I was quite sure what to expect from this one but I can say it is a thrill ride of a read. It really does set the scene the way it is written and it really is intense and intriguing for sure. The setting of The Bluff works perfectly and the characters are well thought out and they make this book even that much more interesting.

It is long and is a bit of a slow burn but that does work for this book as you can really get into how things went down. I enjoyed it and loved the suspense as it captured my attention. A great read and one I do recommend.

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

I loved MS Jenkins debut and I loved her second book just as much, this one had me captured from page one, I really liked Ruth in the first book and again in this one, such a different setting for her but she throws herself into what she does feet first and with much enthusiasm, this one kept me up very late last night, there was no way I was putting it down till I got the answers to who and why.

Ruth Dawson visits her old mentor and boss Roscoe at his new home in the country town of Myddle, the local lawyer happens to be an old friend of Ruth’s and when he asks her to look after his practice for six months Ruth decides to give it a go, maybe a short stay in the country will be good for her but then maybe not.

It all starts when Victoria Baulderstone arrives on her doorstep her first day to say that her seventeen year old daughter Bea is missing and the policeman Gazza Parker refuses to do anything about it, Ruth decides to do what she can but she is shocked about all that she uncovers as she does her best to find Bea.

Then one of the very popular locals, Dash is found dead out the front of his property with a gunshot wound, now it seems Gazza is concerned about Bea’s disappearance and is doing his best to pin the murder on a young indigenous boy Troy, who Ruth has taken under her wing, Dash’s wife Evie cannot be found and Ruth is determined to keep Troy safe and find Bea and get the answers she wants and of course uncover who and why Dash was murdered.

Ruth uncovers so much with her investigation, and it seems that it concerns a piece of land known as the Bluff which is on Evie and Dash’s property but is that all? She also uncovers racism, sexual assault and so much more and Ruth will get the answers.

This is one that I highly recommend, it was not putdownable, Ruth is the best at what she does I love her wit and understanding and her conversations with her son Jack, there are so many great characters in this small town and the twist at the end, very interesting. Huge congrats to MS Jenkins for another keeper.

My thanks to Netgalley and Allen& Unwin Au for my digital copy to read and review.

This is a book, where up front you get told of a particular scenario, then the timeline goes back a few months and you start to learn how you got to that place.
The Bluff is set in regional New South Wales, Ruth is an established corporate lawyer from Sydney who reluctantly agrees to locum for the small town's lawyer so he can finally take an extended holiday with his wife. Ruth starts to see the racism and misogyny that threads through day to day life and she does not like what she sees. Then when local 17 year old Bea disappears there turns out to be a lot of people the local police officer would like to arrest and accuse, but is he in fact hiding something himself?
The book does delve into abuse, rape, mental health issues, infertility and racism without pulling any punches, so be aware of this if any of these topics are triggering for you.
I am looking forward to reading more by this author and happy to recommend this as a great read for fans of Garry Disher, Chris Hammer and Jane Harper.
Thank you Allen & Unwin Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

After the collapse of the big city law firm where she was a partner Ruth Dawson has agreed to fill in for a few months as a locum for an old friend, a country lawyer in the small town of Myddle, while he takes a long overdue holiday. She’s a bit rusty in general everyday law of wills and property but it surely can’t be that hard to pick up again in a quiet rural town.

But things aren’t as quiet in Myddle as she might think. Not long after she starts, the mother of a teenage girl comes into the office to ask Ruth for her advice. Her daughter Bea is missing and the local police officer, Gazza Parker won’t do anything to find her. Then a local and popular would-be entrepreneur, Dash Rogers is found dead at his farm gate and suddenly everyone is interested in where Bea might be.

This is an enjoyable slow burn of a novel, starting with the murder of Dash and then going back six months to describe the events leading up to that point. As before in <i>How to Kill a Client</i>, Ruth is doing some sleuthing of her own, particularly as she doesn’t trust Gazza to find the truth. She’s also seen how badly Gazza treats the local indigenous kids, including her work experience assistant Troy, who he has his sights set on arresting for Dash’s murder and Bea’s disappearance.

Ruth is a good protagonist with a sense of humour who people seem to trust and talk to and it seems there are many secrets and resentments to be uncovered in Myddle. Greed, inheritance, racial prejudice and sexual assault will all play a part in the lead up to the murder with quite a few twists and turns before the murderer and their motive are exposed.

Missing girl and a murder in a country town. Lawyer Ruth has moved to this town and becomes involved in the goings on. The structure of the book goes back in time to show the events that led up to the murder and also from a few different points of view. Something about it didn’t quite work for me. It’s quite slow building and definitely covers a few issues.

