Chris Hammer's fourth novel Treasure and Dirt (2021) is a departure from his previous series featuring journalist Martin Scarsden, but retains all of his page-turning brilliance.
Hammer is known for creating a sense of place in his novels. He has a way of describing a landscape, a town and its inhabitants so that the reader can become immersed - feeling the heat, smelling the dust and swatting the flies as you read. This is helpful as the characters spend a lot of time driving between the ridges, walking the streets and looking out over the arid plain.
There are a lot of characters in this novel and at almost 500 pages there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing as to whether McGee was murdered, by whom and why. The plot is complex - covering the mining industry, the decline of towns based on exploiting natural resources, corruption, religious fanatics, share prices and more - and as the story evolves it becomes clear that there may be additional crimes here.
I have previously critiqued Hammer's superficial portrayal of women in his novels. He has redeemed himself with the character of Nell Buchanan - an authentic, complex and determined woman. I really liked Nell's intellect and instinct, and the way she was a worthy partner for Ivan Lucic. I hope to see her character evolve and be central in future novels.
Treasure and Dirt is a fine example of Australian noir and it is great to see Hammer branching out and moving away from the Scarsden series. My only quibble is with the length of the novel, as I think that it could have been trimmed back with less ancillary plot lines to make for a more taut crime thriller.
My reviews of Chris Hammer's previous novels are available on this blog: