Wake is an incredibly strong debut thriller from Shelley Burr. Based in an extremely remote part of the Australian outback, Mina McCreery lives on a non working sheep farm an hour from the nearest small town. She and her father live in self imposed isolation after the notorious disappearance of her twin sister 19 years ago, the intense public interest is too much for them.
When Lane, an investigator, offers to look into the case again Mina initially rejects him. Slowly he builds her trust but why is he here, and what is his link to the case?
Wake is cleverly plotted, slowly revealing Lane’s past as Mina begins to open up. The characterisations are excellent and Shelley Burr really uses the Australian landscape to build Mina’s sense of isolation and anxiety. I raced through the last section, desperate to find out what happens at the end. If you like Jane Harper, you will love this novel.
Thank you to #netgalley and #hodderbooks for allowing me to review this ARC

What a great book! Very atmospheric & certainly Aussie Noir.

Nearly twenty years ago, Mina’s 9 year old sister, Evelyn, disappeared from her family’s remote farm in New South Wales. Mina is now a virtual recluse & the unsolved tragedy has shaped her & the surrounding community.
Then P.I. Lane Holland appears & he seems to be partially succeeding in resolving this cold case. But why is he doing it? Should the past be revisited at all?

I’ve never been to Australia but the writing is such, that I was there. Abandoned farmsteads, inescapable oppressive heat & scrubland as far as the eye can see. The characters drive the story though, uncovered secrets exploding from the page & shattering the community.

Certainly a recommended read.

This is an excellent mystery, which draws you in from the very first line. Mina McCreery lives in the small, outback town of Nannine, in Central New South Wales. It is coming up to the twentieth anniversary of the night that her twin sister, Evelyn (shortened to ‘Evie’ for the cute factor in the press) went missing, the mystery still unsolved. Mina’s mother, Beverley, did everything she could to raise the profile of her daughter’s case and, as she and nine-year-old Mina, were alone in the house that night, much of the internet judged one, or other, of them guilty. Now Beverley is dead, and Mina is left in an isolated farm which is hours from anywhere. She works online, her only real friend Alanna Rennold, whose own sister disappeared and who ran a Missing Persons Support Group with Beverley, before her death.

Evelyn’s unsolved case is very high profile still, with a large award up for grabs for anyone who can discover what happened that night. Enter Luke Holland, a P.I. who specialises in similar cold cases and who is desperate to claim the award in order to provide for his sister. Luke is a damaged character and, as we gradually learn, is enticed by more than the award. Although Mina’s immediate instinct is to pull away from any involvement in opening up the investigation, she becomes intrigued by Luke and begins to share more than she has done previously, opening herself to being hurt.

I thought with an excellent, intelligent, and well-paced novel, which really hooks the reader in. I loved Mina, who is so obviously aware of how she is viewed by the public online, who is so hurt and yet sharply witty. Luke is also a fantastic character, very vulnerable, and you feel deeply for both of them. I absolutely loved this and recommend it highly to any crime fans and I look forward to reading anything else by Shelley Burr. She has immediately jumped to list of authors to pre-order! I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Great novel that kept me hooked throughout. The characters came to life and enhanced the storyline. Thanks for the opportunity to read.

This wasn’t a bad read but for me I found it very slow. Maybe that was the idea of this book but I like my reads to be a bit more exciting.

Wake by Shelley Burris an interesting story about a twin’s disappearance from a remote farmhouse in Australia. The story is told through the eyes of the other sister and a young man who met them, the night the sister disappeared. It is an involved storyline but a fascinating one, in an area of Australia not readily familiar to the reader.
Highly recommended

This was a staggeringly good read. Is this really the authors debut?
A sort of Aussie Noir thriller based around cold cases and huge rewards, this is a very character driven story and all the better for it.

The story is multifaceted but is really told beautifully. So many threads to the story but it never feels forced or confusing. Everything is there for a reason and it really all does make sense. No gimmicks here or cheap shocks. Just a beautifully told story that isn’t afraid to take its time to get to where it wants to go. It also never, and I mean never dips in quality. I was glued to this from the first page to the last.

One of my reads of the year so far, a very easy 5 star review from me. I can’t think of anything negative to say about this brilliant and memorable story.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

I enjoyed this story very much. It is very well written for a debut novel with a great sense of place. The isolation and the dirt tracks and the time to get anywhere in Australia seemed very real when I was reading the book. The plotting is excellent and the characters well wrought. A satisfyng endng too from this solid debut from an author to look out for in the future. With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read and review an e-ARC of this book.

Mina McCreery's sister disappeared nineteen years ago and everyone has a theory as to what happened to her. Now an adult who shies away from interacting with others her peaceful seclusion is disturbed when a private investigator comes to ask for her assistance in solving the case.

This was a very taught, suspenseful thriller that showed not only the victims of the crime but also the effects that this creates many years subsequently for the families of victims. A gripping read that had me immediately hooked.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a missing teenager

as the fair came to town evie and her twin sister mina go with their mother but not many stalls are open the grand opening in the next day

but when the next day comes one of the sisters will be missing and never heard from again...

interesting concept for a book, in the outback think flying doctors as there is a reference to them as someone gets bitten by a snake...

and then we have lane a private investigator who has had some success with cold cases....

will he be successful now...

enjoyable read and it held my interest with some believeable characters

The author creates an atmospheric story with a distinct sense of place full of sadness and secrets. It explores what happens to a family when a child goes missing without a trace and how social media keeps it in the public focus, never allowing the pain of loss to fade. The character-driven story has noir elements and is slow paced and detailed. Fractured relationships and dark secrets make this a poignant read, but the quality of the characters and the setting are notable and resonate.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Lane Holland is a struggling private detective making his name with cold cases and desperate for money to support his sister. Evie McCreery went missing from home 19 years ago. Lane builds a relationship with her twin Mina to try and find out what happened to her but he also has a very special interest in the case.

