Book Review: Silver by Chris Hammer (Martin Scarsden #2)
I received this advance copy of Silver from the publishers (Allen and Unwin) and I really need to apologise to them that it has taken this long for me to read and submit a review. The problem was not that I didn’t want to read the book (I was thrilled to receive it and had thoroughly enjoyed book one, Scrublands) but the fact I was daunted by the sheer size of this book. At 583 pages, it’s huge but, as it happened, I needn’t have worried.
I finished the book in a few days. Like Scrublands, I became so entranced with the atmospheric setting Hammer created in Silver that I flew through the pages, eager to immerse myself. Yes, if there’s one thing Hammer does well it’s atmospheric settings and descriptive passages of towns and their inhabitants.
For this, the second book to feature journalist/writer Martin Scarsden, Hammer moved the action from Scrublands’ dusty dry rural town of Riversend which was crippled with drought, to the regional coastal town of Port Silver which is poised to boom due to tourism and real estate development.
Despite both being technically fictional, both towns have such an authentic Australian feel to them. Port Silver reminded me of a few northern New South Wales towns I visited when I lived at the Gold Coast in my youth. He really transported me back to those places, his descriptions making me remember how those beach towns were then, in the 80s, and making it easy to imagine the changes and the way they’d developed since I’d been there to now. The same thing happens for our hero, Martin Scarsden.
Martin grew up in Port Silver but left to eventually become a successful journalist; his tragic past stifling any temptation to return. In a bit of a weird coincidence, his girlfriend Mandy inherits a property in Port Silver and they return to town to start a new life after the murder and mayhem they lived through in Riversend. While Martin is finishing up writing his book on those events, Mandy goes on ahead of him to Port Silver and inadvertently finds herself the chief suspect of a violent murder. Hardly the relaxing new start she’d imagined.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Mandy in Scrublands and I still can’t say she’s my favourite female lead character ever. To put it in the simplest terms she can be, at times, a bit of a bitch. I did think perhaps Hammer did this deliberately though, to add that bit of doubt when it came to her innocence.
Not only is Mandy a suspect, of course. Hammer includes a plethora of characters who may or may not be the killer and, to be honest, the murder plotline becomes so complicated, with so many different threads weaving its way through the main mystery, I gave up trying to work out whodunnit and just enjoyed the ride Hammer took me on until I learned the whole truth.
There are some interesting themes that Hammer includes within the pages of the mysery/thriller — most of these revolving around Martin’s Port Silver past catching up with him upon his return. I’ve read a couple of books of late which have contemplated the idea of our pasts shaping us and Silver is another to add to the list. Martin eventually realises that for him to move forward, he must address his past. And, unlike some other Silver characters and their thirst for revenge, to move on he must also forgive his family, friends, and just as importantly, himself.
The book features mature themes. However, even though there is violence, swearing, sexual content and drug use, I don’t think anything is ever over the top or unbelievable.
Sometimes second books are tricky but I would say I actually preferred Silver (I should point out I gave Scrublands a rating of 4 ½ out of 5). As I said, despite its size it was very readable and so easy to picture every scene. In fact, I am crossing my fingers that some enterprising production company picks it up and turns it into a tv series so I have an even realer picture.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. 5 out of 5
*Thank you to Allen and Unwin for my copy
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