

The story itself is not a happy one. There was no happy ending here, for most of the characters, however it is a satisfying ending.

Young Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in her small, rural Australia town. The story is about the search to find Esther, but also uncovering secrets in this small dusty town. The story unravels slowly, being told from different perspectives in each chapter: Esther's two best friends, Esther's mother, Esther's mother's best friend, the detective sergeant in charge of the search and investigation into Esther's disappearance. There's also the "Greek chorus" that has chapters sporadically throughout the book. I found this Greek chorus to be an interesting touch. It gave more perspective to the lives of the children in Durton. Not just one child's life, as we see with Ronnie and Lewis, but the town's children's overall experience, things both widely known and spoken of as well as the more unspoken truths, growing up in this small town.

Overall, I think the audiobook deserves a 5 stars. The narrator was really fantastic. It helped further cement the mood to have the Australian accent speaking throughout.
The book itself is 4.5 stars. I just had one issue with it, but it pulled me out of the story every time the character of Ronnie has a scene or is speaking. Ronnie, for whatever reason, doesn't seem like a 12 year old. She's incredibly impulsive and juvenile, she doesn't respond in an appropriate way to learning her best friend has gone missing. It's a bizarre choice, and pulled me out of the story, because I kept checking to see whether Ronnie and Esther were supposed to be 12 or 7 or 8 years old.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It's a fantastic story and one that I will wholeheartedly recommend to others in the future, maybe not my students though.

What a fun and tangled plot web this one was. I really enjoyed the characters: each voice unique. The multiple overlapping perspectives of the timeline was Interesting and easy to follow. Suspenseful, intriguing, heartfelt, and a delight to bring on my summer road trip. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this book.

I receive this book from the publisher through netgalley.com I am voluntarily leaving this review.

This is a devastating book about the loss of a child through the eyes of many of the people involved. Rape, drugs, and physical violence all reside side by side in this small dying town during a blistering hot summer.

When Esther goes missing the main suspect is always someone in the family, and while she doesn't want to believe it Esthers mother doesn't think she can trust her husband anymore. She has learned things about his past that change her image of him. All the men in this book have secrets and are not good people with maybe one exception although even he got pulled into a dangerous game.

Esthers best friend Ronnie thinks she can find her, Lewis her other friend was the last to see her but is scared to say anything because of what he was doing when he saw her.

Rarely do you get to see the effects of someone's death on a whole town but this book brings it all together. The devastating impact of a senseless act. Two children left reeling from their missing friend, families ripped apart, and other children left without parents. This book is the butterfly effect as you see one person after the other fall from Esthers death.

Well written with story lines I didn't see coming. This was a difficult listen but also a really good one. The narrator was really great and her Australian accent kept me in the country where I could feel the sweltering heat of the desert, the dry dirt on my skin, and a town with little hope.

by Hayley Scrivenor
Narrated by Sophie Loughran

Great audiobook, beautifully narrated.

This is truly a disturbing take on what small town life can be like. It's an emotionally powerful somewhat dark mystery, drama and crime story.

It's really about the disappearance of a child. The lives affected by this one tragedy before, during and after.

All the creepy going-on's, horrible secrets, lies and gossiping that are so much part of a small town ring true.
Abuse both physical and mental, rape, drugs, sexuality, child abuse, animal cruelty, poverty, murder .... The author weaves so many issues into the story yet keeps it cohesive. Each chapter is told from a different perspective the ones labeled as "we" seem to be told by the children growing up in this town.

Hayley Scrivenor is a talented author. Her writing packs an emotional punch, that's for certain.
I received this ARC audiobook from #Netgalley #Macmillan Audio All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#Hayley.Scrivenor

This was a really good debut with a lot of unexpected revelations. It has a slower pace to it but it’s actually packed with drama. The audio, which was told from multiple perspectives, was done really well!

This has a bit of everything. Small town setting, a little police procedural, and some intense character study.
I also enjoyed the peeling away of all the layers to reveal dirty laundry of everyone, adults and kids, in the town.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was good... Very well written, excellent characters and it keeps you guessing throughout. I enjoyed the narrator as well.