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A review by paulabrandon
Wake by Shelley Burr
2.0
Lane Holland heads to the country town of Nannine in New South Wales to try to solve the disappearance of Evie McCreery, who disappeared 20 years ago. Her twin sister, Mina, still lives in the town, determined to fulfil her late mother's wish of solving the disappearance. Lane is a private investigator who has had a few success stories solving cold cases. Sure, he's in it for the money, but also driven by a much darker motivation related to his own past.
Another day, another outback noir. (Murder happens in the suburbs of Australia too!) Another day, another glacially-paced thriller. Unlike a lot of books in this genre, I can't say I got a great feel for the location. It seemed more like the author was trying to latch on to a trendy thriller trope than truly motivated by setting a mystery in a country town. The characters were well-drawn for the most part, but the behaviour of Lane and his sister Lynnie began to drive me nuts as the book progressed. ()
The mystery was very low stakes and the plot was content to simply plod along from one suspect to the next then eliminating them before coming to its, frankly, utterly ridiculous resolution. That escalated quickly!!!
It was not terrible. It took me a long time to read because its pacing wasn't punchy enough to have me eager to return to it, but drew me in bit by bit the more it progressed. But there is nothing here to wow you in what is becoming another crowded thriller subgenre.
It is also sunk by an ambiguous ending. Authors: stop pulling this shit. It's cheap and unsatisfying. Don't make me spend $30 doing your fucking job. It's your story - unless you plan on a sequel, wrap things up!
Another day, another outback noir. (Murder happens in the suburbs of Australia too!) Another day, another glacially-paced thriller. Unlike a lot of books in this genre, I can't say I got a great feel for the location. It seemed more like the author was trying to latch on to a trendy thriller trope than truly motivated by setting a mystery in a country town. The characters were well-drawn for the most part, but the behaviour of Lane and his sister Lynnie began to drive me nuts as the book progressed. (
Spoiler
For fuck's sake, put your big-boy and big-girl pants on, do a victim impact statement, and if you're so worried about your father-who's interested in children not adults-at least get protective conditions put in place for when he's on parole. Or get a restraining order. IT'S NOT THAT COMPLICATED. Talk about making things unnecessarily hard for yourselves! It was infuriating!The mystery was very low stakes and the plot was content to simply plod along from one suspect to the next then eliminating them before coming to its, frankly, utterly ridiculous resolution. That escalated quickly!!!
It was not terrible. It took me a long time to read because its pacing wasn't punchy enough to have me eager to return to it, but drew me in bit by bit the more it progressed. But there is nothing here to wow you in what is becoming another crowded thriller subgenre.
It is also sunk by an ambiguous ending. Authors: stop pulling this shit. It's cheap and unsatisfying. Don't make me spend $30 doing your fucking job. It's your story - unless you plan on a sequel, wrap things up!