Ripper (Shelley Burr, Hachette)

Reputation can make or break a small town, and the bloody history of Rainier will always be the first thing people remember. Nearly two decades ago, when a serial killer murdered three people and was caught about to kill a fourth, the tale of the Rainier Ripper was born. Now, after years of decline, a true-crime tour of the Ripper’s murders is on the table. Some residents consider it ghoulish, while some think it’s the town’s only chance for success. Others, like Gemma Guillory—who watched the third victim bleed to death on her tea shop floor—don’t know what to think. When the tour’s rehearsal ends with a murder identical to one of the original deaths, the town is thrown into turmoil. Is it a copycat, or is there more to the Rainier Ripper’s story than anybody had realised? In her gripping, surprising second book Ripper, Shelley Burr shows afresh how an old crime affects a town that will seemingly never shake its past. With the reappearance of private detective Lane Holland—imprisoned for his crimes in Burr’s successful debut, Wake—it’s fascinating to have the through-line in Burr’s books be such a flawed character, one whose thirst for justice makes him unafraid to manipulate people for his own ends. The unearthing of Rainier’s mysteries will be ripe for devourers of rural crime reads by the likes of Sarah Thornton, Jane Harper and Sarah Bailey.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fiona Hardy is a children’s author and a bookseller at Readings. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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Category: Reviews