At the start of the book I did not give it enough time for me to become invested in it and read a few pages here and a few pages there. I was thinking, wow I usually love this guys books, such great writing and intelligent plots and on the whole really engaging reads. So I sat down and started again from the beginning and did not stop till I had read at least 100 pages. I was rewarded with a compelling thriller, at the heart of it seven families who had founded and established the area known as Yuwonderie. When one of their own is found dead we are reunited with Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan from the 2 previous books, Tilt and Treasure and Dirt.
Told in 3 timelines we begin to unravel how the strands of these three narratives are linked and how a murder and disappearance in 1994 is linked to the body recently found.
I like to learn something when reading and the fact that the battles for water and the buying and selling of it is something that happens today was something i had naively never thought about. Sure I knew you could buy truck loads of the stuff but not on this grand scale.
The Seven is a richly told, complex novel. Full of detail and history. Another winner for sure.

#TheSeven #NetGalley

“The Seven” is another engrossing thriller by Chris Hammer. He’s taken a slightly different approach to this novel, but the result is still a compelling crime thriller.

The story in this is complete – you don’t need to have read any of Hammer’s other novels in order to enjoy and appreciate this one. However, it is linked through recurring characters, so there’s an extra dimension for ongoing readers.

Detective Sergeant Ivan Lucic finds himself in Yuwonderie, a (fictional) town in rural New South Wales. He’s gotten used to the more limited resources available to him compared to when he worked in Sydney, and he finds satisfaction in working homicides in a different way.

But now he’s looking at the body of a local accountant, murdered and dumped on the land of a high profile politician. He’s going to have to pull out all the stops, and manage the potential politics and publicity that will dog his investigation.

It’s looking to be a tricky investigation anyway. Yuwonderie is dominated by seven local families, and they all feel that they have a stake in the investigation.

Hammer tells this story in three time frames; the present, in 1913, and in 1993. It’s not immediately obvious how the three timeframes will converge, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the novel.

The difficulty with stories told across different time periods is the risk that one strand will be of greater interest than the others. I did find the 1913 strand slightly less compelling, but that might largely have been because it took so much longer for the exact links between this period and the present to become evident. Hammer presents a compelling puzzle in the present, with clear links to 1993, and I kept wanting to return to this.

The puzzle is based in both events and personalities, and the final unraveling took me off guard. Some elements had already become clear, but Hammer holds some surprising details back till the end.

The strong characters – both the police officers and the residents of the town – are a big hook for the reader. You’ll be interested in them very quickly, and you’ll start caring about some of them too. Characters are universally realistic, with realistic problems occupying their minds and influencing their decisions.

This is a highly satisfying crime read. It’s distinctively Australian, and there’s a light historical patina over part of it. The absorbing puzzle and strong characters grab you quickly and will keep you involved throughout the novel. Highly recommended.

NOTE: I will publish this review closer to the publication date. I'll return and add links to those posts then.

"The Seven" by Chris Hammer is an exhilarating read that I absolutely loved. It maintains a fast-paced and highly entertaining narrative, similar in format to his previous work, "The Tilt." One of the book's strengths lies in its skillful narrative movement between the past and present, unraveling long-held mysteries in a country town. Once again, Hammer delves into the pressing issues of drought and water scarcity in Australia, demonstrating how these challenges can profoundly shape society. What made "The Seven" even more captivating for me was the central focus on Detective Sargent Ivan Lucic, a character whose story I found engrossing. The unexpected ending left me pleasantly surprised, making me appreciate this book even more than "The Seven." I can't wait for its official release, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to read it.

Chris Hammer has written an Australian epic novel with a compelling mystery at its core. The Seven is magnificent.

Detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan return for a third time as the leads in Chris Hammer’s sixth book The Seven. Once again he delivers a multi-generational tale of crimes and misdemeanours in a very particular part of the Australian rural landscape. While Treasure and Dirt was set in the opal fields of Northern New South Wales and The Tilt was set in the River Red Gum forests of the Murray River, The Seven is located in the irrigation lands of the Riverina. And with that location comes a specific history, issues and set of characters that drive present events.
Lucic and Buchanan are called to the picturesque town of Yuwonderie when the body of a local accountant is discovered in an irrigation canal. The town itself was built on a major private irrigation project that brought the water of the Murrumbidgee River to a previously arid landscape and created huge wealth for seven families known colloquially as The Seven. While this present day investigation is ongoing, Hammer also has two other narrative threads. The first, starting in 1913, is a series of letters from Bessie, a young part-Aboriginal woman sent to work for the Titchfields, a family that will be one of the key players in the formation of the irrigation scheme and the Seven. The second, set in 1993 is the story of David Heartstone, young heir apparent to one of the other Seven families who is doing his history honours thesis on the formation of the Irrigation scheme and in doing so learns things that the Seven do not want coming to light.
While many crime authors start with the crime and the characters, it feels like Hammer starts with wanting to explore a particular landscape and its history. While the town of Yuwonderie does not exist, it is an amalgam of real places that grew up around the expansion of irrigation in the early twentieth century. And the history of this part of NSW is complicated – from the dispossession of the local Aboriginal people, to the pastoralists then to creation of the irrigation schemes, the irrigators and the wealth that now attaches to water on the most arid continent on Earth. Complicating this is the political landscape – Otto Titchfield has broken with the traditional National Party to create his own Country First political force – and the long history of organised crime in that part of NSW.
Hammer effectively uses a range of characters and a well-constructed mystery to explore the landscape, its history and its issues. And while some of these characters come across as “types” (the blowhard local politician, the wide-eyed crusading researcher, the social climber, the naïve servant who catches the attention of the handsome landholder) they are well defined enough to keep reader interest and forward the story. And it is anchored by Lucic, dogged city investigator exiled to the country with some flaws, now being haunted by the impending release of his war-criminal father.
While Hammer clearly has a formula for these books, it is a formula that works. He effortlessly manages to deliver three parallel stories which serve to illuminate different but related aspects of the history and culture of a particular area of the country and then draws these tightly together (with a few of surprises) for a satisfying conclusion.

Once again Chris Hammer has written an excellent and thrilling read, one I just couldn't put down. It is a very long book but due to the quality of writing and the fact it just flows and draws you in with its mystery, drama, issues and thrills.

This is a book full on tension and emotion, characters that are complex and compelling and a story and plot that keeps you enthralled from start to finish. About wealthy families, power and control, and covers three periods of time. Even though it is a long book it is not drawn out making it a book that may take you a while to read but you won't even notice that as you will be too immersed in the story.

Highly recommend and loved reading this novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Chris Hammer once again demonstrates his mastery of the Aussie Noir genre in his new book, The Seven. With a plot so plausible it could be ripped from the headlines, Hammer takes readers on a captivating multi-generational journey alongside detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan.

Set in the backdrop of fictional Yuwonderie's influential founding families, the story kicks off when one of their own is discovered dead in unsettling circumstances. As Ivan and Nell delve into the investigation, Hammer skillfully weaves a web of connections to a friend's execution decades ago and a forgotten tale from the brink of the Great War. The shroud of secrecy surrounding The Seven deepens the intrigue, and with the killer still at large, the stakes escalate.

Despite this being the third outing with Ivan and Nell, Hammer's storytelling remains fresh and vibrant. His portrayal of the hidden underbelly of Australian communities injects authenticity into the narrative. The book's structure, alternating between three distinct timelines spanning 1913, 1993, and the present, kept me guessing and engaged, culminating in a satisfying reveal.

Hammer's talent for crafting authentic characters shines through once more, and the unexpected appearance of a character from another series added a delightful layer of interconnectedness for me. If you're a fan of Chris Hammer's work or simply have a penchant for Aussie crime fiction, The Seven is a must-read.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions shared here are entirely my own.

What a cracker! This one has everything a good Australian crime should have - stellar characters telling a story among triple timelines and perspectives. It's excellently written and delivers enough twists and turns to keep the pace before winding it all up at the end.

I've not read anything by Chris Hammer before and this is the third book featuring this detective, but it was great and if you loved The Dry you'd love this.

Yuwonderie is a town with seven founding families - they've been there over a hundred years, wielding all the power and decisions for the region. So when Athol Hasluck, one of their own, is discovered dead in the town's canal, who is to blame and what events led to his body being there?

Another genuine page turner from one of Australia’s best story tellers,

The Seven is a book you won’t want to put down. Crime writing at its finest, with a plot that could easily be non-fiction.

Set in Southern NSW, we have an irrigation scheme similar to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The Seven refers to the wealthy families who initiated the scheme to kickstart the region around 100 years earlier. Our story starts with a water skier finding a body in the river, near one of the Seven’s properties.

The story unfolds through three different time periods, well crafted and all comes together with Hammer’s usual class and polish.

.Original Sin: ‘The Seven’ by Chris Hammer

I read Chris Hammer’s first, best-selling novel ‘Scrublands’, soon after its publication in 2018, and was taken by its visceral descriptions of an outback Australian community and landscape. Crime fiction must always be about more than the ‘whodunit?’: I like stories that transport me to a place and time, with characters that I come to care about, and Hammer’s stories fit the bill.

‘The Seven’ takes place in western NSW, the region known as the Riverina. This was country made fertile by an ambitious and extensive irrigation scheme, the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, and Hammer has set his story in a similar, though smaller, fictional region, with the town of Yuwonderie at its centre.

It was here that one hundred years earlier, seven founding families established the scheme, creating a network of companies and trading arrangements that fueled their wealth, prestige and power in the district.

The story is told across various time-frames and points of view. There are letters from Bessie, an indigenous woman employed by one of the Seven households, just before, and during, WWI. In the 1990’s we follow Davis, a young man from one of the Seven families, on the edge of making a decision about his future. And in the present time there is Detective Sergeant Ivan Lucic, brought to the town with his detective colleague, Nell, to investigate the murder of Athol Hasluck, from another of the Seven.

Ivan and Nell feature in two earlier books, but there is no need to have read those to enjoy this one. They are terrific characters: with strengths that complement each others, and their own weaknesses too, which seem to be a must-have in crime fiction!

As I read this novel, I thought about the many country towns I have visited or driven through, and found myself wondering about their foundation stories and people. Certainly this is a solid thread running through The Seven: how the establishment of a town or farming community frames its future.

The author makes the case here:

He flipped to the first chapter, ‘Foundation.’ The text was heroic…no mention of any Indigenous people, no mention of how the Europeans had come to the district, no mention of any pre-existing ecosystem. But that in itself might prove useful: the document reflecting bygone attitudes, still alive, maybe even more so, by the 1970’s.

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In the case of Yuwonderie, its origins are mired in misdeeds that carry down to the present, where criminal activity, corruption and deceit lie at the heart of the current murder, and also an unsolved double-murder from decades before. We are indeed looking at ‘original sins.’

The part of the book that didn’t work so well for me was the series of letters written in the early twentieth century by Bessie to her mother. The events and relationships related in these letters prove crucial to later events and I usually enjoy novels set over different time periods. It was something about the voice used in the letters that somehow jarred a little, drew me out of the story for a bit.

Overall, however, I enjoyed this novel and the light it shines on essential resources and the role they play in communities: in this case, water, without which none of the Seven founding families would have been able to create or maintain their wealth and influence.

See that line of trees, that grey-green line? That’s the river. The Murrumbidgee. That’s where the water comes from. And the money. Everything, really.

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Readers who like gritty crime fiction set in recognisable Australian landscapes will enjoy this one.

‘The Seven’ is published by Allen & Unwin in October 2023.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a review copy.

Chris Hammer has the alchemist's touch when it comes to iterating on classic genre elements and producing mysteries of truly extraordinary quality. He wields all of the weapons in a crime writer's armoury with aplomb, and has the rhythms of the whodunit down pat—the reveals, the cliff-hangers, the twists and turns. His typically rural settings feel distinctly Australian, but never strays close to pastiche. And every time I think he's writing at the top of his game, he reaches a new level. Case in point—The Seven, which is hands-down his best book, but probably only until his next one. This isn't a guy reinventing the wheel every time, but continually honing his craft, and as a reader that's exactly what you want.

The Seven is a tense and densely plotted mystery that sees the return of homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan, who are dispatched to Yuwonderie to investigate a body floating in the two-kilometre long irrigation canal. They are very quickly drawn into an intricate web of lies and deception as they unearth long-buried secrets connected to the town's seven founding families who rule Yuwonderie as a fiefdom. The narrative pinwheels between the present day, 1993, and 1913; each thread is entwined, but Hammer masterfully keeps us from seeing how everything is truly connected until his denouement.

Complex characters with credible and complex relationships underpin this mystery, which is labyrinthine without ever feeling convoluted or cluttered. It's beautifully intricate and utterly compelling. Long-time fans will be delighted; new readers should rejoice, because if this is your launchpad into Hammer's brilliant crime novels, you're reading one of Australia's best writers hitting it out of the park.