Burr’s fourth novel feels slightly overplotted but proves pretty enjoyable anyway, with a story to keep you mostly guessing and a traumatised and cynical protagonist you can’t help but like.
The Crews family are hugely popular influencers living in a mansion near Byron Bay when parents Dahlia and Duncan are shot dead by a balaclava-wearing assassin while something like 90000 people watch, horrified. Six years later, Sydneysider Jen (or Geneva Bee) is hired to direct a documentary about the crime, and finds herself staying in the Crews’ residence and trying to establish if surviving daughter Karma (or Kammy) is somehow responsible for her parents’ deaths.
Jen and her on-off friend/editor Paige (who feels like a plot device at times) seek out assorted suspects and view hours of footage as, all the while, Jen hears mysterious voices at night and starts to see a dark figure in the garden. But who is trying to frighten them off, or maybe hurt them? Or is Jen merely stressed by an impending court case, and haunted by a past violent event?
That summary demonstrates how crammed the narrative can be, even at an epic 372 pages, and yet this is nevertheless an entertaining enough page-turner, with the lengthy, nervy, and often darkly funny dialogue feeling tailor-made for a movie adaptation.
Someone’s sure to give it a shot soon.
Shelley Burr (Hachette Australia), 372pp
RRP $34.99 (paperback); $14.99 (e-Book); $34.99 (audiobook)
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