Not well written, a plausible story, drawn out ending, wouldn't reccommend. ( )

An outstanding debut novel back in 2022 (good grief has it really taken this long to post this ...), it's very very hard to look past an Australian rural noir novel called DIRT TOWN by Hayley Scrivenor.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/dirt-town-hayley-scrivenor

Let’s get something straight right from the start.
This book is not a mystery.
So what is it then?
It is a combination of
Stand By Me
And every possible creative writing technique employed in a book in the last 20 years.
Plus it has gay characters.
The story takes place in 2001. Esther goes missing
The town is filled with people hiding things, or who are harboring secrets, or are lying. Or…..
Then the book jumps forward a year, then it does back a year, it introduces way too many characters none of whom are all that interesting and none of them matter to the story. The lead investigator is is Sarah. Sarah is a lesbian. That adds absolutely nothing to the story and isn’t relevant at all, but you are reminded she and her girlfriend had a messy breakup a couple of weeks prior to this story taking place. You are reminded of this over and over again with teeny tiny additional details added every now and then.
Oh and there are chapters labeled We- a sort of collective remembrance who narrates what wasn’t explained- which is oftentimes a lot because while this book seemed to go on for ever, nothing happens
You can read the first 30 pages and say the last 40 pages, and get nearly everything that was relevant in the book. The rest of it is really boring filler. ( )

There is a lot going on in this book, very complex plotting, more than just a missing child. Very carefully layered story, overlapping (and challenging) time frames. Lots of secrets too, and things that the "town" knows, but that the investigating police don't necessarily. Even the police investigators have their own secrets.

The narrative is told through several points of view, and so taking notice at the beginning of each chapter of the date and identity of the narrator is important right from the beginning to the reader's understanding and appreciation. The multi-dimensional structure of the book is demanding of the reader. It is a book that requires a high level of concentration.

Highly recommended! ( )

Dirt Creek begins on December 4, 2001 as several children in the town of Durton (nicknamed Dirt Town by local inhabitants) witness the discovery of a dead body by an unidentified man. It then backtracks to November 30, 2001 when twelve-year-old Esther (Estie) Bianchi decides to take a detour rather than go directly home after school. She never makes it home, thus begins the police investigation into Estie’s disappearance, led by Detective Sargeant Sarah Michaels.

Her best friend Veronica (Ronnie) is sure that Estie is alive and there are clues somewhere revealing her whereabouts so she sets about trying to unlock the mystery. Their friend, Lewis, thinks he saw Estie with a stranger that day but is afraid to tell the police.

In a small town, everyone knows everyone else and knows their business. They all have something to hide and Scrivenor slowly but surely reveals these secrets, which make them all suspects in Estie’s disappearance.

Chapters alternate by person with Ronnie in first person and Constance, who is Estie’s mother, Lewis and Sarah in third person. Constance must cope with the disappearance of her daughter and the potential that her husband, Steven, was involved. Lewis must deal with an abusive father, a submissive mother and deep, dark secret, as he mulls over what he thought he saw on the day Estie disappeared. Even Sarah is going through trauma of a bad breakup. And then there is the cumulative We, the chorus of children of the town who, even at a young age, see what they see, rationalize what goes on, and realize the futility of trying to escape a dying town. The cast of characters beyond those mentioned above all have a hand in laying out the plot, all have secrets and are all suspects. Few go unscathed.

Scrivenor deftly describes the dying town, the heat, the paths each inhabitant follows and their impact on the investigation. Dirt Creek is equal part police procedural and sociological study of small-town life.

The bok received several starred reviews. One review said it was populated with a “…highly complex cast of characters, many of them difficult to like.” Another said it “…is less a tale of murder most horrid than a study in quiet, everyday violence…It’s a novel of sharp-edged tempers, accidents waiting to happen and dark inheritances.”

Dirt Creek is a slow burn of a novel that grabs you and keeps you until the totally satisfying ending (which came as a total surprise to me). It’s recommended for readers who like police procedurals and insular small towns. Australian authors Jane Harper’s Dry and Shelly Burr’s debut, Wake (which I’m going to read next) are potential reads. Included in the ‘missing child’ category are Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin series Before She Disappeared and One Step too Far, and finally Paula McLain’s When the Stars Go Dark. ( )