Vanish

Since Michael Brissenden’s Smoke was released, there’s been a real push by crime fiction authors to show the impacts of climate change, but also to embrace sustainability, including alternative energy and modes of food production. Shelley Burr’s latest novel, featuring erstwhile prisoner Lane Holland, incorporates these issues neatly, no doubt drawing on her own experiences of establishing a permaculture farm in the face of bushfire threats.

Poor Lane, though. He killed his infanticidal father and got locked up for doing everyone the favour! Unluckily for him, that means his career as a private eye is down the gurgler. Luckily for him, he’s a fairly decent, intelligent sort of bloke willing to help solve cold cases of missing persons while learning about agribusiness.

Initially asked to help find the prison governor’s missing daughter, Matilda Carver, Lane discovers that other people have vanished, too – all from a rural farming community led by Samuel Karpathy, the heir to the community’s charismatic founder. This ‘community’ feels a bit too alternative and altogether too cult-y for Lane’s liking. There are weird vibes.

Burr’s writing, as in her other books, is sharp, but there’s a lovely nuance to Lane. As a reader, you can’t help but feel for the bloke and his plight. This novel feels especially real – like a story you would expect to read about in the news. It’s propulsive, it’s downright creepy, and a great read for these cooler nights.