As the book opens with a dead body, it is to be expected that solving that crime will be the focus of the story but it disappears till later in the book. The location is a small community on hard times in New South Wales where the previous sources of wealth have closed. The reader then has to plough through log descriptions of what happened to the sources of wealth and the possibilities of renewal. The female constable sent with a partner to solve the murder turns out to be related in her DNA to the victim and some of the suspects. She would not have been allowed to continue? The story is told with two different timelines and it can be difficult to adjust to where you are in the story. The best thing about this book is its recording of the economic issues of a small village in the Australian wilds. That is well recorded. As the story unfolds the extent of corruption in parliament, the police, the law is enormous. The book is well written but I found it difficult to cope with large number of characters and the time switch.

This was my first Chris Hammer read, although I’ve seen and enjoyed some tv adaptations.

Nell & Ivan are dispatched to look into a small town murder, that turns into something much, much bigger. A body is discovered in The Valley, a remote community in the hills of New South Wales. And somehow the now defunct local gold mine is connected.

A four star thriller. Tight, pacy despite going back & forward in time, with well-drawn characters and scenery. My one complaint is it got bogged down in details about gold mining and dams at one point.
Not sure it was all necessary.

It didn’t seem to matter that I hadn’t read books 1-3 (I’ll probably read them at some stage now though).

Thanks to @Netgalley for the drc to review in my own words

Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for ARC.

Detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic are sent to investigate a suspicious death in a former gold-mining town in a remote and lush New South Wales Valley. Wolf Burnside, the dead man, was a prominent local person who had been campaigning to revive the fortunes of the town by investing heavily in renewable energy, the flooded and abandoned mine central to those plans.
With a dual timeline taking us back to a similar time of promised development in the 1990s and some desperate secrets townspeople are keen to keep, this is once again an outstanding outing for this overworked pair of ordinary people doing an extraordinary job of work in some pretty inhospitable surroundings. The sense of place is as always spot on, and I could practically smell the valley and some of the characters who made it their home.
One element of the story is a wee bit stretched and all I can say is that I hope for Buchanan's sake her family tree has now been completely harvested.
You don't need to start with Scrublands and move through the others to get to this, the fourth in a very strong series, but I would recommend it.

4.5* The Valley by Chris Hammer. A twisty, intelligent and thoroughly satisfying crime thriller.

The Valley. A small town where the town’s entrepreneur and eco-visionary has come to a sticky end. Could it be connected to events 30 years previously when attempts to reopen a long shuttered goldmine had led to politics, bickering and tragedy.

Told over two timelines, The Valley is another stunner from Chris Hammer. The fabulous detectives Nell and Ivan investigate the present day crime, with unexpected tethers to events in the 1990s, and a cast of characters which span the entirety. This is small town paranoia with a touch of Indiana Jones. It’s twisty, it’s intricate and overall a superb read.

While this is the 4th outing for Nell and Ivan, it would make a fine standalone. However, all Chris Hammer’s books are excellent (this is my favourite of his series) and there are little Easter eggs of overlapping characters for the devoted reader. I would suggest reading the whole back catalogue, they are all highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Intelligent twisty crime with great sense of place and time, as expected from Hammer. Australian noir done so well

A new Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lukic book is always a treat and The Broken River is no exception. A story full of history, vivid descriptions of people and places and plenty of police procedure to keep the reader engaged. The connections between Nell and other characters in the story are perhaps a little far fetched, but Chris Hammer writes with such skill and conviction that this didn’t mar another really excellent and engrossing read.

A new Chris Hammer book is always something to look forward to and The Broken River justifies the anticipation.
When a prominent local character,deputy mayor Wolfgang Burnside, is found murdered in the remote New South Wales community known simply as The Valley,Detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lukic are sent to investigate. It soon becomes apparent that the former mining area has many secrets from both the past and the present ,some of them murderous, one directly involving Buchanan.

As ever this is a superior and engrossing read with the seemingly sleepy and idyllic Valley proving to be very far from that . This is a tale of politics,relationships,greed and corruption with a touch of social commentary thrown in, Buchanan and Lukic feel like old friends,as ever Chris Hammer's characterisation is spot on, the plot is clever and as we've become used to in his books the sins of the past play a large part in contemporary events.
Hammer hits the nail on the head once again.

This was another great book by Chris Hammer set over a dual timeline as it tells the story of the death of Wolfgang Burnside - to many, a champion of change, to others, a local schemer....but who would want him dead?

The book uses the dual timeline really well, in fact, the 'then' timeline is probably used more than the 'now' which is unusual but works really well as the backstory is incredibly important and also complex.

A really great book and thanks to Netgalley and Headline, Wildfire for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fourth outing for detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic switches between two timelines. When controversial local entrepreneur Wolfgang Burnside is found murdered on the bank of the river, old conflicts come back into focus. Burnside had been planning to utilise the old goldmine, once the centre of the community but fallen into disuse after flooding. Flashbacks to his childhood when a previous attempt was made to regenerate the mine reveal a complex web of secrets, danger and death, and a story which, once again, comes close to home for Nell. A twisty, complex mystery with several surprises, this is a fast-paced read. I do feel that Hammer has pushed the connections to Nell a bit beyond credibility in the last two books, and it seemed unlikely because of this that she would have been allowed to work on this case, although having said that I would have preferred to have had more of Nell and Ivan and less of the historic situation in the narrative. So for me, a bit disappointing, but still a good crime read for fans of Aussie noir.

Chris Hammer's Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic series is one of my must-requests whenever a new instalment appears on NetGalley. All of the familiar ingredients of the series are present and correct in The Broken River, which, in common with the previous books, moves between a historic narrative and the present-day investigations, exploring the long shadows cast across generations by small town secrets. My only slight niggle was that, having learned more about her family through the investigations that were central to 2022's Dead Man's Creek, it seemed to stretch credulity that Nell would face further revelations as a result of the murder that kicks off the action in The Broken River. However, this is a minor complaint and, as usual, this moves at a cracking pace with multiple twists I didn't see coming.

While Hammer is most often compared to fellow Aussie Jane Harper, this series will also appeal to fans of Ann Cleeves.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I very much enjoy Hammer, and the Nell and Ivan books are my favourites.
I have high expectations, and this lived up to them.
Plenty of deaths, lots of investigating, and a whole new level of personal business for Nell.
I had no idea where the story was going, and enjoyed it all the more because of that.
Hammer is consistently good at what he does. I'm always ready for more.