Black River
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4.1 • 162 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Black River is the most compelling thriller you'll read this year.
A long, burning summer in Sydney. A young woman found murdered in the deserted grounds of an elite boarding school. A serial killer preying on victims along the banks of the Parramatta River. A city on edge.
Adam Bowman, a battling journalist who grew up as the son of a teacher at Prince Albert College, might be the only person who can uncover the links between the school murder and the 'Blue Moon Killer'. But he will have to go into the darkest places of his childhood to piece together the clues. Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, meanwhile, is part of the taskforce desperately trying to find the killer before he strikes again. Adam Bowman's excavation of his past might turn out to be Rose's biggest trump card or it may bring the whole investigation crashing down, and put her own life in danger.
Taut, suspenseful and utterly compelling, Black River is the best thriller you'll read this year.
'A meticulous, propulsive thriller with a cast of standout characters and intriguing setting. I could not stop reading it.' SARAH BAILEY
'Sharply plotted and relentlessly paced, it kept me guessing until the last page.' MICHAEL ROBOTHAM
'Propulsive and intricate. A gritty Sydney comes to life in Matthew Spencer's compelling cast of characters. A crime thriller that is absolutely not to be missed.' HAYLEY SCRIVENOR
'Black River hooked me and wouldn't let me go. You're going to want to read this one with all the lights on.' TIM AYLIFFE
'Dark, gritty, tense, atmospheric. I loved Black River.' CANDICE FOX
Customer Reviews
Page turner
Author
Australian journalist. This is his first novel.
Plot
Summer in Sydney. A police task force is investigating the ritualistic murders of two young women taken from homes on the banks of the Parramatta river, and nailed by their feet (post mortem) to local jetties. The body of a third young woman is found, wrapped in plastic like the first two, in an isolated building on the extensive campus of an elite private boys’ school further up river. Rose Riley is a detective sergeant on the task force. Not surprisingly given the author’s occupation, the other protagonist is a journalist, Adam Bowman, now mid-forties and not exactly setting the world alight professionally. He is still employed by a newspaper though, which is something. Yada, yada. Investigation. Twists. Turns. Red herrings (metaphorically speaking. There are no herring in the Parra river as far as I know). Dramatic climax, followed by narrative tie-ups. Our gal lives to fight another day. (Mr Spencer is planning as series judging by the subtitle.)
Prose
Clean, crisp, well-paced. A few plot holes but nothing worth carping about. (Apart from my labouring of the fish metaphor). I, for one, have had enough of contemporary crime novels set in rural and remote Australia. It was great to read one set in a big city, which is where most of us actually live.
Characters
Rose and Adam, both flawed, are credibly if not convincingly drawn. Much of the supporting cast is caricatured: standard operating procedure for genre novels like this.
Bottom line
Page turner. Well above average for a debut novel.
Sydney Noir
Excellent, well written, Sydney noir.
What a Debut
What a terrific book. A beautifully written page turner!