WAKE
Completely gripping and page-turning Australian crime fiction with a killer twist
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4.0 • 40 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
'Outstanding Aussie Noir... A wonderfully atmospheric crime novel with a great sense of location, the sweltering and inescapable heat, the dense scrubland, the isolation and its dangers... If you are a fan of Aussie Outback Crime, then this is a must read... Brilliant' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everybody thinks they know Mina McCreery. Everyone has a theory on what happened to her sister. Now it's time to find out the truth...
Mina McCreery's sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family's sheep farm.
When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer.
Lane wins her trust when his unconventional methods show promise, but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case, and his obsession with the answer will ultimately risk both their lives...
Superbly written, taut and compassionate, Wake looks at what can happen when people's private tragedies become public property, and the ripples of trauma that follow violent crimes. Wake won the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award in 2019.
Readers are gripped by Wake:
'Compelling Aussie crime fiction... This haunting and suspenseful mystery will keep you gripped to your seat and turning the pages!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I love an outback Australia setting... You really get the isolation feeling of the farm an hour from the nearest town. WOW! Must read!!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I devoured Wake... drips with atmosphere and strangely interconnected relationships, the remote locations... Impossible to put down' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Atmospheric and hugely compelling mystery set in rural Australia. The characters are fascinatingly damaged and the story is packed with vivid and unique Australian details... I flew through it in two days. Perfect for fans of Jane Harper!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'OMG... It is soooo good! I loved this book. I honestly did not expect many of the twists and turns and was kept on the tip of my toes for much of the book... This gave me The Dry by Jane Harper vibes' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I finished it in a day... Two wonderful primary characters, interesting secondary characters, hidden secrets, a cold case that needs to be solved, and an awesome description of the soul-destroying outback of rural Australia' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Compelling Aussie crime noir fiction... Right up there with Harper and Hammer!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When nine-year-old Evie McCreery, the victim at the center of Australian author Burr's uneven debut, vanished from her home in Nannine, "a barely populated town in Central New South Wales," her disappearance became a national story. Two decades later, it remains the subject of speculation online, including from those subscribing to the theory known by the acronym WAKE (Wednesday Addams Killed Evie), a reference to the resemblance of Mina, Evie's twin sister, to the actress who portrayed that character on screen. The mystery is revived by PI Lane Holland, who specializes in investigating unsolved disappearances in the hopes of reaping the reward money, which he uses to help support his younger sister. Mina initially resists Lane's outreach to her, but her attitude changes after he makes significant progress on another case that has also been unresolved for years. Burr neatly doles out the Holland siblings' dark backstory and effectively shows her tortured leads alternating between hope for closure and resignation, but the final reveal isn't fully satisfying. This familiar tale of an investigator probing a cold case who's concealing his own secrets breaks no new ground.
Customer Reviews
Needed more
Really enjoyed this but the ending was just awful. All summed up in three pages or so. It would have been nice to know a bit more…
Late to get going
An enjoyable read. A little too much wasted time.
Pretty Dull
Held out reading this until the end. Shouldn’t have bothered.