Opal Country

Classic Hammer, with the heat and the small town obsession with secrecy and past grievances. A crime novel that will stay with me for a long time.
Ann Cleeves

A complex, twisty thriller, with nuanced characters and a winding plot all set in the oppressive Australian heat.

Lisa Hall

A clever and compelling small town mystery, with an evocative setting and a brilliant cast of characters. This slice of Australian noir sparkles like an opal in the blistering sun.
Lisa Gray

Opal Country is a top-notch Aussie Noir with real heat coming off the pages.
Christopher Fowler

A brilliantly atmospheric mystery.
Heat

This novel – tighter, tougher, tenser – is Hammer's best work yet.
The Times

Keeps you stuck to the story like an Outback miner's shirt to his back
The Sun

A master of the crime genre
South Africa Sunday Times

Chris Hammer is regarded as one of Australia's best new noir crime writers, and this immersive and lyrically written thriller copper-fastens this well-deserved reputation.
Irish Independent

Gold standard Outback noir […] Chris Hammer's best writing to date.
Crime Fiction Lover

Nobody does Australian outback crime better. Hammer nails it again.
Peterborough Telegraph

Opal Country is richly rewarding. Hammer is quite brilliant.
Shots Magazine

A fast-paced and thrilling read.
Brown Flopsy’s Book Burrow

A sharp thriller
Woman’s Own

Stunning … Scrublands is that rare combination, a page-turner that stays long in the memory
Sunday Times (Crime Book of the Month) – Joan Smith

An almost perfect crime novel … Intelligent, thought-provoking, great narrative energy, a central character who's imperfect but self-aware, and of course that amazing setting … I loved it'
author of Raven Black and Wild Fire – Ann Cleeves

A dark and brilliant thriller, one that lingers in the mind
Mail On Sunday

Extremely accomplished … Deliciously noirish … Set in the blistering heat of a remote Australian town ravaged by drought and threatened by bushfires, this is a complex, meaty, intelligent mystery … Hammer's writing is so evocative the heat practically rises off the pages of Scrublands
Guardian ‘Best Recent Thrillers’ – Alison Flood

My pick for debut thriller of the month (and maybe of 2019) … Beautifully written, this would make a terrific small-screen series
Washington Post – Bethanne Patrick

Well-rounded characters, masterful plotting and real breadth; this is an epic and immersive read
Guardian – Laura Wilson

A heatwave of a novel, scorching and powerful… Extraordinary
AJ Finn

Atmospheric, utterly gripping, and written with devastating beauty. Scrublands is as scorching as wildfire and as hard to look away from
author of She Lies in Wait – Gytha Lodge

Incendiary . . . A rattling good read, ambitious in scale and scope and delivering right up to the last, powerfully moving page
Irish Times – Declan Hughes

Scrublands is the epic novel about rural life in Australia that we need right now … It sits right up there with the late Peter Temple's Broken Shore, Garry Disher's Bitterwash Road and Jane Harper's The Dry, even as it extends their focus and reach … Remarkable
Sydney Morning Herald – Sue Turnbull

It's hard not to compare Chris Hammer's Scrublands to Jane Harper's acclaimed The Dry … [It will] capture your imagination from the first page
The Age – Karen Hardy