I found this book had quite a slow start and difficult to keep my interest, there were some good twists in places to keep me reading on. I finished reading it only to be disappointed in the ending.

I really struggled to finish this book. I was expecting a bit of a faster pace type thriller but this really didn't pull me in like that. The pace made reading difficult and I wanted the story to progress. The story itself didn't enthrall me. I'm hoping I find another outback book as that was what I was originally drawn to

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this title. Wake is an Australian novel by Shelley Burr and I would recommend it to fans of Jane Harper or Gary Disher. Lane Holland is a private investigator specialising in cold cases, especially those involving missing children. He turns up in a small outback town called Nannine to investigate the case of Evelyn McCreery who disappeared twenty years ago. Internet forums buzz with theories of what happened to her and her sister Mina has to live with it from day to day. Lane also has his own demons to face up to as he tries to get to the bottom of the disappearance. A very well written book and the ending certainly doesn't disappoint - recommended.

I’m a fan of Australian outback mysteries and I was intrigued by the plot of this one. It gave a good insight into the life of a private investigator trying to solve cold cases for the reward money. The plot gradually reveals the true reason for Lane Holland pursuing this particular cold case. All was well until the end of the novel when the confrontation scene was predictable and the final scene no surprise at all.

Thank you #NetGalley and for my e-arc copy of #Wake by #ShelleyBurr in exchange for my honest review.

I did not find this book to be a suspenseful thriller and I was so close to not finishing this novel. It was mainly because I just couldn’t have another book listed as a Did Not Finish in 2022.

Wake wasn’t a bad book. For a debut it was actually fairly good but it just wasn’t for me.

I found myself becoming somewhat bored whilst reading and actually willing it to end, therefore I feel I can only rate it a two out of the five stars.

Mina McCreery used to live on a sheep farm, with her mum, dad, and twin sister,  Evelyn. She still lives there, but the sheep have gone, her dad's moved out, he has a camper van and he travels. Her mum has gone too, struck down before her time, and then there's Evelyn, she doesn't live there any more either, but no-one knows where she is. Nineteen years ago Evelyn disappeared, and nothing anyone has done since has discovered anything about what happened that fateful night.

For almost two decades Mina has been known as the surviving twin after her sister's case became national news. With the arrival of the internet, and the consequential rise in the popularity of true crime forums, the rumour mill has churned out theory after theory and potential suspect after potential suspect meaning the unsolved case has always been on people's radar.

As she’s grown older Mina has retreated from the world, rarely going into town, and refusing all interviews, book deals, and offers of help from all who tried to contact her. Then Lane Holland arrives in Nannine, a successful, slightly obsessed, private investigator who manages to talk her into at least lowering her guard just a little. Even Mina can see he seems to be one of the good guys but what if she's been right about trusting no-one all these years, after all everyone has their own reasons to try and find out what happened, don't they?

I have enjoyed some excellent Australian crime noir recently and was excited to see this book which promised much. I wasn't disappointed, in fact I enjoyed it a lot and was amazed to find it was Shelley Burr's first published novel. Mina and Lane, whilst not instantly likeable, did make me want to keep reading and I soon became absorbed in their story. There are obviously secrets on both sides, as in all good novels, but there was also a steady stream of resolutions as things progressed, and moved towards an ending which, although not drawn out, took a satisfying amount of time to tell.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to reading more by this author.  I happily recommend it.

Thank you to #NetGalley for my advance copy of #WAKE by #ShelleyBurr

After a slow start this book got interesting and kept me reading,
Then I got to the end and wondered why I’d bothered.
There was no real end, it was such a letdown.
Very disappointed

A crime thriller set in the vast Australian outback, WAKE has a very enticing blend of an emotive crime (a missing child), lead characters whose secrets are revealed at a satisfying pace throughout and enough twists in the tale to make sure you won’t second guess what’s going to happen.

Set in (the fictional) small town of Nannine in New South Wales, Australia the isolated, slightly abrasive atmosphere that characterises WAKE is established from the beginning.

Mina McCreery is famous for all the wrong reasons. As a child, her twin sister, Evie went missing from their sprawling family farm and she was never found. Ever since, Mina has faced a life of scrutiny and accusations, against her and her family. Now, it’s only her and her dad left and she relishes that attention in the case has gone away. This is until…

Private investigator, Lane is in desperate need of money and the $2 million reward for solving the Evelyn McCreery case is very appealing to him. He also has a personal interest in it that is slowly disclosed through the story.

He knew he wasn’t responsible for the way all of Mina’s relationships seemed to have imploded since he arrived in town, but knowing you weren’t responsible and not feeling responsible were two entirely different things.

I loved the dynamic between Mina and Lane. It was spiky and interesting and both of their fragile characters were portrayed in a very realistic way. The build up to finding out what really happened to Evie was brilliantly done too.

Australian author Shelley Burr won the Crime Writers Association award for best debut in 2019 for WAKE and I can totally see why. It’s a clever crime thriller with depth and suspense.