Summary

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOUNG EVIE McCREERY? A searing debut crime novel where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community . . . and will ultimately lead to a reckoning

Description

Evelyn simply vanished.

The small town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of New South Wales. Once a thriving outback centre, years of punishing drought have whittled it down to no more than a couple of pubs and a police station. And its one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister.

Mina McCreery's life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister's case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family's sunbaked destocked sheep farm. The million-dollar reward her mother established to solve the disappearance has never been paid out.

Enter Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Lane has his eye on the unclaimed money, but he also has darker motivations for wanting to solve the case.

Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people's private tragedies become public property, and how it's never too late for the truth to set things right.

'One of the year's best debuts. Intriguing and compelling. Shelley Burr is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction.' CHRIS HAMMER

'A nerve-jangling thriller with a brilliantly twisty plot, WAKE is also a haunting exploration of trauma in the age of celebrity victimhood. Shelley Burr's true-to-life characters, beautifully evoked landscapes and breakneck pacing make for compulsive reading.' ROSE CARLYLE

'An effortlessly accomplished, astonishing debut set against the heat and isolation of the Australian outback.' DINUKA MCKENZIE

'If you love Jane Harper's books, you will love this even more.' KAYTE NUNN

'This is Australian crime fiction at its very best.' MARK BRANDI

'WAKE is an incredible read: a hugely compelling mystery with a vivid rural Australia setting and fascinatingly damaged characters.' ALLIE REYNOLDS

Critic Reviews

“'An effortlessly accomplished, astonishing debut set against the heat and isolation of the Australian outback, deftly unpicking the layered repercussions of a decades-old crime. This is a sharply observed unraveling of trauma and survival, exploring which crimes get to make the headlines and stay in the public's consciousness. Gripping rural noir at its tense and atmospheric best, which will hook you from the very first paragraph. WAKE is a standout debut and Shelley Burr, a voice that will make you sit up and take notice' - DINUKA MCKENZIE

'If you love Jane Harper's books, you will love this even more. Compelling characters, an intriguing plot and so well written' - KAYTE NUNN

' WAKE is an incredible read: a hugely compelling mystery with a vivid rural Australia setting and fascinatingly damaged characters' - ALLIE REYNOLDS

'One of the year's best debuts. Intriguing and compelling. Shelley Burr is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction.' - Chris Hammer

'A nerve-jangling thriller with a brilliantly twisty plot, WAKE is also a haunting exploration of trauma in the age of celebrity victimhood. Shelley Burr's true-to-life characters, beautifully evoked landscapes and breakneck pacing make for compulsive reading. A triumphant debut.' - Rose Carlyle”

The question of what really happened to Evie McCreery has occupied amateur sleuths in online chat forums for years. But for Mina McCreery, ever since her twin sister was taken from their farm nineteen years ago while Mina slept unharmed, this question has defined her life. Lane Holland, a private investigator with an eye on the generous reward money and an undeclared vested interest in the case, decides it's time to solve it once and for all. WAKE (the title is an acronym) is set in Nannine, a fictional outback town in New South Wales. Once a thriving town with stockyards and sheep stations, it is now drought-affected and exists in the dusty shadow of the high-profile crime. Online crime forum exchanges are used creatively in WAKE to open chapters and set the scene for the ensuing chapter. There is a complexity and depth to the characters that offer readers something more than merely a page-turning rush, although there is plenty of that to be found too. In her debut novel, Shelley Burr sensitively explores grief and the ongoing aftermath of trauma while delivering a cracker of a story and some surprising twists to the tale. WAKE is a welcome addition to the ever-growing 'drought noir' genre, and will appeal to fans of Jane Harper, Christian White and Chris Hammer. Deborah Crabtree is a Melbourne-based writer and bookseller.

About the Author

Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle's beaches and her grandparents' property in Glenrowan, and on the road between the two. When not writing, Shelley is working to establish a small permaculture farm and is studying sustainable agriculture at the University of New England. WAKE was a Top Five bestseller, won the CWA Debut Dagger Award in 2019, ABIA's 2023 Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year and the 2023 Ned Kelly Award for best debut crime fiction. WAKE was also shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards Debut Novel Award.

RIPPER is her second novel.

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