This is one book that I didn’t realise I enjoyed so much until I finished it! Quite a slow burn but kept me totally immersed.
Ruth Dawson is spending a few months in the small country town of Myddle, a corporate lawyer doing a locum position for a friend. She is aware she knows next to nothing about general law and small town intrinsics makes it hard. Employing a young indigenous person raises eyebrows too.
The first chapter sets the scene. Subsequent chapters are told in the past with a countdown to the present.
Set against a back drop of racial prejudice, loyalties, sexual assault, police harassment, the environment and heritage. There are a number of characters to get your head around and many are not likeable but somehow it all worked for me.
I read this book in a couple of sittings and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it had some dark points.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Joanna Jenkins burst onto the Australian crime fiction with her lawyer-packed debut How to Kill a Client. That book had plenty to say about corporate culture, and particularly the gender politics at play at the big end of town. In the centre of the action was Ruth Dawson, a Sydney partner transferred to Brisbane. Ruth takes centre stage again in Jenkins follow up novel The Bluff, but this one is much more down the line Australian rural crime fiction.
The Bluff opens with a disappearance and a death in the rural town of Myddle. Teenager Bea Baulderstone has gone missing and despite her mother’s fears, local policeman Gazza Parker is not particularly interested in taking on the case. And not long after, local Dash Rogers is found shot dead at his farm gate. Before she gets to why, Jenkins drops back six months, to explore and reveal the complex web of relationships in the town and how city lawyer Ruth Dawson came to be running the local solicitor’s office, before eventually circling back to the crimes that opened the novel.
Beyond Ruth, Bea, Dash and Gazza, there is a large cast of characters in The Bluff, many of whom also get point of view chapters. Jenkins slowly builds a complex picture full of secrets and hidden agendas. But she also strategically withholds information in ways that as the solution comes into focus, feel a little contrived.
As with her debut novel, Jenkins in interested in more than just telling a story in The Bluff. One of the key elements of The Bluff is the town’s attitude towards its Aboriginal population. From whitewashing the violent history that followed white settlement of the area, to the treatment of young Aboriginal men by the police, Jenkins documents both institutional and casual racism that continues to persist. At the same time there is a story of conservation, development pressures and some of the hypocrisy of the wellness industry (a popular and fairly easy target these days).
Overall, The Bluff is an engaging piece of Australian rural crime fiction from Jenkins. Although it has a large cast, Ruth Dawson is a likeable central character to anchor the book around. But given the amount of rural Australian crime, The Bluff, while enjoyable, fails to stand out after the more unique and interesting setting of How to Kill A Client.

"He had the same ironic expression Jack had when she said something he thought stupid of boomerish, even though, as Ruth pointed out to him, she wasn't a boomer. She was Gen X. She'd looked it up. Several times." The Bluff's lead protagonist, Ruth Dawson, is a middle-aged lawyer slumming it after being sacked by doing conveyancing in a small town called Myddle. Like most of the characters in this rural Aussie noir, she's hard to connect with, which, despite all the twists and turns, makes it hard to really care about the outcomes for any of them. As a fellow Gen X, I also found the constant undermining of social media and the people who use it and care about likes, a bit tedious (and boomerish): "That thing is a portal into a nightmare."

There are also some lazy writing devices, like the inclusion of WhatsApp message dialogue with her son Jack to explain Ruth's thoughts in places. They were unnecessary and irritating to the reader. I could see some attempts at good descriptive writing, but not all of them are successful. For example, I don't know how many sausage sangas that the author has had, but I'm pretty sure none of them "tasted of smoke and vast blue skies." The best bits of writing were about the namesake location, The Bluff, everything else felt like it was written about rural Australia from the perspective of an outsider who didn't quite capture its charm: "A drive through the Australian bush at night has a million witnesses, their eyes reflected in the headlights low on either side of the road."

Confronting and atmospheric, The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins (out 4 March) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Australian Rural Thrillers, often called Bush Noir, are one of my favourite genres, with the past 5–7 years delivering some truly stellar reads. While The Bluff had strong moments, it left me with mixed feelings.

The story centres on Ruth Dawson, a lawyer stepping into a temporary role in the small town of Myddle. What starts as a quiet stint quickly escalates when she becomes entangled in the disappearance of a teenage girl and a murder that rocks the tight-knit community. Jenkins delivers a vivid and sobering portrayal of rural Australia, capturing the intricacies of loyalties, tensions, and unspoken divides. The themes of racism and sexual assault are powerfully and honestly explored—appropriately confronting, though undeniably difficult to read.

The plot is gripping, with plenty of twists to keep the pages turning, but the characters were harder to connect with. Most were deeply flawed and often unlikeable, which, while realistic, made emotional investment in their outcomes challenging. Ruth stands out as a strong, empathetic protagonist, though the inclusion of WhatsApp messages with her son in London felt unnecessary and didn’t add to the story.

Overall, this is a solid addition to the Bush Noir genre, but it doesn’t quite match the exceptional standard of similar books in recent years.

Trigger warning: This book contains scenes of sexual assault and racism.

Acknowledgement: Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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