Book Review: The Community by Christine Gregory
The community of the title is a fictional Sunshine Coast hinterland one, a usually quiet and peaceful location until a body is found in a local waterhole. The discovery shines the light on the lives of the locals, and the secrets many of them are trying to conceal.
The book has more than one narrator, including local police sergeant Neil Davis, and a one time successful journalist, Lars Nilsson, whose past rocky relationship with the police affects any type of partnership the pair could establish when investigating the current case.
While I liked both Nilsson and Davis, the real star character of the book is the setting. Even though Gregory has taken some liberties, the natural beauty of the Queensland flora and fauna shines through and won me over when sometimes the plot was not as tense or tightly woven as I would have preferred.
The Community reminded me quite a bit of Force of Nature by Jane Harper and The Whispering by Veronica Lando and would recommend it for fans of those books along with other readers who enjoy the Aussie crime/mystery genre.
* Thank you to Ultimo Publishing and @betterreadingau for my #brpreview copy.
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