Chris Hammer is a masterful storyteller and The Valley is brilliant. Featuring fabulous scene setting and a myriad of complex characters from different timelines intertwine to make the perfect page turning Australian thriller. If Chris writes it I shall read it.

Nell and Ivan are back investigating the murder of a prominent entrepreneur in the small and remote community know as The Valley. In this case Nell finds herself with a personal connection to the victim making for her most emotional investigation yet. Told from her point of view, I was on the emotional journey with her wanting her to find the answers she deserves and feeling the uncertainty right alongside her.

There is a lot of history in the Valley community. Once a gold miners dream decades of secrets and lies are starting to be exposed that has Nell and Ivan asking what happened all those years ago? How is Nell's mother connected and why do the police hierarchy insist that Nell and Ivan stay on the case.

Page turning brilliance, where nothing is ever quite as it seems. Something Hammer does really well. Loved it!

A new Chris Hammer novel is an unmissable read and The Valley doesn't disappoint. Nell and Ivan are back in another compelling, multilayered, rural crime situation. There is murder, police corruption, fraud, political interference and gold! Everything from the descriptions of the area; the dynamics between characters and the overlapping of past and present plots is masterfully handled. My one criticism is the highly unlikely coincidence with Nell's connection to several characters but if the reader can overlook this they will find much to enjoy in this satisfying novel.

I was thrilled to receive a reading copy. My thanks to NetGalley and A&U.

I've been a fan of Chris Hammer's since I picked up a copy of Silver, not realising it was the middle of a trilogy. It was so good I kept reading his novels and have now read them all - Scrublands twice!

The Valley was a whole new experience - set in a picturesque valley in a small town where a businessman has been improving the area with investment and ideas. Constantly moving from one project to the next Wolfgang Burnside was now Deputy Mayor of The Valley. Well at least he was until he was found dead in the local park submerged in the river.

This is where Nell and Ivan come in - previous stars of Chris Hammer's novels. Except this time there is a personal element to the case. Could Wolfgang be part of Nell's family tree?

As always in Hammer novels, layer is built upon layer of plot, and The Valley is set in two timelines:

1990-94 - Wolfgang is just a child, completely oblivious that the actions of the adults around him would be his final undoing as an adult. There is a goldmine nearby, long closed after being deemed unviable. But recently, an entrepreneur had found something that convinced locals to invest in it being reopened. The Valley needed this cash injection and mine to reopen to reinvigorate the dying life of the town and area.

2024 - Homicide detectives Nell Buchanan & Ivan Lucic are investigating the murder of Wolfgang Burnside. He too was trying to reinvigorate the mine but ended up dead.

Who drove the lemon coloured van through town the night before - seen on CCTV?

Why does someone try to kidnap the local elderly and frail Valley lawyer?

Who killed the entrepreneur in the 90's and why?

Is there gold in the mine or not?

Nell doesn't expect shoot outs in the tiny town or to be held at gunpoint, but the further they dig into the past, the more they reveal. This isn't just about more gold to be found, or keeping the local mill alive with forest felling, but something much higher than Nell & Ivan's paygrade and much further back than they first imagined.

Brilliantly written, with clues dropped along the way in each chapter. The story swings one way and then the other keeping the reader glued to the page.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin & Net Galley for my ARC of this novel.

“The Valley” is another brilliant Gordian Knot of a book from Chris Hammer, whose latest mystery is entwined with political scandal, police corruption, double-crosses, and pulse-pounding shootouts. It’s his most action-packed book yet, but don’t for a minute think he’s forsaken the features of his writing that have earned him a reputation as of the genre’s best. Once again, this is a crime novel that comes alive through its setting, and his inimitable talent for rendering it vividly.

Hammer has become the master of the dual narrative, overlapping the past and present to enrich his story and deepen his characters, while cranking up the suspense until it’s taut as a bowstring. Hammer has developed an impressive rhythm to his storytelling. He writes big books, with complex (but not infuriatingly complicated) mysteries at their centre, that suck you into their vortex and refuse to relinquish their hold.

Every crime novel and thriller is allowed one or two karmic coincidences to fuel them. You must accept, for example, that Jack Reacher has an uncanny knack for wandering into dangerous situations in just about every town he visits. If you don’t accept that conceit, don’t buy a ticket. In “The Valley,” it’s that Detective Nell Buchanan is a close blood relative of the murder victim found dead in the remote mountain valley town of Saltwood. What are the chances? Minute, in reality—but Hammer maximises the personal stakes, and because he quickly has us under his spell, we oblige.

This is Hammer at his best. Exciting, gripping, and packed with a myriad of page-turning sub-plots. Can you tell I’m already thirsting for his next?